Dealer Review Stivers. Don't even know what to say.

I am normally not very vocal about my experiences with certain services and businesses but the past few months have been VERY frustrating and i thought i could save some (if any) of you guys some trouble in the future.
I understand that the fact i have a BRZ may contribute some of the issues i had but nonetheless i am greatly disappointed in my experience with this dealership.

The problems started around the end of August
This was my first time bringing it in for service and had a few issues that needed to be addressed.

1. Rearview mirror was loose and about to fall off (common problem with this car)
2. SRS indicator light came on.
3. Brakes were making a weird squeaking noise (not a constant squeal but an on-off squeaking as the metal chains on a swing would)

So after 2 days in the shop i call Rafael (great guy btw) to check on the status of my car. He tells me that they were able to address everything and that the SRS light was just a faulty sensor (passenger curtain airbag) and was replaced under warranty. No problem right? wrong.
he said he also had some bad news... while "they" were out test driving my car to see if the codes had cleared and everything was ok, they hit something in the road and cracked/scratched the lower part of the fascia..
He said he would promptly order a new bumper and have it painted. I also noticed how greasy the exterior of the car was from whoever worked on the airbag sensor. After cleaning the grease off of the car i notice an inch long DENT on the pillar above the passenger side door... he tells me that he will try to get his Dent guy out here to take a look at it when i bring it back in to get the new bumper put on. I have the Limited BRZ which has a push to start button located on the center console, and the lower part of the console had to be removed in the process of addressing the SRS light.

whoever took this trim piece off must have used the Biggest flat head screw driver in the world because there was a huge scratch going across the entire trim piece. Rafael says he will also order a new trim piece. OK.



that is just a stock picture but the scratch went from the USB port all the way across to the Start button.


I would like to add that at this point i was very angry but i also understand that these things happen (former service dep. employee at Mercedes of Buckhead). i also told myself that it couldn't get any worse. WRONG.

2 weeks pass and they finally have my bumper painted and ready to go. Rafael tells me he was not able to get his dent guy to come out and i told him not to worry about it, that i would get it done on my own dime. (i was just excited to finally have my car back in new condition)

I drive it home and notice that the bumper DOESN'T FIT. driver's side corner will not clip in all the way and the passengers side does not align with the headlight. I tried fixing it and attaching it myself with no avail. I call Rafael to let him know and i tell him since its not a big deal i will just bring it in at my next service.

Fast forward to today.

Mirror is about to fall off again, Brakes are squeaking again and my bumper is still not right.

at this point i gave up on the mirror and brakes and just want the damn body of my car to look the way it should for a brand new car.

I took my car to the dealership to have my service done and to have the bumper fixed. They do the service and tell me that they could not get the bumper to stay. They ask me to take the car down the road to their body shop Willet's later in the day and ask them to diagnose the problem (Body shop guys were out for lunch and not answering the phone). I decide to go back home since i had nothing to do for an hour or so. I get home and am about to go inside when i notice how fat my front tire looks. I realize what i am looking at and just about lose it.



YES. They put my 10 inch rear wheels in the FRONT and the small 9 inch wheels in the REAR. WTF.
I should have noticed before i took my car home but i was already mad and ready to go home.
I call him and tell him i am bringing the car back ASAP to have this addressed. So i take the car back and have them "un-rotate" the tires. (I understand i should have told them not to rotate the tires front and rear but i thought it was common sense for a technician to know that....)
Well guess what having a 10 inch wheel in the front does. The entire inner lip of my wheel and tires got chewed up from scraping against the front struts.... You can see rubber shavings in the previous pic.
i am about to nope the f*** out of there and crash my car into a wall at this point. i am so fed up with ALWAYS having SOMETHING wrong with this car. i don't even remember the last time i drove it in 100% unharmed condition. He says since the damage is only cosmetic and that the drive-ability was not affected they could not replace the tires let alone the wheels. WTF WTF (this would be ABSOLUTELY unacceptable at Mercedes)



At this point i dont even feel like arguing and just want to get my bumper fixed before i can figure out what to do about the wheels. I take the car and drive over to Willet's to see if they can figure out my bumper. (I believe Matt's BRZ is having a similar issue i.i.r.c)

George at Willet's tells me i need new retainer clips that hold the bumper to the car. On my way back to the dealership to tell Rafael what needs to be ordered, i look in my drivers side mirror and see my wheel WOBBLING like its about to fall off. I panic the F*** out and bring my car to a crawl back to the dealership. They immediately put it on a lift to see whats up.

WELL. whatever tech swapped my wheels around did not realize that he put 2 of the hub centric rings on my drivers side rear and none on the front....
At this point i am thinking to myself this has to be a joke or a nightmare.

I pull the car off the lift myself and drive it home.

So now i need to go back to the forbidden dealership to get my bumper redone. and i am terrified that i will get my car back in even WORSE condition. and yes, i got the dent repaired on my own dime and am going to fix the mirror and brake issue myself because i fear for my cars life :rofl:

I am dumbfounded as to what to do now about the wheels and tires....

I will definitely not be doing business with Stiver's anymore.
I normally do the service myself or at Allpro but because this was all warranty work or work to correct the dealers fault i decided to let them do it.

I would also like to add that this does not reflect on their sales department as i do not have much experience with them other than signing the papers. (I dont even know who actually "sold" me the car because i went through atleast 3 salesmen/women before driving it off the lot."

I have been in Rafaels position many times before and he did an excellent job in helping me to the best of his abilities.

Another note is that i did not have pictures from the earlier events because they happened one by one and at the moment they said they would fix it immediately. I did not think twice of it and SURELY did not think it would get bad to the point it did.

LESSON LEARNED and /endrant:wavey:

 

Please excuse any grammatical errors as well. I am exhausted and still raging

 

Justin that is crazy.. in no way should any of that happened. please keep us updated! We'll picket if we have to!

 

absolutely insane.
I would print this detailed post and use it to your advantage. Fix everything or start handing copies out to customers, send to SOA, BBB, all subaru forums in SE.

I'm livid just hearing this so I feel for you sir. Good Luck and keep us updated. Maybe as a group we could pay them a visit if it has to come to that

 

There is no excuse for the shoddy work they did on your car.

 

I have had several really good experiences with Troncalli Sales, collision center, and the service department. I would recommend them.

Another one to stay away, as far away as possible, from is Gerald Jones Subaru in Augusta. Terrible dealership.

 

Damn man that sucks. This is why I hate dealerships. Can't do anything right lol.

 

Did you tell them not to rotate the tires since that is normally part of the service?Not all dealers are familiar with aftermarket parts and /or realize the difference.Probably ran through express/quick lube since it was rotate and maybe oil change.

 

No, i should have specifically told him. It was my mistake to assume a technician would know about staggered/square set up on RWD cars:hsnono:
I had set an appointment for them to take apart the bumper and see why they couldnt get it to stay. so i don't know if it went through their quick lube guy.
He told me they were too scared to take the bumper off again in fear that the retainer clips might break more so they sent me down to their body shop.

Was a fairly disappointing experience.

 

Like I said before, it isnt a suttle difference in size either.
When they put it back on the lift, the front (rear) wheels were making full on contact with the lower part of the struts. metal and rubber shavings everywhere.

 

Thank you Matt, Flickr just made it harder to find the URL lol :eek3:

 

I probably wouldn't have said anything about the offset wheels. Anyone who has been around cars (especially a technician on them) should be able to see they were drastically different. ESPECIALLY after he put them on the car. That is just poor "I don't give a shit" work.

It is experiences like this that really take the excitement out of a new car. I have had great results with SoK in the past. I would get them to replace/fix the strut, wheel and tire. They were new/like new before you brought them the car. They should be like that when they leave as well.

Get in touch with SoA for sure.

 

I understand this is likely the only recent NON AWD subaru they've worked on but still... a technician? They have a noticeable weight/heft difference when you lift them!
2 spacers on 1 wheel was the icing on the cake :squint:

 

Look at that picture of the wheel difference and tell me they shouldn't notice. They should be trained to look over the car and check their work before they give it back to a customer.

 

Unacceptable. All this is unacceptable. Not going to comment and mirror everyone opinion except this. The ring issue.....I'll be willing to bet one of the rings stayed on the wheel and the tech didn't notice and manually put another ring on. However that is pure negligence and not paying attention. At some point the tech should have noticed that he didn't put a ring on somewhere. Freaking absurd....he should be written up and talked to about that. Your lugs had to have been barely holding on.

 

No point in being pissed about it. Learn what you can from the situation and move on. Sorry that it had to happen to you.

 

Yep. i actually went back and talked to the technician that put the wheels on.
he claims "they" said the rings stay in place. Which did for the rear wheels, but the front rings followed and got stacked on one corner. how he didnt notice the poke i have no idea

*Edit: he just took the words of someone else and decided not to even look

 

This is an example of why I only dealt with SoG in the past when getting maintainance done on my car, and why I now prefer AllPro for everything I can't do myself. SoG used to let us sit in the garage and talk to the tech as they were working on my car. If something like this was happening, I would have caught it as it was happening, and corrected the situation.

When I go to AllPro, I prefer to sit out back and watch what Brandon and Wes are doing on my car. It is a learning experience for me, and I can ensure that nothing bad is happening, not that it would with AllPro, but I don't have that same comfort level with any other mechanic, including all Subaru Dealerships.

 

I understand being mad at them will not solve anything. However denying repairs to the wheel/car and tires that were damaged by them is unacceptable.
I will be contacting SOA to have this addressed and see if they deny me as well. As far as this thread goes, i thought i'd share my experience to let you guys know to steer clear if possible.

 

Going off and yelling at people? Yeah no point in that. Being pissed/upset/frustrated? Absolutely normal and justifiable.

 

I am very curious to find out what happens.I hope it all gets worked out in your favor.Not trying to be devils advocate except to say that the guy who swapped your wheels was more than likely a quick lube/ general service tech.Most dealers use them for the (normally) basic stuff.He probably figured since he was told to rotate the tires that they could be rotated and if he did not do it he would get in trouble.Sometimes these guys are rookies/beginners to the car business.I hope SOA can help you out.Since dealers are(usu.) independently owned sometimes it seems like their hands are tied.

 

We just bought our car from Stiver's Subaru and after our experience with their detailing department I decided that I wasn't going to have anything else done there. When we bought the car last month they sprayed way too much tire shine on the tires and when we drove it the shine slung all over the paint and settled in the clear. I brought up the issue to them and they said they'd contact Subaru of America and get back to us within a few days.

Weeks passed and I didn't hear a thing from them. 1,000 miles hit on our WRX and I wasn't going to risk getting a shotty oil change so I went to SOG, after reading several reviews, for our first free oil change. The service department there is amazing. Very informative and knowledgeable.

Really sorry to hear about your issues bud. Now i'm REALLY glad I didn't consider them for service. I'd report it to the BBB.

 

Yea SOG :bigthumb:
got all my WRX servicing done there. Stay away from stivers at allllll costs

 

Went back, finally got my bumper fixed 2 days ago. Since they won't repair the wheels for the reason that the damage is only "cosmetic", i sent an online inquiry but have yet to hear back. Going to try calling this week.

 

At this point, i am so appalled by their service that i am reluctant to even give my car to them to fix it. I have never gotten my car back from them in better condition than i left it. It seems to be the case so far that every time i take my car to them, something else goes wrong.
I can almost guarantee that if SoA contacts them and tells them to fix my wheels and replace my tires, they will without a doubt destroy something else on my car.
sigh.

I get stressed out even thinking about them :argue:

 

There can be something done...I'm sure they can pay SOG or something for the repairs if need be!

 

^ This. is what im praying for haha

 

BBB and the local chamber of commerce would be a good start

 

if SoA agrees to replace the wheels, they may debit Stivers or make them just cut you a check. just make it clear you don't want them doing the service. have a $$ amount for all 4 wheels and tires ready, my guess is, if they agree to settle for anything it will just be the ones that physically have damage and not a whole set. don't even communicate with Stivers any more, just directly with SoA

 

My experiences with them have been okay at best. Some of the salesman are complete dicks, and some are pretty darn good. It was the same thing with service. We ended up buying an Outback from them, but there was noise coming from the rear end that they kept trying to tell us was just the need for new tires. They said they did a whole check of the car before putting it on the lot, but I doubt it. If they did, it would be indicative of the service nightmares that you're having. It took them having the car 2 days for them to figure out that it was a bearing.

 

Just out of curiosity any updates? Luckily I deal with SoK and have been for awhile with no issues for both the WRX and the BRZ.

 

I have been taking my car to SoG since. Havent had any problems and don't expect any from them!
however, SoG will not fix my bumper under warranty because it may be defective as a result of Stivers' mistake. They said they will have to charge me to fix it.
At this point, since stivers will not compensate money, the only choices i have are to let stivers try again or pay out of my pocket to have it professionally done

 

Any new comments on Stivers, considering them for a mount+balance as SOG is pretty far away.

 

Stivers wanted $30 to M&B 2 wheels
SOG wanted $35
Six Star wanted $45

Not a huge difference, just posting here in case anyone else happens to be in the same boat.

 

I would still stay away from Stivers.


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I purchased my car from Stivers and I know there are a decent amount of bad reviews about them. Since I got a pretty good deal from them on the car, I have been taking it there for the basic services and they are quick and accommodating. It is pretty hard to screw up a mount and balance, if they are the cheapest I would probably just take it there.

 

These guys are nice. Don't know about pricing, though. They're in the Decatur area as well.
Kauffman Tire in Decatur
1471 Church St
Decatur, GA 30030

 

Gte

 

What does GTE charge for a mount and balance? Sounds expensive

 

I have no clue. AllPro mounted and balanced my last set. If cost is the only factor don't bother calling GTE. However, the handful of times I have used them I have been nothing but impressed. I've also never heard a complaint about them..... have you?

 

Follow-up:

Ended up going to Allpro based on the reviews here. Called ahead, they estimated it'd take 30 minutes. Showed up at 1pm, they were in the middle of lunch and said they'd start on it afterwards.

At 2:30pm, the tires were ready. As I was loading them up I check with the tech that he had swapped the TPMS sensors. He said that wasn't needed, that the vehicle would relearn the sensors from the other wheels (from another 2014 WRX). I said that was contrary to what I'd read on the internet, but that I trusted him. As I was walking out the door, he said that he wanted to call the dealership to double check. Turns out like I thought, you do have to either reprogram the TPMS computer, or swap the sensors. Took another 15 minutes to swap the sensors over, which they never gave back to me - I had to call once I got home and ask them to mail them to me. He didn't seem happy to mail them (maybe $2 of postage), and didn't apologize for not getting them back to me.

On top of that, they charged an extra $15 to patch a nail puncture in one of the tires, which seemed pretty chintzy considering the tire was already off the wheel for the mount+balance. I would have thought they would not charge for a patch, especially when the tire was already off the wheel, since Discount Tire and other patch for free.

Overall, not impressed. Was disappointed that I knew more about the TPMS system after only owning a Subaru for 3 months, when these guys are supposed to be experts. 3/5 stars, was about what I'd expect from a random mechanic. I'd be willing to try them again, but the didn't meet the expectations I had after reading these reviews on the forum. I also do most of the work on my cars, so it is rare I use other mechanics and possible I don't realize how bad other shops are in comparison.