[Almost There]

OK, I'll try to make this quick and leave out the name of the dealership to protect the guilty SOB.

A friend was in need of a car (a cheap one- he's in grad school and needs to save $$). We searched many dealerships. One was a Lexus on one side/ Toyota on the other. The Lexus dealership is supposed to have excellent service according to ratings and advertisements.

We went to look at some Celica's to see if he wanted to lease. The salesperson was an idiot. He kept asking what color my friend wanted, even after we told him SEVERAL times. We finally had to say "how many times are you gonna ask that?" They negotiated a price (the guy kept playing the "i need to ask my manager game".

(I forgot to mention that we told him up-front that we needed to leave @ 3:30, due to a meeting I needed to be in.)

It was now 3:25 and we really needed to leave, but my friend really wanted this car. The salesman then became a total jerk. He told us that the price he quoted was "off" if we walked out the door. I told him we'd be back after the meeting, but he kept asking what was the meeting about and "threatening" us that he wouldn't give that price.

THEN, he got his "manager" as we were walking out. His "manager" kept telling us to "sit down and we'll talk about this". There was really nothing to talk about, because we already told them that we'd be back to pick up the car. They ignored this and began getting real real rude. Finally, we just told them that they blew it because of their attitude. My friend ended up buying a car from somewhere else.

I was really shocked to see this kind of "service?" from a Toyota/Lexus dealership.
I plan to get my IS from the Lexus side of the dealership in a few months. I'm wondering if these kinds of places have "split personalities" or should I expect the same thing from the Lexus side? It really is just two buildings right next to one another. One half is Toyota, and the other is Lexus. Both have the same name and owner. Anybody get a car from one of these "split" places. I imagine most Lexus dealers are split like this.

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Perception IS Reality

[This message has been edited by Almost There (edited October 13, 2000).]

 

[ISFAN]

I think you will really see a whole difference when you deal with LEXUS. They have no pressure, or at least not when I bought mine.

 

[kota]

Cars salesmen are a breed apart from regular humans. There are a few exceptions- check for recommendations.

 

[JoeD]

I agree toyota serivce ain't too great. When ever I get something fixed on my car I have to check it out myself like when I get my break pads changed so they don't rip me off like they have tried to do in the past.

 

[DonCorleone]

theres a dealer here in VENTURA, a TOYOTA dealer, i wont say the name of the place, but my uncle has bought over a dozen cars from them in less than 9 years, we have a T100 from them and a 99 4runner. well, to make a story short, they sold us a SR5 for $30,000+ and installed an aftermarket body kit to make it look like a Limited model, the bastards drilled at least 6 holes 2-3 inches in diameter in every body panel and that lead to major rusting, they tried to conceal it and never would have found it until i had an accident. Needless to say the bastards took their sweet time fixing it, told us numerous lies, never returned calls, went out of their way to be rude to us, acted like it was our fault, wasted numerous hours of our time, making my parents wait 4 plus hours away from work at the dealer waiting for them to rectify their mistake. they finally fixed it, after telling us we could bring it to our body shop of choice, then renegging after they got the estimate, they sent the car to a place that they said were good and that they have worked with, the car comes back with panels installed wrong and now the doors on the passenger side cannot be opened without a very loud cracking/snapping sound and pieces falling off, they are dragging their feet on fixing this, told us to come monday and they would look at it, went on monday, they said they made a miscommunication and we have to come back next monday. they've treated us like sh1t, worse than sh1t, just because my parents are Asian and can't speak fluent english. they've mocked and belittled us and said we were cheap for going the aftermarket way instead of buying a Limited when it was their fault for fuqing up a $30,000+ car we're still fighting them and can't sue because the "attorney" we've spoken to said we can't do anything if they agree to fix it. sh1t we got the shaft from them. every single one of the "people" we've dealt with there deserve to be shot and sh1t on.

 

[Almost There]

Wow DON,

Seems my experience was nothing compared to what you went (going) through. I am kinda glad that your now driving a Lexus though. I guess that shows that the service levels can get pretty polarized between Lexus and Toyota. I've had good service with my older Cressida when I had it, but that was at a different dealer.

BTW, was the Lexus dealer that you got the IS from associated in any way with the Toyota dealer?

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Perception IS Reality

 

[Stephen]

My Lexus experience has been fantastic. I've owned a lot of cars and this is the only time I haven't driven off from the dealership in my new car and NOT felt like I just bent over in front of the salesman. They were VERY professional and VERY low pressure. The deal worked around my busy schedule and most of it was handled over the phone. After the sale, I still had to have the phone installed, well, two days after I bought the car the SALESMAN drove the 25 miles in rush hour traffic to my office, dropped off a loaner, picked my car up. He then returned it the next morning, washed, with the phone installed and with a full tank of gas.

GREAT service from the greatest car company on earth.

Stephen Withrow
98 LS400

[This message has been edited by Stephen (edited October 14, 2000).]

 

[DonCorleone]

no the toyota dealer isnt affiliated or located jointly with my lexus dealer, if it was i wouldnt even have looked at it or test drove it there.