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my wife and I decided it was time to upgrade the 2003 Certified Toyota we purchased in 2006. The car has been wonderful; it sold us on the certified program as well as Toyota as a whole (we were Honda converts). After looking on line and stopping in at a few Toyota dealerships, we found a car that met all of our needs at Germain Toyota, which is approximately 90 minutes from our home. My wife contacted salesperson Joe Dowell on Friday, 1/30, and explained exactly what we were looking for and what our budget was. Joe could not meet our needs at first. However, he called back Friday afternoon and gave us his final, fair price. When I returned home from work that night, we found a way to make it work in our budget. We decided to purchase the car and drive to Columbus the next day to pick it up.
The next morning (1/31), my wife left Joe a voice mail on his cell phone at 8:30 informing him of our intentions and confirming the availability of the vehicle. We called the dealership at 9:25 and got Joe on the phone. He seemed genuinely excited for us and said that he would send the car to the “holding area” where they would clean it up. We offered to put a deposit down and he said that it wouldn't be necessary because we were coming this morning and he'd take care of it. We rounded up our two kids (1 & 3 years old) and left the house for Columbus at 9:55 am.
At 10:30 AM, Joe called and told us that there were going to be other people coming today to look at the car. My wife explained to him that we would take it and we would be there in an hour; there is no reason for other people to look. She again offered a deposit, but Joe said that he couldn't do that because it wouldn't be fair to the others. He encouraged us to keep driving because they weren't there yet. That conversation made me nervous, so I called back and asked to speak to the used car manager. I explained our situation (that we really did not want to continue driving to Columbus if the car was no longer available) and again offered to put a deposit down over the phone. He assured me that it wasn't a problem- especially if we could get there at 11:30.
We pulled into the lot at 11:25 and met Joe. He explained that the couple was looking at it now, but he didn't think they would buy. Fifteen minutes later, he told us that it had sold. I politely told Joe how disappointed I was at the way this was handled, and asked for the sales manager. He introduced me to Rich Newsome, who took me into a side office. Rich was nice at first and said that he had been unaware of the situation- that he arrived at 11:00 am. I explained my displeasure and let him know that I would be contacting Toyota and the Germain ownership to relay my experience. At this point, he became angry and accused me of threatening him. He said, “You are blaming me for you not putting a deposit down?” I told him about our no less than 3 offers to do just that over the last several hours. At that point he became frustrated and said, “You know what, I don't care. I really don't care. This is your fault- you should have put a deposit down yesterday- we're done here.” After that he got up and escorted me out of the office and told me to leave. The quote above is exactly as he said it- and words on paper cannot describe the arrogance and indifference of his tone. I am a professional sales person and have heard all kinds of bad customer service experiences- this ranks among the worst.
We are obviously disappointed. We planned on driving a new car home Saturday. We were excited and spent the 90 minute drive convincing our 3 year old that the new car would be great (she didn't understand why we were getting rid of the current car). However, mistakes happen. I understand that miscommunication can occur and hiccups are a part of any business. If I had been told in the morning, “Sorry, another salesperson has someone interested in the car- I can't promise it will be here.” We would have been disappointed, but we wouldn't have wasted the day. We would have waited. If they had not bought it, we would have put a deposit down and driven up Saturday afternoon or even next week. There is no reason why both Joe and the person who was the manager when I called at 10:30 should have encouraged us to continue our drive. The more I think about it, the more I think that we were treated as a back-up plan.
I sent similar letters to the ownership and management of Germain in an attempt to let them know of my experience, and haven't received a response from anyone in 3 weeks. I can only assume this is standard operating procedure for these guys.
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April 25, 2009, 7:06 pm
vwtwotokyo
Car Dealer Check Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
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Review Comments: 1
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Comment on Horrible. Dishonest sales, zero integrity
I completely agree with you. I am just moved to Columbus and bought a car from this place. After purchase a used car, there was a problem and we called them because they promised us to check it with no additional cost, but they never reply us. We called again and left a message to the sales manager, but he didn't call us back either. I swear anyone should not to buy any cars from them. They will be nice to you first, but after business you are no one for them. No customer service and horrible car service. I ended up to fix the problem but after examining failed part, it was a cheap part. If you want your toyota well maintained, I suggest to stay out of this car dealer.
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