:evil: Leith Scion of Raleigh, NC.
Allow me to tell you of my on going headache. I decided through much research that the tC was the car for me. On September 9 I went to Leith Scion's website, and found the exact tC I wanted, website said it would be available the 11th. I went to the dealership and spoke with salesperson Thai Nguyen. He said that he couldn't get that car, that none were available, and no other dealership around would have that car, but he could order one for me, and it would be available withen 3 weeks, all he would need was a $500 deposit. I went home and called all of the other local dealerships whome all said they had none, but could order one with a $1000 deposit. Dissapointed, I went back to Leith and asked if they would accept a check and hold it as a deposit. He said that would be fine, so I wrote the check, and ordered my tC. The next day that check was cashed!
The third week was approaching so I sold my current car for the down payment, and got a good deal on a rental for a week. I called Thai Nguyen on the 20th and asked him when my tC would be available, he told me he would call me back later that day with an answer,,, he never called me. I called the next day, got his voicemail and asked for him to call me,, still no call. I called the next day, and I spoke with sales manager Anthony Williams, who said he would find out the status of my order, and call me,, guess what?,,, NO CALL!! I called back later that evening,, and spoke with sales manager Chris Wilde, explained that I was very angry that I was being ignored, and demanded to know when my tC would be avaiable for pick up. He said that they "couldn't find my file" because the Scion sales manager was on vacation, and that he would be back the next monday,, but promised he would call me that monday morning. Guess what,,, NO CALL!!!!
I was livid! I went down to the dealership around 4:00, and demanded to speak to the Scion sales manager. Thai Nguyen met me at the sales counter, and we went to meet the Scion sales manager; Mark Poindexter. Mark Poindexter said that he couldn't give me a date of delivery, but that it should be here in about 3 weeks!!!! I almost lost it at that point!! Thai Nguyen had told me it would be three weeks from the time I ordered it! Mark Poindexter tried to lay the blame on his salesperson, saying he had told his staff no quit telling customers that their order would be available in three weeks. I told Mark Poindexter:

1. They misled me through their website.
2. They took my money.
3. They lied to me about returning my calls.
4. They ignored me.
5. They lied to me about the date I would recieve my car.
6. I was spending precious money on a rental.
7. I had to miss work because I had no car.

Mark Poindexter had no excuse for, and very little apology for his sales team, misleading be into my current situation. After being treated so negligently, I abruptly stormed out of the dealership.
I cooled off for about 5 minutes, and marched right back in. I asked Mark Poindexter If they would supply me with a loaner, and after much debate, he gave in, and said he would put me in one the next day, and call me when it was ready., LOL!!!!!! call me??? right!
He didnt,, I called him, and he said it wouldnt be ready till around 4:00. So, I told him I would call around 4:00. Around 4:00, I called him,, and he said there was a problem with the plates, and I would have to wait 2 more days for the plates!
I called him around 2:00 2 days later, he was at lunch,, and would call me in twenty minutes. NO CALL!!! I went to the dealership at 3:30 and asked to speak to the GM. Mark Poindexter saw me and hid for a bit before finally approaching me, and he put me in an xA with dealer plates,, which they could have done any day of the week! I have to bring it back every 96 hours to renew the dealer plate, that would be today about 3:00, for the first renewal,, I will post more of this BS later,, I garantee you this will be good, keep watching!!!

Fired up yikes!

sorry for your troubles

please do a review on the dealer here

http://www.scionlife.com/dealers/

Thats a pretty common thing with Scion dealerships that don't have any stock on there lot. I was told the same thing for my xB and a month later I got ____ed and went to another dealer almost 2 hrs away. I didn't make a down payment at least from my original dealer so I had the freedom to go anywhere else.

With that check....u should of post dated the check so they couldn't cash it till the date was up on the check. A bank will not accept a check if the date is not past when it was written or the same day.

Keep us posted....

OK.. Leith Scion sales manager Mark Poindexter, has been calling me,,,, finally! Guess what?,,, My tC won't be in any time soon,,, he said Leith Scion has not been alotted an asure pearl 5-speed, and asked if I would accept a different car. What??!!!! I ordered my car exactly how I wanted it,, which is what Scion boasts that it is all about. Why wouldn't my car be manufactured for me? And why should I accept anything less than what I wanted,, especially after dealing with your bulls*%t???
So,, I renewed my dealer tags,, which I must renew every 96 hours, Yet another wast of my time!!!

Has anyone else been put through the wringer like this???

As the customer: DONT TAKE THIS KIND OF CRAP FROM YOUR DEALER!!!!! DONT LET THEM MAKE A DIME OFF OF YOU UNTIL YOU ARE SATISFIED!!!

In all honesty, my beef is not that I havn't recieved my car yet. But started with their habitual ignoring me, and giving me the run-around. Their lack of customer service, keeping me guessing, misleading me, and outright lies, has led me to the opinion that Leith Scion, and its sales team, do not stand by their word. If I had just been treated with the slightest bit of respect and courtesy, my opinion of them would be quite different. But the treatment I had recieved from them is unforgiveable, and intolerable!
Now I just want my car,, so I can be done with them! :twisted:

Has anyone else been put through the wringer like this???



you are not the only one. try this story.

I went to a bunch of dealerships and got the same answer about the wait from all of them but one, 355 Toyoda. I was told a month at the other dealers but 355, they told me 2 weeks. Two weeks sounds better to me then a month, so I put my money at 355. After two weeks I start calling them, no callbacks! I then went into 355 just to see what’s up with my car, and was told it’s on a boat and it should be in, in the next 7 to 10 days. Cool, but a weeks goes and no call, so I call them, they tell me it’s on its way to the port right now it should be another 7 to 10 days. Ok I can take that, but a weeks goes by and no call, so I call them again. They tell me that they are sorry but they don’t know when the car is going to be in. Before they knew were the car was and now they don’t. I asked them don’t you have some way of tracking the car and it progress as its being made. 355 told me that’s not how Scion works, we get what they give us. THAT SOUND LIKE INFORMATION YOU SHOULD OF TOLD ME BEFORE I ORDER THE CAR. Just so you know at this time I had sold my 95 JEEP and my 01Yamaha R6. What am I driving, my mothers car. She let me use it for the two weeks that it was going to take until the car got in.
After the all the BS I went to the SE Maryland Chapter and talked to some of the guys on the web site and I told them what was going on and they told me to go up the Younger Scion, one of the places I went from the start. When I went up there I talked to two guys, one of which I know is in both SE and SL, good guys. What they did I am not sure was completely right and I hope they don’t get in trouble for it, but they showed me the list of all the cars coming into the east cost that month and were they were going. After waiting almost 2 months I went up to a Scion dealer in Meadville PA from Frederick MD.(about 300 miles, 600 round trip) to get the only car that had all the options I wanted. Just to let you know I bought a tC 5 speed black sand pearl with side and side curtain air bags.
But all that was after I went up to 355 and made a scene in front everyone. The scene started when I talked to PJ on the phone when I was at 355 and he wasn’t. He told me that they had my car at the port and he was just about to call me. So as I am waiting for PJ to get in, I talk to the General Sales Manager and tell him the story about what I have been going through trying to get this car. I tell him, knowing that I have been lied to again, that PJ told me that the car is at the port. When PJ gets in, hey guess what the car wasn’t at the port, and it may take another month or more to get the car. I walk right over to the General Sales Manager again and tell him this is BS, no car and more lies. I also said a lot more because he told one of the sale man just to give me back my deposit. No I made them keep it, you still have to try and get my car.
This is how it works, no dealer knows what car they are going to get until it's allocated to them. If you are very particular about what type of SCION you want, I would put as many deposit down at as many dealership as you can. Also use a check for your deposit and they SHOULD hold on to it, not cash it. I don’t work at a dealer but this is how it work in my eyes. If I am wrong I am pretty close to the way it operates.

Glad I didn't have any of these experiences. I went to Bill kidds on York Rd in Hunt Valley, MD. I would give them a A+ The guy I talked to was about my age 25. It was very cool and chill. Was far better experience than any other dealer.

I'm really glad I didn't have an bad experience as well. I bought my BOP xB at Koons of Westminister. Lewis was great (a shame he doesn't work there anymore). He didn't know much, but found answers immeadiatly, called me on his own time to see how things were gojng (getting the money, insurance, anticipation, etc) My only afterthought is that they screwed me a lil on the financing, but when I can refinance, I'll be good.

I am sorry to hear about all of your problems. I wish there was something I could do to save the Scion name in this case because I honestly believe in it. Let me know if you are ever near Memphis and I will take you out for a drink to have fun.

Jay, dude, I am sorry to hear that you are going through this. I only wish all Scion dealers were honest and straight forward with their customers, cause, all in all, THAT'S THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE.

Sleeper, I am glad to see you in your tC. I do wish though that I could've sold you the car, but either way, I am glad that you are driving in the car that YOU WANTED.

I'm really glad to see that quite a few Scion dealers are reading my post. I hope that my experience has been the exception, and not the norm. Please just be honest and straightforward with your customers. I understand that there is a high demand for these cars. I understand that Toyota did not anticipate these demands, and they did not produce them in quantity to meet them.
I am very reasonable, and patient, and I am sure most people understand the great difficulty te dealerships are having right now. However, there is no excuse for misleading us, lying to us, and most importantly,, ignoring us!!
I guarantee you all, I will remember this expierence for the rest of my life. I will tell my friends, family, and anyone I meet who is in the market about what I am going through right now. I will continue to post in online forums, and send out emails. And be assured, that there are thousands of people just like me, who will react just as vehemently as I have to mistreatment by the dealers. And ultimately, you will lose your customers.
In a market where the product, and price is fixed, your reputation is all you have keeping you in business. Do not take us for granted.

Sleeper,, please tell me more about what happened with 355. I could use any help you guys can offer in dealing with Leith. Though I am driving an xA, (which is a fun car, bye the way) It is not mine. I feel like they owe me something. I do expect the most sincere apology I had ever recieved. And I expect my tC to be exactly as I ordered. But those things should be expected. Is there anyone else I should talk to, or any course of action I should take?

Dude Go 2 Toyota/Scion of Durham..Talk 2 Ian..I bought my TC there and it was sooooo smooth. Trust me..I went 2 Raleigh also and they were _______s..

GO TO TOYOTA/SCION of DURHAM and talk to IAN.

hehe

I did not have a smooth experience at Toyota of Durham. Not nearly as bad as Jay's, but I had to make every phone call and they gave me the BS about knowing where it was and then not knowing where it was. I'm afraid that I could only suggest to anyone looking to buy a Scion to get it when they see it on the lot. Also see the posts on 'how long did it take'... There are many horror stories.

My dealership experience is was pretty smooth compared to a lot of stories I heard. I ordered my xb on a tuesday, they said it would be in the week after next on a thursday and I got it that thursday night. I am starting to see a pattern with scion dealers though. I think that they are putting older smooth talking sales people who used to sell toyotas to our moms and dads and could get them to take a different car on the lot and applying that technique to a younger more informed crowd on a product that does not sell like tradional toyotas. I think what people need to do is either do a live chat with a scion rep or e-mail with specifics to scion and tell them what is going on and threaten to take your business to a different car company. They know that money talks and B.S. walks and when your money starts to walk they will listen.

All of you guys that are not happy should call Scion Corporate. I personally have heard that Scion is taking better care of their customers than Lexus does. I did not believe it until they warrantied an 18" Pirelli tire that costs about $200 installed for a customer that Pirelli would not even warranty. Scion Corporate will do something if they can. I do not have the number or I would give it to you. I think it would be hilarious if you drove their xA around and then returned it to them because you bought your tC elsewhere. :P

The place you want to call is the Scion Customer Experience Center. The number is 866-707-2466.

It's sad that some dealers are not taking the Scion philosophy seriously. They also seem to not keep the salespeople up to date on how things work, which sounds like part of the problem at this dealership. Unfortunately, that's how a lot of "old school" dealers work, by keeping the salespeople in the dark, to maintain "control" of their staff.

Wow, I'm sorry that these dealers are treating people so badly. At our dealership, it is almost impossible to keep any Scions in stock, especially tC's, I think the longest we've ever had one on the ground was less than 48 hours before being sold; so the majority of the cars we sell have to be ordered. I'm pretty sure that a lot of dealers are having the same problem we are, but from what I've heard, a lot of dealerships are giving out unrealistic timeframes to customers who order their cars.

How it works here (Chi-Town Area), is that all the dealerships in our 5-state region (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan) have to pick from the same allocation pool (group of cars that Scion makes available to us). So if 10 people want say, a 5-Speed Azure Pearl tC, and Scion only allocates 8 of them to the region, then 2 dealerships (and thus 2 customers) have to wait until the next allocation to get that car. Sometimes, an order for a very popular car like a Flint Mica 5-Speed can go through 2, 3, or even 4 allocations before actually getting allocated (meaning it could take up to 8-12 weeks for some cars). Even assuming that the car gets allocated on the first try, it takes at least a month, usually a month and a half, for the car to actually arrive at the dealership. So a dealer who tells you that it wil only take 2 weeks for an ordered car to arrive is flat-out lying to you. I always give people a timeframe that is, if anything, longer than the truth so that people are happy when they get the car early; telling someone their car will be here in 2 weeks when I know it won't be here for 2 months is not just lying, its stupid :shock: If someone says they need a car in 2 weeks that won't be here for a month, I'll tell them that we can try to get it by then, but its not likely. Being honest with your customers keeps everyone happy, because when we don't get that car in 2 weeks, that customer won't be mad because he knows we didn't promise him anything and that we did our best for him, and since we were honest, maybe he won't mind waiting until the car gets here, if we lied, then he would have gone elsewhere and we'd lose his business. Its beneficial to both salespeople and customers to be honest

Now before i get all kinds of people saying that I'm wrong because they got thier car sooner, I admit it is entirely possible to get your car sooner in one of these ways:

1) The car is already on the way to the dealership because it was allocated to the dealership without having been a customer order

2) The car is already on the way to the dealership because the car was originally an order but the customer cancelled the order, thus making the car available

3) Dealer trades: the dealership you ordered your car from trades one of their cars for the car you want if a differant dealer in the reigon has it. (this one is tricky because a lot of dealers use this as a way to overcome objections to the long wait i.e. "Oh, don't worry, we'll just dealer-trade for it, we'll get it in a week or two." This does not usually work with tCs because most dealers will only trade a tC for a tC because they know that they are hot cars and they don't need to trade them, and also because most dealers don't have a ton of tC's lying around to be traded.


I assume that a lot of salesmen are giving innacurate info for one of two reasons:

1)They honestly have no idea how long it takes for Scions to get from the factory to the dealership. In this case, thier Scion sales managers should be beaten for not giving thier salespeople enough info to properly take care of thier customers

-or-

2) They know full well how long it will take but they are worried that you won't want to wait that long so they figure that it will be easy to string you along for an extra month or so (or longer) until the car actually gets there.

A lot of dealerships (from what i've heard from customers) do not have thier Scion dept. properly trained on how Scion does business differantly from all the other nameplates. That is the fault of the individual dealership, Scion makes training classes and materials easily available for all dealers, so the ones who are not trained are that way by choice.

Hope that gives everyone some insight on the whole process, and just as a disclaimer, all this info is based on my expirances at my dealership, other parts of the country might work very differantly (For instance I think Scion Dealers in Cali. have a few differant rules since they were the first wave) So any other dealers can feel free to add to my info...

Oh yeah, and sorry for the long post, but its raining here today so we are really sloooooooooow and there's nothing else to do :shock:

I'm afraid that I could only suggest to anyone looking to buy a Scion to get it when they see it on the lot.

Mine was right off the showroom floor, literally. It was stock, only had to have the security system installed. Damn little punks in my neighborhood stole my cd's from my moms truck one time.

I d suggest that you scour the lots, find one that has clos to the features you want. Factory installed you need to pay attention for, but most of it can be dealer installed, like my security system, and i didn't get screwed like that. From first paperwork till I got my car was 5 days, only cause it was hard finding insurance.

When I was ready to buy my tc I went to the Toyota dealer in Ellicot city to see what they had. It was a rainy afternoon and not only was i the ONLY customer, all of the sales staff were standing outside the front door hanging out when i pulled up. I was introduced to one of the guys standing there and attempted to get him to sell me a tc. His responce was, basically that he didn't have any didn't know what was comming in and didn't know how much they would have on them. I politely asked the salesperson standing next to him if he would like to sell me a car. He just looked at me blankly.

I left and went to Carmax in Laurel where Conrad showed me what they had comming in in the next couple of shipments. I drove one they had on the lot and loved it. I put down my 500 smackers and in less time than they had promised the car was in for me to pick up. On my way off the lot I picked up some garbage in my tire that put a BIG hole it it. Carmax didn't have another tire or another tc to take it off of so they sent me up the street to a tire place and with 18 miles on my car I bought a new tire for 279. In 7 days of returning the reciept to Conrad I got a check in the mail reimbursing me for the tire.

Maybe the fact that I used to sell cars with Conrad and the Sales Manager accross the street at the sister Carmax store had something to do with it :wink:

Anyways, Conrad is hooking me up with the eclipse navi 2494 for 2399 including installation and the master tech gurus in the back said they would happily hook me up with the sc install when it comes in. Everyone locally who has the same navi wants 2399 and 300 to do the install. Woo hoo, i'll be going really fast AND kinda know where i am going !

Here I heard that the new tC was coming out. I have a son who was headed for college and needed a good reliable, fuel economical car...voila the tC! So I go to Folsom Scion and get myself on "the list" and was also told 3 weeks for it's arrival....they asked what color preference and to choose a second. My son was bent on the dark blue only. I wrote 500 buck deposit check and all seemed well. We received one phone call that the car would be in the 3rd week of August...good timing since my son wasn't to go to school until first of September. Car was on the boat and due to dock at the port and transport 3 days after. Well, happens we don't get a call for the estimated "Saturday" it should have arrived so we go into the dealership to talk to the saleperson who seemed quite nervous but we didn't know why but then concluded it was because he had to tell us that the car had not arrived but would be arriving in 3 more weeks time!!So I demand to complain to customer service about this deception when through the window of that office I see the dark blue tC being prepped for another customer....that was the one that was meant for my son, had arrived and was sold to another customer right under our noses!!!.....This is what was happening to most of the people at this dealership ...if you walked in looking for a tC and it was on the lot, they sold it to you rather than call the person who was on the waiting list!! Needless to say, I gave them a huge piece of my mind and not in a quiet manner which they didn't like since the dealership was packed with people considering a Scion of some form.....some of those customers started to realize what the reason was for their lenghy wait. Just another tactic that dealerships pull that Scion Corp should know about!

So I demand to complain to customer service about this deception when through the window of that office I see the dark blue tC being prepped for another customer....that was the one that was meant for my son, had arrived and was sold to another customer right under our noses!!!
How did you know? Did it match a VIN they gave you?

I would normally say that I'm sure there's a good explanation, but it sounds like there wasn't. Bummer, man.

The saga continues......

I went to Leith Scion again yesterday (sigh),,,, Thai Nguyen my "salesperson" hadn't returned a single one of the four messages I left for him. Mark Poindexter hadn't returned my calls either. So, I have commited myself to sneaking up on these two louses. I am so beyond my stage of volitile anger, and find their behavior so incredibly child-like. Whats the news, Mark??,,, Guess what? Its "possible" my car will be here in about two weeks!!! TWO WEEKS!!!!

That will bring my wait to about TWO MONTHS TOTAL! Did I mention before that I was told three weeks or less by my sales person when I put down my deposit?

New plan: :twisted: I am going to show up every day until my car is there and in my posession. :twisted: I'm going to remind them every day just how long I have been waiting, and just how long they said I would be waiting.

You know what,,,, I think I'm over the edge now :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Reminding them everyday would be good, but I would do 1 thing first, defenitely call scion HQ and talk to a rep. Let them know whats happening and ask them to help you out. Finally, if they stall on you again and tell you itll take x more weeks, take it to the better business bureu and to the local medias fraud reporters, theyll make so much stink that the dealership wont be able to sell another car for years

The saga continues......

I went to Leith Scion again yesterday (sigh),,,, Thai Nguyen my "salesperson" hadn't returned a single one of the four messages I left for him. Mark Poindexter hadn't returned my calls either. So, I have commited myself to sneaking up on these two louses. I am so beyond my stage of volitile anger, and find their behavior so incredibly child-like. Whats the news, Mark??,,, Guess what? Its "possible" my car will be here in about two weeks!!! TWO WEEKS!!!!

That will bring my wait to about TWO MONTHS TOTAL! Did I mention before that I was told three weeks or less by my sales person when I put down my deposit?

New plan: :twisted: I am going to show up every day until my car is there and in my posession. :twisted: I'm going to remind them every day just how long I have been waiting, and just how long they said I would be waiting.

You know what,,,, I think I'm over the edge now :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
[/b]You definitely need to call Scion Corp on this one. These people need to lose their license to sell Scions. They will help you and might even get you some compensation. You are doing what I would do ...basically show up every chance to make them squirm. Especially if they have other customers loudly talk about your problem ~ that usually makes them take some positive action as they don't want "bad press" in their showroom. Good luck on getting your car....and don't be afraid to go elsewhere and find your car but make this place bring in the car you ordered and then they could get stuck with it when they can't sell it right away...they have to pay for each day it's on the lot just sitting there and it kills their business! Keep us informed of what happens...I like to hear the justice of it all.

One question, Jay - is Leith Scion the only Scion dealership in the Triangle area?

Sure sounds like it is, from the way you've stuck with them all this time.

Well I called 1-866-70SCION as per their website,, they created a case, and referred me to the regional customer relations manager, Cheryll Cook. I will contact her next, and will keep you guys posted.

And no,, Leith Scion is not the only Scion dealership in town,, but THEY HAVE MY MONEY!! :evil: And If I went to another dealership,, I will have to start this whole process over again. I cant wait any longer. I am going back to Leith today to harrass them. Do you think they'll try to put a restraining order on me? That would be pretty funny :twisted:

And no,, Leith Scion is not the only Scion dealership in town,, but THEY HAVE MY MONEY!! :evil: And If I went to another dealership,, I will have to start this whole process over again. I cant wait any longer.
You need to read MY story:

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=325910&highlight=#325910

In particular, this:

"I got my car on the second allocation for Lake City - four allocations had gone by at Kirkland without a peep."

If I'd stayed with the original dealer, I'd have waited LONGER than I did by enlisting an additional dealer. After I wised up, I had THREE different dealers trying to get a car for me, and it paid off. Deposits are refundable. Stress isn't. :wink:

So I demand to complain to customer service about this deception when through the window of that office I see the dark blue tC being prepped for another customer....that was the one that was meant for my son, had arrived and was sold to another customer right under our noses!!!.....This is what was happening to most of the people at this dealership ...if you walked in looking for a tC and it was on the lot, they sold it to you rather than call the person who was on the waiting list!! Needless to say, I gave them a huge piece of my mind and not in a quiet manner which they didn't like since the dealership was packed with people considering a Scion of some form.....some of those customers started to realize what the reason was for their lenghy wait. Just another tactic that dealerships pull that Scion Corp should know about!

I agree that if that happened it should be reported and is totally unethical. What is more likely however, is that that Blue tC was the one that you were promised by your salesman, but it was really a car that someone else had ordered before you. Your salesperson probably saw the car on his list of inbound cars and didn't notice that it was reserved (or their Scion manager forgot to put a name on it) and went ahead and told you that the car was available thinking that it was. Stupidity is not an excuse but maybe its a little consolation that they were not trying to screw you over; they're just dumb :wink:

So I demand to complain to customer service about this deception when through the window of that office I see the dark blue tC being prepped for another customer....that was the one that was meant for my son, had arrived and was sold to another customer right under our noses!!!.....This is what was happening to most of the people at this dealership ...if you walked in looking for a tC and it was on the lot, they sold it to you rather than call the person who was on the waiting list!! Needless to say, I gave them a huge piece of my mind and not in a quiet manner which they didn't like since the dealership was packed with people considering a Scion of some form.....some of those customers started to realize what the reason was for their lenghy wait. Just another tactic that dealerships pull that Scion Corp should know about!

I agree that if that happened it should be reported and is totally unethical. What is more likely however, is that that Blue tC was the one that you were promised by your salesman, but it was really a car that someone else had ordered before you. Your salesperson probably saw the car on his list of inbound cars and didn't notice that it was reserved (or their Scion manager forgot to put a name on it) and went ahead and told you that the car was available thinking that it was. Stupidity is not an excuse but maybe its a little consolation that they were not trying to screw you over; they're just dumb :wink:

I originally thought the same as you did until I was shown the listing on their computer of who was getting what when and my name was the right there for that car....my name was technically reserving that car that came in. I was later apologised to by the head manager who told me that this happens all the time and that he was trying to put a stop on this kind of tactic especially when money deposits were on the cars and should be reserved. Apologies didn't get me a car nor did it secure referrals to this dealership either and it forced me to go ahead look elsewhere. Their loss.

Phantom, you should really send an e-mail to your state's Attorney General. It's too late to get action from this dealer, but it will let the dealer know that they're being watched.

Your AG probably has a website for you to send complaints.

Phantom, you should really send an e-mail to your state's Attorney General. It's too late to get action from this dealer, but it will let the dealer know that they're being watched.

Your AG probably has a website for you to send complaints.

The dealer feels that they did the "right" thing by giving me my check back when I asked and apologizing at the time. I'm sure they don't think that any damage was done. They were one of the dealers that had truckloads coming at a time instead of the one or two that the smaller dealers had coming. I feel comforted in knowing that word travels fast and when bad press spreads and no "good" recommendations are given they will "feel" it eventually. I don't see what power the district attorney has but I did give Scion Corp a heads up on what had gone on.

What incentive would the dealership have to sell the Scion to someone other than you?

a. money- sales person/manager chose to sell it to someone got more featur/ provided more profit than you. (intentially screwed you and unethical)
b. dealers inventory never showed vehicle sold. (unintentially screwed you and disappointing)

Either way, you did get scewed.

Bring Scion into it if you need to, but bringing the State Attorney will not accomlish anything. There is nothing *illegal* for a dealership saying a car would take 8 weeks, and then say oops we sold it we can order you another one, getting the states attorney would be a waste of time. Call the Scion customer service in CA, they MAY issue you something to help resolve the matter. It would be illegal if they KEPT your moeny.

I did call Scion, and they didn't make me feel any better. They said they created a case, but that that didn't really mean anything. Calling Scion is a waste of time in my opinion. They are very informed that situations like these are arising right and left, but they either dont have the power to do anything about this crap, or don't care. Why should they care anyway? They're selling every car they ship over, its like the whole "Cabbage Patch Kid" syndrome all over again! So, whatever, just give me my freaking car, and let me get on with my life. I'm just tired of this bullcrap! If I dont have my car by the end of this week, I'll just buy something used, and not made by Toyota!

dude, go do burn outs in the parking lot, and peel out at every stop light, so that when you bring the car back it has no tires. :twisted: oh and take it up to the redline as much as possible, so the oil is burnt when the change it, :twisted: and rack up the miles, see if you can get a good 5k on it before you give it back :twisted: :twisted: muhahahaha :twisted: :twisted:

I feel comforted in knowing that word travels fast and when bad press spreads and no "good" recommendations are given they will "feel" it eventually. I don't see what power the district attorney has but I did give Scion Corp a heads up on what had gone on.

Bring Scion into it if you need to, but bringing the State Attorney will not accomlish anything. There is nothing *illegal* for a dealership saying a car would take 8 weeks, and then say oops we sold it we can order you another one, getting the states attorney would be a waste of time.

I think both of you misunderstand the role of the state Attorney General. That office provides, among other things, consumer protection from mediating individual claims to fining and suing companies with a record of consumer problems.

http://www.consumeraction.gov/state.shtml

What you do is to file a complaint. Even if no direct action is to be taken on your complaint, the AG keeps a record of complaints and if a pattern emerges, can take action against the business.

Phantom was allocated a specific car with his name associated with the VIN. If the dealer has a habit of, for example, pulling cars allocated to customers and selling them to friends/spouses or (worst-case) customers lower on the list but who want to spend much more in options and additional services, the state can take action.

But no one will know if the business is crooked or not unless complaints are filed.

What incentive would the dealership have to sell the Scion to someone other than you?

a. money- sales person/manager chose to sell it to someone got more featur/ provided more profit than you. (intentially screwed you and unethical)
b. dealers inventory never showed vehicle sold. (unintentially screwed you and disappointing)

In most cases, the reason is probably choice "a", but the excuse given to the customer is invariably choice "b".

Few dealer "mistakes" favor the customer!

While I agree that you have been treated very poorly, my one question is why you sold your original vehicle prior to having 'eyes on' your replacement. Had you not done that, you could have saved yourself weeks of frustation and some out-of-pocket expenses by simply going to a different dealership.

dude, go do burn outs in the parking lot, and peel out at every stop light, so that when you bring the car back it has no tires. :twisted: oh and take it up to the redline as much as possible, so the oil is burnt when the change it, :twisted: and rack up the miles, see if you can get a good 5k on it before you give it back :twisted: :twisted: muhahahaha :twisted: :twisted:
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
MUHAHAHA Thats what I have been doing!!! Car had 120 miles on it when I got it,,, Now has a little over 2k!! LOL and I discovered this nice little button that disables overdrive,, wow, I had no idea a little 1.5 liter could move so fast!!!! Did I mention I deliver pizza's?

By the way,, what is that little blue indicator that lights up all the time? Its kinda annoying, so Ill ignore it till their car goes away! MUHAHAHAHAHA!

dude, go do burn outs in the parking lot, and peel out at every stop light, so that when you bring the car back it has no tires. :twisted: oh and take it up to the redline as much as possible, so the oil is burnt when the change it, :twisted: and rack up the miles, see if you can get a good 5k on it before you give it back :twisted: :twisted: muhahahaha :twisted: :twisted:
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
MUHAHAHA Thats what I have been doing!!! Car had 120 miles on it when I got it,,, Now has a little over 2k!! LOL and I discovered this nice little button that disables overdrive,, wow, I had no idea a little 1.5 liter could move so fast!!!! Did I mention I deliver pizza's?

You guys just warm my heart!! Scion salespeople that intentionally screw people wind up being screwed in return with guys who think like you!! I guess someone out there will be messing with the guys I dealt with in the near future messing with their test drive cars. I certainly hope you do get your tC finally because it is a nice ride and after all you have been through you deserve it! Just ignore the lights and indicators and park at the mall parking lots a lot in tight spots. Hey and I know that pizza cheese does smell putrid after being left in the heat and hidden under seats....just something I heard and for your information. That's one xA they will never be able to sell successfully after you are done with it!!

Hey, I work at a dealership and even I can agree with what you guys are saying, I understand the frustration you feel.

BTW, that little blue light on the dash is in place of a temp. guage,

Blue=engine not warmed to optimal temp.
Red=you've got problems.

So basically, its really bad to rev the engine hard when the blue light is on, in other words.

:D I WIN I WIN I WIN :D

HA HA HA!!! They tried to screw me,, and I won!!!!!!

Mark Poindexter,, (remember him??), called, has the VIN number, and the car has my name on it. I went down to "EVIL LEITH SCION" to verify this,, its true!!! The car isn't on the lot yet,, but should be there any day this week.

So, he wants to talk to me about financing.... A little background: Thai Nguyen, (remember him?,, I dont either) well he "was" my salesperson,, but he hasn't been in the picture since this whole fiasco began (pretty screwed up isn't it?). Well he ran my credit on day 1 and got me "approved" through Southeastern Toyota Financial. He wouldn't give me an interest rate, or any of the terms. But I was "approved".

Now I don't have the best credit in the world, its just so-so. Anyway, Mark Poindexter, tells me that I got approved for 14.5% on a 60 month term with a downpayment of $2550!!!!! My payments would be $375 per month!!! WTF!!!!

Thats much more than the "standard" 10% down that I was prepard for. I did the math,, and it appeared that they wanted me to pay the entire interest amount as my downpayment! I was shocked!! Yes,, to this day this "dealership" continues to shock, horrify, and astound me!! He was looking for a commitment from me, and trying to weasel me into commiting to pay $2000 down, and letting them "hold" a check for the remainder of $550!! (remember what happened last time they held a check for me?) for 30 days.
I told him that I would call him back just as soon as I pulled the money out of my ___.

So I joined a credit union today, which approved me for 10% APR for whatever terms I choose, 48, 60, 72 months,,, with ZERO DOWN!!!!

So my loan officer called Mark Poindexter and asked him for a Buyers Order, and I could tell he was caught off guard by the silence that followed!

I WIN!!!!! No money for them! [b]NO PROFITING OFF OF ME!!!!!!!!!!![/b

Oh, by the way,, My loan officer thought it was strange that they didn't run my credit app through them,, b/c EVIL LEITH SCION does get a preferred rate through Coastal Federal Credit Union! Funny because,,they could have made some $$ if they had just given me the best deal to start with!! LOL LOL BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! :twisted:

Under the Scion covenant, they can't use an outside source to lower your interest rate. The only way they can do that is if you already had a pre-approval from outside, then they can match that rate. Yes, it may sound odd, but its true.

FINALLY!!!!!

I have my BEAUTIFUL Azure Pearl, 5-speed!! I kinda feel like Im in shock! It is not only exactly as I ordered it, but having never seen an Azure Pearl tC with my own eyes, I am astounded as to how beautiful this car really is! The only thing I love more than driving this car, is looking at it!!! :P

OK, so for all of you who are keeping tabs on my ongoing saga, THIS IS THE END!! (I hope)..... But for ____s and giggles, I'll fill you in on the details, b/c I feel like I have recieved such awesome support from every one of you! I really do thank each and everyone who has posted on this thread, your advice was heavily considered, and I have learned alot. I also appreciate everyone who has read this thread, for letting vent, b/c its been really theraputic. And most of all, I hope alot of people continue to read this thread so they can avoid alot of the things that I and others who have posted their stories have been through.

So, Thursday morning I get a wake up call from Mark Poindexter, My car is ready to be picked up!! So, an hour later I show up at Evil Leith Scion ready to buy, all I needed was a Buyers Order, so i could take it down to the nice ladies at Coastal Federal, and get a check cut. I sit down with Mark Poindexter, who goes over a few things with me. He gets up to find out if the finance guy is available, and I see something familiar stacked up in front of me on his desk...... Any one want to take a guess what it was??.... Cmon,, anyone?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

:shock: I was kinda suprised to see that he had in a very large stack, a print out of this very thread!! Yes ladies and gentlemen! Our very words, pics, posts and plots, sitting in color on plain paper! So, on behalf of the members of Scionlife.com, I welcome you Mark Poindexter! :wink:

Now, really for the life of me, I cannot fathom what he was attempting to accomplish leaving that stack of papers for me to see, however I was caught off guard. So when he came back, I pretended I didn't see them. We were waiting for the finance dude, and he asks me when I will post in this forum again. That he had been keeping up with this thread, and his GM had been keeping up with it also. :roll:

He did seem extremely concerned about what I would post next, and noted that alot of people read these things. He asked me how I felt about my overall experience, an I told him. I told him exactly what I had been saying all along, and that my opinion hadn't changed. That I felt I had been misled, and the worst part was when I felt I had been ignored.

I will say this though, and Mark, you may want to pay attention because this is specifically concerning you;
I genuinly believe Mark Poindexter tried his damndest to satisfy an unsatisfiable customer. Personally he seems like a pretty good guy, (especialy for someone in car sales :lol: ) Now I really will never know how difficult it was to get my particular car. It may have been a next to impossible task. And if it was, I really do think he did alot of leg work, and jumped through alot of hoops to get it for me as soon as he could. He knew that his sales person, Thai Nguyen, was not only a complete failure to me, but also the focus of alot of my anger. So Mark not only did all of the legwork, but was my sole contact person, and he made final delivery of my car. For all of this, I must applaud him. :P

I do feel that the events which occured prior to his entering the picture, had completely, and irrepairably soured my opinion of the dealership. But in the business world, more than any other, the first impression is the one you will always remember!

Thats it folks! I have my car and I couldn't be happier with it,,, well maybe when I put on my springs! lol

And I must explicitly thank everyone here for helping make this possible. Though it wasn't what I had intended, I am pretty sure that this forum was the extra muscle I needed to get my car when I did.

THANK YOU