So to finalize my Subaru story, my car wasnt done as promised, again, they ran out of time, they will have it done in the morning. So mid-day I'm on the phone to see if I cant be shown my "twisted axles" while my car is up on the rack. Kevin says he is too busy with work to have a rack free to put up my car and show me. I ask about the bulletin that Rick of Subaru of America told me was out about the axles twisting and he isnt aware of one, so I ask him to look it up. He said last he knew they status on my car was it was being put back together. I ask if I came down now if i could see it while its up on the rack. Sure. I told him to find out about the bulletin if he would. Sure.
I tell my wife to get ready and get my 3 month old son ready. We rush down and arrive at Fort Wayne Acura/Subaru and Kevin tells us its being washed, He found out it was down when he talked to me and they were out test driving it. I asked if it was possible to be shown the axles, he said "my techs are unwilling to help you since you bad-mouthed us to other dealerships". He didnt look up the bulletin either.
I went to wait in the lobby and made a call into Subaru of America and talked to Rick. He recommended I talk to the service manager Ivan since I was there because they were unwilling to help me find out the information I needed about my car. It was then I felt that Rick was getting tired of hearing from me and more and more unwilling to continue to help me.
I went back and asked if Ivan was around, nope, he's in Chicago till monday. I asked about the bulletin and he then tried to look it up, no idea. Another gentleman came from the garage and Kevin asked if he knew where it was, He did and went to print it out. They couldnt print it out at the service desk so they had to print it off in the garage. They got it to me as well as a general bulletin about modifications and then one last peice of advice, "you dont need to goto a racetrack to abuse/race the car, you can do it out here in the parking lot".
I was already late for a meeting and rushed back home, later I was able to look over the car, I took a look at the coolant and noticed it was "black as sin" so I took a look over the paperwork they mailed me about what was done to my car. I saw what looked like an oil change and replacement of a coolant hose but nothing about the coolant itself. I dreaded the idea but called back into Kevin at Subaru. I went over my thoughts with Kevin. Since they had already told me before that metal shavings were found in the oil, from the turbine grinding on the housing, I told him that it would make sense to me that a failed turbo fed by both oil and coolant could have cross-contaminated oil and coolant. I asked if he understood and thought so, he did, so when I told him the condition of the coolant he said "well if its black you should change it" I then asked if I brought it in would they do that. He told me that he was told not to take my car in anymore.
So Kevin tells me I'm banned from Fort Wayne Acura/Subaru. I get Rick back on the phone and go over the problem, I explain what I did with Kevin as well as his response and Rick said their isnt anything that he could do if they refuse to service the vehicle, he then goes on to talk about how they maybe shouldnt have fixed my turbo in the first place. He tells me about their findings online (NASIOC.com) and comments I made referencing E85. He also tells me the dealership found time-slip and E85 receipts in the car and photographed them and sent them in to Subaru of America. He then mentions a message I sent to Tom Wood Subaru in Indianapolis Indiana in which I inquired about having my car serviced there because I didnt want it done at Fort Wayne Subaru since my bad experience. It basically got to the point where Rick was trying to get rid of me and became very lets say anti-customer. He said that all the information they'd collected about me He was linking to my VIN so that if i tried to go to another dealer they would know everything. I told him if Subaru wants to do all that its fine but I want to put this one issue to bed and I'd gladly never deal with them again, I was told that it would be a case by case basis if another dealer would help me at all doing anything, since Rick representing Subaru of America blackballed me. He also stated that Ivan said he'd already talked to me about the axles and shown me the bulletins, I told him that I had no idea who Ivan was and no one ever showed me anything. The last thing I asked was if there was anyone I needed to contact about litigation, he told me to mail the Subaru Headquarters.
I decided I would file a complaint with the BBB about the invasion of my privacy when they decided to go through my personal things to find those "reciepts" then proceeded to photograph them and place them into their records for all their employees to see.
Its great, and late.
I'm avoiding boost like the plague, had my coolant flushed, and havent rev'd over 3,000 RPM since I got the car, what a fun exsistance it will be for now.
The finale to the saga shortly, Nite!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Bad Subaru Sad Scooba Steve
Dear Blog,
This is a very negative story about Subaru of America and Bob Rohrman Fort Wayne Subaru, For the juicy part skip down to the FALL OF AN ICON.
Its a sad day for me when one of my favorite brands get defaced, and strangely enough by themselves! Would you think it wise to end a commercial with a bash on your self? I think not! Its even stranger when companies misbehave and create big customer service issues when they fail to uphold their part of the contract.
Its a common practice of true professionals to respect their customers and strive to deliver the best quality product or service to those customers. They cant make money without us and it doesnt make us very willing to buy if we are treated right, and everyones perceptions can be different. Handling troublesome customers who are upset about a problem which may have been unavoidable take skill but in order to be sucessful you must make the customer feel you care and want to solve the issue, the best way is to care and solve the issue!
In my limited time on this earth I've heard it over and over that a happy customer will tell one other person, and an unhappy customer will tell ten. So avoiding that one customer who leaves dissatisfied is crucial. It baffles me sometimes how this gets severely overlooked in customer interactions that companies have on a daily basis.
Let me start my rant if you will with a bit of background. I'm a very understanding person and I have a ton of patience to boot. It takes alot to get me hot and even more for me to lose it. I have not yet gotten far enough to lose it thus yet. Let me continue on the history lesson, a few years ago, Oct 2004, I returned from training in service to the Indiana Air National Guard and needed a ride to get from point A to point B at the least.
I'd been debating a pickup truck from Toyota and Nissan, but to my excitement the previous year Subaru had released the top model in the Impreza lineup, the STi. The 2004 model was amazing and the refinement of the product continued into the next year with the 2005 model. I was set, I wanted myself a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, Uh huh. So I slapped down almost $5,000 in a down payment and financed the rest of the remaining balance, I was told that the price was not negotiable, So I paid sticker with very little complaint.
Fast forward a bit I'd regularly went to the dealership to have my regular service done and was very careful with my beautiful baby! I was excited when I recived a package from the SCCA, Sports Car Club of America, via my free membership with the purchase of my car, thanks Subaru, or so I thought. I slapped the stickers on my car proudly, I attended only a very few events, They often conflicted with work or my National Guard weekend. One Sad day I had a problem, car no go, I had a slipping clutch. The clutch had worn out after only 20,000 Miles!
Now I admit, I did learn to drive a manual on this car, so perhaps I was in part responsible with riding the clutch or something, I never had anyone say I was abusive with my daily driving or it could cause problems. So on to Subaru the car was towed. I then got bad news, Sorry we wont cover it. I was suprised but at the time I wasnt fully aware of the fact they should have covered the wear and tear under warranty. With little fuss I made arrangements to purchase the needed parts myself. A while later and $650 in labor and
$2,000 in parts I had the car back.
It was at this time I met my now lovely wife and my free time was zip. I babied the car in fear of more issues, tada! I had a checkup before a roadtrip across the country and I was then told I had a twisted axle. No one could really explain what that meant, just it was bad and would cost me more money. I decline to address the minor issue and everything was fine until 48,000 miles. This is where my recent story begins.
THE FALL OF AN ICON...
It was May 11th 2007, I was on the highway to the Air National Guard base in Fort Wayne, IN. I almost lost it when my card made a hard deceleration and a loud metal on metal grinding noise ensued. I made a call into Fort Wayne Acura/Subaru, a Bob Rohrman dealership. This was the dealer I'd worked with from the time I bought my car until I had them repair my clutch, it was then I went elsewhere for my regular service.
Kevin said he could get it in to look at it later that day, 1:30pm, so i took it in and left it in their hands with a noisy turbocharger. He informed me when I stopped in at the end of the day that the turbo had failed and I had 4 twisted axles. Kevin then told me they had a call into Subaru about covering the repair under warranty. Friday ended and Saturday came and no word.
I called in and talked with Kevin, he said Ivan was the one Subaru would have talked with but he was out on an errand, so he would talk with him and let me know. Their closing time came close and no word. I called in and got Kevin, he placed me on hold for 5-10 minutes while he went to find Ivan to talk to him, came back with the news that Subaru said they would not cover it, and the could fix it but I'd have to pay for it. I told him i'd get back with him.
I hungup the phone and picked it right back up to call Subaru of America directly. I lodged a complaint with John that the dealership in Fort Wayne was refusing to fix my car under warranty. I also went to the website and submitted a complaint to Subaru.com. Sunday came and went, and Monday I had not heard anything from anyone. I tried to get ahold of Subaru of America or SOA to see about an update, the case had been passed up to Rick. I was unfruitful in gettin ahold of any answers. Monday went by.
Tuesday morning I got a call at the Base from Nadeem, the general manager at Fort Wayne Acura/Subaru. He had been forwarded my online complaint about the service department and wanted to inform me It wasnt their fault, David Young, the Subaru Representative inspected the car, took pictures, and decided they would not be able to cover it. I asked what the reason was, he did not know, what did he take pictures of, he did not know, in the end he refered me to the SOA customer care line which I'd already called to complain. So Tuesday went by.
Wednesday I finally got some information from SOA, they needed my service records because David Young had told Rick of SOA that the dealership had no record of my car being service there! The blatent lie was astounding. I informed him I would fax all the records to him.
I then went into Subaru and demanded to know why they would not cover my car, Scott told me Abuse, I demanded to know by what proof! he said the stickers, STICKERS! I said, he continued to mention the aftermarket parts and twisted axles which was now 3 instead of 4. I demanded to have it in writing that They were refusing to cover my car under warranty and why. He told me to wait.
I waited pacing in the lounge talking with my brother on my cellphone to avoid screaming at Nadeem in his office or some other unsuspecting salesman who came by. I got my paper and left. Scott came out to my car as I checked my voicemail, I'd missed a call from Rick. He said he'd be straight with me and told me the aftermarket parts and stickers and damage are indicators of abusive driving or racing, I told him that under federal law, Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, that a manufacture cannot deny warranty repairs on my car because of the presence of aftermarket parts on a car, he acknwledged it was true and told me I would have to talk to Subaru, which I did.
After talking with Rick to get a definate answer on what he needed I had to go back into Subaru and get copies of my serivce history. With my history, I left and faxed them to SOA. I found out the next day, Thursday, that Rick had not recieved my history, so I re-faxed them to him and made sure McMahon Tire was going to fax over my history of service there.
By Monday the next week the 21st of May the records had been recieved by Rick at SOA. The result was that they would cover my failed turbocharger under warranty but not the axles because there was a Technical Bulletin out about damage due to abuse or racing. I demanded to be shown what they even meant by twisted axles since no one understood what that meant. He told me he would speak with the dealership himself so they were clear because he was not sure how long it would take to fix the car.
I contacted the dealership and spoke to Kevin again, he told me he had heard the news and they had to order the part and it would take two weeks. I should have asked but I didnt know then they should have given me a loaner during the time my car was undergoing warranty repairs. I instead rented a car for two weeks.
Friday June 1st came and I heard nothing, so I called in and spoke to Kevin, he told me he thought the part had come in but they were too busy to get to my car so it would have to wait until Tuesday for them to get to it. I was baffled that two weeks ago when they ordered the part they didnt bothe to schedule my car be repaired the day or even the day after the parts came in!
Saturday and Sunday went by, and yesterday I called in because I have no vehicle now, no rental, I had to have my wife drop me off at work! I called to see about a loaner vehicle, Kevin told me he would give me one if he had one! I held my breathe and stayed calm.
I wait and Tuesday is finally here! I work all day and hear nothing, I call in and talk to Kevin after 3pm. He tells me they are working on a transmission and then they will get to me car, so they havent got to it yet? No. Will they get it done by the end of the day 8pm? They say it shouldnt take long, I dont know. Okay I will call later I guess. I continue about my work until my wife picks me up and goes to school.
She called me around 5pm to tell me my car will be done tomorrow, it WILL be done, she said. I guess she became a bit irritated with Kevin when she called in herself about my car.
To be continued...
This is a very negative story about Subaru of America and Bob Rohrman Fort Wayne Subaru, For the juicy part skip down to the FALL OF AN ICON.
Its a sad day for me when one of my favorite brands get defaced, and strangely enough by themselves! Would you think it wise to end a commercial with a bash on your self? I think not! Its even stranger when companies misbehave and create big customer service issues when they fail to uphold their part of the contract.
Its a common practice of true professionals to respect their customers and strive to deliver the best quality product or service to those customers. They cant make money without us and it doesnt make us very willing to buy if we are treated right, and everyones perceptions can be different. Handling troublesome customers who are upset about a problem which may have been unavoidable take skill but in order to be sucessful you must make the customer feel you care and want to solve the issue, the best way is to care and solve the issue!
In my limited time on this earth I've heard it over and over that a happy customer will tell one other person, and an unhappy customer will tell ten. So avoiding that one customer who leaves dissatisfied is crucial. It baffles me sometimes how this gets severely overlooked in customer interactions that companies have on a daily basis.
Let me start my rant if you will with a bit of background. I'm a very understanding person and I have a ton of patience to boot. It takes alot to get me hot and even more for me to lose it. I have not yet gotten far enough to lose it thus yet. Let me continue on the history lesson, a few years ago, Oct 2004, I returned from training in service to the Indiana Air National Guard and needed a ride to get from point A to point B at the least.
I'd been debating a pickup truck from Toyota and Nissan, but to my excitement the previous year Subaru had released the top model in the Impreza lineup, the STi. The 2004 model was amazing and the refinement of the product continued into the next year with the 2005 model. I was set, I wanted myself a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, Uh huh. So I slapped down almost $5,000 in a down payment and financed the rest of the remaining balance, I was told that the price was not negotiable, So I paid sticker with very little complaint.
Fast forward a bit I'd regularly went to the dealership to have my regular service done and was very careful with my beautiful baby! I was excited when I recived a package from the SCCA, Sports Car Club of America, via my free membership with the purchase of my car, thanks Subaru, or so I thought. I slapped the stickers on my car proudly, I attended only a very few events, They often conflicted with work or my National Guard weekend. One Sad day I had a problem, car no go, I had a slipping clutch. The clutch had worn out after only 20,000 Miles!
Now I admit, I did learn to drive a manual on this car, so perhaps I was in part responsible with riding the clutch or something, I never had anyone say I was abusive with my daily driving or it could cause problems. So on to Subaru the car was towed. I then got bad news, Sorry we wont cover it. I was suprised but at the time I wasnt fully aware of the fact they should have covered the wear and tear under warranty. With little fuss I made arrangements to purchase the needed parts myself. A while later and $650 in labor and
$2,000 in parts I had the car back.
It was at this time I met my now lovely wife and my free time was zip. I babied the car in fear of more issues, tada! I had a checkup before a roadtrip across the country and I was then told I had a twisted axle. No one could really explain what that meant, just it was bad and would cost me more money. I decline to address the minor issue and everything was fine until 48,000 miles. This is where my recent story begins.
THE FALL OF AN ICON...
It was May 11th 2007, I was on the highway to the Air National Guard base in Fort Wayne, IN. I almost lost it when my card made a hard deceleration and a loud metal on metal grinding noise ensued. I made a call into Fort Wayne Acura/Subaru, a Bob Rohrman dealership. This was the dealer I'd worked with from the time I bought my car until I had them repair my clutch, it was then I went elsewhere for my regular service.
Kevin said he could get it in to look at it later that day, 1:30pm, so i took it in and left it in their hands with a noisy turbocharger. He informed me when I stopped in at the end of the day that the turbo had failed and I had 4 twisted axles. Kevin then told me they had a call into Subaru about covering the repair under warranty. Friday ended and Saturday came and no word.
I called in and talked with Kevin, he said Ivan was the one Subaru would have talked with but he was out on an errand, so he would talk with him and let me know. Their closing time came close and no word. I called in and got Kevin, he placed me on hold for 5-10 minutes while he went to find Ivan to talk to him, came back with the news that Subaru said they would not cover it, and the could fix it but I'd have to pay for it. I told him i'd get back with him.
I hungup the phone and picked it right back up to call Subaru of America directly. I lodged a complaint with John that the dealership in Fort Wayne was refusing to fix my car under warranty. I also went to the website and submitted a complaint to Subaru.com. Sunday came and went, and Monday I had not heard anything from anyone. I tried to get ahold of Subaru of America or SOA to see about an update, the case had been passed up to Rick. I was unfruitful in gettin ahold of any answers. Monday went by.
Tuesday morning I got a call at the Base from Nadeem, the general manager at Fort Wayne Acura/Subaru. He had been forwarded my online complaint about the service department and wanted to inform me It wasnt their fault, David Young, the Subaru Representative inspected the car, took pictures, and decided they would not be able to cover it. I asked what the reason was, he did not know, what did he take pictures of, he did not know, in the end he refered me to the SOA customer care line which I'd already called to complain. So Tuesday went by.
Wednesday I finally got some information from SOA, they needed my service records because David Young had told Rick of SOA that the dealership had no record of my car being service there! The blatent lie was astounding. I informed him I would fax all the records to him.
I then went into Subaru and demanded to know why they would not cover my car, Scott told me Abuse, I demanded to know by what proof! he said the stickers, STICKERS! I said, he continued to mention the aftermarket parts and twisted axles which was now 3 instead of 4. I demanded to have it in writing that They were refusing to cover my car under warranty and why. He told me to wait.
I waited pacing in the lounge talking with my brother on my cellphone to avoid screaming at Nadeem in his office or some other unsuspecting salesman who came by. I got my paper and left. Scott came out to my car as I checked my voicemail, I'd missed a call from Rick. He said he'd be straight with me and told me the aftermarket parts and stickers and damage are indicators of abusive driving or racing, I told him that under federal law, Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, that a manufacture cannot deny warranty repairs on my car because of the presence of aftermarket parts on a car, he acknwledged it was true and told me I would have to talk to Subaru, which I did.
After talking with Rick to get a definate answer on what he needed I had to go back into Subaru and get copies of my serivce history. With my history, I left and faxed them to SOA. I found out the next day, Thursday, that Rick had not recieved my history, so I re-faxed them to him and made sure McMahon Tire was going to fax over my history of service there.
By Monday the next week the 21st of May the records had been recieved by Rick at SOA. The result was that they would cover my failed turbocharger under warranty but not the axles because there was a Technical Bulletin out about damage due to abuse or racing. I demanded to be shown what they even meant by twisted axles since no one understood what that meant. He told me he would speak with the dealership himself so they were clear because he was not sure how long it would take to fix the car.
I contacted the dealership and spoke to Kevin again, he told me he had heard the news and they had to order the part and it would take two weeks. I should have asked but I didnt know then they should have given me a loaner during the time my car was undergoing warranty repairs. I instead rented a car for two weeks.
Friday June 1st came and I heard nothing, so I called in and spoke to Kevin, he told me he thought the part had come in but they were too busy to get to my car so it would have to wait until Tuesday for them to get to it. I was baffled that two weeks ago when they ordered the part they didnt bothe to schedule my car be repaired the day or even the day after the parts came in!
Saturday and Sunday went by, and yesterday I called in because I have no vehicle now, no rental, I had to have my wife drop me off at work! I called to see about a loaner vehicle, Kevin told me he would give me one if he had one! I held my breathe and stayed calm.
I wait and Tuesday is finally here! I work all day and hear nothing, I call in and talk to Kevin after 3pm. He tells me they are working on a transmission and then they will get to me car, so they havent got to it yet? No. Will they get it done by the end of the day 8pm? They say it shouldnt take long, I dont know. Okay I will call later I guess. I continue about my work until my wife picks me up and goes to school.
She called me around 5pm to tell me my car will be done tomorrow, it WILL be done, she said. I guess she became a bit irritated with Kevin when she called in herself about my car.
To be continued...
Monday, June 4, 2007
Ride the Light
Dear Blog
Its an amazing time in the Fort of Wayne in the land of Indiana. Here in the Fort Verizon has lit up our TV's and its superb. Its been about two years since they first anounced the Internet and Voice via Fiber Optic Service or FIOS ("fi-oh-ss"). They now have expanded the coverage of the award winning service to include Television. Now I may be biased because I do work for Verizon as a Video Facilities Technician, but I have experience in the industry and the Verizon product line is top-notch. In my time working with Cable and Dish Network, the services are good, but are limited in the capabilities. The demand is for speed and Fiber delivers! The price war with cable and satellite will ensue for sure once the market share begins the shift. The fiber service has had its affect with teh release of TV in markets of California and Texas and more areas are opening all the time. Verizon is making big investments in the future and they've brought it to us with FIOS Internet/Phone/TV.
You can get more information at Verizon.com or calling into 1-888-Say-FIOS
Saturday, June 2, 2007
A Butler to Boot
Dear Blog,
Tick Tock the clock tolls tea time and the crumpets are hot! I gasped to hear on the radio today that the Bulter business is booming! The money spewing from Wally Street seems to have a interesting side effect, those who incur massive amounts of wealth from investments are getting lazier! They need bulter's to take care of their needs and its a high demand job with a low supply of workers! This new money mostly in the NY area kindly pays an average $200,000 anually to the role of bulter. Its great if your English or at least have a similar accent, that earns you a grand bonus, 20 to be exact, that right $20,000 more for sounding like your a great mystery solver from Scotland Yard dear Mr. Holmes.
Brush up your culinary skills, master those hospital corners, and draw me a bath.
Tick Tock the clock tolls tea time and the crumpets are hot! I gasped to hear on the radio today that the Bulter business is booming! The money spewing from Wally Street seems to have a interesting side effect, those who incur massive amounts of wealth from investments are getting lazier! They need bulter's to take care of their needs and its a high demand job with a low supply of workers! This new money mostly in the NY area kindly pays an average $200,000 anually to the role of bulter. Its great if your English or at least have a similar accent, that earns you a grand bonus, 20 to be exact, that right $20,000 more for sounding like your a great mystery solver from Scotland Yard dear Mr. Holmes.
Brush up your culinary skills, master those hospital corners, and draw me a bath.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Flogging Blogging
Dear Blog,
What a useful tool of the age to spill the beans about all the hottest secrets you learn! Well I'd rather make much more use of it. I think its an intersting trek into the cyberworld to let others take part in the experiences you divulge on a world wide medium. Vent your rage, spat your rap, or just document your memoirs as they occur.
So let the games begin and I jump in the pot and stir up the spices, I've reached the boiling point and the soup is served!
What a useful tool of the age to spill the beans about all the hottest secrets you learn! Well I'd rather make much more use of it. I think its an intersting trek into the cyberworld to let others take part in the experiences you divulge on a world wide medium. Vent your rage, spat your rap, or just document your memoirs as they occur.
So let the games begin and I jump in the pot and stir up the spices, I've reached the boiling point and the soup is served!
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