jdanon

I never understood how a special order could be stolen from one dealer by another while it's on the boat. That's just retarded that it could even happen.

I would wait for a 2008 unless they can come up with your exact car. Don't settle or compromise.

Shoyuu

Odd thing happened last night (Thursday). The salesperson that I've been dealing with called me on his personal cell phone despite what he told me Wednesday night about the situation being out of his hands since his General Manager was involved. I'll try and summarize the conversation.

He first off apologized for the whole situation and told me the outcome of all the meetings and searches that they conducted regarding my botched Special Order. They were going to offer me an 08. Now the funny thing is, he said that they were going to build that 08 with the same exact options and color combo "whether I wanted it or not". That they know it would sell to someone and if I wanted to put my name on it, to let them know. Odd way of encouraging me to climb aboard, no?

So I'm thinking this is great, but maybe I should get some stuff clarified, like pricing on the car and options. I tell him that this sounds nice, but I'm hesitant to pull the trigger on this since I do not know anything about the features, color combo, and price of options. He said they don't know either, which puzzled me as to why he told me of their offer, but couldn't tell me the price on anything. So I brought up the price listed of their Factory Installed Options on the Toyota Purchase form I was originally given back in February. I told him about the MSRP price listed for Navigation and HIDs were $2550 and $875 respectively and that I could not, for the life of me, figure out why they wrote down $4839. Now I'm not an accountant, but that doesn't add up to me so I questioned the price difference of $1414 when I clearly have in writing the only option I wanted was Navigation. I was told that all IS allocated to CA come with HIDs. I even have it down in a follow up email that I only wanted Navigation as an option in a follow up email on February 3rd.

This is where it gets interesting. He got defensive about being questioned that and told me that it's a "complex calculation". So I replied that I just wanted a break down of the two options. I cited my sources as Lexus main site, the Dealer site, KBB.com and Edmunds.com all have the same price for MSRP. He quicky dismissed the non Lexus sites, but completely ignored the Lexus operated sites. So to make it clear to him, I told him that I wasn't ready to commit to it without pricing finalized, because of the whole ordeal I went through.

At this time he kept trying to interrupt me, so I changed the subject to what happened to my special order. I asked that since they did a follow up, I would like to know the results of that. What happened when everything was down in writing? The tone on his voice suddenly changed and I quickly said that I'm not pointing fingers at anyone, but after waiting for 4 months I thought I was entitled to an explanation on what happened. It's at this time that he told me that "it would be better to take my business elsewhere" and then he hung up on me.

That's right, he hung up on me right after he uttered those words. So, one thing is clear. I will never do business with that salesperson again. I will have a little chat with the General Manager when he gets back to work tomorrow face to face. I will have a nice conversation with the person handling my case over at corporate tomorrow. And yes, I am rather displeased with the way I am treated.

Anyone else know what I should do?

llamaboiz

Wow... this is like a kdrama...

15951

Stop dragging it out...this isn't a divorce...you don't have a relationship with these people that you need to work through. Just go to a different dealer, order a car, and be done with it. If you can't wait for another special order, then choose a car on the lot or consider a different make/model.

Someone clearly made a mistake, and that sucks, but I'm sure at this point everyone has been raked over the coals enough, including you.

jdanon

Yeah as long as you lost no money then just go somewhere else. I would have a long time ago. I got screwed by the dealer I was working with just last month as well and immediately requested my deposit back and moved on. No point in escalating it. It's you versus a very large corporation that could care less about your $40,000 when they'll make $40,000,000,000 this quarter alone. It sucks you got screwed, but it happens to all of us at some point. I personally have learned a lesson from your story about how bad the special ordering process is and will be all over my dealer about mine.

Evitzee

Amen. Time to move on. Chalk it up to experience. We've all had these goofy things that just don't make sense. Go to another dealer and start over.

CoasterG

iTrader: (1)

Time to move on, I would contact Lexus Corporate, make sure that the dealer's actions are noted and follow it up with a letter to corporate and the dealership's owner and general manager about the situation to make sure its documented. Be respectful, calm and reasoned in the letter and set out all the issues and problems you've had with the dealer.

Then I'd recommend paying a auto broker to see if your car could be found somewhere else in the country instead of "rolling the dice" again on a special order - you never know what may be found. I also bet that your car may show up someday soon at that dealer and you could buy it thru the broker and just have it serviced somewhere else.

kilo6_one

iTrader: (2)

yes, i think you have your answer. if the salesman hangs up on you its not professional and he never valued you as client to begin with. Second you are smarted then he was and more involved with the purchase, its not his money or his emotional attachment. you are stat to him and just another guy he can get paid off of so he can continue to dress in cheap suits and drive his beat down hooptie. walk away, you owe nothing to them, like stated before thier are many lexus dealers in california and autobrokers as well who would love to have your business. It may take more time and a little travel but it would be worth it.

llamaboiz

WHOA... wait a minute guys, its easy to talk when your not the one who waited 4 long agonizing months. I walked into a stealership on a tues and had to wait till thrus to pick up my car, of all the cars ive bought this was the LONGEST 2 days ever, imagine 4 months.

Go ahead take all the time you want/need to 'give them what for'. Shake your fist at the sky and stamp your feet then goto a ford dealer and buy that new Shelby GT500KR

*oh we lost :drive:?*

BucBaby

What did I say in my last post??? "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?"

I think that the whole problem was this guy all along. Refuse to deal with him ever again. If he tries to talk to you turn your back on him. I bet he's taking alot of heat from all around for this and tried a last ditch effort hoping that you'd show him the trust that you did before...and that he lost.

He hung up on you. I say go there and use it. Make them make this right. Maybe you can make something happen with this, and get everything that you want.

Years ago, when we bought our Volvo, I had done all the legwork. I shopped around and ended up at the Acura dealership looking at an Integra. I told the salesperson that I had to leave to pick up my husband from work. He had been so nice to me, somehow thinking that he might have a sale, so he told me to drive the car to pick up my husband. I did. When I brought my husband back in his work uniform, he totally changed. He didn't want to give us a price and I was shocked at his turnaround. He literally started yelling at us. I, all 5 ft. 2 and 110lbs. of me said, "You want to go at it? You seem like you're ready," in a joking manner. He got worse and came towards us to the other side of the table. We walked out into the showroom and all the salesman were looking at him. My DH pointed to him and said, "Look at this guy. Can you believe it? He just lost you a sale." We drove to the Volvo dealership and bought one that night. (I would have definitely gone to the manager at that moment if the Integra was the car that I really wanted...I all along wanted the Volvo...but we were still looking for a better price alternative...I don't think he thought that we could afford it) Later in the week, we were riding past the dealership and to my surprise, my husband swerved into the Acura parking lot, and squeeled the tires right up on the front sidewalk where they put the display cars. He honked the horn, got out of the car and yelled to the guy and all the sales people in the place...see what we bought when we left you? Then promptly squeeled the tires and tore out through the parking lot and out to the road.

That was a moment in time I will never forget. I hope you have your "in your face moment" with this guy when you get the 2008 car with the FEATURES THAT YOU WANT.

llamaboiz

Hehe, hope it was the same ppl at work as the other day, cuz if not, they'd be lookin at you guys going, 'wow check out the crazy ppl'

Bichon

It might have made you feel better, but I doubt that creating that little spectacle did anything to convince the salesman he was wrong. Or management for that matter: how could the sales manager fault the salesman for misjudging a potential customer that does burnouts in front of the showroom and then drives recklessly through the parking lot?

I'd think that a well written letter laying out the facts, sent to the owner of the dealership and copied to Acura corporate, would have had the best chance of landing that salesman in some hot water.

In the end, though, I think the single most important thing you can do to punish a business that has treated you poorly or to reward one that has treated you well is the same: word of mouth.

Shoyuu

Thanks for everyone's input, I appreciate all the different points of view. On Friday I had a face to face with the General Manager. Turns out he's the Retail Ops Manager for the whole auto group as well. He's a much more pleasant individual to deal with. I didn't feel like he was BSing me in any way.

He explained that the discrepancy on the Purchase Form for the Factory Installed Option was because the salesperson searched for the closest Vehicle Inquiry report to my pre-order and that he didn't notice that it had those other options on there because it shipped standard in CA. I was satisfied with that explanation.

We then went on to ordering the 08. Yes, I will be ordering an 08 and yes I did get it in writing. My only regret is not knowing what kind of options are available. I did read a rumor that Nav Traffic might be available on the IS, so I requested that on my Preference Order.

4 months is a long wait only to find out that your order is wrong and that you would have to order it again. Thanks llamaboiz for realizing that and pointing it out on the thread. The only reason I'm willing to wait another 2-3 months is because of the discount and that fact that it is an 08. He assured me that my Preference Order was a priority and that mine will be on the first boat out here at the end of August. I'm going to just assume beginning of September so I'm not disappointed.

I just hope everything is correct when they deliver that order and that they don't introduce an option that I really want that I can't get installed at the dealer or port. I'll be scouring the web for any rumors about the IS during the next 2 months.

Thanks again, everyone

jdanon

I've also got a 2008 on the way (recently ordered), and supposedly no big changes coming. Nav traffic is a great idea but I think we're a long ways off from having a good system for that. There are a bunch of half baked systems out there that try to do this in the major cities, but nothing that covers every road in every state. I'm sure there are still some states that can't even do this effectively, and they'd be the first ones to know where the accidents and construction was occurring.

sirkfc

Is that rude sales guy still attached to your sale though? Did you get to address that phone call with the GM?