when the Superoo isn't so super
I've had my fantastic little car for almost a year now. It's hard to believe, though I suppose when I get the large amount drafted from my paycheck each month it's real enough. Anyway, I haven't had to do much to it other than the occasional wash and wax, oil change, etc., which has been nice. I don't worry at all about driving in bad weather, though perhaps I should ... the poor Roo now has a couple of hail dents on her hood from some of the nasty storms we've had lately. They're not bad and I haven't decided whether to get them pulled out or not.
Anyway, apparently I go through windshield wiper blades more quickly than J does. He's had the same blades on his truck since he bought it new, about 33,000 miles ago. I've got 15,000 miles on my car, and already the rear wiper has started to come apart. Eh, nothing that a quick trip to the neighborhood auto parts store won't fix, right? Ha. HA. HA. HA.
Turns out there's an Advance Auto just around the corner. I scoot over there one day during lunch and pick up the requisite wipers for the front windshield (wiper blade on metal bracket) and look around for the rear ... there aren't any specs on any of them in the owner's manual, but tooling around on the internet earlier got me the driver's and passenger's side sizes. Nothing on the rear though. So I take the front two up to the register and ask about the rear. Of course I'm already looked askance at simply by virture of being in an auto parts store and having breasts, so the clerk feels the need to double check the sizes I've already picked out. Then he tells me they don't have anything in their computer for the rear, so he follows me out to go look at it and immediately tells me I'll have to go to the dealership for that. Grrr. I express my disbelief and dismay, and he basically says if I hadn't bought a "shitty" Subaru, I wouldn't have this problem. So back in we go to pay for the front two, and does the "ladies first" through the door. Notices my e-ring and mistakes me for a Mrs. I say not yet, and he asks me how much freedom I have left. (Or, rather, how much freedom J has left. What a nice guy. Grrrr.)
I install the new front blades later that week and get the car washed and waxed. The rear wiper blade refills I'd picked up from Walmart weren't quite right either, so I put one in anyway, to hold the bracket off the glass, and carefully remove the old one so I can show people exactly what I need. The next day I head over to Napa to see what they have. Again, no rear wiper blade and instructions to head to the dealership. *rolling eyes* For a damn WIPER blade?!
I suck it up and tool over there. Lunchtime is almost up, but I figure this will be a quick stop. I give them a part, they disappear into the cavernous parts area, emerge with my refill, ring me up, I leave.
Not so.
I get there and tell the guy exactly what I need, make/model/year. He brings out a 15" wiper/metal bracket unit. I don't think it'll work and tell him so, seeing as how there's no hook on the end of the wiper arm and the wiper arm is wider than normal. He gives me that "silly woman, you don't know what you're talking about" look and assures me it's the only part they have for my make/model/year. The customer behind me, an older guy who apparently works at an auto parts store, attempts to tell me how to install said wiper unit. As I'm quite capable of doing this, given the RIGHT PARTS TO BEGIN WITH, this pisses me off. I'm now late and decide I'll ask J to look at it with me tonight and then go from there. Perhaps this wiper attaches in a way that no other wiper I've ever seen does. Perhaps.
Of course curiousity and pissedness gets the better of me, and I get back to work only to break the part out of its plastic packaging and attempt to install it. Wiper arm's too wide. Frustrated, I catch a (male) coworker on his way back in from lunch and ask him to look at it. He agrees it's not the right part. Later in the afternoon I run across the resident car guru in the office and ask him to take a look at it. Again, same verdict: the only way this will fit is with some superglue and rubber bands. (How sad is it that I end up having to get a male to validate what I already knew about my own damn car?!)
Friday after work I head back to the dealership for Round Two. Same parts guy is there, so I hand him the part and tell him it's not right but perhaps he could install it for me anyway? We walk out to the car and wouldn't you know, he just now realizes the wiper arm is *different* from previous model years! So he calls over a mechanic, they have words, and the mechanic tells me that Subaru only sells the plastic bracket and refill as a unit; you can't just buy the refill. Are you kidding me!? And of course they happen to not have this particular part in stock, because I am apparently the only person with my model/year to have ever needed a rear wiper replaced. Mechanic tells me he thinks he can rig something up with a VW part. I go stand in the shade and wait. And sweat. It's hot. :-(
Meanwhile, frat boy who sold me the car comes over. "HEY!!! You don't remember me, do you!?"
Me: "Yes I do. You're the one who sold me the car."
Him: "I sure did!"
Me: "I don't suppose you could sell me a rear wiper blade for it, could you?" *sarcasm*
Him: "Huh?"
Explanation of situation follows. Discussion of my car, J's truck, Mini Coopers, his kids, the wedding and the weather follows.
Twenty minutes later I have some brand of wiper refill on my car that works, so I ask about getting a refund for the part I bought the day before. Parts guy mumbles something about the VW part being more expensive and so he's just going to call it even. Whatever. The ninety-degrees-in-the-shade crap was not making me particularly desirous of drawing out this situation any further, so I just ask whether I'll need to come visit them each time I need a rear wiper blade.
Parts guy, flirtatiously: "Why, don't you want to come see me?"
Me, seething silently: Not for a damn wiper blade!
I go home and e-mail Subaru:
Why do I have to buy the entire bracket/blade unit for the rear wiper of [make/model/year]? Owner's manual suggests it's possible to just replace the blade. Auto parts stores (AutoZone and NAPA) told me to go to dealership. Dealership told me I had to buy the entire unit every time I needed a new blade. This wastefulness doesn't appeal to the outdoor enthusiast, environmentally concious consumer Subaru supposedly targets.
If other manufacturers can figure out how to make the blade available minus a bracket, you can too.
*Note to self ... restrict e-mails to times of non-pissyness.*
I check my e-mail during lunch today, and lo ... a response:
Thank you for visiting the Subaru of America Web site and for your message. We apologize for this misinformation provided to you by your Subaru dealer. We do offer windshield wiper refills for almost all of the windshield wipers on our vehicles. We offer a refill for the rear 16 inch windshield wiper on your [model/year]. The only wipers that we do not offer refills for are the Winter wiper blades.
The part number for the refill for the rear windshield wiper on your [model/year] is SOA591U316R. There are currently many of these refills available at our Parts Warehouses and can be ordered through your local Subaru dealer.
At your convenience, please reply to this message with the name of the Subaru dealer you contacted. We would like to follow-up with them to ensure that they are aware of this information. Thank you.
Inside all the corporate BS, there's good news! :-) Stewpid dealership!!
A giddy reply:
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. The Subaru dealership I got my car from is the Southern States Subaru in Raleigh, N.C. I went there Thursday, May 25, to get the rear wiper refill, and they told me the only part they had for my make/model/year was a 15" blade/bracket unit, which didn't fit the plastic arm.
I had to go back the following day and show them that the 15" wiper unit wouldn't work, and they brought a mechanic out and he said that the rear wiper was only sold with the plastic bracket/blade as a unit. They didn't have that in stock at the time and said they would rig up something with a Volkswagon part, which took about 20 minutes. Whatever's on there now is working, but I'm grateful for the part number -- next time I'll know exactly what to ask for.
Sad how this is the longest post I think I've written yet, and it's all about a little windshield wiper blade. How random. ;-)
Anyway, apparently I go through windshield wiper blades more quickly than J does. He's had the same blades on his truck since he bought it new, about 33,000 miles ago. I've got 15,000 miles on my car, and already the rear wiper has started to come apart. Eh, nothing that a quick trip to the neighborhood auto parts store won't fix, right? Ha. HA. HA. HA.
Turns out there's an Advance Auto just around the corner. I scoot over there one day during lunch and pick up the requisite wipers for the front windshield (wiper blade on metal bracket) and look around for the rear ... there aren't any specs on any of them in the owner's manual, but tooling around on the internet earlier got me the driver's and passenger's side sizes. Nothing on the rear though. So I take the front two up to the register and ask about the rear. Of course I'm already looked askance at simply by virture of being in an auto parts store and having breasts, so the clerk feels the need to double check the sizes I've already picked out. Then he tells me they don't have anything in their computer for the rear, so he follows me out to go look at it and immediately tells me I'll have to go to the dealership for that. Grrr. I express my disbelief and dismay, and he basically says if I hadn't bought a "shitty" Subaru, I wouldn't have this problem. So back in we go to pay for the front two, and does the "ladies first" through the door. Notices my e-ring and mistakes me for a Mrs. I say not yet, and he asks me how much freedom I have left. (Or, rather, how much freedom J has left. What a nice guy. Grrrr.)
I install the new front blades later that week and get the car washed and waxed. The rear wiper blade refills I'd picked up from Walmart weren't quite right either, so I put one in anyway, to hold the bracket off the glass, and carefully remove the old one so I can show people exactly what I need. The next day I head over to Napa to see what they have. Again, no rear wiper blade and instructions to head to the dealership. *rolling eyes* For a damn WIPER blade?!
I suck it up and tool over there. Lunchtime is almost up, but I figure this will be a quick stop. I give them a part, they disappear into the cavernous parts area, emerge with my refill, ring me up, I leave.
Not so.
I get there and tell the guy exactly what I need, make/model/year. He brings out a 15" wiper/metal bracket unit. I don't think it'll work and tell him so, seeing as how there's no hook on the end of the wiper arm and the wiper arm is wider than normal. He gives me that "silly woman, you don't know what you're talking about" look and assures me it's the only part they have for my make/model/year. The customer behind me, an older guy who apparently works at an auto parts store, attempts to tell me how to install said wiper unit. As I'm quite capable of doing this, given the RIGHT PARTS TO BEGIN WITH, this pisses me off. I'm now late and decide I'll ask J to look at it with me tonight and then go from there. Perhaps this wiper attaches in a way that no other wiper I've ever seen does. Perhaps.
Of course curiousity and pissedness gets the better of me, and I get back to work only to break the part out of its plastic packaging and attempt to install it. Wiper arm's too wide. Frustrated, I catch a (male) coworker on his way back in from lunch and ask him to look at it. He agrees it's not the right part. Later in the afternoon I run across the resident car guru in the office and ask him to take a look at it. Again, same verdict: the only way this will fit is with some superglue and rubber bands. (How sad is it that I end up having to get a male to validate what I already knew about my own damn car?!)
Friday after work I head back to the dealership for Round Two. Same parts guy is there, so I hand him the part and tell him it's not right but perhaps he could install it for me anyway? We walk out to the car and wouldn't you know, he just now realizes the wiper arm is *different* from previous model years! So he calls over a mechanic, they have words, and the mechanic tells me that Subaru only sells the plastic bracket and refill as a unit; you can't just buy the refill. Are you kidding me!? And of course they happen to not have this particular part in stock, because I am apparently the only person with my model/year to have ever needed a rear wiper replaced. Mechanic tells me he thinks he can rig something up with a VW part. I go stand in the shade and wait. And sweat. It's hot. :-(
Meanwhile, frat boy who sold me the car comes over. "HEY!!! You don't remember me, do you!?"
Me: "Yes I do. You're the one who sold me the car."
Him: "I sure did!"
Me: "I don't suppose you could sell me a rear wiper blade for it, could you?" *sarcasm*
Him: "Huh?"
Explanation of situation follows. Discussion of my car, J's truck, Mini Coopers, his kids, the wedding and the weather follows.
Twenty minutes later I have some brand of wiper refill on my car that works, so I ask about getting a refund for the part I bought the day before. Parts guy mumbles something about the VW part being more expensive and so he's just going to call it even. Whatever. The ninety-degrees-in-the-shade crap was not making me particularly desirous of drawing out this situation any further, so I just ask whether I'll need to come visit them each time I need a rear wiper blade.
Parts guy, flirtatiously: "Why, don't you want to come see me?"
Me, seething silently: Not for a damn wiper blade!
I go home and e-mail Subaru:
Why do I have to buy the entire bracket/blade unit for the rear wiper of [make/model/year]? Owner's manual suggests it's possible to just replace the blade. Auto parts stores (AutoZone and NAPA) told me to go to dealership. Dealership told me I had to buy the entire unit every time I needed a new blade. This wastefulness doesn't appeal to the outdoor enthusiast, environmentally concious consumer Subaru supposedly targets.
If other manufacturers can figure out how to make the blade available minus a bracket, you can too.
*Note to self ... restrict e-mails to times of non-pissyness.*
I check my e-mail during lunch today, and lo ... a response:
Thank you for visiting the Subaru of America Web site and for your message. We apologize for this misinformation provided to you by your Subaru dealer. We do offer windshield wiper refills for almost all of the windshield wipers on our vehicles. We offer a refill for the rear 16 inch windshield wiper on your [model/year]. The only wipers that we do not offer refills for are the Winter wiper blades.
The part number for the refill for the rear windshield wiper on your [model/year] is SOA591U316R. There are currently many of these refills available at our Parts Warehouses and can be ordered through your local Subaru dealer.
At your convenience, please reply to this message with the name of the Subaru dealer you contacted. We would like to follow-up with them to ensure that they are aware of this information. Thank you.
Inside all the corporate BS, there's good news! :-) Stewpid dealership!!
A giddy reply:
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. The Subaru dealership I got my car from is the Southern States Subaru in Raleigh, N.C. I went there Thursday, May 25, to get the rear wiper refill, and they told me the only part they had for my make/model/year was a 15" blade/bracket unit, which didn't fit the plastic arm.
I had to go back the following day and show them that the 15" wiper unit wouldn't work, and they brought a mechanic out and he said that the rear wiper was only sold with the plastic bracket/blade as a unit. They didn't have that in stock at the time and said they would rig up something with a Volkswagon part, which took about 20 minutes. Whatever's on there now is working, but I'm grateful for the part number -- next time I'll know exactly what to ask for.
Sad how this is the longest post I think I've written yet, and it's all about a little windshield wiper blade. How random. ;-)