Don Docksteader Subaru Service Department Scratched My STI Lip Kit.
 

Hey everyone, long story-short... I went to the dealer for a scheduled service to take my Pioneer radio out to get it shipped to Pioneer HQ for a reflash because they could not figure out what the passcode was after I removed the negative battery terminal. They want to charge me $75 for the reflash even though it's not my fault from the beginning. Eventually if I end up getting a new battery or need to work on the car I always disconnect the negative to be safe... and eventually sooner or later this will happen.

To make matters worst, when I got back to the car after the service, the car was parked facing the curb. Immediately I knew something was not right (they even said they normally, as per policy, park backing up). Anyways, low and behold, I found nice scrapes underneath my STI front lip. How do I know I didn't do it? Well, I checked and took a photo of my front lip in my own garage before I headed down to the dealer on that very same day! Service Manager said that they refuse to fix it and do anything about it; what made me more upset was the fact that he said it is not a Canadian product (referring to the lip), and that if they scratched it, it would have left a mark on the concrete...Seriously?!

Now, I understand that if my car was lowered it would be my fault for putting it out of spec, but blaming the kit from overseas BUILT for the BRZ by STI is utter BULLCRAP. Anyways here are some photos and videos for you to decide. Also I need some transcripts for the videos to make out what they are saying, I know you guys can be really good detectives... I have already emailed Subaru Canada about this and hope to get a response soon.

Any help would be much appreciated!

I am so paranoid that I took pictures of the front dash and front lip right before taking her into for service...

Before Picture in my garage on the same date.
http://i44.tinypic.com/k0h83r.jpg

After the fact, when I came back to the car after the service.
http://i44.tinypic.com/v46szl.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/fcuzaa.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/291kk06.jpg


Technician, parked the car too close and you can hear the scrape right after he put it in Park.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epGqscbEftg"]20120726 191807 E - YouTube[/ame]


Service Advisor and Service Manager talking amongst themselves while I was waiting in the waiting room.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvzDxjqybXI"]20120726 213029 E - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PXUoB3c7GE"]20120726 213129 P - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kqParxnYoY"]20120726 213228 P - YouTube[/ame]

It doesn't really matter if it's not stock, cars should come out of the shop without any damage to them (that wasn't there before), and if there is, they have to pay for it. The Honda dealer messed up the under side of my trunk with a floor jack when I got an oil change once (my s2000 is very low) but they still had to pay to get it fixed.

With that said, the damage to the lip seems minimal at best and will probably eventually happen to it during it's life...

I would openly accept it if they admitted their fault and apologized... Instead of feeding me BS and not doing anything about it at all.

that's barely any damage. I would just not pay for what ever they were doing (oil change etc) and not go back.

Have they seen/heard the video?

So you have video proof of them checking out your car after they curbed it? Tell them you have video evidence, and you'll take it to court if they don't convince you not to.
Even if you don't plan on taking any legal action, sometimes just the notion that you might do it is enough to make the other person do what is necessary to make up for their mistake.

I agree that the lip will eventually get that kind of damage in its lifetime, but the point is that this wasn't OP's fault.

Would you buy a brand new car with scratched up paint and dirty engine oil because that will eventually happen to your car in its lifetime? No, of course not.

They're not going to admit it's their fault unless they're willing to compensate you for it, which they don't seem to want to do. If they were nice they'd comp your service, but they seem like the kind of dealer that likes to charge for everything so I doubt they'd do that or anything else without you raising hell. I'm kind of curious, did they not provide a radio code when you bought the car? I always assumed that came with it. If you're the one that disconnected the battery then that's why they're charging (again, if they were a nice dealer they'd apologize for not providing the code with the car purchase but they don't seem like that kind of dealer).

Whether or not you think it's worth the hassle is up to you, personally I'd just write them a bad review and find a new dealer.

Also, where on earth did you pay $2,000 for an STi lip? They're like $5-600 shipped from Japanparts.com, at least to the US anyways...

That's hardly a fair comparison, we're talking about the absolute back of the underside of a (aftermarket) lip on a car. If I were buying it brand new with the STi lip installed and found that damage I may ask for a little more on the price or a free oil change or something but it certainly wouldn't stop me from buying the car.

$2000 for a lip? Holy fackers.

hold up! 2k for the front lip?! boss status!

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I meant $2k for the whole kit lol.

Do yourself a favor and don't take pics with a cell phone next time. I can't even determine (conclusively) that there wasn't damage prior to the dealer visit. And even if you do, make sure the pics are in focus!!!!

As for this whole thing: work it out with them FIRST before you come to the internet for advice/judgment/rebuttal. The last thing you want is a dealer that treats you like ass because "everyone else on the internet" already determined guilt.

-alex

^ that's what I was thinking, damn 2k?? Not even CF.....
That sucks though, even though the damage is extremely minor and would inevitably happen, they should still own up to it and apologize. At least offer to repair it, maybe not 2 grand though, that would look like a rip off to anybody.

ETA: I see, 2k for the whole kit.

Let it go, it will be better for you. This damage is clearly not worth a fight, or time and bad emotions.

Already dealt with the Service Manager, he was giving me hell. They are not admitting at all, no apologies, no working it out... Just straight on "NO! Not our fault!"

Regarding the crappy initial picture; I know it sucks but I just took it as a precaution, never knew it actually came to this...


As for letting this go; I will certainly not let a dealer push me around like this. We, as consumers have our rights to complain if there is such bad service.