Subaru Repairs $$$$$

In interest of fairness I got a comment from Deb on my post about the issues I am having with my Subaru which you can read below. It looks like Deb may work at the place I am having issues with. Now from her blog she has a lot of fans and I must say that the people behind the desk that I have dealt with there are sales folks, I work while the shop is open so tend to drop my car and get it after the shop is closed. The sales folks have always been nice to me and quick to get my bill and keys so I can pay and get on with my night. It is a shame that the service folks don't seem to have the same customer focus. . . .

Now it may be my car, it has 120K on it but as I said I have had GMs with more on them and less problems from them so I give that I may have a bad car here but such is life. I just wish I could bring it in for a repair and not have them come up with a list of extras that need fixing, and when I get it back the one thing I asked them to fix (other than the oil change) was not fixed. . . . they said it was but it don't work. . . . and folks, I really can't get past the $95 for plugging the car into the computer. . . if I even dreamed it would cost that much I would not have bothered. And another $80 to replace a front blinker light. . . I was told it was hard to get to. As an engineer that sounds like a poor design to me. You know that is a part you will need to replace during the life of the car, maybe a few times. It should not be that hard to get to that you can justify $80 buck when the bulb is less than $5 at the local Wall Mart. . . .

Now I am going to do my own break pads since I can't justify the $350 for a job I can do for between $40 and $80 in parts depending on who's pads I buy and a few hours of my own time on the weekend. The rotors I can see if they need turning by looking at them, I don't need to turn them to see if they are good. . . This will be another chance to see how well the car is designed. . . a well designed car should not be that hard to replace break pads on - another item you know wears out so should be easy to replace. . . If I remember I will post the results after I fix them. . . . .