Suburu dealer problems

[truckdriver4roads]

Bought a Forester last year from my local dealer Maple Leaf in Daventry. Supposed to be serviced as part of the deal. Got home and decided to change to a high performance air filter. Took the supposed new one out and it was filthy. Maple leaf argued it had been changed. I started having DPF problems around a month ago. had a diagnostic and it suggested an oil problem rather than the dpf. I went to another Suburu dealer in Coventry and had an oil, oil filter change and reset the dpf. I asked to see my online service record and, sure enough, not sign of the service I was supposed to have when I bought the car. This has really soured my relationship with my Scooby. I thought that I could at least trust a franchised dealer but apparently not. I spoke top the previous owner and he had experienced similar problems with paying for work not done. Suburu UK weren't bothered and failed to reply to 2 emails. Any one else had similar problems with both Maple Leaf and Suburu dealer in general?

[Siluro]

I have had bad experience with my local subaru dealer in Northampton. Lets just say they could not perform a simple task correctly. Never paid for work not done though. I pulled them up on it and they refunded me more than the job i paid for so I cannot argue too much. In my experience the only mechanic you can trust is yourself. I have had a independent garage also tell me 10k miles ago my gearbox is shagged. They based this on normal wear paste when i got them to replace the gearbox oil. I have since given up on dealers and  independant garages. I will recommend scoobyworld in leicester, they did the cam belt for me when i first bought my WRX. For the bigger jobs that i cannot do in the street (or too coward) i will give it to them from now on.

I friend of mine has recommended Subaru in Bedford but i have no  experience with them.

Sad I know.

[truckdriver4roads]

Thanks for that. I agree with doing it yourself. I have owned grey imports for over 20 years and done my own work on them. However, at 77 I decided a change to a UK sourced jap vehicle would be best due to insurance policies towards us older people. I thought that Maple leaf, a franchised dealer would give me a degree of protection.  I had to use a Suburu dealer to maintain the service record and, honestly, the Forester was far too technical for me to do much on it myself... As you say, the only person to do the job right is yourself. So, tomorrow my 12 year old Nissan Elgrand turns up from japan, sight unseen, and I have more confidence in that than my Forester. The Forester will be sold no doubt at a heavy loss. At the same time it has dented my confidence in the integrity of any garage much less a franchised dealer. So, anyone want to buy a really nice Forester? eBay item no: 153539644921.