Problem with Toyota dealer, Thinking about filing BBB and Toyota Corp complaint

Social media is the way to go. I'm sure the dealer has a FB, maybe even a twitter. Every story I've ever heard about a dealership screwing someone over seemed to be resolved when social media got involved.
Granted their stories were way worse then yours, but it's a start.

 

You obviously didn't read any of my post did you?

This is actually an amazing idea! This entire country is changing over to social stuff. Every business out there is putting more emphasis on customer satisfaction these days and a lot of places are offering bonuses or incintives to their employees for higher CSI ratings. A couple FB posts and they should be throwing everything they have at you!

 

One thing that you, and EVERYONE should do when buying a used vehicle is to take it to an independent shop, and ask them to look over the entire vehicle for defects. (I have a friend who will go for a test drive right to the local shop and get it inspected) That way you can have someone who does not have a vested interest in the sale look over everything. Offer them $50 cash, and see what they can find wrong with it.

You are one of the many who are grouped up into those who think that if one or two dealerships are bad, they all must be bad. When I worked for the different dealerships I worked at, we spent over an hour on each inspection for a certified used car. Each item was checked visually, or electronically. It is not a "game" to get the vehicle off the lot as soon as possible. It is a numbers thing. At the GM dealerships I worked at we would bring in the vehicle, change the oil and filter, and come up with a list of any and all defects. Why? Because for each defect that we find, we get PAID TO FIX IT. so why the HELL would we pass over the opportunity to make money? The certified checklist gets a copy to the file, a copy to the sales manager, and a copy to the manufacturer. There is no reason for a vehicle to get skipped over for certification.

Yes, someone REALLY dropped the ball with the OPs truck, but to sit there and think we all just skip over a certified check list vehicle to get it on the lot is just plain ludicrous. Hell, we had to take all the certified inspection work orders and hand them out in rotation because EVERY tech wants to get one. It's easy money because if the dealership wants the car on the lot to sell, then they will fix whatever is wrong with it. That means money for the tech!

Hell, when I was at Cadillac I was PAID to remove and aftermarket stereo, CD player, and speakerbox that was not factory, and install a factory radio. They paid me 2 hours of labor, and the service manager let me keep the radio, CD player, and amp! Those certified check lists are GOLD to a tech!

 

I've used BBB three times, it's worked twice.

I had a shitty experience buying my truck as well. I agreed on price with a manager before driving 2 hours away to pick it up and brought the email with me. Sales guy said "oh that has to be a mistake we can't do it for that low." Jacks up the price. After an hour of back and forth, let me check with my manager bullshit he finally agrees back to my price. I go in the back to sign the paperwork with the finance guy and lo and behold the jacked up price is on it again. I say what the fuck and tear up the contract as I signed the top portion already. Finance guy gets super pissed and says I'll have to go ask to clarify. Blah blah blah, about to leave with the truck. Manager and USAA rep come out and say how was your buying experience? I say well you guys tried to fuck me over and I caught it, needless to say I'm not happy. The USAA rep (female) looks mortified. Salesman hounds me for the next two weeks to fill out his Toyota survey. Manager calls me the week after and say they let the salesman go and please fill out the survey. So I did, and I marked everything about the dealership as poor or needs work.

 

Ha ha they mentioned that survey about a dozen times, saying they wanted to get all "Tens" and let us know if there are any problems. It's been over 1.5 months and I never got the survey in the mail. Beginning to wonder if they somehow prevented me from getting it, or if it takes a while.

I called the dealer this morning before they opened hoping to catch someone there. I left a voicemail on the main machine just following up. I don't really expect to hear back. I'm starting to prefer email, since it's written, solid proof of communication.

I almost emailed today saying "if you don't contact me by Friday, I plan to file complaints". However, I really want to file the complaints, and don't think there is anything they can do or would be willing to do, to make up for the time lost and stress of the license plate situation. Kind of feels wrong to say if you don't do this, I'll do this....and then do the complaint anyways.

Thoughts on that?

Oh and as for dealerships, the reason I bought a Toyota this time was because of the awesome experience I had at the dealer we purchased my fiances Camry at. They were wonderful, best car buying experience I've ever had. Unfortunately they aren't local to me, and they didn't have any Tacomas with the Off Road package. Just amazing how two dealers can be so different. That car was an 08, purchased in 2012, and it was perfect when we got it. Has been since then as well. Dealership followed up only to ensure we were happy.

I definitely believe the workers make the dealership. My friend that's been a Toyota mechanic for years, does fantastic work, and when he inspects the cars he spends the full time checking everything. Guess it's really the mechanic that makes the inspection. The way he described it, seemed like if he certified a car that was piece of shit, he would hear about it if that car started coming in for misc repairs. Seems like Toyota wants the inspection to ensure they don't warranty a piece of junk, although that could just be what he was told.

 

The bull excrement about charging an extra $500 for "certification" then arriving and seeing the obvious problems would have been enough to send me high tailing from there immediately.

And it would have taking a lot of major butt kissing concessions to ever get me back in there, if ever.

 

Nooooo don't fall for it!

gah dammit, moon moon.

 

what dealership?

 

I would contact Toyota and file a complaint, tell them you want your local Toyota dealership to redo the "certification inspection", then you will discuss what needs to be done with anything they find.

Before you file the complaint with the BBB, you really need to find the 15 mins to call the dealership during business hours and give them the chance to make it right, or at least get the bad taste out of your mouth.

 

BBB hands down.

 

Always remember, if your gut tells you it's wrong....WALK AWAY. Their job is to extract as much of your money from your pocket as they can, your job is to protect yourself.

 

I called the dealer this morning as late as I could, 7:40 and they open at 8 for business. No answer, so I left a message identifying myself, and referencing the sales manager.

Then I emailed the salesman that actually sold me the truck, and included in that email, the body of the email that I sent to the sales manager 10 days ago about compensation.

Got home at 9pm tonight, no voicemails, no reply from the email.

The idea of talking to Toyota about redoing the inspection seems like a damn good idea, I might bring that up when I talk to them on the phone. I'll update this thread as I find things out/get in contact with them.

I am getting married this month, and closing on a house this month, so my time is very tight during business hours, especially since the hospital I work at is busy. I may try to sneak a call to the dealer tomorrow during business hours.

I'll also post the dealership name and info once I finally file a complaint.

Thanks again for the input

 

good luck B Frank.

 

$6,000.00 below blue book at a dealer? You must be quite the negotiator.

 

Local pricing around here for a 2006 taco, 4x4, DCLB with 100k on it is 20-23k. I paid 15,949.

 

I just had a 45 minute call with Toyota Customer Service. They were super friendly, and I still feel like I got nowhere. They took all the dates, names, information, mistakes, etc. I explained that I feel my truck wasn't actually checked out correctly. Basically, they said they will open a case with the dealer, and that they will contact the guy there in charge of customer service. And he was the "highest" up in customer service at that dealer.

Unfortunately the guy who made all the promises/lies is the Sales Manager, and he told me he is in charge of the dealership when the owner isn't there. next in charge. So I doubt this Customer Service guy is going to really do a whole lot.

I'm considering calling my local Toyota dealership and asking them how much it would cost to have an inspection done, really checking the 160 points that the "certified" list has. And if there is ANYTHING wrong, having the mechanic state whether it could have happened in the 2000 miles between their inspection, and his inspection.

Of course, the only good that would do is if I wanted to pursue a law suit, which i don't have the time, desire, or money to pursue.

In other news, I got a letter today from my finance company threatening to purchase insurance for my truck FOR me at a crazy high rate, because the dealership didn't fax them my proof of insurance I gave them the day I bought my truck. The fun never ends! At least that is easily fixed.

 

Go to the state attorney general and let them know what's going on... in addition, I would let the manager and owner know you did so. They'll kiss your ass begging for you to cancel the complaint to the state attorney general. It worked for me in Fl when the dealer tried to screw me on an aftermarket accessory I said no to, but then added it without my knowledge on the back end in financing.

 

WE all have cell phones today and cameras on them. Always take photos and get everything in writing. Protect yourself and never believe some ones word. It's funny how things change. He probably find out how much one of those tires cost and changed his mine.

 

I got an email last night offering $50 for "you and your fiancé to have a relaxing evening". LOL

Meanwhile, yesterday my fiancé purchased a fridge and stove for our new home. Sears website messed up and wouldn't let us purchase with the Sears card she just applied for (0% finance for 12 months). Chatting with sears customer service for about 10 minutes they gave her 10% off the purchase price for the trouble, which was around $190.

Yet I get offered $50 on a $25K truck.

 

Calling Toyota Customer relations is a big circle jerk off session. They hold no power to hold the dealer responsible for much of anything.

My wife had a Corolla XRs 5 years ago, I loved that car. She drove it most of the time and said that it would randomly lose power to the point it would almost stall and the engine sounded like a chirping cricket. Then the random acceleration scare happened all over the country and she insisted (rightly) it go in for service.

Long story short, the dealer replaced nearly every moving part on the exterior of the engine (noise still there) and the engine still randomly lost power. The dealer just threw up their hands and said they couldn't fix it, so they bumped it to the regional manager. After getting put off for a month, I finally called Toyota to lodge a complaint about he safety of this car. They opened a case and after being stroked for a week after they said they would call me back, I called them.

They said that the dealer responded to the case with there being no problem with the car and I told the case worker that was an outright lie, as I had at least 8 work orders acknowledging there was a problem they were unable to fix. Toyota Customer Care person asked "Why would they lie?" and basically didn't want to handle the case anymore. I told them that I'd be trading the car in for a Honda, and in three days that is exactly what happened.

So, don't expect much, if anything, to happen. They know you've already blown your money wad, and there isn't much you can do to them now.