Stivers Decatur Subaru

Reviews 3

JE

Jennifer Celiberti

I would not recommend this dealership for service. This was my experience: I recently moved to Georgia from New York and was borrowing my moms car until I was able to buy my own. I brought her car here for an oil change in October 2016 and thought everything went well, until the car needed its next oil change. Nik was my service technician. My sister totaled her car and ended up needing to borrow my moms car once I was done with it. She took it to a dealership in Virginia for an oil change, and was surprised to learn that there was an issue with the oil pan and screw. After discussing with the Virginia dealership and my dad, it was decided that the oil change should wait until the car could be brought back to our normal repair shop in New York. My sister called and spoke to the service manager at Stivers, Marc, who assured her (and my dad on a separate phone call) that if they were found to be at fault, that they would provide compensation for the damage - $400 for a new oil pan. The service technician in New York found the same damage noted by the one in Virginia. The screw had been cross-threaded, the oil pan had been dented, and it was apparent that a high impact tool was used to force the screw into the oil pan. The pan was trash, and would need replacing in order to prevent the new oil from leaking out. Over the next two and a half hours, numerous phone calls were made by both the service technician in New York and my dad, and not returned by Marc at Stivers. So my dad decided to leave the dealership in New York and only after that did Marc return the New York service technicians phone call and stated the following: 1. too much time had passed since our last oil change, and therefore we were not eligible for compensation - I have never heard of a time being a consideration for an oil change, and my sister made an appointment for service the day the mileage on the reminder sticker matched the odometer. 2. we were not regular customers, and therefore we were not eligible for compensation - again, I just moved here; it would be impossible to be considered a regular customer after just one service appointment. 3. the dealership in New York should "be the hero and offer a warranty", therefore pushing all responsibility onto an otherwise uninvolved dealership. While I will say Lydia at Stivers was tried to be helpful and resolve the issue, we have yet to receive a phone call from Marc explaining why he went back on his word to compensate for damages that were confirmed by two separate technicians as being done by the person who last changed the oil (Nik), clearly a sign of great customer service. One honest phone call is all it would have taken to turn this experience around. Unless you like spending money on problems caused by "certified Subaru service consultants", I would definitely take your business elsewhere.

CH

Chris Swanson

Good car-buying experience. Friendly staff. Very poor customer service on the service side. I purchased a vehicle from Stivers about a year ago and it was actually a pretty enjoyable experience compared to other shops. They offered 2 years of free scheduled maintenance. The first time I took my car there was fine, not stellar but not bad. Today was different. I had a scheduled appointment for an oil change and a software update. I was told that it would take an hour and a half. I brought work with me in anticipation of the wait so not a big deal. I settle into the customer waiting are with about 3-4 other customers. Time goes by and Im working away. I know estimates can be off but next thing I know, its been over 3 hours and still no car. I dont see my car in the garage area so walk back to the service reps and wait. On my way back I see that my car is parked over to the side and I see my keys laying on a vacant desk with no paperwork. I start talking to the service rep who helped me and she tells me that she thinks its still being washed. (If you dont know, please dont make up something or guess.) I see that she doesnt have a clue where my paperwork is or that my keys were left abandoned on an unoccupied desk. When she locates my paperwork and realizes that there are no keys, I point out them out for her. When I sign the paperwork I dont even get an apology until I point out that the work had been completed over two hours before I walked over. I completely understand my fault in this and that I could have walked over much sooner. Thats not the entirety of why Im posting this. Take the additional two hours out of the picture. The reason Im posting a poor review is due to the poor customer interaction, the false excuses, and most importantly the fact that my keys were left unprotected on a vacant desk no where near the paperwork that should be accompanying them and a complete lack of true diligence and accountability. I have another year of free maintenance left on the vehicle but dont see how I can in good conscience return to Stivers to redeem it. I hope this was a one-off event for everyones sake, but Im not going to chance it. UPDATE: The service rep did call me without prompting and apologize, so I will bump this up to two stars. Given the number of 5 star reviews, this review shouldnt hurt too much, but I felt I needed to say something at least.

A

A Private User

Good dealership, weird location, however its close to my house so I cant complain. The sales people were nice and helpful. The guy whom I saw was new so he had a sidekick that knew all the answers. Honestly, I was looking for a different experience from Subaru. On a scale of "pushy-ness" this dealer rates at about a 5. It would be lower, however I told them up front I wasnt looking to buy a car that day, and they still got me inside.. Then when I wanted to leave, they did the.. "My manager wants to say hello to everyone, can you wait?". I understand the game and they have to make money, but I dont wanna feel like Im being herded like a sheep into the wolfs den. If and when I buy a Subaru, will I buy it from them? Maybe, here are my thoughts... They also offer the maintenance plan for 2 years, just like Gwinnett subaru. They also say that they will beat ANYONEs price whatsoever.. So I will probably test that theory. If they come in at a lower price, then Ill be happy to buy from them. The only reason I might not buy from them is that my wife had test driven two other cars (outback and forester) prior to me wanting to test drive an STI. The salesman had indicated that I could test drive one, but after he talked to the manager it was determined that I would have to put down a deposit, sign some papers, etc. before test driving. Im assuming the conversation went like this, "Hey he wants to test drive the STI" "Didnt they just test drive the forester and outback? They probably wont buy the WRX anyway..." Come to find out, this is pretty standard across Subaru of America, so I wont hold it against them... If I start get annoying phone calls, then Ill be back to leave fewer stars...