Sleazy Prius Sales Manager: bike rack not included in trade-in

The sales manager has a boss. Go to him/her.

 

+1 Make a stink and let the smell rise.

- D

 

Here we go again. Another, this is my wife's Prius thread. Yet you are the one on PriusChat. I'm tired of these men that fight their wives' battles or are too afraid to admit it's really their Prius. Man up dammit.

Anyways, the dealer is so wrong. That was your rack. Sure you could've taken it off before you traded but they should have the respect to give you the benefit of the doubt. Get it back and raise hell. Good luck.

 

Ask to speak to the GM/owner of the dealership.

 

I would push to get the bike rack from them. I am not sure a hitch from an older vehicle would bolt up on the newer one. There is always BBB but you didn't get it in writing so they may have trouble black listing a dealer on hear say. Tell the Dealer you are going to trash them on the surveys and forums.

 

ehuna,

You stated the finance guy agreed to transfer your bike rack. This is puzzling to me because the finance guy isnt the guy who negotiates the deal. If I may ask, why didnt you get a "we owe" filled out documenting the transfer of equipment from trade to new purchase? This should have been done before you even stepped into the finance office. The sales manager would have known about this if it was brought up during the negotiating stage of the process.

I'm not suggesting the finance guy didn't make this offer but your partially at fault for not getting it in writing. People forget that purchasing an automobile is like any other business decision. EVERYTHING must be documented. This "he said-she said" stuff doesn't fly.

With that said, I have no doubt you asked at some point for this transfer of equipment to occur and someone dropped the ball. If the finance guy who agreed to this wont man-up and accept responsibility then your left with no choice but to approach the dealer GM.

Good luck.

Craig

 

Sorry OP but if you do not have it in writing you have very little recourse other than complaining to the GM. In transactions where there is a written contract it needs to be in there. Whomever agreed to this is obviously not all up to date on cars as the trailer hitch of a gen 2 does not fit a gen 3. As for the rack- why did you just not unpinned it from the hitch and take it with you- it takes just a minute to do this?

 

1. Call their Customer relations manager. That's step 1. Explain what happened. NICELY. Tell her what you want to resolve this. NICELY. Give her a time limit for resolution, ie. "I'd love to see this come to a good place by x day (3 days from them, not counting weekend) so I hope to hear from you by x time x day. I'll have to escalate it after that. I'm sure you understand.

That avenue usually works.
If not...
2. Wait for the deadline to pass. After you've walked your talk and been patient, call 800-331-4331 and get the mother ship to open a case and see what happens.

Best advice I can give.
My gut tells me the person or people who made the promises are NOT the ones who are empowered to do this. Just a hunch.

 

Dianne's advice is sound although I don't believe Toyota's going to get involved in the sale of your used car. The biggest effort is finding "the complaint dept" at the dealer's corporate office. In the end if you aren't satisfied then slam 'em on the Customer Satisfaction Survey.

 

No, his deal is a new car deal. He didn't SELL his old car - he traded it -- and that's a component of the new car deal. Toyota will get involved. It's always up to the dealer to make things right OR continue with a pissed off buyer, but Toyota will put pressure on the dealership to make you happy.
I also want to add that doing a bad survey only hurts the salesperson. In the long run, with all of the surveys that come into a dealership, one bad one gets diluted with all of the good ones. But your salesperson has a lot less surveys by ratio as an individual to the whole store... and this could harm the salesperson greatly so early in the year. If you liked and trusted the salesperson, why not call him/her and express your dismay at the promises not being kept. The salesman has a lot at stake here as well. Can you not find resolution with the salesperson? Did you try?

 

Diane -Perhaps Toyota would get involved but with only a verbal agreement with the finance manager it comes down to a he-said, she-said situation. Heck, the dealership just needs to say that they based the value of the trade with the rack and hitch or claim that the customer was mis-remembering the conversation. Without anything in writing do you really think that Toyota will be able to do anything?

 

THE "FINANCE GUY" has some juice at most dealerships. Did you buy any after-sale items like warranty, alarm, etc?

 

Hindsight...is 20/20...but this is why you want everything in writing...

Ridiculous though...you're a long time customer, multiple purchaser, to risk your future support over a bike rack is absolutely ridiculous.

I'd start calmly...but communicate that your Bike Rack was NEVER part of the deal. If there is an ounce of reasonable ethics you should get your bike rack back....

If they still refuse? You could esculate all the way up to getting a lawyer..but how valuable is the bike rack vs. The Time and Trouble? Your only ultimate recourse might be to NEVER deal with this dealership again...

I hate it when I hear stories like this. I don't understand why an industry dependent on building reputation based on customers..seems so bent towards upsetting them. If I was the Salesmanager? A bike rack is NOT worth an upset long time customer, and the potential hit to your reputation. But still? You hear stories like this all the time..