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Don't Waste Your Time with Subaru Online Parts

7K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  Matt_OPEC 
#1 ·
Was quoted a price with over $200 in shipping for an oversized piece. However, over a week later (after several emails confirming our order) when we expected the parts, we received yet another email saying, since it was an oversized piece, they had to add another $53 onto the shipping. We never actually got the parts from them, but they did refund our money. If you don't mind wasting a lot of time and being charged more than the original quote, by all means do business with them.
 
#2 ·
They are, as BTW, a branch of Grand Prix Subaru in Hicksville, NY.

I ordered the 19mm sway bar 2 years ago, received it but their on-line and e-mail communication sucked and I decided that was the only time.
 
#3 ·
First I find it suspicious that you just joined and your first two and only posts are bashing them- hey lots of credibility there.


Just in case you are sincere, you don't know the background. I mountain bike and am constantly buying and selling frames, which are always subject to size surcharges. The last one I lost my >>> on shipping because I received an online quote from Fedex. I entered the package size weight etc... accurately. By the time I received payment and went to purchase the label- the cost was $100 more. We're talking less than a week between the two.


Last month I left my jacket in a rental. Went on Fedex and purchased the label and email it to Hertz. Two weeks later I get a surcharge notice. The shipping went from 16.95 to $28 something. This is a Columbia jacket stuffed in a small box that only went from AR to MD- ridiculous gouging from Fedex.


I've ordered a ton of stuff from them, never had an issue.
 
#4 ·
First I find it suspicious that you just joined and your first two and only posts are bashing them- hey lots of credibility there.
Lots of users do this.

Sign up, say the same thing fifteen times, leave.

It's the internet equivalent of standing on a street corner and screaming at everyone that walks by but it's not really against the rules either.
 
#5 ·
I get that you're (!%()*%! but even if you still want to choose to hate them (which I don't recommend, but that's opinion, not fact), do yourself a favor and learn something from this experience. If you want good online shopping with dealers - learn to be a good online shopper. Avoiding them may be one lesson, but there are far more valuable lessons here you shouldn't miss that will help you in the long term.

I've had issues with many of the major online dealers and retailers - would you like me to list them all so you can avoid them? Most people don't do that which disproves the logic "bad experience = avoid forever".

A more appropriate title and lesson might be: "Don't waste your time (or be very careful) ordering large parts from online dealership retailers". None of them will get this right 100% of the time.

In the future, if you order large parts:
1. Look at the 10 biggest online retailers with discounted prices and see if any are close enough to drive too.
2. Ask your local dealer to match the price of the large part.
3. If you're dead set on online order - ask up front about total shipping, return, warranty, costs - if they can't guarantee it, don't buy it. But honestly I would just avoid it, particularly for someone doing small volume like you're doing. There are *many* issues, you only ran into one of them. Sure you might get lucky next time but that's anecdotal.

All of which I've done like 100+ times.

Now - about their mistake.....

I've ordered and shipped car parts for decades....US, Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, South America

I've had issues with multiple online Subaru dealers - but I think mostly just once each, so no patterns or trends, just honest mistakes.

What I can tell you for certain is that you will *never, ever* get walk-in, hands on, expert service like you can from a local professional when dealing online. There's content/digital/ordering/computer side, processing, picking parts, boxing, payment, shipping - there might be 1, 2, 3, 4 people involved at a distance and that leaves room for mistakes. They don't happen often - but statistically it's going to happen. 1% of the time...or whatever it is. I've done enough that I've seen it. The more important question is if one dealer is egregiously mistake ridden more than others - I haven't seen that to be true with the online dealers so I've never posted any of the issues - even some really big one$$$.

Additionally - I would not order large parts from online Subaru retailers. They're not professional shippers and they can do it and reasonably well considering - but it's far from a specialty.

Large parts have a lot of issues - communication, pricing, packing, shipping, damage in transit, trying to claim warranty or insurance on large parts...the normal possible mistakes are amplified and additional mistakes are present when doing large items. It's best avoided particularly for average car owners. I'm generally not in a time fix and understand these things well, I've seen lots of issues, they don't phase me - so it doesn't matter at all to me.

For example - some aftermarket parts companies that sell on ebay - they're selling the same part thousands of times - they're "better" at this and have a more predictable and repeatable service after the sale. Subaru retailers are not there yet, and I doubt they will be any time soon logistically speaking.
 
#7 ·
@Objective Observer (lol at your username btw)

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I places many orders with Subaruonlineparts and never had any issues with delivery or charges. I even exchanged a few DMs with them a few times asking to confirm SKUs to ensure the parts would fit my car based on the VIN.

Granted my parts were all mostly maintenance items like filters, brake pads and rotors, and wiper refills - easy to shop via UPS. But still, they were very responsive and provided a great service - so I dont think it's fare (or "objective") for you to judge them by this one experience. I understand you may not want to give them another chance (I probably wouldn't) - but before telling EVERYONE not to waste time with them - maybe make sure they are truly are so horrible and ignorant.

Another factor that may have played a role was that your item was just not easily shipped. Sometimes, as much as I want to order stuff online - the delivery makes it really unreasonable.
 
#8 ·
So let me get this straight: you ordered an oversize item, got a shipping estimate, received an update to the shipping estimate that you didn't like, cancelled the order, and got all your money back?

The online retailer wasn't price gouging, they were being up front with what your total cost would be so you wouldn't be surprised. As @idosubaru noted, shipping costs aren't always known in advance prior to the packaged reaching the shipper.

You should be praising them for being pro active and then giving you a full refund when you cancelled, not beating them up over it.
 
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