Bichon

As I said earlier, that's impossible. You'll only be surveyed about your purchase experience at this dealership if you actually take delivery of a car from them.

jdanon

Right, I will pay the 6% Connecticut sales tax upon registration, however, I will not get double taxed by two different states.

kilo6_one

iTrader: (2)

ask them how far they think they are from perfection since that is thier slogan......

sounds like its the pursuit of mediocrity

jdanon

I've pretty much been disappointed by the buying process as well. Maybe the pursuit of perfection pertains to the quality of car only? If so then fine they've done their job, but so far they are like any other car maker as far as sales go.

Shoyuu

Bichon, Thanks for your clarification; I must have missed your earlier post If the wait is bearable, and they will do what they can to help resolve this, I will stick with this dealer since they need to atone for their mistake.

As I'm writing this I remember when the salesperson was going over my original email back on February 3rd about correcting the omission of the MT and he asked me with a straight face: "What's MT?"

I must have had that frustrated, almost laughing look on my face. /sigh


jdanon, I agree this ordeal has not given me a good impression of their Special Ordering process.


kilo6, I had something similar in mind when I stop by the dealer today and this just made me smile. I could have sworn their old slogan was:

The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection or The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection

and now it's just:

The Pursuit of Perfection

heh

Shoyuu

BucBaby,

Thanks for the kind words. I really feel so frustrated and defeated that when I called Corporate on Monday to report this, I was so flustered that I asked the customer service guy what to do. I just lost that excitement and passion when it comes to cars. Now i'm just

This whole ordeal is what I wanted to avoid and the reason that I kept meticulous records of our conversations and have everything in writing so there would be no errors of this magnitude made.

Now, not only will I not recommend this salesperson, I'm on the verge of writing off this dealership all together.

I'm going to the dealer tonight to have a one on one if the General Manager is there. I'm not the type to be loud or create a scene, but I can understand the kind of pressure that would give to the people handling this situation.



I just got a message from the General Manager of that dealership and he let me know they were working on finding one like my order (good luck with that) and give me an estimate on how long it would take for that to be shipped or a new special order to be delivered.

So I'll just keep my fingers crossed. Thanks again for everyone's input and support.

jdanon

Shoyuu, what I would do if you don't mind waiting is get a 2008. I know you've waited, but you're thisclose to getting a 2008. If you get a 2007 that thing will age one year in a matter of a month. If you end up doing another special order, then it's just about too late for a 2007 anyway. You can still order a 2007 for about the next week to be delivered in August OR you can specify a 2008 and get it delivered a month after that. That is what I have chosen to do after my dealership screwed up my deal. Of course I would have taken a 2007 rather than wait 1/4 of a year if they could deliver within a week and it was an acceptable car.

kilo6_one

iTrader: (2)

relentless? yeah, they forgot they were dealing with lazy american sales people........

dspIS250

i don't really understand why you would want NAV but not options like 18s and a spoiler unless you plan on modding it, but the bottom line is you should receive the car you ordered. if the sales person tells me that a car is going to take a specific amount of time to come in, i would wait till that time comes then contact the dealer requesting the car. believe me, if a car comes in early they are going to want to sell it quickly so they will contact you. i think it's unreasonable to expect a salesperson to constantly communicate even if it has already been stated that the car will not come in until a certain time.since there was a mix up i would see if they would cut a deal on the car that came in with all the options. you might be able to get that one for just a little more, and it would look way better than one without the spoiler and 18s.

Shoyuu

dspIS250, I special ordered a car, because I want it to be mine. Not something off the shelf, but something that I was going to be happy with. That includes not having a spoiiler and requesting that they not drill holes to my front bumper. That also includes not being charged for 18's that I never requested and will end up replacing. If it's possible for me to purchase a car with the options I want, and only the options, then I will take that route every single time because it's my money and I will be the one driving it. Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The reason why I asked for updates (note I did not ask him for weekly updates) is to keep the lines of communication open. I believe I stated that in my original post. Why keep the lines of communication open? To build a rapport with the salesman and to make sure that myself or my order is not forgotten. Unfortunately this did not work with the salesman as even when I had everything in writing (Preference Order Form, Toyota Purchase Form with calculations and OTD pricing, and emails of what I specifically wanted) the order was still misplaced. Now he attributed this to human error and didn't own up to this mistake. He said as a saleslman he bears the brunt of it, but alludes to someone in manufacturing that was to blame. (of course)

The problem with waiting till the date your saleman tells you when you placed that order, is that the date could change. Just like what happened to me. He originally quoted me 120 days. That's fine, I was ok with that.

The first concrete update I had wasn't given to me until April 17th and that was after I requested an update that same day. Before that I was getting respones of "don't worry we're taking your order very seriously.." I was concerned, because he thought the price difference between a 250 AT and MT was only $100 when it is clearly over $1100. That is why I wanted to engage him in conversations so everything was clear about my order. On April 17th he informed me that he won't know until Mid-May and then he would be able to let me know when it would arrive at Port. I'm feeling good that I hear something concrete from him so I patiently wait.

On May 15th he informs me that they have received confirmation that my cars is being built in Japan and that it would take another 6-8 weeks. I reply with my enthusiasm and wait. In hindsight, I should have asked him to confirm my order

Not hearing any other news from him, I emailed him on June 7th asking for an update and if I needed to bring anything else when the time comes to pick it up. He replies the very next day on the 8th telling me that my car should dock in LA tomorrow and that there is a 7-10 day transit time. Wow, I'm elated, but wondering why I didn't get more of warning of when it would arrive. I asked for the VIN number so that I know for sure there is a car on the boat waiting for me and he gave me that and the stock number.

I'm feeling really good about this, but I forgot to ask him not to drill holes in my front bumper. So on the 9th I shot him an email. He replies promptly and we now have an email conversation going.

I was trying to do the calculations on my own when I noticed that the Factory Installed Equipment price came out to more then NAV + HIDs. I asked him what was included in that, because even if he gave me MSRP pricing on those two options, there was still over $1000 that I couldn't account for.

He emails me that he has good news on June 11th. My car arrived last night (Sunday June 10th) instead of the June 16-18 date told me 3 days prior. He askes if I can come in today to pick it up. I'm happy, but I ask him again what was included in the FIE. He tells me that he can only print it out the list of equipment options and show me when I arrive that night or fax it to me. I give him my fax number, because this is starting to worry me. 2 and a half hours later I receive a copy of the sticker. I quickly scan it and to my horror I see no mention of Navigation and two Options that I never requested.

I forgot to mention earlier that when they couldn't find another car other then ones that came with AT, Premium and 18s he tried to convince me to Lease one when I said I wasn't willing to pay for those options. The nerve of the guy....

So that's the more detailed version. I know that's probably not what you were expecting dsp, but I just wanted to walk you through on why I think communication is important in this process.

BucBaby

Shoyuu,

You're so welcome.

I don't know if I told you all this, but I always do the field work when looking for a car. When I find a few in the running, my husband comes along. I'm usually good cop...he's bad cop. This time I told him I wanted to be good cop...but I still was a tough cop.

I so want to go with you and be bad and tough cop. I'm glad that the General Manager called you and told you that they were looking for a car like the one you ordered. But truthfully, are they going to find one? You and I know that it's almost impossible to find an M/T and especially one with the items you want. If they find one, it would be great for you. If not, what then?

If you walk away they get away with this. You need to level with them and tell them what you want. You write very well. If the face to face is not your thing, spell out what you want in writing and hand it to them. I hate this kind of confrontation too, I just went through it with a pool company too. But don't give up...if you do, they win.

Truthfully, it sounds it me like you were dealing with a salesperson who was an idiot. Can you sever that relationship and ask just to deal with a higher up? With the pool company, I tried to work with our project manager and didn't want to go over his head. When I finally had to, you wouldn't believe some of the lies that he had been relaying to the boss. Maybe this is happening with you.

Go get 'em! You can do it. And please...at this point they owe you more than just the car...they owe you some perks. Expect them. Go in there and let them know that you expect them.

All the best!

RCPiercy

I'll speak from experience. I special ordered the car in my sig, but with the PCS option. The car that arrived was not equipped with the PCS. The sales manager offered me 1000 off MSRP (less of a discount than we negotiated prior to the order). I asked her what kind of service the dealership provided me with since the only thing they did was place the order and they screwed that up. I asked then what kind of money they deserved for providing me with a disservice in not getting my car. We settled on 400 over invoice. A month later my father was looking on eBay and found my exact car with PCS at a nearby dealership. I cannot guarentee that this was my special ordered car, but PCS is not an option seen outside of a special order. I believe that whatever system they have provides them with similar cars being allocated to the dealer's area and they can request that similar car. I think your car is on a boat somewhere and someone got triggerhappy without knowing that you were so insistant on your specific option packages. See if I am right and maybe you just have to wait a month like I could have.

kilo6_one

iTrader: (2)

I would get a big sign, go get a cold drink and a folding chair and set up accross the street from them (not on thier property) with a big sign that says (these people are incompetent, ask me why).
I see this done alot around fresno, it acutually can work. its freedom of speech and if they dont make things right they have the potential to loose alot of money. People who buy cars already dislike car dealers, sales people and thier tactics and word of mouth and personal experinces are actually important. If i was shopping for a car and saw you sitting out thier, i would ask and from what i heard i would take my business elsewhere.

this has gotten redicoulous, it is sad that they just dont take care of you you are a paying customer and until it is resolved you have eveyright under the law to seek a favorable outcome.

Shoyuu

I want last night to the dealer, but the General Manager left already. So I spoke to the salesperson that I was dealing with. He didn't look pleased. I also couldn't get any info from him since he said his General Manager was involved. Said it was out of his hands

BucBaby, I'll try my best not to compromise on what I want. Honestly though, the MT problems I've been reading about is really disheartening. So I'm teetering on that, but I'm firm on the color combo and the options.

RCPiercy, I was very suspicious of that also, especially when the car arrived early and without much warning from him. I don't know if it's because he knew before the car arrived that the order was wrong and that he figured I would buckle since I've already waited so long.

I really don't mind waiting again, since I want the car to be exactly what I picked out, 3-4 months again... /sigh I hope they do give me an 08 if I have to wait that long again or I might just look at an Audi again. I'll just wait and see what the General Manager has to say.

kilo6_one, lol I don't think I'll go that extreme. I'd rather deal with Corporate then do that. Plus this week has been really hot, and I'd rather stay inside the air conditioned office

I took a couple of pictures, because I'm a sucker of pain I guess. /sigh they look really nice and if they had the NAV I would have been tempted to pull the trigger regardless of the extra 2 options....

It even had my name on it...

kilo6_one

iTrader: (2)

honestly, my last two cars had NAV and i dont miss it at all.

If it was me it would be a tough choice, it pulls at your emotions knowing that car is technically yours, but not what you wanted. I FEEL YOUR PAIN

but with the new 08's hitting the market it may be worth the wait. Have you shopped around? If you want PM me i can put you in touch with my auto broker, he is top notch and my family has bought 10 or so cars from him, he is fresno but the drive may be worth it if he can get what you want. He has pull from all over the US and using a broker eliminates all the BS.


just a thought.

also when i was in the market white with M/T was extremely rare....