Brunswick Subaru — Local services in Brunswick

I purchased a new Outback 3 weeks ago from Waikem in Massillon, OH, I had just over 900 miles on the car and my check engine light was on. I called on 2/15/16 in the evening to Brunswick Subaru - this is the closest Subaru dealership to me. I told the receptionist that I just purchased the car a few weeks ago, only have 900 miles on the car, and now my check engine light is on. I said I would like to drop if off and pick up a free rental. She said we could drop if off, but the rental would be $25/day. I told her again we just bought the car! It only has 900 miles on it! I said that Subaru should cover the cost of the rental. She again insisted that it would be $25/day. I started to get upset with her so she transferred me to Justin - the service manager. I explained the whole thing to him again - that we just bought it and only have 900 miles on it - and he insisted that it would be $25/day unless I had a warranty. I told him I would hope the Subaru factory warranty was longer that 900 miles! He FINALLY agreed to a free rental.

My wife and I went to the dealership that evening to drop off the car and pick up the rental. I went to the receptionist desk and dealt with the same woman that I talked to on the phone. I said who I was and I would like to drop my car off and pick up the rental. She just stared at me for a SOLID 5 seconds, before telling me that Justin would help us. We walked over to Justin's desk. He was with another customer, once he was finished,, he wouldn't look or speak to us. After a few minutes we just sat down at his desk. He continued to work on other things. He hadn't even said "Hello" to us. 20 minutes went by before he spoke to us. He was not pleasant at all!

He said they would look at it the next day and call me to let me know whats wrong.

By mid-day I hadn't heard anything so I called. They said I was next in line, and they would call me once they looked at it.

I hadn't heard back by late evening, so I called again. I talked to Justin. He said they just finished looking at it, and that I needed a new transmission. He said it be in either Friday 2/19/16 or Monday 2/22/16, and he would let us know when it was in.

By Monday, 2/22/16, I hadn't heard back, so I decided to call in the morning. They said they had the transmission and that they were expecting to be finished that evening or 2/23/16 in the morning at the latest. I called that evening (2/22/16) to check on it. They hadn't even touched it! The person I talked to assured me they would work on it in the morning (2/23/16) and that it should be done by the end of the day.

I called again at lunch time on 2/23/16 to see if they had even started working on it. They had, and said that it would be done by the end of the day. I called in the evening and they said they were finishing up and would call me by the end of the day to pick it up. I received my first call from the service department in the evening on 2/23/16. They said that the transmission was in, but they had to put oil in it and it was going to take 2 hours to do it, and they were going to run out of time by the end of the day, so it would be available on 2/24/16, and that Justin would definitely call me to let me know it was done.

On 2/25/16, my wife and I went to the dealership to pick up our Outback. Justin was not there. I picked up our keys from the receptionist. When we went out to get the car, I noticed that not only did we not get the carwash we were supposed to get, but- we instead got treated to 2 inches of ice on the car and no way to clean it off! While we waited in the car for the ice to melt, we saw grease on the side of the passenger's seat, all over the center arm rest, and on the driver's side door.

They did not care about us or our vehicle at all!

All in all, our experience at Brunswick Subaru had a lot to be desired. I have taken pictures of the grease on the inside of the car, and will be forwarding them to...

I would like to state that the original sales representative was fantastic. I previously had given this dealership a 5-star rating, but after recent developments, I have elected to remove my review and provide another one. I wish I had given more credit to those who posted negative reviews; they were onto something.

Everything beyond the sales process with owning my 2024 Subaru Crosstrek has been a dumpster fire. I had experienced several issues with the car prior to reaching 1,000 total miles. These were personally documented and relayed originally to the service manager, who after receiving a 5 paragraph email could only muster a 2 sentence reply to my inquiry. While priding himself in the fact that he has 30 years of experience in his field, apparently, customer service is not one of the traits he possesses. I brought the vehicle up today and despite everything I told him, he relayed none of it to his staff so I had to explain everything that was wrong with the car ALL over again.

While the car was being looked at, I opted to cancel my extended warranty with the finance department. Spoiler alert: when buying a car here, they will claim that is your ONLY opportunity to buy the extended warranty. So you will feel absolutely pressured to do so. Once you do, prepare for your payment to go up around $100 a month for this wonderful service. Then, once you decide you'd like to cancel, be prepared for them to laugh, yes, literally laugh at you when you say you want the money returned to you. Apparently, they'll run away with your $4,400 and instead of paying the buyer back, they slap it on your note as a lump sum payment, all while your payment stays hiked up, paying for a monthly service you no longer have. Keep in mind, I talked with two different corporate areas of Subaru who both verified with me that I had a loan on the vehicle and both stated that the money would be returned directly to me. While it is in the tiny print of the terms of the agreement, it is extremely deceptive to not verbally explain all parts of the warranty and its cancellation process during the sale of the product.

Next, once I got the car back, they stated that none of the SIX documented issues were issues at all because they could not replicate them. The radio not working? Apparently that trip wasn't part of the 20% of the time it didn't work. The transmission slipping? Oh that feeling is normal for CVT engines. Your phone doesn't connect all the time? Well, theirs does! I have owned 12 cars over the course of 20 years; nine of them new. Not once have I ever had this many issues with a brand new car. On top of everything, they'll make you feel like a complete moron when they cannot replicate the issues. I'll tell my friends and family they're morons too since they all witnessed these issues first-hand.

RUN, don't walk away from this dealership. If you're foolish enough to buy a Subaru, at least do not buy it here. I'm sure the 'owner' will reply to my review and ask that I contact the sales or service manager. No thank you. I've already spoken with the service manger. Quite frankly, if the general manager or actual owner wants to call me, please feel free! The first chance I get, I'm offloading this expensive piece of garbage and buying a quality car I should have in the first place.

Subaru of America has an 'F' rating with the Better Business Bureau. I'll be contacting them next regarding their deceptive sales practices.

EDIT: My concerns with the warranty were eventually resolved. The dealership was absolutely no help whatsoever, even by way of filing a claim with the Better Business Bureau. Subaru's warranty team (Added Security) was able to assist to my satisfaction and can finally be rid of this garbage car you told me 'had nothing wrong with it.'

The way they sell the extended warranty violates the terms set forth by the Federal Trade Commission. You might want...

Back in January of this year I had some minor issues with my car: crackling wind noise from the front quarter windows, the gas door stuck shut, the side mirrors were loose, my coolant was a little low, and my wiper blades were starting to streak.

The first 3 were known issues with 2015 Legacy/Outback models, and there were TSBs out for all of them. I emailed Justin Suesse and he said if I provided my VIN he'd get the parts ordered.

Took my car in January 22nd under the impression the parts were in, only to pick it up the following day with only the wiper blades replaced and coolant topped off. Confused as to what happened, I emailed Justin.

Apparently they had to see the car first, then the parts could be ordered (which I had always though dealers had to see the issue first for it to be covered under warranty, and was pleasantly surprised when I was told the parts would be ordered without having to bring it in, only to be led into a mess of wasted time). Anyway, they offered to give me a free tank of gas to make up for the wasted trip, and they also filled up my father's car as he took me up to pick up the car. I thought this was nice of them and it more than covered the gas wasted on the hour up and hour home with 2 cars.

Finally on February 4th I got the notification that the parts were indeed in and made an appointment. Brought the car in and picked it up right at close with a full tank of gas. I noticed there were a lot of fingerprints and smudges on the newly replaced glass, but it was dark out and I didn't bother looking any closer at things. Got home, flipped on the lights in the garage, and it was a mess. The smudges were all some awful thick black grease and it was all over everything. Thankfully I had plastidip on my mirrors cause they were covered in scratches.

I spent quite a LONG time scrubbing to get it all off, and ended up ripping off the plastidip as it wouldn't come clean. While the door panels were off they disconnected some extra ambient lighting LEDs that I added. I went to re-connect them and found foam-ish glue covering the connector and wires. Eventually picked it off and made them work again but who uses glue to attempt to make electrical connections?

I emailed Justin about all this and was quite nice about it. I just said I wasn't very pleased to get my car returned to me so messy and I wished they hadn't put glue all over my electrical connections. He apologized for the grease and scratches, but that's it. No offer to make it right, no "hey we'll give you a free car wash next time you're in," no nothing. Is it a huge deal? No. All it cost me was a half hour of time cleaning and a few dollars of wasted plastidip. But it's always better when people try to make up for mistakes. He also claimed that they don't stock glue in their shop so they didn't put the glue there. Clearly a lie as I installed the lights and no one else had touched the car since. Again, it's a small thing and doesn't matter all that much, but what bothers me is that I was lied to over something so small. If someone is willing to lie about something stupid like that what else will they lie about?

Since all this I emailed Justin about a another issue. It's been 6 weeks now and and never heard back. Not the first time this has happened either, multiple times throughout the aforementioned experience I wouldn't hear back after a week, send another email just to check in, and eventually hear back a few days after that. Really professional...not.

As of now I'm done with Brunswick. I went to Waikem in Massilon for my most recent service appointment and am very pleased with the experience. My service adviser almost always responds within 24 hours and I didn't get my car back covered in grease. That's really all I expect, it's a shame Brunswick and Justin Suesse. can't...