Grand Forks Subaru

Not having received business reply to customer 'rebuttal' to date, Revdex.com contacted Grand Forks Subaru to get follresponse.Owner / GM Matt [redacted] explained that the dealership has had further interactions with the customer on these issues through the manufacturer, through the Michigan Attorney General's office, and through one or more direct contacts with the dealership.He says the dealership's position remains as indicated in its initial response of 1/18, and offers this letter recently provided to the Michigan AG's office in summary of where its position stands currently: "I am writing in reference to a consumer complaint filed with you by [redacted] Mr [redacted] purchased a new Subaru Outback from us on 8/22/in Grand Forks, North Dakota His complaint is specific to paint defects on the vehicle He states that he picked the vehicle up at 7:in the evening when it was dark and drove it to a church parking lot so he could look at it under their parking lot lights At that time, he said he noticed issues in the paint while he was taking pictures of it to send to his wife (8/the sunset isn’t until 8:pm in Grand Forks) He proceeded to drive to Fargo, ND where he was working A couple of days later he returned home to Michigan He called back to our dealership and spoke with the sales consultant about the “defects” he saw in the paint that evening Being approximately miles from our dealership, our sales consultant spoke with our service manager about assisting Mr [redacted] Our service manager advised him to bring it to the closest Subaru dealership to him in Michigan for them to look at it and then advise if it was a defect in the paint and if it would be turned over to Subaru for warranty repairs According to his letter, he stated he had to bring it to a couple different dealerships before anything was done to the areas of concern After a couple of visits to Subaru dealerships in Michigan, work was performed on the vehicle, it appears buffing and then reapplying clear coat to the affected areas He was in contact with our sales consultant after the work was performed and complained that he was dissatisfied with their work Again, with us being 1,miles away, it was hard for us to assist in any way He wanted us to do something about their work Subaru of America’s Customer/Retailer Services Department was involved with his complaint and was in contact with the dealerships that performed the work with the paint and assisted Mr [redacted] with his concerns Mr [redacted] continued to be dissatisfied with the work performed He wanted the paint work to be warrantied for life of the vehicle.The vehicle that was purchased is a Crystal Black Silica Outback It was on display in our showroom for multiple weeks if not a couple of months While the cars sit on the showroom floor, they are under lights and also have natural sunlight shining on them through the showroom windows We believe if there was such a “defect” in the paint that it would have been noticed by employees or customers and it would have been properly handled We would not have tried to sell it to a customer with such a “defect” in the paint The unfortunate situation is that Mr [redacted] lives 1,miles from our dealership which limited us on how we could assist him with his concern after he purchased the vehicle The fact that he purchased a new vehicle enables him to take it to any new Subaru dealership in the country for warranty work He took it to a couple of dealerships near his home They went through the proper steps with his concerns, and the manufacturer was even involved to assist him Our dealership is one of the top dealerships in customer satisfaction in sales and service with Subaru, we do everything we can to go above and beyond to make sure our customers are satisfied We have many awards from Subaru to prove it This is an unfortunate situation where the customer lives 1,miles from our dealership He went to multiple Subaru dealerships including Subaru of America and he was not satisfied with the work that was performed I am not sure how we can assist, in my ½ years of owning the dealership, I have never been involved in a situation quite like this oneThank you,Matt [redacted] Owner / General ManagerGrand Forks Subaru KIA ###-###-####"

Dear *** Thank you for sending me this letter After reading the letter and gathering the information from my team at the dealership that was involved with this customer, I'm not sure what we can do When the concern of our customer was brought to my attention, I was briefed by my
service manager, sales manager, and sales consultant They explained the situation to me that the customer lived approximately miles from our dealership The complaint was a "flaw" in the paint Being the distance from the dealership was so great, my service manager advised that the customer bring the vehicle into a local Subaru dealership to have them look at the affected area and see if it was a manufacture defect in the paint to see if it was a warranty issue I am sure the dealership that looked at the vehicle attempted to fix it in the manner that the manufacture would advise After visits to the other Subaru dealerships, my team was contacted again by the customer who stated he had paint work done on the vehicle and Subaru was involved with his claim Once the other dealerships and Subaru of America was involved with the customer, there wasn't anything we were able to do, especially when there was repainting of the vehicle involved.The vehicle that was purchased sat on our showroom floor for approximately weeks Reading the statement that another dealership said that the flaw probably came from the selling dealership not removing the protective wrapping from the vehicle in a timely matter, is something that I feel, is said to try to pass blame on someone else Our cheprocedure is not the cause of this flaw.If the customer lived in our city or near us, we would have been able to assist as the other dealerships involved did Once the customer authorized body work by another party, we were unfortunately unable to assist in anyway. Thank you, Matt ***Grand Forks Subaru

Not having received business reply to customer 'rebuttal' to date, Revdex.com contacted Grand Forks Subaru to get follow-up response.Owner / GM Matt [redacted] explained that the dealership has had further interactions with the customer on these issues through the manufacturer, through the Michigan Attorney General's office, and through one or more direct contacts with the dealership.He says the dealership's position remains as indicated in its initial response of 1/18, and offers this letter recently provided to the Michigan AG's office in summary of where its position stands currently: "I am writing in reference to a consumer complaint filed with you by [redacted].  Mr. [redacted] purchased a new 2016 Subaru Outback from us on 8/22/2016 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.  His complaint is specific to paint defects on the vehicle.  He states that he picked the vehicle up at 7:30 in the evening when it was dark and drove it to a church parking lot so he could look at it under their parking lot lights.  At that time, he said he noticed issues in the paint while he was taking pictures of it to send to his wife.  (8/22 the sunset isn’t until 8:27 pm in Grand Forks).  He proceeded to drive to Fargo, ND where he was working.  A couple of days later he returned home to Michigan.  He called back to our dealership and spoke with the sales consultant about the “defects” he saw in the paint that evening.  Being approximately 1000 miles from our dealership, our sales consultant spoke with our service manager about assisting Mr. [redacted].  Our service manager advised him to bring it to the closest Subaru dealership to him in Michigan for them to look at it and then advise if it was a defect in the paint and if it would be turned over to Subaru for warranty repairs.  According to his letter, he stated he had to bring it to a couple different dealerships before anything was done to the areas of concern.  After a couple of visits to Subaru dealerships in Michigan, work was performed on the vehicle, it appears buffing and then reapplying clear coat to the affected areas.  He was in contact with our sales consultant after the work was performed and complained that he was dissatisfied with their work.  Again, with us being 1,000 miles away, it was hard for us to assist in any way.  He wanted us to do something about their work.  Subaru of America’s Customer/Retailer Services Department was involved with his complaint and was in contact with the dealerships that performed the work with the paint and assisted Mr. [redacted] with his concerns.  Mr. [redacted] continued to be dissatisfied with the work performed.  He wanted the paint work to be warrantied for life of the vehicle.The vehicle that was purchased is a Crystal Black Silica Outback.  It was on display in our showroom for multiple weeks if not a couple of months.  While the cars sit on the showroom floor, they are under lights and also have natural sunlight shining on them through the showroom windows.  We believe if there was such a “defect” in the paint that it would have been noticed by employees or customers and it would have been properly handled.  We would not have tried to sell it to a customer with such a “defect” in the paint.  The unfortunate situation is that Mr. [redacted] lives 1,000 miles from our dealership which limited us on how we could assist him with his concern after he purchased the vehicle.  The fact that he purchased a new vehicle enables him to take it to any new Subaru dealership in the country for warranty work.  He took it to a couple of dealerships near his home.  They went through the proper steps with his concerns, and the manufacturer was even involved to assist him.  Our dealership is one of the top dealerships in customer satisfaction in sales and service with Subaru, we do everything we can to go above and beyond to make sure our customers are satisfied.  We have many awards from Subaru to prove it.  This is an unfortunate situation where the customer lives 1,000 miles from our dealership.  He went to multiple Subaru dealerships including Subaru of America and he was not satisfied with the work that was performed.  I am not sure how we can assist, in my 10 ½ years of owning the dealership, I have never been involved in a situation quite like this one. Thank you,Matt [redacted]Owner / General ManagerGrand Forks Subaru KIA ###-###-####"

I am rejecting this response because:
Matt, [redacted] Subaru attempted to repair the hood of the car only. The roof, A, B and C pillar along with the trunk and both sides show signs of contamination. Please let me know how you plan to fix these areas of the car. Also is it common practice to show one car and sell another? I test drove a black outback that was parked outside. I noticed the black car that was in the showroom, it had scratches near the gas tank. If Grand Forks would have been forth coming on what car was being sold to me I would have bought from another dealership. The car was manufactured in February of 2016, you stated that the car sat in the show room for 6 weeks. When did Grand Forks receive the car? what date was it delivered to the Grand Forks dealership?  Also, Why Did Grand Forks Subaru not sell me the car I gets drove and inspected? Please let me know how you would like to proceed, I'm sure we can arrange for the car to be sent back to the Grand Forks for inspection and repairs. As Subaru warranty has deemed it a selling dealers defect and not a warranty item. Please also send a copy of the inspection form I signed at delivery. Subaru corporation is stating that I was aware of the damage to the car when I purchased it.  Thank You, [redacted]  [redacted]