Sad story in Oklahoma

We called a dealer in our area after noticing on their Web site that two salsa red Priuses were soon to be available in the area. The salesman who answered the phone said yes, indeed, one of the two cars was available (a complete fabrication, as we soon discovered). We jumped in our old car, drove to the dealership, signed a contract and put $500 down. The salesperson told us it would be a month, but that we should rest assured that the car had been allocated to the dealership. He would call us with the VIN soon.

As we waited, assured that our car would arrive, we turned down another Prius (the wrong color anyway) from another dealer.

One month later, and no sign of our red Prius. Repeated calls to the salesperson were not returned. We finally spoke to a sales manager, who now tells us there is no such car and that there never was. The sales manager, clearly a PR position, pretended to be very concerned and said the general manager would call us today, as he had personally taken an interest in our case.

It's 9 p.m., and no call from the general manager. I'm convinced that the sales manager's only function is to seem concerned and hope we'll go away quietly.

We won't. For the record, the dealer is Bob Howard Toyota in Edmond, Oklahoma (northern suburb of Oklahoma City.)

So we called another local dealer. Their saleperson comiserated, said he'd had trouble with Bob Howard, and generally acted like he couldn't believe anyone could be so dishonest. Then he said they didn't have any Priuses in Norman, but that 16 were allocated to their dealership and that we would likely be able to get one of those. Fifteen minutes later, another salesperson called from that same dealer and said she couldn't understand how the other guy could claim they had 16 coming. "We have no idea how many we'll have, or when," she said.

So we were lied to by one dealer. Then, when that lie was discovered, the first thing another dealer did (after feigning concern) was lie to us again.

This is becoming an unbelievably frustrating experience. I could deal with an honest assessment of the wait, but to have some unscupulous salesperson claim to have a car for us, only to discover that no such car existed, is really too much. Is it too much to expect a Toyota dealer to be straight with us about when a car might be available? Is it too much to expect the management of a major dealership to actually care when their salespeople lie to customers?

I guess it is. Back to square one.

 

Well, we sort of have an update, but I don't know how seriously to take what we've been told...

I talked with the general manager for Bob Howard Toyota several times last week. He was on day 5 of his new job at that dealer when I first talked to him (has worked for Toyota for years, seems like a very nice guy and was genuinely upset with the way we were treated). Of course, he felt awful about what happened, moved us to where we should have been on the waiting list (but I'm not sure where that means we are), and apologized several times. He told me he will know more about their next allocation tomorrow or Wednesday and will update me then.

I have also been talking with their Customer Relations Manager who said she did not have waiting list information but was told that we were listed as "#1 preference" - but I am not completely sure what that means. She said it meant the next Prius to come in was ours, but wouldn't that mean we were first on their list (which she could not confirm)? I suppose I will find out more when the general Manager calls either tomorrow or Wednesday. Hmm....