You can read my whole story or skip to the end for the punchline.
I am in the market for a new car, I want a Toyota Matrix. So I was THRILLED to see a 0% financing ad from Russ Darrow Toyota in last Sunday's paper. I started an e-mail exchange with a salesperson -- she said they didn't have 0% financing until I scanned the ad and sent it up circling both the date and the 0% financing -- Based on her writing and spelling skills I assumed she was simply not terribly bright. (I remain convinced of this, although I now add unscrupulous to the long list of adjectives I'd apply to her -- by the way, her name is Stephanie.)
We agreed upon a price and she gave me an estimated value for trade in based on a very detailed and honest appraisal of my car.
She said that because of the "deal" she was giving me they couldn't do the 0% financing -- that it would have to be 2.9 which made the payments (and total price paid) higher then the original. I told her something was going to have to be sharpened, and she assured me we would "get there". Truthfully, we were very close, and I was ready to buy -- even if the deal went just as we'd agreed to this point.
So I drove to West Bend. I drove the car, and realized that in my haste to get a deal I'd not carefully reviewed the details and the car was lacking automatic locks and windows, which I wanted. So I asked where we could get on both the car I'd originally negotiated for and on a car that was more expensive.
And I sat and waited while she did the dance with her manager. She came back without pricing on the second car, and with higher then I'd anticipated trade-in -- GREAT! But huh, the payments were higher then I'd calculated.
Me: "Hmmmmmmmmm, that isn't 2.9% financing!"
Stupid Sales Girl (SSG): "How can you tell?"
Me: "Well, I'd done an estimate of payments and yours are much higher, despite a better trade in value then I'd estimated."
SSG: "Did you figure them out in your head?"
Me (testily): "No, I used an on line payment calculator.
SSG: "Let me see what I can do..."
And she returned with another deal -- STILL not using the financing promised -- although they gave me a still higher price on my trade in and a still higher interest rate, because the payments came in VIRTUALLY THE SAME.
Dear daughter had to use the facilities now, or we would simply have left - but SSG used the break to come back with the deal we had agreed to in principle in the afternoon. Now I'm angry. The car wasn't everything I thought it would be (this was my fault for not checking the feature list more carefully, but honestly, I thought power windows and locks were standard features, I've seen a fair few Matrix's and I'd not ever seen one without before.) and I've not gotten any indication of what they could do on the second car which I'd already said I wanted more.
So I began to gather my things.
(In the interest of full disclosure - no credit check had been run, I'm not hiding details -- I want to make sure I'm fully blasting these dishonest people and leaving no doubt that I'm omitting details.)
SSG followed me outside and said "Just so you know the deal is off the table." (Um, okay, did you notice that I'm leaving?)
She followed up with a e-mail of drivel the following day saying that "if she had a dollar for everyone who told her she'd wasted their time she'd be rich..." Why am I not surprised by this statement?
Here's the thing, in addition to getting to blast Russ Darrow and SSG Stephanie on line and to spread the word to friends and family for years to come (Wilde Toyota pulled a similar stunt on my sister last year and she reports she also gets satisfaction from telling the story) I drove up to West Bend ready to accept the deal offered. If they'd started with the deal offered and given me the better trade in price "because we know you're upset about the door locks and windows" there is a 75% chance I would have (in my crazed ready to buy mindset) taken the deal. If they'd come back with a decent price on the second car (which is admittedly closer to what I thought I'd spend and what I know I will spend) and otherwise kept the deal the same, there's an equal chance I would have taken that deal. I WANTED to go home with a new car! I WANTED to have the whole car issue behind me. Proof of this is that I was willing to overlook the false ad in the first place. So here's where I get to reveal that SSG told me that NOONE has gotten the 0% financing offered in BIG HUGE PRINT in their ad.
more