rip off subaru garages
 

thought id see if any one else has had the same sh*t.
took my classic subaru to my local subaru dealer for a m.o.t
and was told it had failed on the emissions .Subaru service engineer told me it needs an oxygen sensor and would be £120.00 for the part plus vat and half an hour labour. I told him to tell me total costs inc vat and was told £180 plus mot at £45.00. ok i said, do it.
then was told car cant be put in for retest that day and that my car is stuck on ramps so no car to use and no courtesy car offered. after numeruos phone calls the morning after . my girlfriend was asked to come and pick the car up at 2 oclock everything done and m.o.t. girlfreind went in and was told it would be £270.00 ALL IN:mad: .she phoned me and i phoned them. i was then told by differant service engineer that i was given wrong quote and that i was charged an hours labour and not half as discussed.asked to speek to manager he said yes it says 1 hour on invoice and would check with service manager. he then come back and said the extra money was for diagnostic check but this was not on the invoice.in my eyes just spilling me full of crap.after arguing on the phone for several minutes the manager knocked of £35.00.according to my girlfriend the service manager had a terrible attitude towards as she has had a run in with him the last time we was there.she said he also did not like it when the manager gave us the money back. all in all an absolute disgrace,and they wonder why people dont like going to main dealers.really p***es me off, theiving scum

All main dealers arent the same mate, dont tar them all with the same brush.

You were misquoted, it happens & you got a wee bit back to compensate :)

as above mate, i can understand that your annoyed, but you do get them, just be thankfull you didnt go to GMD, they may have had your car for 6 weeks like mine. now that was something to be annoyed at. But, it looks like this customer is going to have the last laugh


john

Why the hell did they have it for 6 weeks ?

Sounds quite reasonable to me.

You buy an old car, you get bills at MOT time ! ;)

Depends on the garage, but some are certainly very poor, with other being OK in my experience.

Just had an absolutely awful time with a very large well known VW garage, so it is a main franchise dealer thing.

new engine under warranty.

im sure if i had been a paying customer it would have been out with in 2 weeks.....


LESSON- Dont go to GMD


john

My Opinion
 

I live in Bristol and went to Tileys for first service and never again darkened their door.......Scoob needed a rear wheel bearing which was out of stock (not their fault), trouble was, it took over a week for them to sort it, they grudgingly gave me a horrid Justy, with a dent in every panel as a loan, and after much moaning, finally deigned to lend me a non turbo classic estate AUTO! Then, after a pi**ed off shake up call from my wife (who is actually the registered owner and main user of the car), had the temerity to ask me if it was "her time of the month" and tried to have a laugh with me about women in a very sexist way. Twunts. I won't even go into the size of the bill, or the spotty youths in Subaru overalls......

So I thought, OK, lets go to a specialist.........I used Power Engineering several times, but felt like I was getting in the way of more important customers with more money to spend and they actually charged me for a new quick shift when I already had one fitted to the car (I didn't realise cos it was on there whan I bought it)!!

So I tried Powerstation, happier with them, but still got the feeling I was not actually valued in any way, so......

I've now gone as far as travelling to Nottingham to visit TSL. What a revalation! First name greeting on arrival and hot drink offered immediately, loan car, boss showing me pictures and letting me drool over their spanking group N car, everyone very helpful, friendly and enthusiastic. I'll be going there from now on, no question. Interestingly, they told me my rear diff was over filled, my gearbox was underfilled and there ws a non OEM oil filter fitted without my knowledge. I was genuinely shocked to find this out. PE had also fitted a mesh cover to my IC (done as a gesture of goodwill after the quickshift debacle) which, TSL pointed out, saps power by obstructing air flow. I don't doubt that PE or Powerstation know their stuff, but fact is I felt ripped off and let down by both of them.

Moral is, you can't rely on price, flashy websites or adverts on a forum (money talks) as a guide to quality, I think you really have to suck it and see. Word of mouth can be useful, but people can be biased, or have an agenda. Obviously, I could have an agenda, but the above are my honest opinions and I thought this was a good opportunity to share them.

Flame suit on!

was in news recently that dealers now charge more than lawyers for hourly rates they just rip u off shower of *******s

I wouldnt use a main dealer at all. Last place i went to was power + engineering which i coincidently needed an oxygen sensor. this was as per the price above, 115 i think - although no charge for fitting as it was a less than 5 min job.

they know their stuff there but are expensive, always got loads of cars in for big jobs, but i still trust them more than a dealer, not had many good experiences anywhere. xtreme were pretty crap, nothing else round london and the SE.
I think some garages charge up to 100 an hour now, not sure which tho and prob not subaru.

Totally agree with all the comments regarding the excellent levels of service offered at TSL - First Class. Funny you mention the Mesh intercooler shield as I was sold one of these by PE on recommendation about protecting the intercooler fins. I later found out - when visitng TSL having the car remapped with numerous other mods - that the intake temp was sky high (this was on a relatively average day temp wise). Richard Bulmer had to remove the shield to get anywhere near the expected power increase anticipated.

What baffles me even more is the fact that PE used to be owned (and are still stronly linked - I think) by Dave Power - founder of Ecutek. Would have thought they would know better, especially with that level of expertise - obviously not!

This wouldn't happen to be on an RB5 by any chance? ;)

Only I was in Holdcrofts in Widnes picking some bits up when there was a young lady collecting an RB5 that had had an oxygen sensor fitted and an mot done!
Sounds like yours or a touch of deja vu....
Got to watch them lot on their pricing,nearly been caught out a couple of times there myself in the past! :(

Xtreme scoobies. Found to be very good, Had 2 trips there now (new exhaust and service) and both were done to a level of service that will always make me come back.

Give credit where it is due.
Recommended.

:) :) :)

Just a point main dealer in Cardiff labour charge is £63 per hour. Talked to my mate the other day his Peugeot is the same charge at main dealer. There all just as bad as one another, it isnt just Subaru!

subaru garages
 

hi nick yes it was my rb5 .

My local VW dealer charges £105 p/hr :eek:

The prices they charge for routine servicing are not exactly cheap either. Mine went in for the 1000 mile oil and filter change which is free of labour costs. They still managed to clobber me for 65 quid which in itself would not be so bad were it not for the 50 quid they charged me for 4 litres of oil. Perhaps they need to extract it from the ground and refine it before they lob it in my car. That can be the only explanation for that kind of price.