subaru4tahoe Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 We have a 99 outback ltd wagon, love the car. Recently had over $3k in work done, new clutch, timing belt, alt, pwr steering pump, oil leaks etc done. Found out this shop has royally messed this car up. First they screwed up drive shaft and it was making whining noise, stripped out bolt and caused gear lash. Car was running horrible also, bucking, rough idle, found out they put the old timing belt back in after telling us it was new and put it on wrong. Then we made them redo it and they left 2 bolts off the cover. After having the car back now 7 times since Sept. we had it towed yesterday because the spark plug wire popped off, we are terrified there are other bolts missing and they really did not do any of the work properly to begin with. Anyone know of a great Subaru mechanic in the San Jose CA area?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Sorry to hear about your troubles. Unfortunately I can't recommend a shop for you. This is one of the "lesser traveled" areas of the board. Try posting your question in the New Gen section and you should hopefully get more response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 send me the moter i will fix it proper its all i do all day evry day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 If you have small claims court in CA, I would file a suit against the shop for their poor work. Maybe you can get some, or all your money back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyfun Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Take them to court for the amount that it would cost you to have the dealer fix it properly. They not only didn't fix the existing problems, they created more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaru4tahoe Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 So now we have a real mess on our hands. Car is now at Subaru of Capitola, awesome btw, they have had it over a week and can't figure out what these guys did to this car. Now we have an intermittent issue where it runs great and then starts running like crap, bucking, stalling, bad idle etc. Huge leak in rear differential that they supposedly fixed, timing belt seal missing, things loose etc. We also found out the dealer would have only charged $2600.00 for everything these idiots did including the freebies they said they did as a "professional courtesy". They put a new power steering pump in because it was leaking, we don't believe for a minute anything was wrong with it to begin with, a new alternator as a courtesy, again nothing was wrong to begin with. Now the original place is telling us we never were having a timing service done and they put a new timing belt on as a "professional courtesy" because it was running rough, like we brought it to them off 1 tooth!! They even charged us an additional $130.00 to fix our wipers that were not working correctly, slamming against the windshield. Tried to tell us they needed a new $700.00 motor, and we pushed back telling them it was a linkage issue, not a motor. After getting car back and being told wipers are fixed but they did not want to get water spots on our black car, so they did not properly test them, they are right back where we started!! We are so torn right now, we are telling them to pay Subaru dealer to fix everything that needs to be done, but to also pay our towing expense, reimburse us for the difference in what the dealer would have charged, the botched wiper fix etc. We are now out approx. $3500.00, the dealer said they could have done a total overhaul on this car for that price, that would have included everything they did plus almost a completely rebuilt motor!! Any help would be greatly appreciated in how to deal with this nightmare!! Thanks:banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Google them, and on the page you get let people know how bad the place is. Then contact the BBB and do the same. And/or take them to court. The people are not just criminals, are inept criminals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Hmm yeah, it's time to go to court. Sounds lie the dealer will be able to straighten out the car at least. Just need some legal persuasion to straighten out the crooked grease monkeys that took your money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 consider this a learning experience - like a college education. you should have never went through with all of those repairs to begin with. you should have checked here first. but if you learn something from it the rest of your car ownership experience could be inexpensive and very reliable. next time - get help from a forum like this. this place is a gold mine. give us your symptoms and goals with the car and we can help you fix this. highly unlikely you'll ever run into something we haven't seen or can't help you properly diagnose and fix this for a reasonable amount. i would not put much stock in the dealer. sounds like a great place, but i would avoid the "grass is always greener" phenomenon that is at work here. dealers tend to be insanely expensive and it's easy to "say" they would do it for less without being the ones that actually did the work, encountered issues, needed to replace more than they expected due to unseen wear, leaks, and rust. not saying you got treated right - but i wouldn't really worry much about cost comparison and a war of words verses experience. anyway - it's sort of apples to oranges and it's a nice selling point for them to talk about how much less they would have done the work for - makes it more likely you'll be a future customer or buy another car from them - their favorite customers are ones paying for inordinate amounts of service to the tune of thousands of dollars. i would seriously consider this a learning experience and come here for what this place is best for - looking for repair guidance, not damage control from hundreds/thousands of miles away - you're kind of putting the cart before the horse and asking the plumber for tax advice. there's some value but you'll have a much better experience coming here for *** repair specific *** instructions. this place is more experienced and knowledgeable than any dealer. leverage that to your advantage starting now. and good luck dealing with the aftermath, i don't have much to offer there except what has already been said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWDfreak Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Dam I should have spotted this thread earlier! I could have recommended a shop! Sorry to hear about your misfortunes. I have many issues on my Subaru myself, but haven't really gone through a nightmare like you did. As for shops (I know it's quite a late recommendation), I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND AutoHQ Motorsports in Redwood City for those who live west of the bay or within the South Bay and Peninsula. (They do performance work and normal maintenance/services) http://www.autoheadquarter.com/ http://www.yelp.com/biz/auto-headquarter-redwood-city Apparently a very Subaru-specialized place. Hope you sort out your issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaru4tahoe Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 so in talking to the dealer yesterday, he is pretty convinced it's the EFI switch/relay. He said it seems to be running great but said it before then it started running like crap. Trust me I was really pissed at my husband for telling them to go ahead and do a 3000.00 job on a 12 year old car with 140,000 miles on it. I truly did not believe it needed a clutch to begin with, it just had a bad bearing and was making an awful noise, can just a throughout bearing be done without replacing the clutch? The issue was the original shop negligently ripped the entire car apart before giving us an estimate (and we never got a written estimate) and quoted approx 3400.00, then they told him as a freebie they would replace the alternator and only charge 3400.00. My husband had been looking for a brand new car at the time and I told him we would have been better off selling the car to someone and letting them fix the clutch and oil leaks, rather than spend all that money on a car we were not planning to keep. Well after spending the money on the car we decided we now have to keep it a while, so we just told the shop to do everything needed to make it right. Turns out they did not know what the $%% they were doing. They did not even drive it 1 mile after doing the initial work, got it home and it ran like complete crap and leaked more oil than ever before. Sorry but I know way more about cars than my husband and he is pretty gullible when someone tells him something, I would have been the first one to come to this awesome site and pick your brains, he is just too trusting. I had to force him to take it back to them to begin with and complain it was running so bad, making a horrible noise in the rear end and leaking oil etc. His response was, well it is an old car! Thank you all for the help, hopefully we are gonna get it right, the dealer truly seems to have our best interest and so far has had the car over a week, done dozens of tests and is only charging $125.00 but now we have to convince the original shop to fix all the issues. I am tempted to have the original shop buy the car from us, it would be cheaper for them to buy it fix it and turn around and sell it. I see them for sale all the time for around $5k still, car has had now everything done to it, new clutch, timing belt, tires, tuneup, brakes, rotors etc. If they give us maybe $2500.00 for the car and all our money back, they won't be out near as much as having to pay the dealer to fix their mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Harik Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Hey take it easy on your husband, remember he has to put up with you:Flame: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Thank you all for the help, hopefully we are gonna get it right, the dealer truly seems to have our best interest and so far has had the car over a week, done dozens of tests and is only charging $125.00 but now we have to convince the original shop to fix all the issues Hmmm. I would be careful with this. The dealer is there to make money, and if they charged you $125 (one hour?) that probably means that's what they have spent checking your car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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