WOW!!!!!

 

I don't know if this was what they were actually doing, but this is a dealer trick that some places will pull on you. If they were, it sounds like they were doing this too early in the process...?

Sometimes when it comes to the point where you have found the car you want at the dealer, they will send one sales person to you to start talking about you actually buying the car. Then that person usually sends in a sales manager to talk more of it with you. Then they stall the sale, sending in another sales rep or back to the first guy, and keep switching people on you or making you wait for a while. This is to make the customer frustrated and uncomfortable, and in reaction the customer (this is what they hope for) just buys the car so that the whole sale will be over with and they can get it out of there. It's a dirty trick, I hate dealerships; I looked into the whole process alot when buying my Scion.

I am a Communications major in school with over three years behind me, so I have some decent understanding in sales and marketing. There's a book full of tricks that dealerships can pull. Here's a quick tip: don't stay too long in one where there are salespeople waiting out by the door for you, it's a bad sign of ethics.

 

guess you learned your lesson for keeping business to just business instead of pleasure... hate to burn ya on that note... never had to deal wit fort bend so i really cant say its a good dealership or bad... but they where cool when we hit them up one sunday afternoon.

 

I have a little advice thats worked for me and friends.

Dealers dont want window shoppers - they want someone who can actually afford a car, they work on commission - to this is your advantage.

I tell them that I am in the market for a car, but have to run everything by my trust fund trustee (I do not have a trust fund). I say that I am out on the lot getting some ideas - but will need a few days to run things through my trust. You can ask questions, get good answers, and they will not try hard balling you into a same-day-sale. But, they will also not blow you off as some punk kid who came into to look, with no shopping agenda.


Ive even hardballed them some - saying that I can pay a little "tip" or extra if someone can get me a better deal. Of course there is no chance of actually doing this - but you can get them to admit how far they will go with a sale. As agents - their representations are in effect binding. Then, when you come back later to wheel and deal - talk with someone else and say "Bob or whoever" offered it to me for - what he offered it to you for. Of course this does not work too well with pure price - but, it cannot hurt. Technically, its not fraud because youre negotiating, or dealing at arms length.


And yes, I use coupons at Wal-Mart.

 

Dustin Pady has not been with us for the past month. He has left for sterling mccall toyota as a sales associate.

 

This is some great advice, especially that first piece on running everything by a "trust fund trustee". Great work!

But I can't say that the second bit won't work well, if at all. Most dealerships will have a policy regarding customer-salesperson relationships stating something along the lines that once you have met and discussed a possible sale with one sales representative no other salesperson can interfere with that sale. I've ran into this many times when test driving or considering a number of vehicles; Honda and Toyota dealers use this policy very often.

More than not, the policy is for the protection of the initial sales representative you meet, and not in effect for the customer (you) at all. The majority of the salesperson's salaries are taken from commission, so these sales mean a lot to them!

I should make a separate topic about dealership policies and sales ethics, and see if I can get it stickied somewhere, this is some seriously helpful stuff to both sales and customers! Let me know if you're interested, too.

 

i wAlked into mike calvert toyota and the first guy to come up to me as i got out of the car was ray mogdahan. he asked how are you and i said I WANT A SCION TODAY!!!. i was treated like a king and after ten minutes of talk i was signin papers (though i had to wait 2 weeks for my xa... with only 5 miles on it). every time i went to get my oil changed he would look for me as if he knew i was there and is always cordial. mike calvert = cool.

 

Trust me, these sales people are not ultimately your new best pal. Sure, they may be nice/helpful - but their paycheck so depends. If you find someone you like and can deal with - stick with them. I bought by Scion in Missoula, Montana and moved to Oklahoma. When I need a new car, I will be driving back to Montana - its worth it, it really is.

 

it depends where u go an who u know... the scion guys usually know who we are when we walk in cause thats who we deal with when we got the scion right... so y would we have to deal wit anyone else besides a scion guy??? only if u wanted something else besides a scion is where u get hassled most the time by several salesmen..

 

Rene Valdez at Joe Myers is a great guy. Many months ago i walked in there, met him and we started talks about getting me into a '07 tC He spoke spanish, so he explained everything to my grandma who was cautious about me buying a car (our family has a history of ____ed up credit and shes makin sure i'm not doing teh same) Told him we couldn't buy the car immediately and I was still treated like a king lol. SOmething happened and i wasn't able to get the car. He tried working with me to at leats get me into a used tC, but I couldn't do it.

Then just a few weeks ago, i had returned with money i had saved up for a down, and talked to Rene again, who remembered me immediately evne though it had been months and worked with me to get an '08. The only flint tCs on the lot had a bunch of accessories and add ons that i didn't want. I told him i wanted the bare minimum. He was cool with it, and one week later, he got me one with only floor mats added. He even set me up with a spanish speaking guy to talk about my finance and warranty to please my paranoid grandma. Albert Castro was teh guy and he explained everything in full detail. My grandma was intruiged by the tireXam caps that would show if teh tires needed more air, and asked if tehre was a way to get it on her Ford explorer. He looked up the tire pressure for an explorer and gave her the caps free of charge lol. My experience at Joe Myers was great :D Also, Rene's manager, Joe was really helpful too! (don't know his last name, but i know it wasn't myers lol)

 

I believe that each person will have a different experience. Unfortunately, the Spirit of Scion was that each dealer embrace the concept of the easier in and out process of buying a Scion. But that was years ago when Scion first came out. Alot has changed since then. How many dealers who are reading this will agree that there are only a handful of us who are still with Scion. Other dealers that are new to the Scion brand (within 2 years) don't understand the concept of building your Scion and going on the website to customize your car. In fact, most dealers will handle their Scion department through their Internet Department, normally salespeople who sell alot of cars and that's about it. Scion Managers, also known as Scion Champions, being passionate about the brand, about trickin out cars, and doing shows, those guys are almost all gone. Sure, there are a few of us left - but for the most part, we have a new staff in most stores that unfortunately do things like you mentioned and leave the general public feeling unwanted.

At my store, Lewisville, my staff is trained to take care of every customer's needs. If you walk in and ask, where is the bathroom - they will walk you to it. If you come in and say, we want to look at a Scion and a Toyota and a Used Car - they will walk the customer through all the departments and help them until they are satisfied.

As well our Scion department is one of the top in our Area (50 dealers) and we strive to be quick to assist the customers on all their needs. Not trying to make any other store look bad, but no matter what product you are selling, taking care of the customer is the #1 focus and should always remain that way. Besides, without you guys, we wouldn't have this forum, let alone paychecks.

On behalf of what happened to you, I hope that you do not discredit Scion and end up getting one. With that dealer, probably not, since I wouldn't go back to that kind of experience either. But, please don't discredit the brand and we hope to see you at our upcoming shows in the Spring and Summer of 08.

And I agree with Pooty about not bashing the dealers. I believe that people need to vent and that's what forums are good for; however, Scion has a number to call in California where you can talk about your experience and get some sort of something resolved.

Feel free to PM me for anything else.

 

I had the worst experience at Vandergriff Toyota in Arlington. I bought my xB from there and I had a great experience when dealing with my salesman, KC. He did everything right. My bad experience happened when I took my xB to get its first oil change. They took my car back and it took like an hour to change the oil and wash it. When I got it back it had a weird smell to it. I was told it was the air freshener. I got back to my friends house, which is about 45 minutes away, and I was showing him all the new parts that I had just put on my car, when I opened the hood. I smelt this bad odor and noticed that my oil cap was missing. They forgot to put my oil cap back on and oil had shot all over my motor. I called them and they told me to drive it back. I told them they needed to bring me an oil cap but I ended up getting the one off my friends xA. We drove all the way back to the dealership and they said they were going to detail the engine bay. They washed it and it still was covered in oil. I made them wash it and detail it til I was pleased. My salesman came over and helped me out with this. They gave me a stock oil cap to put on and they ordered me a TRD oil cap since that is what I had on mine that came up missing. I was in a ____ed off mood the rest of the day.

I would not suggest going to the Vandergriff Toyota Service.

 

Ex_scionman_lover:
I once worked for Fort Bend Toyota and let me tell you, it is the worst place you could ever go to buy a car or even to have your car fixed!!! Have you ever noticed that there are nothing but young kids working there? Young kids who have no clue what they're doing!!! Oh and as far as Dustin Pady goes... I, unfortuantely, was one of the many who had the "luck" of dating him... The way he was described in the postings above is no surprise to me! Dustin is a very arrogant person!!! If you are not a woman with a somewhat nice shape he could care less who you are!!!

Maybe not such a good idea to mix personal with work

i bought my vehicle (2007 Sequoia) from there and they treated me very nice and i got a great deal! no complaints...but just like some other people have said, i guess it just depends on where you go and who you know.

 

Personal with work? Cmon name one person that actually works at that dealership!!! And as far as having a life goes, I do have one sweetie! Which is why I left that god awful dealership!

 

thats y u never mix business wit pleasure....

 

LOL...WOW!!!!!And they hired you?

 

I went in looking at the old style Xb and while I was there they had 2 of the new body and it looked sharp. The salesman let me take it for a spin and i drove to my house for my wife to see (since it was for her) and she thought it was cute. I went back to the dealer and explained I had another car to look at and would let them know my decision.

We looked at the Subaru wagon and it seemed uncomfortable to me so we chose on the Xb. I called the salesman back and they got us a 08 black cherry in the next day. I went buy signed the papers and picked it up. Great and easy to deal with at that point.

After we took my wifes on a trip and put some miles on it I really liked it so I went by and talked to the salesman and ordered a silver 08 and it took about a week and they installed the springs while it was there. The car came in and I went by and picked it up, now this is the second car from the same dealer in a 2 week span. I drove it home and it sat for a week before I got to drive it, in the mean time i ordered all the cool stuff like tower bar, rear sway bar and filter. The parts guys were rude and acted like i was taking their time so i went elsewhere. I ended up at Joe Myers and they took my order over the phone and was in the next day. Called SM to make a appointment for install and they never called back.

I went to Joe Myers and they installed while I waited on a Monday morning. While I was walking around looking at parts I notice a sign offering Xb2 springs installed for 250.00 I ask the parts guy if that is right and he says yes that is SCION set price. WOW!!!!!! I paid 550.00 at SM so I call over and talk to my salesman and he says "call you back in a minute". He calls back and says that is the SM price and sorry. As I sit at Joe Myers I get more ____ed since I have sent 3 people over to SM that have bought XBs from them and this is how I get treated? I ended up buying a 3rd for my company and then I was even more ____ed after this deal, they threw in the window tint and a Ipod for free and all was good. Sterling McCall charged me for everything including the Xb key chain.

A month ago my AC was only blowing cold out 1 side of the vents so I called and made a appointment and took it in to SM (the reason I keep going back is they are 10 minutes from my home) and dropped it off. The service writer asked what was wrong and i explained and a tech came over and they looked at it and stated to leave it and they will get it done asap, cool. The writer asked if I wanted a oil change and I stated do I get my 1st free and he states only at 5000 miles and I had 4100, it would cost 29.95 if I wanted it and I said no thanks. The next day they call and say the car is ready and I picked it up and that will be the last time I stop there again.

Visit Joe Myers and see Crystal. Never shop at Sterling McCall unless you plan to be overcharged and treated poorly. One more thing for all you future buyers, the true price is not always the final price.

Pardon any misspells and such, it makes me angry all over again every time I think about it.

 

You know, in about 4 or 5 years....or when it's just time for a vehicle change, I plan to have saved up a few grand. I will walk onto a lot....and ask about a Mustang GT. If I get ANY sort of crap from the dealer, I will pull my wad of cash out and say "hmmm I guess I better be going then. Take care." And then I'll just leave.

 

There are other things you can do as well. The very first 'new' car I bought for myself was in '02. I walked in saying up front "I just got a promotion and I want a new car. I do NOT 'need' a new car, but I WANT a new car. Are we clear on that point?"

As we began to handle the deal, the sales guy showed me some numbers and I said "those are ugly, I need to head out..." And started twirling my keys. (I refused to let them 'hold' my keys for my trade while we talked deals, and they WILL try this to keep you from leaving.)

Anyway, for about an hour or more he kept running back and forth to his manager and coming back, trying to make the deal a lil better each time. And each time I wasn't happy, I twirled my keys and stood up, in the direction of the door.

Finally, I got what I wanted and that was that.

During another purchase, I walked in for a test drive and then said I had an appointment elsewhere and for him to work on the deal and give me a call. (I actually did have an appointment, but you don't really need to have a real one.)

He called back several times, with information on the deal, each time getting a lil closer to what I wanted. I never set foot back in that building until he had exactly the deal I wanted.

I must say, though, that the above 'tips' are for use when you don't know a good place to buy cars. These tips are not necessary at the 'good' places.

I know when I was originally in the market for an xA back in '05, I walked into Sport City Toyota in Garland, Tx off of 635 and said I wanted to test drive an xA. Jeff tossed me the keys and said "have fun, see you in a bit." He didn't even come with me. I was shocked. Factors beyond his or my control prevented my purchasing an xA back then. But if I didn't have my tC right now, that'd be the first place I went to.

I know it's going to be where I go for my service needs, that's for sure.

 

This type of experience is what I got from Freeman Honda in Duncanville when I bought my Civic (which is now totaled, hence my new tC)

Every time I had business at that dealership, I would sit there andBS with the guys I dealt with. They are top notch. So are the guys from Sport City.

I've already talked with Jeff through pm and on the phone and he said when I needed something for my car, to find him first and he'd help me out. I didn't even get my tC from them either (long story).

Nice to know there are some good ones left.