jmacattack

wow so much hatred for this dealership... makes me wonder what people think of where i work... (non subie, Honda dealer =P) some of the things i've read are just horrible...

illogical

iTrader: (1)

*puts on his hazmat suit*

Bring it on motha f*cka!

WRXakaBooSTi

iTrader: (12)

When i called for a phone quote for a 04 wrx you guys claimed that you would beat my price from Albany Subaru by at least $50. Problem was that i didnt even tell you theyre price yet, and the person i was speaking to (some guy with a thick middle eastern accent?) was very pushy on making me just come down to the dealership. Luckly, i saved 50 miles worth of gas and just went 2 miles to Albany subaru.

tedshred

I bought an STI at stevens creek subaru about 3 months ago.

My experience goes as follows.
Almost from the moment i stepped out of my car, I had a salesperson approach me. I indicated that I wanted to test drive an STI. I mentioned that I had bypassed other dealers I had been to because non were willing to allow me (31 year old *******), to test drive the car.
After a short discussion, the salesperson got the keys to a used '04 STI and we tok the car out for a spin. I believe the car had 16k miles on it.. so it was obviously broken in. I didnt really get on the gas too much although I did take a couple of quick corners.

Once we returned to the dealership, we went in to discuss terms. I selected the specific vehicle on the lot that I wanted.

The deal:
First of all stevens creek subaru marks up the STI from it sbase price of 32k to 39k. I was pretty sure that this happened everywhere.. at least in the bay area being that this is thier top of the line car. I was dissappointed to discover that this is not the case.
I negotiate the price from 39k down to 34k. The insisted that because of hte popularity of the car, they felt some markup was reasonable. Fine.

We negotiated my trade in. They didnt offer me much on my trade-in but in the end, I was really just interested in the OTD price. 3 hours or so of back and forth and finally I got terms that were acceptable for me.

Ok that was done.. Now I had to speak to the finance guy who typed up the contract for me. He had the hard sell on all the useless addons and i spent 20 minutes telling him i didnt want them.. yet he kept on asking. and asking again. I told them I didnt want to pay more than $500/month payment on it. He kept adding things and saying.. well that will only bring it up to $520.. .. come on add this and it will onyl bring the payment up to $504. It was frustrating.
I didnt have my pink slip for my car so I told him that I would bring it to him the next day..

I signed the contract.. was like ~6%.. Which i wasnt happy with but accepted it as I go thte payment I wanted (finally). I signed the contract and left with the car. The next day i get a call from the finance guy telling me that he got me a lower interest rate and had filled out a new contract and only needed me to come in and resign to get the new rate. I showed up at the dealer and sat down with the finance guy.. ( different guy). He explained the new contract to me which had the lower rate, but he had added an option i didnt really want. His argument was that total of the payments after interest would still be less than the previous contract. Without thinking ( and this was stupidity on my part), i signed the new contract. I didnt realize that even though his statement was true.. the actual amount of the loan had increased and if i were to refinance elsewhere.. my total payments would end up being more. I asked him to remove the option.. and he told me that he had not written up the contract.. It was the other finance guy and he was not around that day. It was a snow job in that respect. In my haste to quickly end the process, I made a hasty decision and have had regrest about it since.

It wasnt until after I spoke with my mother (banker), that I realized my mistake. I feel like i was taken advantage of, but it was my own stupidity that allowed it to happen.

Despite that, I still brought the car back for its first oil change.

Overall: I expected to haggle and negotiate ove rthe price of the car when I got thier. That experience could have been easier.. but I had no qualms with the outcome of that.
The sales part of the deal was acceptable. Not exemplary in any way.. but expected. the finance part was questtionable.

the financing part I have had various negative emotions about. Chalking it up to a lifes lesson, but not happy with the sneaky underhanded way the finance guy added to his bonus by adding options that i didnt want and conveniently not being there to take it off when I went to speak with him about it. I should have stayed with the original contract.

On another note: when I wanted to bring the car in for the oil change.. I give the dealer a call and askif i can bring the car in (same day). the person on the phone very ridely tells me that there is no way in hell and does not qish to pursue it at all. wasnt upset by what he said as much as how he said it... I asked 3 times to speak to the service department.. but was never transferred. In the end.. the person i spoke to asked me what I needed and then actually checked with the service manager instead of talking out of his azz and I was able to bring my car in for an oil change that day. took and hour and I was out. 1/2 good experience 1/2 bad. Give credit where credit is due. they got me in the same day.. which i was happy with.. but getting there could have a been a more pleasant experience.
T-

tedshred

speaking of which.. I still have the customer satisfaction survey from the dealer. I have yet to fill it out as im not 100% sure how i feel about the process i went through.

i should point out that I may be willing to take bribes ;p
kidding

T-

Rad One

iTrader: (4)

I think that Steven Creek should send their employees over to Carlsen Subaru or Santa Cruz for training in REAL customer service. The difference is night and day. Stevens Creek salemen dont know anything about their cars. All they try to do is BS their way into selling you their car. Before I bought my car at Carlsen, my father and I left Stevens Creek argueing with the finance manager who yelled and tried to make us look inferior.

I think the only think descent at Stevens Creek are the other dealerships. I dont know why you guys got remodeled. A polished turd is still a turd.

WRXakaBooSTi

iTrader: (12)

now i remember the guys name who i talked to on the phone! MASOOD

ZeR0

iTrader: (12)

Well I just went car shopping today for a WRX. First place I went to was Carlsen, it was the best experience Ive had going into a dealer. Made it clear what I wanted and the sales person there, Greg, explained everything and went through the payments and invoices for me.

When all was done I decided to think about it and head home, while heading home my friend and I thought, why not stop by Stevens Creek, it cant be as bad as everyone makes it. We were wrong. I have never been more insulted by any other car dealer ever. The sales person there, I believe his name was Hassan totally didnt know what he was talking about and was just trying to make a sale. Told me things that were obvious about the wrx and called it a 4x4. Then he took my license and and went to talk to a financial supervisor or something and came back and refused to give me a quote or even do any sort of business with me because I didnt have my cosigner with me. I now understand why everyone hates Stevens Creek and I will never go there again. I hope the place burns down.

Also the WRX I was intrested in from Carlsen was 25kOTD, while the WRX at Stevens Creek had a 30k asking price!

Silky

iTrader: (1)

Not too long ago your service department was crooked.

They wanted to replace my entire wiring loom THAT's the $700 plus LOOM you jerks for a simple fix. Guess what I drove down to subaru of santa cruz and Bruce dianosed it in about 30 seconds and gave me a new fuse for free. Yeah....

Free new fuse from Santa Cruz subaru

or Rape job from Steven's creek. Steven's Creek is either too dishonest or incompetent to properly diagnose what was wrong with my cars lights.

That was just one episode. I have more but I'd have to dig through the archives of i-club and nasioc to find them because of course I posted them so people would stay away from your lousy dealership.

- I don't have time right now to read through 10 pages of hate but in case no one else mentioned it you charge too much for labor and repair work too. That's in addition to the times when you just flat out try to rip people off.

Santa Cruz Subaru OWNS you.

Oh and while my hate is stirred up; what's up with you marking your cars up 10k? Don't give us the "high demand super ultra exclusive wrx STi crap" I mean really? Other dealerships aren't as greedy as you.

ipozestu

iTrader: (18)

I was in the other day when ESX was there. I was checking oiut the quality of your lot stock in between eating a Subway Sandwich and checking out Julies behind :banana:. There were a few guys checking out a new wagon. I began to talk with them about the car. Basically putting it on the pedestal it deserves to be on. WHen they wer approached by the salesman. I asked him one quick question about the car. Who does your detailing? His response was "Why do you ask?". I replied "because you should fire him this paint looks terrible". His response was "oh this hasn't been detailed yet". Clearly it had been given a Shoddy detail job. Buffer swirls up the yang, burn marks on the hood and fender. You guys destroyed the factory paint. I am certain that everyone here knows that Subaru paint quality is... Let's just say not up to snuff. Quite a bit of care needs to be taken, especially with a high speed buffer on a BLACK car. See I know, because I detail myself. Anyone that has seen my car can attest to that.

ipozestu

iTrader: (18)

That my friend is what no hassel is all about. Kudos to Carlsen

DetailAddict

iTrader: (52)

I called Santa Cruz Subaru and got what I wanted over the phone (under invoice). Walked in, walked out in 15 minutes. It took so long because I was reading everything. Never asked me or tried to force me buy extra stuff. But I always get free Stuff from Charlie.

As for service, there would be time that I am in town, called them, and they would always squeez me in the same day.

Now that is something people like to see and deal with...

DetailAddict

iTrader: (52)

Wed 5/18/2005 (So I guess it's still the same... )

Cut from a friend of mine’s blog who went to buy a Subaru RS wagon last night from Steven’s Creek… A little long, but interesting, and crazy.

I've thought a lot about last night. How could I not? It was surreal, and without a doubt the single worst car shopping experience Jake, Rus, or I have ever been through. It started with innocent, honest expectation of buying a new car, and almost ended in a trip to the hospital or the police station.

The warning signs should have come early. We shopped at Stevens Creek Subaru, in San Jose. Follow that link, I'll wait. Out of the first five Google hits, four are warnings not to do business there. Checking Google first should probably be a standard procedure for any car dealership from now on. Make a note of it.

We arrived at around 7:30. I'd test driven an automatic transmission RS 2.5 on Sunday and worked with a salesman we'll call Bob, but he wasn't in, so we met with a different salesman who I also won't name here. Let's call him Jim. Jim let me test drive a standard transmission RS 2.5, which went pretty well. He seemed quiet and wheezy during the drive, and sweat a lot, but I won't hold that against him. When we got back to the dealership, we were ready to do business.

I should describe how Jake does this. He buys cars for all of his friends, he's a wizard. He has a spreadsheet and print-outs of the Consumer Reports price guide for whatever car he wants to help you buy, along with a script of how the negotiations will go. In my case, he also had a print-out of every Subaru Impreza for sale within 100 miles. He usually calls ahead to find out what interest rate can be expected, then fills in his worksheet. He likes to start with offering 2% profit to the dealership, including the holdback, and work up from there if he absolutely has to. Usually there's an hour of back-and-forth number scrawling until the sales manager gets called into the room and approves a final figure. When you're waving around a sheet that has itemized every price, tax, fee, and location for every Impreza within driving distance, in explicit detail, it's really hard to argue with. He's done this lots, he knows what he's doing, and he always gets his price.

So, he pulled out his laptop and we got to work. Negotiations were hard, harder than usual. Jim wasn't giving any ground, and kept spending precious minutes in the sales manager office (probably talking about sports, not the car). Eventually, we budged, causing Jake no end of grief, and offered over 4% profit. We made it clear what interest rate we were expecting, the one Jake had called and been offered over the phone. They accepted, I initialed the offer. This was around 9:00.

Then we had to wait to see the finance manager. And wait. And wait some more. The finance manager was busy with another couple, and stayed busy until around 9:40 or so. We eventually did get to see him. I was feeling triumphant because I'd just gotten my car, and Jake was feeling a little beat because he'd just conceded way more profit than he likes to (he's a trooper). I'm not sure what Rus was feeling; probably gross, because he'd run to Arby's to get us drinks.

I knew something was wrong right away. The finance guy (let's call him Frank) was wasted, he looked exhausted. We asked him some simple question about some form and he sighed heavily and said "I don't know. I didn't read it," and without skipping a beat handed me my Saturn title to sign over. I didn't sign, of course, because I noticed that he'd written down a monthly payment on a little piece of paper that wasn't just wrong, but astronomically wrong. More than $50 a month more than what we'd agreed to with the salesman, so I asked him to go over all the numbers. By this point we were just ready to walk, but we tried to figure out what the hell was up. All his numbers were wrong, nothing was what we'd agreed to. The interest rate was totally different, the final sale price was different, the number of months was different, everything.

Frank was not apologetic. Instead, he seemed genuinely uninterested in anything other than getting us to sign and walk out of his office. He sighed and rolled his eyes, but he didn't hear a word we said. He did a lot of hand waving, and got pretty surly fast. Mind you, by this time we were getting pretty surly too. He wouldn't budge on the figures, even after calling in the Sales Manager (I'm running out of names, but let's call him Bubba. We'll meet Bubba again later). Finally, we just snapped and said "Forget it, we're out of here".

We walked out of his office and into Bubba's front office, where the last of the sales crew were hanging out. It was 10:00 by this point, everyone wanted to go home. We were all pretty pissed, and Jake (very calmly but very assertively) tried to explain exactly why we were pissed, and why we were leaving. (Hint: It's because we were being ****ing lied to!)

Bubba did nothing but give us grief from the start. He was immediately combative. After a few minutes of vaguely heated but not nasty things said back and forth, we asked for my Saturn keys back. The deal was off, we were walking, they can't have my trade-in.

Hold on, because this is where it gets good.

Bubba refused. He stood there, and said nothing. He actually looked around with his hands up, mockingly, saying "Well I don't see any keys here".

Jake, bless him, did not quite lose it. But his eyes burned with righteous fire. He stood his ground, and in a very firm and increasingly nasty voice said "Well find them."

Bubba, the dumb bastard, snarled "You don't tell me what to do."

Oh, really?

Things escalated from there. There were more heated words exchanged, just a back and forth of "Find the keys, NOW" and "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, I'LL FIND THEM WHEN YOU LEAVE". Eventually, we stormed out of the office, and Jake slammed the door a little hard. I'm not kidding when I say a little. It was a slam, but barely.

Bubba ****ing freaked. He shouted "HEY! YOU DO NOT DESTROY MY PROPERTY!" and lept out from behind the counter. He followed us onto the showroom floor and got immediately into Jake's face, inches from him, screaming. He threatened to call the police, to which Jake responded "Do it, so I can report my friend's car stolen".

Rus and I intervened at this point, saying reassuring things like "Hey hey hey, none of this now, we don't want any trouble, we all just want to get out of here." To everyone's credit, things did calm down for a bit. Jake firmly but persistently said "Find those keys" while we stepped outside.

The calm lasted about five seconds, until Bubba almost literally pushed us out the door and again said "You do NOT tell me what to do!".

I think the final straw was Jake screaming "WE'RE WAITING ON YOU, SIR!" just as we'd gotten outside the dealership, into the cool night air.

Bubba decided at that moment to start taking off his jaket, and threw open the door, lunging toward Jake. The rest of the sales staff bodily grabbed Bubba and dragged him back inside, out of sight. He was literally ready to attack Jake and start a fist fight.

We stood around, fuming (literally), furious, adrenaline pumping. Eventually, my Saturn miraculously appeared in the driveway (minus the registration, but I don't need that anymore now do I?), and we sped home. I did not see Bubba again, but for those few moments I was pretty convinced we were all going to end up in Jail. I'm not sure what I would have done if Bubba had really jumped Jake. Would I have fought back with him? I hope so!

I think it probably goes without saying that I would never do business of any kind with Stevens Creek Subaru. It probably also goes without saying that several very well worded and poisonous letters are on their way to the Better Business Bureau, Stevens Creek Subaru, and Subaru of America.

I should add as a final note that Carlsen Subaru in Redwood City had us in and out in about an hour, with no fuss, and an incredibly polite finance guy. What a difference a few miles makes.

So, that was my Monday night. How was yours?

Bismarck

iTrader: (3)

Someone might want to consider bringing a microcassette recorder with them when they head down to Steven's Creek Subaru. Just turn it on while you're in the car, before anyone sees you with it, and walk into the dealership. Log the entire experience on tape. Gotta do it as anonymously as possible though, otherwise it'll be just like a reality TV show (scripted BS).

Hell I'd consider doing this myself, if I had the time to waste.

-Bis

DetailAddict

iTrader: (52)

oh and my other friend recently purchased a SAAB 93 Arch because you guys (Stevens Creek) never responded his emails regarding the Legacy. So went to the second car on his shopping list, SAAB.