- Report: #345298
Complaint Review: American Toyota - Albuquerque New Mexico
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
American Toyota
5995 Alameda Blvd NE Albuquerque, 87124 New Mexico, U.S.A.
Phone:
505-823-4440
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
American Toyota Extremely poor customer service AFTER the sale!Lack of integrity Albuquerque New Mexico
I am writing this letter of compliant in regard to the extremely poor customer service that we experienced at American Toyota after purchasing a 2008 Tacoma.
Due to the rising gas prices, we decided to streamline from an 8-cylinder pickup and purchase a 4-cylinder vehicle. We already own a Toyota FJ Cruiser so decided to check out the Toyota Tacoma. We traded in a 2004 GMC Sierra 4x4 (fully loaded, excellent condition, low mileage), on a 2008 Tacoma 4x4, basic model, 4 cylinder, 5 speed.
We purchase this vehicle on Saturday, 15 March 2008. Our sales associate was Sandra Dickson, we returned on Sunday the 16th to provide the necessary documents that Toyota requested for this transaction; Proof of income and military pay statements, etc...) Later in the week we received 2 emails from David Ryan requesting the military pay statements, that were already provided and that were in our file.
After driving this vehicle for a few weeks, I was having severe back pain and spasms, I didn't realize that it was due to the Tacoma that I was driving, until I saw my doctor, putting 2 and 2 together, he told me that the repetitive motion of pushing in the clutch and the lack of any lumbar support in that seat was actually causing these flare ups. I had a back surgery in 2006, and have been relatively pain free since. At that point I started driving my wife's vehicle and she was stuck driving the Tacoma to help alleviate my pain and cause any worse damage.
After realizing that this particular Tacoma was not meeting my needs and that I needed to get out of it quick, I went back to American Toyota on April 12th and explained all this to our Sales Associate Sandra Dickson, she agreed and could understand that this repetitive clutch motion would cause problems. We found another Tacoma with lumbar support and an automatic transmission that would be perfect; we then put a deposit on it until we could complete the necessary paperwork again.
After sitting with our sales associate and her going back and forth to the manager, we were offered several thousand less on the vehicle that we just purchased a few weeks prior. I was told because of the depreciation, they could not give us full price! The were not willing to budge on the sticker price of the new vehicle we were trying to purchase and we were told we would need $5,000 cash to complete the transaction in order for Toyota to do the deal!
Sandra told us that she would continue to try a few other sources and see what she could come up with and was going to call us back. We left the dealership, but the $500 deposit was still on the vehicle. We told her that we were going to be out of town on the 18 thru the 21st of April and gave her both of our cell phone numbers.
My wife called on April 17th and left a voice message for the general manager, Mr. Mike Malouf to return her call; instead of hearing from him she got a return phone call from Joe Espinoza, the sales manager. She wanted to know why no one has bothered to call us on the status of the vehicle that we were trying to purchase. She then asked him why they were not willing to meet us half way with this purchase. She was told Well you were so upside down on the GMC , we had to roll over the negative equity in your loan, so there is no room for discounts.
She then explained that we were NOT upside down on the GMC, so we should be able to work a deal. He said that he would go pull our file and return her call that day. It was obvious he did not know the details of our trade and just wanted to get her off the phone and make excuses, Needless to say, No one had the integrity to give us a courtesy call an let us know the status , we were left hanging with NO RETURNED CALLS!!
On April 22nd we went into the dealership to get our deposit check back and to also cancel the gap coverage and the extended warranty that we originally purchased, since we were going to trade the Tacoma ASAP and we didn't need that coverage and wanted it credited to our Toyota Financial account. We sat down with David Ryan and signed the necessary paperwork to have that cancelled. He was unable to find our file or our deposit check; he did call and leave a voice message with our Sales Associate Sandra Dickson regarding this matter.
After we got home, we received a call from Mr. Ryan stating that he had talked to Sandra and our check had been shredded, AGAIN why didn't we receive a phone call asking us if we wanted to pickup the check for the deposit or if we did indeed want it shredded.
3 weeks after cancelling the gap and extended warranty we went on line to our Toyota Financial account to see if the credit has been applied, it was not, my wife then contacted the customer service at Toyota Financial and was told that it could take 3-4 weeks and that they did not receive any information on this cancellation. On May 23rd, we called Toyota Financial again to check to see if they knew any information regarding the cancellation, we were told to contact the dealership because it should have been taken care of by now, and that they did not have any information on this transaction.
On Sunday May 25th we traded in the Tacoma for a fully loaded Chevy Avalanche. This dealership had no problem giving us the price we needed to get out from under the Tacoma. (Gap and extended warranty still not credited!)
The following day Monday May 26th, I called and spoke with David Ryan and wanted to know what the status of the Gap and Extended Warranty cancellation since it still was not applied. His response was that he did not recall us coming in.
My wife called him back to refresh his memory, she then requested that this matter be taken care of immediately and that it needed to be dated for 22 April when we originally signed the paperwork for cancellation, she also requested that a copy be mailed to her that day. He told her he would take of it. She was told by Mr. Ryan that he had put the paperwork on his supervisors desk Phil Sciarrotta and not sure what happened with it. She told him that he had dropped the ball and should have followed up on this.
On June 10th @ approximately 0930 my wife called American Toyota AGAIN, since we still had not received the copy of the gap/ warranty cancellation paperwork that she requested the week prior, she asked to speak with Phil Sciarrotta and was told that he was in a meeting, she was forwarded to his voice mail and let a message for him to return her call. She again called and left a second message that afternoon, NO RETRUN PHONE CALL!
11 June @ 0830, my wife again called and asked for Phil Sciarrotta and was informed that he was off that day, and that David Ryan did not come into work until 1100. She was handed off to a man by the name of Phillip Saunders. She explained the entire events leading up to now and was informed that the cancellation did not take place until June 9th. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
No apologies or any offer to make amends or even to Fed Ex this paperwork over night for our hassle and extreme inconvenience!
June 17th my wife once again called Toyota Financial and was told that they indeed get the pay off on the vehicle but that Toyota would not send out the refund check until the 24th of June!
I know that we will never be compensated for our time, energy and aggravation that we encountered with the poor customer service and lack of integrity with this dealership, Once they sell you the vehicle there is NO SERVICE!. But, I will have the satisfaction of sending several letters to Toyota Corporate, The Better Business Bureau, as well as posting this negative experience on the internet on sites such as www.ToyotaUSAsucks.com and www.ripoff report.com for starters, and we will tell everyone we know our negative experience with American Toyota.
I doubt that we will even get a phone call, since this dealership doesn't return call anyway. I have already sent friends to Beaver Toyota in Santa Fe to buy new vehicles as well as many relatives. American Toyota has already lost several good customers and will continue to loose customers for years to come, as I will continue to spread the negative experience that we encountered.
Beth
Rio Racnho, New Mexico
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Toyota Dealers and Products
Due to the rising gas prices, we decided to streamline from an 8-cylinder pickup and purchase a 4-cylinder vehicle. We already own a Toyota FJ Cruiser so decided to check out the Toyota Tacoma. We traded in a 2004 GMC Sierra 4x4 (fully loaded, excellent condition, low mileage), on a 2008 Tacoma 4x4, basic model, 4 cylinder, 5 speed.
We purchase this vehicle on Saturday, 15 March 2008. Our sales associate was Sandra Dickson, we returned on Sunday the 16th to provide the necessary documents that Toyota requested for this transaction; Proof of income and military pay statements, etc...) Later in the week we received 2 emails from David Ryan requesting the military pay statements, that were already provided and that were in our file.
After driving this vehicle for a few weeks, I was having severe back pain and spasms, I didn't realize that it was due to the Tacoma that I was driving, until I saw my doctor, putting 2 and 2 together, he told me that the repetitive motion of pushing in the clutch and the lack of any lumbar support in that seat was actually causing these flare ups. I had a back surgery in 2006, and have been relatively pain free since. At that point I started driving my wife's vehicle and she was stuck driving the Tacoma to help alleviate my pain and cause any worse damage.
After realizing that this particular Tacoma was not meeting my needs and that I needed to get out of it quick, I went back to American Toyota on April 12th and explained all this to our Sales Associate Sandra Dickson, she agreed and could understand that this repetitive clutch motion would cause problems. We found another Tacoma with lumbar support and an automatic transmission that would be perfect; we then put a deposit on it until we could complete the necessary paperwork again.
After sitting with our sales associate and her going back and forth to the manager, we were offered several thousand less on the vehicle that we just purchased a few weeks prior. I was told because of the depreciation, they could not give us full price! The were not willing to budge on the sticker price of the new vehicle we were trying to purchase and we were told we would need $5,000 cash to complete the transaction in order for Toyota to do the deal!
Sandra told us that she would continue to try a few other sources and see what she could come up with and was going to call us back. We left the dealership, but the $500 deposit was still on the vehicle. We told her that we were going to be out of town on the 18 thru the 21st of April and gave her both of our cell phone numbers.
My wife called on April 17th and left a voice message for the general manager, Mr. Mike Malouf to return her call; instead of hearing from him she got a return phone call from Joe Espinoza, the sales manager. She wanted to know why no one has bothered to call us on the status of the vehicle that we were trying to purchase. She then asked him why they were not willing to meet us half way with this purchase. She was told Well you were so upside down on the GMC , we had to roll over the negative equity in your loan, so there is no room for discounts.
She then explained that we were NOT upside down on the GMC, so we should be able to work a deal. He said that he would go pull our file and return her call that day. It was obvious he did not know the details of our trade and just wanted to get her off the phone and make excuses, Needless to say, No one had the integrity to give us a courtesy call an let us know the status , we were left hanging with NO RETURNED CALLS!!
On April 22nd we went into the dealership to get our deposit check back and to also cancel the gap coverage and the extended warranty that we originally purchased, since we were going to trade the Tacoma ASAP and we didn't need that coverage and wanted it credited to our Toyota Financial account. We sat down with David Ryan and signed the necessary paperwork to have that cancelled. He was unable to find our file or our deposit check; he did call and leave a voice message with our Sales Associate Sandra Dickson regarding this matter.
After we got home, we received a call from Mr. Ryan stating that he had talked to Sandra and our check had been shredded, AGAIN why didn't we receive a phone call asking us if we wanted to pickup the check for the deposit or if we did indeed want it shredded.
3 weeks after cancelling the gap and extended warranty we went on line to our Toyota Financial account to see if the credit has been applied, it was not, my wife then contacted the customer service at Toyota Financial and was told that it could take 3-4 weeks and that they did not receive any information on this cancellation. On May 23rd, we called Toyota Financial again to check to see if they knew any information regarding the cancellation, we were told to contact the dealership because it should have been taken care of by now, and that they did not have any information on this transaction.
On Sunday May 25th we traded in the Tacoma for a fully loaded Chevy Avalanche. This dealership had no problem giving us the price we needed to get out from under the Tacoma. (Gap and extended warranty still not credited!)
The following day Monday May 26th, I called and spoke with David Ryan and wanted to know what the status of the Gap and Extended Warranty cancellation since it still was not applied. His response was that he did not recall us coming in.
My wife called him back to refresh his memory, she then requested that this matter be taken care of immediately and that it needed to be dated for 22 April when we originally signed the paperwork for cancellation, she also requested that a copy be mailed to her that day. He told her he would take of it. She was told by Mr. Ryan that he had put the paperwork on his supervisors desk Phil Sciarrotta and not sure what happened with it. She told him that he had dropped the ball and should have followed up on this.
On June 10th @ approximately 0930 my wife called American Toyota AGAIN, since we still had not received the copy of the gap/ warranty cancellation paperwork that she requested the week prior, she asked to speak with Phil Sciarrotta and was told that he was in a meeting, she was forwarded to his voice mail and let a message for him to return her call. She again called and left a second message that afternoon, NO RETRUN PHONE CALL!
11 June @ 0830, my wife again called and asked for Phil Sciarrotta and was informed that he was off that day, and that David Ryan did not come into work until 1100. She was handed off to a man by the name of Phillip Saunders. She explained the entire events leading up to now and was informed that the cancellation did not take place until June 9th. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
No apologies or any offer to make amends or even to Fed Ex this paperwork over night for our hassle and extreme inconvenience!
June 17th my wife once again called Toyota Financial and was told that they indeed get the pay off on the vehicle but that Toyota would not send out the refund check until the 24th of June!
I know that we will never be compensated for our time, energy and aggravation that we encountered with the poor customer service and lack of integrity with this dealership, Once they sell you the vehicle there is NO SERVICE!. But, I will have the satisfaction of sending several letters to Toyota Corporate, The Better Business Bureau, as well as posting this negative experience on the internet on sites such as www.ToyotaUSAsucks.com and www.ripoff report.com for starters, and we will tell everyone we know our negative experience with American Toyota.
I doubt that we will even get a phone call, since this dealership doesn't return call anyway. I have already sent friends to Beaver Toyota in Santa Fe to buy new vehicles as well as many relatives. American Toyota has already lost several good customers and will continue to loose customers for years to come, as I will continue to spread the negative experience that we encountered.
Beth
Rio Racnho, New Mexico
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Toyota Dealers and Products
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Cory
San Antonio,Texas,
U.S.A.
Couple Of Things
#2Consumer Comment
Mon, July 21, 2008
I hate car dealers as much as the next guy. However there are a couple of things in your post that aren't right. As soon as you drive a vehicle off the dealer's lot, the vehicle's gonna drop by 15 to 25% in value. You drove this vehicle for "a few weeks". You can't expect the dealer just to take it back. You're not real familar with vehicles and engines either. Those 4 cylinders or v-6's don't get much better gas mileage then the small v-8's. As a matter of fact I've owned two tacomas and two tundras. A 4c tacoma, a 6c tacoma, both 4 wheel drives and two tundras. Between the 4 toyotas, I had a 6 cylinder ford f-150 and it gave me the WORST gas mileage of all of them. A person has to stomp on the 6 to make it go anyplace. The 8 has plenty of power in reserve. Bought a new tundra April the 15th and financed through the dealer to get all the rebates and incentives. Got hosed on the GAP insurance and interest rate, no surprise. Refinanced FIFTEEN days later at 2% less, 4%, AND cancelled the GAP insurance that they sold me for $575. I too got a bunch of crap from the dealer about cancelling the GAP and refinancing, but who gives a d**n. Saved myself about $6400 more. Of course they're gonna give you a heck of a "deal" on a fully loaded avalanche. They can't give 'em away. No body wants them. I guarantee if you run the numbers, you'd have been better served staying in the GMC. You took a hit on the GMC, you took a hit on the tacoma. Now you're in an avalanche, about where you started. What does it get, 4 or 5 mpg better then the GMC? At best.
Friendly Help
Anderson,South Carolina,
U.S.A.
It is almost impossible to save money buying a vehicle with a manual tranny
#3Consumer Comment
Sun, July 20, 2008
Most people do not (really) know how to drive a stickshift, while automatics have improved so much that the differences in gas mileage between a stickshift & an automatic is trivial. And because most people do not know how to use a stickshift they wear their clutch out in 60,000 miles, and having a clutch replaced is expensive enough to cover the original added cost of the automatic. Then you loose more money because used vehicles with stickshifts are hard to resell compared to the same vehicle with an automatic.
Ssn
Santa Fe,New Mexico,
U.S.A.
Recommendation
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, July 17, 2008
I recommend you contact the New Mexico State Attorney General's Office and file a consumer complaint. If they get a think enough file, even they will eventually start proceeding against an offending company.
Ssn
Santa Fe,New Mexico,
U.S.A.
Recommendation
#5Consumer Comment
Thu, July 17, 2008
I recommend you contact the New Mexico State Attorney General's Office and file a consumer complaint. If they get a think enough file, even they will eventually start proceeding against an offending company.
