This review is factual. - VH
This review is factual. I have addressed three major concerns:
1. Do you want to purchase a car from Hilltop Subaru?
2. Do you want to purchase a car from any of the dealerships owned by this owner: olympicautogroup.ca?
3. Do you want to own a Subaru in Canada?
I work in healthcare as a front-line worker (working rurally), and in 2022, I was in search of an Outback Wilderness to replace my aging 2013 Ford Edge. While I live in Calgary due to the shortage of cars, Mike McWhinney, the sales manager at Hilltop Subaru in Vernon, had one available. I was sent login details for the Subaru Starlink application, along with numerous extras including an extended warranty, totaling $53,746.14 at 1.49%. They arranged for the car to be transported to their sister dealership in Calgary. While the car was still in Vernon, I received error messages from SUBARU STARLINK® Connected Services indicating that multiple warning lights were on in the Outback. Mike: When loaded on the car carrier, the battery was dead, which is why you received that update.
I trusted Mike. When I picked up my car, it wouldn't start. Subaru Calgary jump-started a brand new car and asked me to drive it for a few hours. I drove it home and it wont start next morning'. Missing work that weekend I had to get- battery replaced
Then commenced another nightmare: the cruise control only worked 30% of the time.
At other times, the power steering wouldn’t work.
Soon, the car started going completely dead while driving. I was once stuck on Deerfoot, which was scary since the car wouldn’t start. It eventually did after 5-7 minutes. On another occasion, it was stuck on High Street in Okotoks. Yet another time, it wouldn’t start and I had to open an urgent care shift.
Whenever this happened, I got similar emails from Subaru Starlink: "Multiple warning lights are on in your Outback."
Mike: "I am distressed at this news for sure. I certainly hesitate 99% of the time to send a car so far away from 'home' as customer service becomes SO difficult."
I was startled when Subaru Calgary’s manager informed me that someone would need to drive this car for 6-8 months to reproduce all of these errors, and then they would troubleshoot it. They did not offer/provide me with a courtesy car, and I am unable to work without a car.
I requested that the car be replaced with a like-for-like one or that I be refunded all of my money.
In September 2022, they reluctantly took the car in to get it looked at (again, no courtesy car provided). I got a call the very next day saying there was nothing wrong with the car. To me, it appears they had no intention of investigating or fixing it, thus keeping Subaru Canada in the dark. I was astonished by this. Mike and his colleagues within their network then offered me $13,000 (less than what I had paid to purchase my car). They also took the liberty of selecting another car for me and asked me to lease an Acura RDX within their dealer network!They said they were doing me a favour by offering these options.
Subaru Canada had all the information available; they had access to Starlink. There are numerous messages of these errors (around 270 emails also sit in my inbox). I purchased this car for reliability.
The car was not functional on shipping and delivery. Hilltop was aware of this, but I only came to know since I got an email via Starlink. This all coincided at a time when I was facing grave family health concerns, which Mike was aware of. I had sold my 2013 Ford Edge to a colleague's daughter. He kindly returned it to me, and I am still driving it with over 200,000 km, and it’s never left me stranded. I wasted money on insurance for the Outback, and also added glass coverage. Since September 2022, the car has been with Olympic Auto Group at their Calgary location. I have been forced to pay off the finance. During this period, I have received threatening emails stating they will take legal action against me and also calling me a criminal in an email.
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