Leave a bad review for salesperson?

I've certainly heard of worse treatment, but if you're not happy with the salesperson, tell them. If you're not happy with their response, tell their boss. But if this is the only place you can get your car serviced, don't burn the bridge just yet. You can catch more bees with honey than vinegar, as the saying goes.

 

I have nothing to say but positive stuff about my salesperson. I worked with my dealer via e-mail and got all the answers that you asked within an hour of me asking them. IMHO you asked for nothing out of the ordinary and should have had better communication. I had my cash out the door price in hand from the printed e-mail when I arrived to the d'ship and was done with the whole transaction within an hour. Smooth as silk.

I would at least politely tell the salesperson that you would have liked him to respond quicker to your requests for info and tell him the sales manager is handling the remainder of your deal 'cause he did the allocation paperwork and knows what's going on. At this point there is little to nothing left to do except give you your out the door price and deliver the car. The salesman can't figure that for you anyway. It comes from the finance department. (I know you're paying cash, but it still gets transacted from there.) So it really doesn't matter who relays the info to you.

Good Luck!

 

Your story sounds about typical. I would call or email every two weeks starting the time they said my car would be in. I never got any response back.

My saleman promised to give me two weeks notice before the car arrived so I could sell my 2004 Prius. I got a call on a Thursday afternoon saying the car was ready for me to pickup and they'd really like me to get it the next day and they have other folks that would like it. I felt fairly jerked around but liked the car enough that I traded in the old one with them for less than I would have gotten selling it but with no hassle.

I just got the form today asking me to evaluate the process. Since they are the only Toyota dealer in town I'm not sure i want to trash them.

Our local Toyota dealer has a certain arrogance particularly for Prius buyers. It is resulting in lost sales because two of my associates have now bought Toyotas from out of town dealers due to lack of customer service.

I wish you well for getting your car in.

 

Just so you all know: one failure on the Toyota evaluation form will mean that your salesperson is, by Toyota's standards, a 100% failure. For example, if a salesperson sells 2 to 3 Toyota cars per month and only one little question on one of lets say 24 evaluation forms for the year comes back negative they are considered a full failure and must be retrained. The failure can be as simple as failing to integrate your phone with bluetooth. Toyota does not consider that their bluetooth programming has a problem...they consider that salesperson to be a failure.

Magic Guy, if I had known you were looking to buy I would have encouraged you to call my salesperson in Silver City. Fantastic salesperson, MSRP, knows all about the no sales tax and about the tax credit. Lots of folks in NM and AZ come to Silver to purchase their Prii (about a 2 month wait after you order).

 

I'll be the contrarian... go easy on the guy.

I'm in sales (not cars, real estate)... but given the Prius and the hoards of people trying to get them, they are driving sales people crazy and many are working with several sales people at several dealers. When the Los Angeles housing market was really on fire (last year) I had buyers whom I knew were working with other agents to get them a house, so I really didn't give them the attention and hard word I would give to a loyal client. These Toyota sales people are probably tired of buyers hasseling them all the time only to buy from another dealer who got the allocation. It's not an easy job and I'd assume the commission on a Prius isn't worth chasing after a car for just one person when they don't really know their story. If he was rude/nasty/inappropriate etc then I could see the case for a bad review...

Just my opinion.

 

Tideland Travis and Gilahiker I tend to agree but if I would have treated customers in my old consulting practice or my home building business the way I was treated I would be bankrupt. Maybe if I was famous as the world's best consultant or homebuilder I could get away with it but...

I also agree that some customers are rude and pains but not responsing to once a week phone calls or emails that get send only after a delivery date has passed is just as rude and unprofessional. I'd fire any employee of mine that acted like that.

All that being said, I'm still debating how to respond to the evaluation. If I lived in a larger city that had several Toyota dealers I would be honest. Since I have only one place to go for service I may lie just to help ensure fewer hassles with service. The simplest solution may be to just not respond.

I do like the cars though.

 

I'm sure this has been done to death. The way I understand it, (in the US) dealers don't "order" you a Prius. They can look at what's coming in or what other dealers have and work to match you up with the car of your dreams.

I've read about people getting VIN #s and knowing when their car leave the assembly plant and such. Why is it then, that everyone I've dealt with - buyer and seller - play the shell game of "Is this car gonna work for you or do you want to wait?"

 

A few thoughts:

True, you represent an easy sale because you don't have to be convinced to buy the car, but the Prius is always an easy sale because every car is sold before it is loaded on the ship. That makes you a low-value customer compared to someone who's going to take excess stock off their hands. And you're not going to buy the worthless options, which are an important part of their profit, and you as good as told him that, when you asked for the out-the-door price.

Trade-in value: The blue-book price is an average. A dealer will go above or below it depending on whether he needs that car in his used-car inventory or not. The blue-book already takes into account the general popularity of the car, so a dealer who does not have a buyer on the hook might not want to pay blue book. A good analogy is CD interest rates at banks. A bank that needs money because it has lots of loans out or lots of demand for loans, will offer higher rates to bring in new money. A bank that does not need money today will offer low rates because they really don't want money today: it would sit unused. This is why a dealer's offer on your used car may go down even if the blue book goes up. It's not a question of being nice or not: it's a question of how badly they need your used car. I was offered $400 for my '89 Civic when blue book was $2,000. The Toyota dealer just didn't want a 15-year-old Civic. I sold it privately and easily got $2,000.

Sounds to me like the real issue with your sales guy is he does not return phone calls. If there's an evaluation, I'd just write "Salesman never returned my calls," and leave it at that. If you end up getting the car you want at MSRP, with no forced add-ons, and you don't have to pay an excessive documentastion fee, then I'd say you did all right, and the only downside was the exasperation of waiting for calls that never came. But since the guy answered your calls, his failure to return calls is less of an issue.

Just my thoughts.

 

I take a more hard-nosed approach to such problems. It's YOUR money which keeps THEIR doors open. If you get the feeling a salesman won't work for YOU then I'd let him know that one more 'error' on his side will force you to request another salesman with more appreciations/time. I wouldn't be mean but firm. I work hard for my money, treat my clients very well and expect the same. As for the evaluation I would be fair and honest (after giving him a warning) or you are not doing the next buyer any favors, nor your salesman who will think unresponsiveness is acceptable, then when someone like me comes along he will be confused as to why 'all the others' were ok with my practices, so 'what's your problem'. Anyone can get busy or make a mistake, so you politely call them on it, but if this is a habbit they should be called to task.

I originally dealt with a Toyota dealership which was extremely dishonest and took my business elsewhere. BUT MORE THAN THAT I sent MANY potential buyers to my 'second' salesman who was honest and efficient. That was the best way to show my displeasure with dealership #1. Their poor behavior cost them plenty in future sales. Money talks.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MarinJohn @ Apr 7 2006, 09:27 AM) [snapback]236348[/snapback]</div>

The first dealership I went to to look for a Prius tried to tell me that I shouldn't get a hybrid. Which was too bad, because they were the closest to my work. Perhaps it was because I actually walked onto the lot and they wanted to sell Camrys that day, I dont know. <_<
Before I went to the second dealership I contacted their internet department and got a quote. MSRP, pkg #3. In the end, I worked totally through the internet department. One thing, though, was that the salesman didn't know too much about the car...I asked him how to turn the rear-window defogger (while I was taking delivery of the car) and he didnt know...he had to run inside (and yes, he did run!) to find out. But in the end it was a very good experience.
Remember, you are paying these guys salaries. They owe you politeness at the very least. No politeness, or a try at a hard sell, and I go elsewhere.

 

The way I look at it, to earn my respect a salesman just has to not promise more than they can deliver. When your salesman tells you they will contact you and then don't, that lack of followthrough shows that they don't deliver what they promise. I'd report that to Toyota.

When I got my Prius after lots of communication issues with the dealer, my salesguy said something to the effect of "I need you to give me high marks on the Toyota survey. You know you are really lucky you got this car at all, and especially that you got it at the price we agreed on." My response was simply "I hear you loud and clear!"

And then I proceeded to give the dealer negative marks on the survey in all the areas where they promised more than they delivered.

 

My salesman knew almost nothing about the car beyond how to turn it on and off and the Park button. But he was friendly and got me exactlly the color and package I wanted a month sooner than the three months he had promised. With such an unusual car, it may be unreasonable to expect the salesman to know anything. His job is not to know about the car. His job is to get you the car you want, in a reasonable amount of time, for a good price, and to abide by all the terms you've previously agreed on. He has a right to offer you worthless high-profit add-ons, but must be willing to take No for an answer without getting pushy.