Warning! Russel Subaru in Baltimore

[skibum]

I normally don't cross post, but in fairness to the members of this fine forum, by not mentioning this, I'd be doing everyone a disservice. Below is the excerpt from my posting on DealerRater.com.

 

BTW, if anyone's in the market for a 2005 Garnet Red GT non-lmt MTX Wagon with a May 05 build date, Russel has one in their inventory. The VIN is 4S3BP686256391141. But if you go for it, and we never hear from you again....well, at least you've been warned. In the words of Steve Rainey, Good luck.

 

Employee(s) dealt with: Steve Rainey

 

Reason for visit: Sales

 

Would recommend this dealer: No

 

Review:

After reading Klasor's and the review from 6/20/04, and after my first (and last) email encounter with Russel today, I'm convinced this place must be nothing more than a front for laundering drug money or financing terrorist activity. No dealership that expects to remain in business (hell, no legitimate business that desires to stay in business) would operate in this fashion.

 

I sent an inquiry to Russel via their website from the Subaru.com link asking if they could meet or beat the price on a comparably equipped car that is located at another dealership. The car in Russel's inventory is in a color that I prefer. The first response I got back was "buy it from them". This was from someone named Steve Rainey, who listed himself as the Sales Manager on the initial auto-generated "form letter" email acknowledgement. Curious that Klasor worked with a Michael Friend...yet another sales manager?

 

Anyhow, after being floored and appalled by such a terse response I replied to the "buy it from them" email asking if they could at least meet the other dealer's price. Simple question, and one that I thought would result in something like, "no, while we can't quite match the price you've gotten from the other dealer, we could sell it for $xxxxx. And since the car we have is more to your liking, might we still be able to earn your business?"

 

But nooooo.....their 2nd response was: "We do not sell cars at dfead cost, what's the point? Mike is one of the managers here at Russel. Good Luck. Steve"

 

Unbelievable! Also, I have no idea what "dfead cost" means. Perhaps what he was attempting to convey was... "d'Feds are comin'!! d'Feds are comin'!!!" Anyhow, this caustic, thoroughly unprofessional response is amazingly similar to the review from 6/20/04: "...so he went to the extent of negotiating with their manager's too and who instead of making an effort to sell their car, just walk you out and say "all the best in buying a car"..."

 

In 30 years of new car buying I've yet to have a dealer NOT counter an offer, yet here's a company that's supposedly in business to sell cars telling me, and others, to go buy from someone else?!?! Hey, ATF/Treasury Dept! Pssst! Over here. Something smells in Denmark, and it's not the Havarti...

 

Obviously, there will be no further "negotiations" with Russel. And I have rated them accordingly. I chose "N/A" in the Pricing category because even after 3 emails, I still have no idea what their actual price is!! Like I said, this place is a scam - they do not deserve anyone's business. Avoid at all cost!

[wingedmoon]

Try to go back to the dealer who offered you the price and see if they can do a dealer tranfer for the car you like.

[skibum]

Try to go back to the dealer who offered you the price and see if they can do a dealer tranfer for the car you like.

 

Hey thanks for the thought, that's a good idea. Unfortunately I've already tried that. We're talking a Midwest vs. MidAtlantic dealer - for various reasons they won't do interdealer inventory exchanges over such a distance. I could've flown to BWI for $39 one-way and driven the car back on two-laners to make it easy to vary the revs. Heck I'd have half my 1000 mile break-in out of the way by the time I got home. But I guess it wasn't meant to be. Plus, I'll be damned if I'm going to overpay for a car and be treated with disrespect in the process, just to get the color I want. They didn't even quote me a price. They were like "go away...spend your money elsewhere".

 

My hope is that someone who can stomach dealing with Russel lands one of the last '05 MTX non-lmt GT wagons out there. The extra bonus is this has a really late build date - 05/05 based on the VIN.

 

I dunno...perhaps I should call them. This was all over a few emails, and I'm still steaming right now.

[RoundBoy]

Still not seeing the extent of the problem you are. If they said the same thing, that ".. no we can't beat or match that price.." you would have been okay with it.

 

Granted, this guy was a little lacking in the tact department, but this is not a different response. Did they personally insult you, or just tell you to buy it from the lowerprice dealership?

 

Or maybe they called your bluff that you were not going to buy from a dealership 500 miles away from you, and just using it to get a cheaper price from them.

 

No business is obligated to counter offer you. Maybe they correctly called your bluff, and realized that they either didn't make a sale, or loose a car off inventory at no profit... making it a worse situation?

[almondcookie]

Is it the Russel Subaru on Baltimore National Pike in MD?

 

Don't get me started ... that place needs to catch on fire. It's the worst dealership ever...for everything. I would sit here and type the various reasons why (from attitude to pricing to sales practices to service) but it would be a couple pages long.

 

Fitzmall offers their "unbeatable internet price". They will NOT budge any further. I ended up going to fitz though because no one in the state of MD (at that time) had a 5sp GT wagon in white. Even the sales guy wasn't too sure either...i actually found it for him.

 

Sales and service is really going downhill these days.

 

[jagcars26]

Russel has always sucked when it comes to dealerships in the Baltimore /mid-atlantic area.One of the best is Jones Subaru in Belair Md or GlenBernie Subaru.

 

Rudy

[skibum]

Roundboy - I don't disagree with your point about them handling customers however they choose, but it's a flat dumb business practice. This behavoir of theirs (which is pretty well documented) is way outside what is considered usual and customary for dealerships, or any other business that wants to survive. And they certainly would be selling the car for a profit...

 

Heights - Yep definitely May 05. Any 2005 Leggy with the last 5 of the VIN at or above 90000 will have been produced in May or later. There's a forum member who claims to have purchased an '05 with a July '05 production date...they posted this 3-4 weeks back. I have no idea if they're correct though. I'd imagine '05s if not built thru July, were at least built into June, as the changeover to '06s is a no-brainer for SIA this year - probably could be done in 2-3 weeks.

 

And thanks for the headsup on Anchor. Yeah, I think they're in Maine? While that wouldn't make a lot of sense for them to attempt an interdealer transfer, I may try one of the other Baltimore area Subie dealers to see if they might do an inventory switcheroo with Russel....good idea.

 

Almondcookie - Bingo! That's them. I rest my case.

 

Jagcars (Rudy) - thank you for the tip on Jones and Glen Bernie. I'll see what they might be able to do for me.