Riverside Toyota Sucks

[Wekiwa]

I think this is my week to experience poor customer service.  First it was with Continental Airlines (the first time I've had a issue in 80 flights over three years, so I figure it was just my turn.)  But today Riverside Toyota screwed up a deal for a used car that I was counting on for my college-age son, and I need to rant.  So here goes.

My boss was coming to work last Thursday in his 92 Camry, and it died.  He called a tow truck, and had it towed to Riverside, leaving it there to be repaired.  When they called with a repair estimate, which wasn't a total estimate because they alleged he had to replace one part before they could determine if anything else was wrong...a familiar story in the shady world of auto service.  It was like $300, so he said he'd just come in and buy a new truck.  Before leaving for the day to get his truck, he mentioned that the trade was like nothing ($500), and I said I'd have bought it for that plus the repair.  He said ok, and told the sales guy that is what he wanted done.  The sales guy was fully on board with this.  The new truck was driven home Thursday night.

Friday I tracked down the salesman, and confirmed the details of the deal from my perspective.  Boss had owned the car for over ten years, and is always prompt to get periodic service on his vehicles.  In short, I felt that I knew the car, and it would have been perfect for my young man.  The salesman said it would probably be ready Tuesday morning, and I said fine and I would pick it up Wednesday.

Back at work from a business trip Monday and Tuesday, I called the salesman first thing Wednesday morning (that would be yesterday.)  The repair part had come in, and they had done some additional work.  That was fine, and I told him to call me back with a final amount and I would bring him a check.  He then proceeded to avoid my calls for the rest of the afternoon, and this morning.  Even the service manager refused to return my call from yesterday afternoon.  I smelled a rat.

Today at lunch, I show up at the dealership ready to write a check and get the car.  Lo and behold, it was sold at auction yesterday.  Well, imagine that!  They were somewhat apologetic, but when I was told by the salesman and the used car manager that they didn't know about the deal, that was the final straw for me.  After exchanging a few more words and watching them wallow in their "stories", I cruised on back to work.

Bottom line...crappy customer service, and then the arrogance to not admit they had made a mistake until I pushed hard for such an admission.  I've purchased three automobiles from Riverside over the years, but they lost all future business from me today.  Too bad, so sad, for them.

[Townsend]

The departments in a car dealership are like hands.  They don't know what the others are doing most of the time.

A wholesaler most likely came in and put his name on the car with the used car manager way before the salesman knew anything about it.  Salesmen generally have no power to control anything at a corporate dealership so there is little reason to rely on them for such a thing.

There was nothing personal about the crappy service.  Most likely the persons involved just didn't want to let you know that they had no control over anything there.

[YoungTulsan]

Between bad car dealers, bad airlines, chicken restraunt inspections, homo milk at QT, etc. I think this forum just might benefit from a "consumer reviews" section of some sort.   We could be encouraged to review products and services around Tulsa

[YoungTulsan]

Also I just brought up the Kelly Blue Book site..  Without knowing anything about the vehicle, a 1992 Camry LE with basic features and 97000 miles (the default on the kbb site for that year) - should fetch $4,200 suggested retail price in "excellent" condition.

With some dings and scrapes and some more miles thats probably at least a $3000 car for them.  Your boss got bamboozled.

[waterboy]

Wasn't your agreement with your boss? Not the dealership? Or had he already taken trade in value for the truck?

You got screwed no doubt if they hadn't taken it in trade.

[YoungTulsan]

And one more thing, they arent anywhere near the river!  pancakes!!  

[DM]

In words of Judge Judy:

GET IT IN WRITING!! []

I am more amazed that you know you have had exactly 80 flights in 3 years. lol!

[Wekiwa]

It was a three-way deal.  He agreed to the trade in before he picked up his truck, and before he signed the papers he wanted it to be clear that they would offer the car to me for $500 plus repairs...it would probably have cost me around $1200.  In retrospect he should have just pulled the car from the deal, I buy it direct from him, and let them repair it.  Our mistake was we trusted Riverside to act as they assured him they would.  They took the money and ran.

I apologize to everyone for the fact that my first new topic in this forum is a rant.  There's plenty of positive things happening in Tulsa...I shall focus more on those in the future.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Wekiwa

It was a three-way deal.  He agreed to the trade in before he picked up his truck, and before he signed the papers he wanted it to be clear that they would offer the car to me for $500 plus repairs...it would probably have cost me around $1200.  In retrospect he should have just pulled the car from the deal, I buy it direct from him, and let them repair it.  Our mistake was we trusted Riverside to act as they assured him they would.  They took the money and ran.

I apologize to everyone for the fact that my first new topic in this forum is a rant.  There's plenty of positive things happening in Tulsa...I shall focus more on those in the future.

You hit the nail on the head.  

Likely, the dealership just used the Camry as a trade "value" and had zero $$$ in it.  Probably got $1200 or $1500 at the auction and some tote-a-note lot will eventually make $5-$6K out of the deal.

Technically and legally, it became their car when your boss signed the deal, so they were free to do as they saw fit and didn't have to honor any request of his as far as the disposition.

Okay, now that I've dispensed with the legal disclaimers, car dealerships pretty low on my list of places I like to visit.

[sgrizzle]

Here's my fun with Riverside story from a few years ago.

I was looking to buy a car and had settled on the make & model I wanted. Riverside was advertising one on their website. After a lot of wild goose chases I called to see if they still had it. The guy put me on hold to "go look on the lot" and came back and said it was still there. I went by a few hours later and they made me fill out a "customer information sheet" before I could do any test drives. At the time my Driver's license and SS# were the same, so they were really  most likely checking my credit. After 15 minutes we finally headed out to the lot and he took me to a similar car. Same model, different features. I told him that this wasn't it. He replied "We sold that one two weeks ago." I told him I wasn't interested in the one he was showing me and started walking away, he followed and tried to talk me into a used dodge neon because they had about 12 in the back. I told him I didn't want a neon and his "great salesmen" reply was, "well sometimes you can't get what you want."

I got what I wanted elsewhere and had I known the salesman's home address, I would've done donuts in his yard with it.

[Ibanez]

Jim Norton Toyota has always been great to me. Go there and ask for Buck. He's a great guy, for a car salesman.

[Rowdy]

And also tell them that the construction at Jim Norton has been a great difficulty for you to shop there so hopefully you get 50 percent off your purchase.

[EndQuote]

My girlfriend had a similar experience with RT.
After a few years, she finally decided to trade in her Toyota SUV (purchased from RT) for a Toyota sedan. They allowed her to "test drive" the sedan for a few days to convince her, while she left her Toyota SUV on the lot. She liked the trade deal, but wanted to drive the car for a few days. She wanted to make sure the MPG's were worth it and that she had room to carry her supplies around. She drove the sedan around, liked it, and went back to say she would take it. Lucky, she liked it, because the dealer told her they had ALREADY SOLD HER SUV TO ANOTHER PERSON!
Had she NOT liked the sedan for ANY reason, she would be out of a car, or RT would be trying to find her a ride.
UNREAL!
Then, they screwed up her financing. Little did they know, she worked her way through college at a car dealership's finance office in her hometown. Needless to say, she verbally chopped up the salesman and finance department and had to call the BANK to fix her account. The mea culpas were flowing from the staff at RT. They lost a loyal customer. Her whole family drives Toyotas, and now are all going to a different dealer.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by EndQuote

My girlfriend had a similar experience with RT.
After a few years, she finally decided to trade in her Toyota SUV (purchased from RT) for a Toyota sedan. They allowed her to "test drive" the sedan for a few days to convince her, while she left her Toyota SUV on the lot. She liked the trade deal, but wanted to drive the car for a few days. She wanted to make sure the MPG's were worth it and that she had room to carry her supplies around. She drove the sedan around, liked it, and went back to say she would take it. Lucky, she liked it, because the dealer told her they had ALREADY SOLD HER SUV TO ANOTHER PERSON!
Had she NOT liked the sedan for ANY reason, she would be out of a car, or RT would be trying to find her a ride.
UNREAL!
Then, they screwed up her financing. Little did they know, she worked her way through college at a car dealership's finance office in her hometown. Needless to say, she verbally chopped up the salesman and finance department and had to call the BANK to fix her account. The mea culpas were flowing from the staff at RT. They lost a loyal customer. Her whole family drives Toyotas, and now are all going to a different dealer.

I'd be interested to know how they sold a vehicle they had no title for.

[Rowdy]

Probably meant it was a contractual purchase at the time.