Jim Pattison Subaru Victoria

Reviews 5

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A Private User

The first time we took our Subaru to Saunders for service, we were told the bill would be under $300, but to our surprise it ended up at $480 with ridiculous extras like windshield wipers and an $80 filter. While we understand that those things may have been necessary, we felt we deserved at least a phone call before the work was done. When we complained about this, the man at the service desk was rude and confrontational, holding the filter up in our faces and saying thats the way its done, they just do everything THEY decide is necessary and give you the full charges at the end. What sort of customer service is that? After we phoned in to complain and were given a sincere (so we thought) apology, we decided to give Saunders another try. This time I took the car in myself for a routine oil change service.. to my surprise this same man (the rude & confrontational one) started talking about his "fag" friends to me. This offended me in more ways than one. Then when he discovered the courtesy car I had ordered had been given to someone else, he gives me a Chevy Aveo with zero gas and tells me to go put gas in myself. I drive a Subaru because I believe in the safety and handling they provide, so how is a Chevy Aveo a decent replacement vehicle? To be frank, I did not feel safe, and the fact that it had no gas when I had a meeting to get to was even more frustrating. When I complained to the man about this car he laughed at me, but since I was late for my meeting and frustrated I drove away. I told my husband about this and when he called the dealership to complain, the lady made fun of the fact that "big husband had to call in for his wife" and told us to pick up the car and take it somewhere else if we werent happy. And thats exactly what we did. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone, WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER. I too feel sorry that Mr. Saunders name is being blemished by people who dont understand simple respect and gratitude.

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Jenna Redding

Summary: Lazy, lame service with low integrity. Youre stuck if you own a warranteed Subaru in Victoria, so dont do it! I purchased a Subaru Forester in 2012. The first little thing to go was the plastic release button for the gas cap. It kept coming off, so I went to Saunders for a fix as I was still well within my warrantee period. While the manager there has good people skills and seems engaging, he simply pressed the plastic piece back on and waved me off. This happened about once/month. (Like I have the time for this,...) It took MONTHS before he actually spent the few cents and few minutes to actually replace the piece, and it hasnt come off since. My experience with a major problem was equally ridiculous, but way more egregious. My Forester started smoking and I was about 2 kms from the dealership. Saunders told me that I could have it towed to their service department (via my free CAA towing) and that theyd have a loaner car for me. After the towing, they retracted the loaner, saying it was the mistake of the new guy who answered the phone (as there was a car, but they were concerned it wouldnt be available for a higher priority customer if I returned it late). Instead of making good on THEIR mistake, they apologized and pointed to a local rental car place so that I could use one of their cars... at MY expense. They also told me that the fix would be out-of-warrantee and would cost approximately $500-700. By that time I lost my respect and tolerance for these clowns and had it towed to a repair place I trust in a better location for me, and they fixed it for under $200. Given that they have a service monopoly on warranteed Subarus in Victoria, I will never again purchase a Subaru while living here. Saunders give Subaru a bad name,

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Rea Narciso

Just bought my first brand new car from Jim Pattison Subaru! I stepped into their car dealership on a Sunday after I was told my old car required thousands of dollars of work. I thought it was about time I got myself the car Ive always wanted. I first spoke to Mauricio Bingham who showed me both the WRX and the WRX/STi and he was extremely informative about both vehicles. After learning about the 2 vehicles, I chose to go with the WRX as I was told itd be a better everyday drive for someone who isnt a huge sports car enthusiast. I met with the sales manager, Colin Gawreletz, who told me they had to bring the car I wanted in from elsewhere which could take anywhere from a few days to a couple months. I got a call from Colin a couple days later telling me he found my exact car and could get it in in 3-4 days! I was so excited and shocked at how quick it took them to bring it in. My car arrived on the Friday and I met with them that day to sign the papers for my new car. John in finance was great and worked to get me the best loan and payments that worked well for me. Overall, the process only took 5 days for me to get the exact car I wanted! Everyone was so informative, friendly, and great (and NOT pushy at all!) I am VERY happy with my experience at Jim Pattison Subaru Victoria!

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Mike Leung

Went in today hoping to test drive a new WRX or STI. Was greeted by a Sales person and I asked if I would be able to test drive the car. He explained that there are only 2 people working on Sundays and that he would need to come with me for the test drive. His work colleague was already out on another test drive and asked that I come back Monday to Saturday since there would be more people working (5 people). I said I would be willing to wait until the other people were finished with there test drive. He replied no again that it would not be possible. "We only take information and contact numbers on Sundays" and thats why they were open. He then asked if I wanted to test drive another vehicle, but a WRX and STI would need someone to come along. My wife and I left right after his response. Not letting customers test drive a car and only having 2 sales persons on a Sunday. Why even open on a Sunday? You might as well close the dealership and save your money on labour. Really bad customer service. I can see why the dealership has a bad reputation in Victoria. Taking my business else where like Nanaimo Subaru or the many dealerships on the mainland.

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Judy Norget

My negative review relates only to major timing problems, not to the actual service, which was fine, or to the courteous staff members. Without going into a long story, we were given a specific 9:30 appointment, with the use of a courtesy car, and told that unless they discovered a problem (which they did not), the service would take about 1.5 hours. We arranged a full day of tasks/appointments accordingly as we come from Salt Spring and want to maximize our time (and the ferry expense) on "the big island." We proposed to do a Costco run, assuming that our car would be ready within a couple of hours. Wrong! Our car was not even taken into the shop until about 12:45. In the meantime we had to go all the way to Sidney for a 2:00 medical appointment. So not only did we have to be at the ferry unnecessarily early to go to Saunders, but we spent much of the day driving back and forth to Victoria and to Sidney through heavy traffic (which we were planning to avoid), and then take a much later ferry home via Crofton. The end result: two cranky people who felt that Saunders Subaru had shown a complete disregard for the value of their time!

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