Ever been banned by a car dealership? I have!

[TyTyTheFireGuy]

New account, formerly ADDIrishBoy.

TL/DR; Camelback Subaru banned me because I left accurate reviews detailing their apparent inability to do their job, and then tried to steal money from me.


I haven’t had many interactions with car dealerships in my life. Most cars I’ve owned over the years were bought private party, since that’s typically the cheaper alternative. Camelback Subaru was only the second dealership I’d ever bought a car from, but boy oh boy did they did they leave an impression.

In March of 2022, my wife and I were expecting our second child. I decided it was time for her to get a bigger vehicle than her sedan, and started the long process of researching vehicles. After days of watching YouTube videos and pouring over forum posts, we decided on a Subaru Outback. It had just about everything we were looking for in a family hauler. I checked out dealerships in the area, and Camelback Subaru had good reviews, so I headed over.

Since Covid had wreaked havoc on supply chains, used cars were pretty scarce. The sales guy I was working with found a used 2020 Outback that looked great. He told me it was currently being detailed, but I was assured it had all the features and upgrades I was looking for. We negotiated on pricing and I got the dealer add-on fee down by around $2000 and was fairly happy with the deal. I signed on the car and waited for the call to pick it up.

This is when things started going downhill. I got the call that the car was ready and drove right over. It was apparent before I was even 10ft away that there was going to be a problem. I had been told that they had found some damage and were repairing it, but we must have different definitions of the word "repair". The driver side plastic fender arch was scratched to hell, along with the same sides rear bumper panel. The front fascia had a few very large rock chips that looked like they had been gone over with a white out brush, and wiped off just from running my thumb over them. Looking into the interior, and it didn’t have the options I was assured it had. I declined to take possession, as this was not the car I had agreed to purchase. They cancelled the purchase, but 3 hard credit pulls had already been done, and I still didn’t have a car.

I reached out to Berkshire Hathaway, the owner of Camelback Subaru, and filed a complaint. Several days later the GM of Camelback, Eric, emailed me to try and help remedy this issue. We went over what I was looking for and he found a brand new unit arriving 2 months later and I agreed to purchase that. My only concern was that I had negotiated the dealer add-on price to $1124 and wanted that price honored. He wrote back “I will get it handled” and we had a deal. He was very professional and I was willing to give them a second chance.

That proved to be a mistake. In May of 2022, the new car arrived and again I headed over. I looked over the car and everything seemed great, all the options I wanted were actually there this time! I started looking over the numbers and noticed the dealer add-on was not what we had agreed on. The finance guy said he couldn’t do anything about it, to which I showed him the email conversation I had with his GM. After attempting to argue the semantics of what the GM could have possibly meant by "I will get it handled", he then changed his story and said that the reason the last add-on fee was lower was because the car was used and used cars have lower add-on costs. Well if that's the case, why did I have to negotiate it down in the first place? Unsurprisingly, he had no answer for this, and reluctantly lowered the price. The only add-on I would be paying for would be the ZakTek paint and interior protection. I didn’t want this product, but car buying in 2022 was a wild time and I didn’t really have a choice. It was also $15 more than the original add-on price I had agreed to, but I was already annoyed at the situation and decided it wasn’t worth the fight. I signed and went home happy.

A few days later, as I’m looking over the contract, I started to realize something didn’t look quite right. I called the finance manager and we reviewed the contract together, and sure enough, I had been overcharged $1930.01. It wasn’t a line item, it just somehow got added somewhere along the way. It’s also dangerously close to the amount that was taken off the dealer add-on fee. Camelback cut me a check for the amount, but I’m pretty livid at this point. I’ve now had two interactions with this dealership, and both times have resulted in less than stellar results.

Unsurprisingly, things never got any better. Remember the ZakTek protection I had to buy? Well, that product has to be reapplied every 6 months to the paint to keep the warranty. This coverage lasts for 5 years, so twice a year I have to get this applied. After the first 6 months of ownership, I took it in for it’s first service. The service department took the car back and did the 6 month service and brought it back out to me. I still have the service record, and it does not show anywhere that the ZakTek had been applied. They then also forgot on the 1 year service, and again on the 18 month service. I had to take the vehicle back in I believe twice to have them actually apply the coating I paid for, but from the records it seems they only applied it once, and only because I brought it back.

Now again, this is a product that I never wanted in the first place. That being said, if I paid for it, I want it done. When they would email me asking to review their service, I naturally left awful reviews detailing how they kept forgetting to apply the ZakTek and also reiterating that every single time I deal with this dealership there is always a problem, hoping they would iron out the kinks. That obviously never happened, and it just kept getting worse.

Here is where it starts getting really interesting. At the 2 year mark, I called to schedule my last complimentary service. After making the appointment with one of the service reps, I promptly received a call back informing me that they wouldn’t be able to service my vehicle. When I inquired as to why, he said it was a decision his manager had made and transferred me over to him. I was told that because I kept leaving bad reviews, they would no longer service my car. Yes, I was banned from Camelback Subaru because they would screw up, email me asking for a review, and I would give an accurate review. Instead of fixing the underlying problem they very clearly have, they just decided to ban me.

Russ, the service manager, said that my issues are with their sales department, to which I reminded him that sales isn’t the reason that service keeps neglecting to do the ZakTek coating. He said most people bring in a ZakTek card they get in the mail, which I have never once received. The contract, unsurprisingly, says nothing about needing to bring some card every 6 months to remind them. I told Russ that if I bring my Outback in for service every 6 months, and this coating needs to be applied every 6 months, then logic would dictate that whenever my car was serviced they should be applying the coating. After all, Camelback are the ones who sold me this service in the first place and should know timelines of services they provide. Apparently, however, logic has eluded Russ, so here we are. Russ also stated that since they always screw up he didn’t know why I even wanted to get my car serviced there anyway. Fair point, Russ. However, you’re by far the closest dealership to me and my ZakTek protection was sold by you and surrounding dealers don’t even do it. Well, his decision was final, so off to AutoNation Subaru in North Scottsdale I went for the 2 year service.

Off topic, but AutoNation Subaru was phenomenal. The service tech that I worked with, Stephon, was awesome and kept me updated with everything. I was in and out in slightly over an hour and I can’t say enough good things about them. Their service department is also recently renovated and very comfortable.

While I was at AutoNation Subaru, I placed a phone call to Subaru of America to file a complaint. I went over the whole story, but my main concern was getting the money I had paid for ZakTek refunded. I made this call because at this point it was extremely difficult to get anyone from Camelback on the phone. Russ wouldn’t even take my calls anymore. Subaru of America made a note of everything and started doing their investigation.

During this time, I finally was able to get in contact with finance at Camelback. I told them I wanted my $1139 back, and was transferred to the finance manager, Steven. Steven was wholly unhelpful (shocking) and stated that the $1139 wasn’t refundable, even if it was a payment for a 5 year protection plan that they were no longer willing to perform on my car. Yes, they were perfectly okay with stealing from me. This didn’t exactly surprise me, just really made me wonder how many other people they have tried to screw over like this. I expect this kind of treatment from some shady used car salesman, but certainly not from a major dealership.

My phone call with Steven prompted me to then make a call to Berkshire Hathaway again. Subaru of America wasn’t yielding the results I had hoped for, and I'm honestly not even sure how much sway they have over the independent dealerships to begin with. So, I went straight to the owners of the dealership themselves. I again went over the entire story, really focusing on how Camelback was unwilling to give me my money back. Berkshire Hathaway requested an email with all the details, so I sent over an 8 paragraph dissertation on my experiences. Remember when Steven said that money was not refundable? Well, 2 and a half hours later I had an email from the now managing partner, Eric, stating a check for $1139 was in the mail. I guess that money was refundable after all, Steven.

In the end, I got what I was owed. My issue is that at every step it was a fight. After every interaction with Camelback Subaru I had to go over documentation with a fine toothed comb to find out not if, but what they had screwed up. And to be banned outright for being honest in reviews? Ludicrous. Camelback Subaru clearly has no intention of actually analyzing their failures, and instead is more than willing to blame a customer for their own shortcomings. My advice would be to shop somewhere else entirely, and avoid a massive headache and attempted theft.

[Rogue One]

Wow. Is it any wonder we call them stealerships.

Side note, I can get you back into your old account.

[TyTyTheFireGuy]

It would be awesome if you could get me in, I don’t even know what email is associated with it.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Camelback Subaru sounds pretty terrible. I'm glad Berkshire got you square away... maybe there will be some ramifications for the jabronis at Camelback Subaru, but I doubt it.

[90dsdreamin]

A dodge dealership. Wasted my time with a parts cannon diagnosis.

[Dbarry]

Man, that's an awful experience but glad you're able to get back what you deserve.