Be Careful with Stevens Creek Subaru - Warning

[pengrus]

For those who want to save time, you might just skip Stevens Creek when shopping for your car. We didn't get warned enough after reading two negative reports about them, and went there on last Saturday.

 

The sales person we met told me that he's been there for 11 years, and sounded he knows everything, yet he gave us wrong information when comparing the car's dimension between a LGT Wagon and a LGT Sedan, and a Camry. I don't like those people who pretend they know everything but in reality just jaded with their learning ability.

 

They have one LGT Wagon left and we planned to make a reasonable offer and buy it. Once we sat down at the table, within 2 minutes, we feel his hostile atitude and surprised he raised his voice and became absolutely rude. We promptly left.

 

We did send in the inquiry via edmunds.com, and got an automated reply with no follow up until Tuesday from their internet sales manager, he said he's going to send me a quote, but he did not follow up either.

 

I emailed him a link to their review:

i-Club -- Forums - Stevens Creek Subaru Asks You Bay Area What Went Wrong?

 

And I got a reply back from him basically says "we don't care". Quote below:

 

 

We live in a free country.......you can go buy a Subaru anywhere you want.

 

I've seen the Subaru fanatic & *crybaby* website before.

 

It has ZERO effect on sales here, but thanks for pointing it out anyway.

 

We continue to sell more Subaru's than any other store the the Northwest USA Region, The most in Northern CA, and by far the most in the Bay Area [this info as per Subaru Of America, so you don't accuse me of being a liar].

 

This month in particular we're absolutely KILLING every other dealer on Northern CA.

 

It is apparent that they do not care about what their customers think. They have their own way of doing business.

 

Googling these will tell you more:

 

"Stevens Creek subaru forum"

"Stevens Creek subaru review"

"Stevens Creek subaru customer"

 

So do you think the reviews have ZERO effect on them? And they are KILLING everyone else?

[ZinFreak]

Yeah, arrogance is a great foundation for a business.

 

Go up to Jenson Motor Center in Napa and talk to Nancy Kneifel if she's still there (she was close to retirement after many years with the dealership). I've bought two Subarus from her and she is a breath of fresh air.

 

Be well.

[pengrus]

Thank you for your recommendation. Kay at Subaru Oakland Downtown got my business.

[BerryBoy]

Why aren't you guys driving over to Santa Cruz? Great sales and service experience (so far) and hanging at the beach as a bonus!

[Holland]

Dealerships that are actually okay with me are Carlsen (Redwood City), Ron Price (South San Francisco), Santa Cruz, and Maita (Sacramento). These are based off the fact that I've gone to Carlsen for service, the previous owner of my RS used to deal with Ron Price, everyone swears by Santa Cruz (with a few RARE exceptions), and a couple friends got their STI's from Maita when they first came out in the summer of 2003.

[GT-L]

i went to carlsen's no haggling, no bs

[sframs]

got mine at ron price. they offerred the best deal. stevens creek kept my car keys and they were very aggressive on closing the deal when i wasn't interested in buying

[FJuan]

Yeah I bought my first Subaru (2.5 RS) at downtown Oakland, too. The salesman let me test drive the car for an hour by myself. I have nothing bad to say about them.

[BayScoobie]

Bought my wagon from Santa Cruz Subaru.... best experience by far. Their garage is pretty good too

[kdmai]

I admittedly went to Stevens Creek Subaru, but only to test drive the legacy I later bought at Santa Cruz . Their sales, service, and management are all terrible.

[Scotty]

When I was looking, I really wanted a 05 LGT wagon manual gearbox. I e-mailed the internet service manager and got a quote for below wholesale. Unfortunately he sold it the day before I could get there. Santa Cruz had one but wanted MSRP because they knew they had one of the few mt wagons left in the state.

 

I ended up buying at Autowest in Roseville, Eric Rasmussen posted a few things here a while back and I contacted him. He got me a really good deal. I usually go to Maita for any service and Chris in the parts deparment is a good guy to talk to.

[Guest *Jedimaster*]

It's the West Coast Bill Kolb

[DAP]

I went 40 miles out of my way to avoid Stevens Creek Subaru when I bought my car, I bought it in Livermore. I did not have any trouble there. Don't let them tell you their bad rep is not loosing them business.

[pengrus]

That's good to know.

[some6uy008]

If it makes you feel any better, I test drove their 5EAT and rev bonced for about 3secs.

 

 

In my defense, I was just driving around when the guy decided to show off the sportshift, so he switch it over to the manual shift just as I was flooring it.

 

 

I bought a MT at Carlsen

[leggtnut]

For those who want to save time, you might just skip Stevens Creek when shopping for your car. We didn't get warned enough after reading two negative reports about them, and went there on last Saturday.

 

The sales person we met told me that he's been there for 11 years, and sounded he knows everything, yet he gave us wrong information when comparing the car's dimension between a LGT Wagon and a LGT Sedan, and a Camry. I don't like those people who pretend they know everything but in reality just jaded with their learning ability.

 

They have one LGT Wagon left and we planned to make a reasonable offer and buy it. Once we sat down at the table, within 2 minutes, we feel his hostile atitude and surprised he raised his voice and became absolutely rude. We promptly left.

 

We did send in the inquiry via edmunds.com, and got an automated reply with no follow up until Tuesday from their internet sales manager, he said he's going to send me a quote, but he did not follow up either.

 

I emailed him a link to their review:

i-Club -- Forums - Stevens Creek Subaru Asks You Bay Area What Went Wrong?

 

And I got a reply back from him basically says "we don't care". Quote below:

 

 

 

 

It is apparent that they do not care about what their customers think. They have their own way of doing business.

 

Googling these will tell you more:

 

"Stevens Creek subaru forum"

"Stevens Creek subaru review"

"Stevens Creek subaru customer"

 

So do you think the reviews have ZERO effect on them? And they are KILLING everyone else?

Well his is fibbing a bit here. Stevens Creek can't hold a candle to Carter Subar in Seattle. They continually get sales awards for the most volume dealier on the WEST COAST which includes Alaska. For the longest time they were the only subaru dealier that could sell to alaska and they are extreamly popular up there. This data might be a bit out of date (about 2 years old from when I lived in seattle). They also sell to all 50 states from there, which stevens creek can't do. I was working with the internet sails manager at carter (joe spitz, what a standup guy Subaru Research: Outback, Legacy, Forester, Impreza, B9 Tribeca, WRX, STi, spec.B... all models, years, 2007, 2006, 2005..) when I was in the market for my baja, but got the word from my wife that we were moving to santa cruz and he refered me to santa cruz subar and have been so happy since.

 

Ok enough with my rantings.

 

+ infinity on your feelings here. They are so slimy and I can't see how they can sell at all with that aditude.

 

Ben

[ur a bus]

OK, I bought mine from Mike in the internet department in October 2004 with no drama.

 

They had the only ABP/black 5MT GT Limited sedan in NorCal with no spoiler, so I decided to play along. Everyone here wanted 6-10 weeks for a special order, except Senator. They had no cars on the lot, and nobody helped me, even when I sat down on the showroom floor and waited for someone to ask me WTF I was doing.

 

I had several e-mails back from Mike, and he was reasonably helpful. I called once, and talked to the other internet guy (forget his name), and he was helpful too.

 

Mike called me on a Sunday, and I agreed to buy the car. I gave him my CC# for a $500 deposit. I told him that I would be down in a few days to pick it up.

 

I went down on Thursday (AMTRAK), and then purchase experience was drama-free. Mike was professional, and the F&I guy didn't give me too much sh** for putting $16,000 down, not buying paint sealant, and not buying an extended warranty.

 

That said, the floor salesmen are scary. The service department people are scary. I don't think I would have bought there if I just drove in off of the street.

 

-- Steve

[Irrational Exuberance]

if anyone lives in the sacramento area, its worth the drive to go to Shingle springs subaru... second to that is maita. regardless, stevens creeks rep is legendary. even my mom knows about stevens creek subaru (she does her research apperently) from when she bought her forester back in 00'

[ur a bus]

if anyone lives in the sacramento area, its worth the drive to go to Shingle springs subaru... second to that is maita. regardless, stevens creeks rep is legendary. even my mom knows about stevens creek subaru (she does her research apperently) from when she bought her forester back in 00'

 

I spoke to Aaron at Shingle Springs, and was very impressed. If I hadn't found exactly the car I was looking for at Stevens Creek, I was going to have Aaron do a factory order for me. One of my co-workers bought his LGT at Shingle Springs (on my suggestion), and was very happy.

 

-- Steve

[leggtnut]

It almost strikes me as odd that no one asked the dealier to do a traid for the car that they wanted. Every dealier that I have worked with has tried to do that before special ordering the car. It is easier and faster than ordering it. I would think if you found a sales person/dealier that you like, you would give them the first chance to make the deal with you. Instead I keep hearing about people driving many miles out of their way just to get it at the dealier that has it.

 

Just something that seems odd to me and .02 worth of my mind.

[ur a bus]

It almost strikes me as odd that no one asked the dealier to do a traid for the car that they wanted. Every dealier that I have worked with has tried to do that before special ordering the car. It is easier and faster than ordering it. I would think if you found a sales person/dealier that you like, you would give them the first chance to make the deal with you. Instead I keep hearing about people driving many miles out of their way just to get it at the dealier that has it.

 

Just something that seems odd to me and .02 worth of my mind.

 

Dealers (not just Subaru) in Sacramento don't normally want to do dealer trades more than 100 miles away. I am sure that if there had been an ABP/black 5mt sedan w/o spoiler somewhere in the area, Aaron at Shingle Springs would have traded for it for me.

 

-- Steve

[Dong Homez]

Bump because Stevens Creek sucks. I was also treated badly and left that place cursing.

[XiiiXiii]

Thanks for bumping this, now I can share my long horrible experience to the world <warning for long rant>

 

<cliffs notes is on bottom, but you know you want to read the nitty gritty details of Stevens Creek's shadyness>

 

I've been in market for a Spec.B since the 06 model. I was already quoted invoice from Carlesen back in November (I wasn't ready to buy just yet back then). FF to March '07 --> I'm ready to buy, and the 1.9% is tempting. Since the beginning of March I have hawked over dealerships inventory (within a 100 mile radius). Carlesen didn't have any instock (they actually had zero legacys of any kind).

 

I kept a spreadsheet running on different dealerships and the Spec.Bs that they had instock (price vs vin#, etc etc). From March 4th -> March 20th I noticed that Stevens Creek had 2 in stock (one of which I noticed was there since beginning of March). I figure it was time to start working on quotes so I filled out the online price quotes from Subaru. StvCrk seemed reasonable and quoted me 33,588. Not too bad, its maybe few hundred over invoice (after adding in the pre packaged options). Mike (internet sales) seem'ed reasonable, even warned me about floor salesman because they can't offer the prices he does <HINT #1>

 

Same week I noticed on Friday that Carlesen just got a Spec.B in inventory. I referenced my old email from Larry Fung from the internet sales team and he originally qouted me invoice but later had to retract that offer to invoice +$500 (gm wasn't letting him sell that car for invoice because it was the last one they'd get), fully understandable. He was upfront about it (maybe he was lieing out his ass, but he was straight froward with me since day one. He quoted me for 33,355. Already thats $200 less than StvCrk. (keep in mind this is for same exact car with same exact options already on it)

 

Now comes Saturday and I have my numbers in hand. I happened to be in the San Jose area so I convinced my girlfriend to kill some time with me and venture over to StvCrk. We get there and theres a Spec.B on the showroom. I check the window sticker and its actually the lesser optioned model (missing XM and security system ~$600 worth less).

 

This is where the drama begins : I had to use the restroom so I left and came back. One of the floor salesman had talked to my gf, and when I came out he approaches me (mistake #1). I knew that I should have been talking directly to Mike instead but shoot this guy is already here and I already know the numbers I want so I let him try to sell me.

 

We get in the sellers hole (that cubical that is most likely bugged because StvnCrk seems like they would be that shady). First thing he tells me is "I am not like other dealers here. Before I was a masseuse. I even spent several years in India to train to become a masseuse. Let me tell you, I am not here to sell you a car, I am here to sell you our service." <yadda yaddah> ...Well I had already told the guy off the bat that Mike had already given me a quote. I give him the number and he looks it over. The guy then busts out a sales WORKSHEET. WTFBBQ??? He writes down his price (something like 35k. Also remember that he is trying to sell me the lesser car too). He tells me to write my price and he'll see what he can do.

 

He walks out to the bullpen room and does something..he comes back and tells me they will only go xxx low (still higher than Mike's quote, still higher than Carlesen's quote). I stick to my guns and tell him straight up that I know my numbers. I know my cars, I know that they've been sitting on two cars for almost a full month (at least 3.5 weeks under my radar. Remember I kept a spreadsheet up of vin#'s and dates). He has me write another price and leaves with the worksheet again.

 

He brings back another guy (kind of heavy set, probably Italian). This guy gives me the whole spew of he still needs to make money on the car, he can't sell it for that cheap, <yaddah yaddah yaddah>. I throw it back at him that A) I am not here to buy a car because I need one. B) I have done my homework and your bullshit of subaru making only 1000 Spec.B is false, and C)I know that they have multiple Spec.B on the lot that haven't moved.

 

His response: "These are limited cars, I can sit on these as long as I want. They are worth lots of money. I have to pay for the lights, the show room, etc etc. I can't let it go that cheap of what you ask. <Get ready for this kicker> Look, you are asking for only $200 less than what we offer you. Be realistic, thats only what? a couple dollars a day after you finance? Be realistic, its a hamburger"

 

The guy had the nerve to say that to me. It wasn't like I was unreasonable. I was still getting a better quote from Carlesen for a more expensive car. I had the email in hand from Carlesen so it wasn't like I was making it up. And seriously I was a hardass on $200 bucks not because of the money but because at that point I already knew I didn't want to deal with these assholes. I was prewarned ahead of time of Stevens Creek from a friend in iclub.

 

At this point I'm getting fed up but I'm not rude enough to just walk up and out (Its hard for me to just say no to a salesman. Not that I can't say no to buying, I just feel bad for leaving them hanging). We go back and forth on numbers again and I start telling them I need to rethink, I'm not ready to buy now..blah blah blah. I was being nice in saying that, its a valid excuse to walk away without being rude.

 

Here comes a quote for sales man of the year : "Do you care that I have 4 kids? What can we do so you will buy a car from us today?"

 

OH YES HE DID. He tried to play guilt trip on me now. At this point I didn't care what the price was. They could have offered it to me for $1000 less than Carlesen and I would have walked away from them. On and on I kept track of their lies, and bullying. Then that one pushed me over the top. I knew from that one statement that it doesn't matter what they do, I will never buy a car from them and neither will any of my friends. (I'm willing to pay any savings Steven's Creek suby might offer just to make sure a friend doesn't buy from them).

 

I finally get myself out of that pressure cooker room and walk away to my car. Few steps from my car I hear someone yell my name. It turns out to be Mike the internet sales guy. He trys to sell me and says he'll match Carlesen. I felt bad for the guy because he actually seemed better than the floor salesman. Unfortunatly for him I got stuck with dealing with the other guy. I would give Mike a chance again, but not Stevens Creek. Unfortunatly for Mike, he works for Stevens Creek.

 

2.5-3 hours later I'm finally driving back home. I have a couple hours left in my day and the gf convinces me to just stop in at Carlesen (its less than a couple miles from home).

 

I walk in, find Larry the guy who I've talked with last November and recently over email. He requotes me what he emailed me, gave me the keys to check out the car (it was in the lot still under protective plastic and all). He had to take care of another customer so he left me alone to just sit and get a feel for the car. He gets back with me when he's done and first thing he says is "You know my price, and its either you want it or you don't." He doesn't even pressure me for anything he just shuts up and lets me think it over.

 

I knew I wanted the car, I haven't even taken one on a test drive but I knew I would be driving on in the next few days. And with the no hassle of Carlesen I told him I'd take it before even taking it for a test drive. I was so fed up and pissed off at Stevens Creek that I would have paid more to Carlesen if they asked for it. I would do anything to Spite Stevens Creek.

 

Here's the best kicker. Its now 3 weeks since I've bought my car and I check subaru's inventory. Steven's Creek still has all 3 of their Spec.Bs sitting in their inventory. Steven's Creek can take their "only few hundred made, limited edition,I have 4 kids, I can sit on them forever and make tons of money bullshit lies" and shove it up their ass.

 

<end of rant>

 

<cliffs notes> Got the run around and insulted at Stevens Creek. Went to Carlesen and bought the car to spite Stevens Creek.

[edkwon]

Got mine at Ron Price. no complaints

[leggtnut]

Got my Baja T, Forester XT, and Legacy Gt from Santa Cruz. 1000 times better than stevens creak on the worst day.