Rafferty Subaru

How many people does it take to change a light bulb at the Rafferty Subaru? There’s immense competition these days, but last Friday Rafferty pulled ahead of the pack to determine the most untrustworthy dealership. At Rafferty, you don’t want to change a light bulb in your car, let alone purchase an entire vehicle. Last Friday, my wife came to the Rafferty Subaru to replace a bulb in the left taillight. The job was worth $22 including parts and labor, but she was enthusiastically offered to replace the entire taillight for $263. Rafferty, of course, strives to offer the best deals for their customers, but she declined their offer and requested that only the bulb be changed. They kindly agreed to do this, but when she came home, I noticed the taillight was no longer properly installed. Now, there was a wide-open gap between the taillight and car body, which was wide enough to see the internal wiring. This brilliant innovation would result in water flooding the taillight through the gap during the first rain. At this point, my wife felt that her trust in Rafferty’s ability to manage a bulb replacement was grossly misplaced. It took considerable effort to convince her to give them another chance, but she eventually agreed, and in the spirit of spousal support, I decided to join her for the next visit back to the dealership. When arrived, we were greeted by the service manager Ken. For starters, he calmly stated that after the bulb replacement, the taillight was reinstalled correctly. Rafferty is entitled to their professional opinion, but I, perhaps irrationally, concluded that such a gap could endanger the car electric system and affect the safety of driving. I encouraged Ken to look at the other taillight, which had no such gap. He looked and kindly changed his mind. He now stated with confidence that the problem was due to the car being older and not due to their workmanship. I indicated to Ken that there was no such gap prior to the attempt to change the bulb and offered him to look at a taillight photograph I had. Being a reasonable person, Ken changed his mind yet again and took the car back to the shop. Five minutes later, the car came out of the shop and gap had disappeared, truly demonstrating Rafferty’s technical capability. Bravo Rafferty! We appreciated Ken’s willingness to fix the dealership mistake and wanted to give him an opportunity to better the situation. I asked if he would agree that this ordeal was simply due to negligence in the shop, but Ken strongly denied our assertion, nor did he provide any explanation for what had happened. I expected that he would apologize, but he stated again that the dealership was not at fault. With that we left. It seems like this all wouldn’t be such a big deal as they did, eventually, fix the problem to our satisfaction. Yet, it remains bothersome that Ken came up with three different explanations and refused to accept any responsibility. He truly proved to be a devoted Rafferty man as he did not offer an apology after they fixed the problem that they themselves created. If this is the way Rafferty operates with changing a light bulb, I can only imagine what takes place when they conduct more complicated transactions, like selling cars. And since Ken is the manager, it appears that his style reflects Rafferty’s approach and commitment to customer service. It would’ve taken a simple apology to keep the two of us as customer, and we will sorely miss Ken as we do not plan on visiting the Rafferty dealership any time soon. Other unsuspecting customers be warned: conduct business with Rafferty at your own risk. Or go elsewhere. P.S. As a side note, Ken was not wearing a mask while talking with me and my wife. The distance between us was less than 6 feet, and I asked him to put his mask on. He declined stating that he was vaccinated. But since his credibility had already suffered, I couldn’t ignore the possibility his vaccination status was a bit overstated. I am nearly 67 and although I clearly indicated I was uncomfortable with Ken not wearing a mask, he didn’t appear concerned. I don’t know the Rafferty‘s official policy on COVID-19 measures and if it is compliant with state and local regulations. But it doesn’t look like Rafferty is willing to accommodate customers’ concerns about their safety while visiting the dealership. Conscious customers should not to expect much.