Cityside Subaru - Service Center

Thank you Cityside Subaru and Ron Messina. My car was still experiencing vibration issues after several attempts at balancing the tires. I purchased the tires at a major tire store and had them banlance still experiencing vibration issues after several attempts at balancing the tires. I purchased the tires at a major tire store and had them banlanced twice. This did not correct the problem. Two other Subaru dealers as well could not correct the matter . But Ron Messina and staff took care of the problem. It was the balancing. They also checked my other concerns. They addressed these problems as well, and they got it right the first time. If you need service check them out. They know their product and focus on customer service and satisfaction. Mr. O More

I would highly recommend the service dept at Cityside Subaru. In particular, Joe Cisek, the manager of the service dept is outstanding. He was persistent, attentive to the details and followed up on gett Subaru. In particular, Joe Cisek, the manager of the service dept is outstanding. He was persistent, attentive to the details and followed up on getting the problems with my car resolved. He made himself available and was good at communicating with me what was going on with my car and how Subaru planned on addressing the problems. He is a real professional. More

I have owned subarus for over 20 years and had them serviced at Acton, Hyannis, Wakefield and Cityside. Cityside has, with question, the best service department of any Subaru Dealer in Greater Boston serviced at Acton, Hyannis, Wakefield and Cityside. Cityside has, with question, the best service department of any Subaru Dealer in Greater Boston. Why? The service reps are smart, polite and professional. The listen to my problem descriptions and capture the info accurately onto the service request form. They explain service options (what's essential, what's optional,etc.). When unexpected problems are found the explain clearly and answer questions patiently. The work is always done right the first time. I have never had to bring my car back for sloppy or incomplete repairs. The dealership has comfortable spaces to work or relax in while my car is being worked on. Cityside has a very good ride system that takes me to Alewife Station if I need to leave the car for the day. Overall, I feel that I really get my money's worth bringing my cars here. Cityside has kept my '03 Outback driving like a new car. More

Everyone behind the front desk in the service department at Cityside is terrific, knowledgable, courteous, and always willing to answer even the simplest question. Once you purchase your Subaru there, you' at Cityside is terrific, knowledgable, courteous, and always willing to answer even the simplest question. Once you purchase your Subaru there, you'll be totally satisfied with the service department. More

I have been doing business for at least 10 years with cityside subaru. As much as I don't enjoy taking my car in for service, I would like to give major cudos to the Service Manager, Mr. Joe Cisek. He cityside subaru. As much as I don't enjoy taking my car in for service, I would like to give major cudos to the Service Manager, Mr. Joe Cisek. He is courteous, patient, polite, smart, and an overall good human being. It is because of him, that I would recommend that particular dealership to others interested in a Subaru. I wish Subaru still had the old style Outbacks (not the new suv ones) so I could continue doing business with that service department. He should be recognized for his outstanding work. Thank you. More

Took my 2003 Forester here for a Timing Belt replacement because they had a special on their website advertising this service for $250. I should have known there would be trouble right away when I called on because they had a special on their website advertising this service for $250. I should have known there would be trouble right away when I called on the phone and they claimed they had no knowledge of this special. I printed out the coupon and brought it in with the car and pointed them to their own website. Anyway they said fine and I left the car for the timing belt replacement. The next day I get the call from a service associate saying that when they took my timing belt off they found that the belt tensioner was leaking, and if I wanted it put back together the whole job would be $600 now. He made it clear that if I chose not to do that the only option was for them to push the car out into the lot and I could tow it out of there myself. (Basically extortion). Now, I know $250 sounds low for a timing belt replacement, and I should have expected that a dealer would go on a fishing expedition (looking for more things to charge for) once they had the vehicle, but in the Subaru a timing belt replacement IS relatively simple due to it's accessibility at the front of the engine. I asked the associate for a breakdown of costs and he gave me a list of parts and additional labor for the work. This now included about $140 for the tensioner, an extra $150 for labor fot that, and now $60 supposedly for bolts on the belt cover that they found were rusty and the cover gasket. So first off, if they quoted me $250 for replacing the timing belt, they knew they would have to replace the bolts and gasket since any car coming in for this service has at least around 100k miles, and this should have been part of the total cost. Second, the actual retail cost of the stainless steel bolts at several other locations was less than a dollar a piece and the gasket less than $10 so that whole cost to them was probably around $10. (They wanted about $60 more from me). Second, although it was probably perfectly reasonable to replace the tensioner when doing the belt, they were being completely dishonest about this too. Even if I grant them the exessive price of the tensioner they were charging, there should be zero extra labor on this. The tensioner has to be removed and replaced as part of the normal process of replacing the timing belt. Since I do most of my own maintenance on the vehicle, I have a full set of shop manuals (the originals published by subaru) and they clearly state this. I told the guy on the phone to hold the work and I would come in and speak to the service manager. I came in the next day and spoke with some guy named Joe, I think, who was the service manager. When I questioned him about the sudden high cost of the job, he acted like they had never tried to force anything on me it was all optional and they would finish up the work for the original $250 minus replacing the tensioner. When I asked about the extra labor for the tensioner replacement, he tried to tell me it was extra work. Now I know this is false, and even if some mechanic would try to replace the belt somehow without removing it, the tensioner can easily be removed with one bolt anyway. As expected, when challenged with this fact, Joe became hostile and rude, and just irately said he wasn't going to argue with me. After, I DID argue with him for a bit more they agreed to finish the job including the tensioner now for $500 which means I paid about $250 more for a tensioner that I could easily buy for about $100. (oh well I should have know I wouldn't get out of a dealer for the same price they quoted). The interesting thing was that, on the final invoice, the charge for the the bolts and gasket was now about $15 and the bolts were listed at 81 cents a piece. I guess someone forgot to hide that fact. The whole process reeked of dishonesty and was to me clearly a bait and switch operation. They advertise the work at one price, then once the have your vehicle apart, they try to extort you to pay much more. When faced with someone who actually knows something about the vehicle, they just become rude and hostile. Extremely unprofessional operation and I would never do business with them again. More