Turkoman

I had ordered my 250 AWD with many options noted in my sig on February 20. My sales rep was always dumber than a box of rocks and apparently landed the job because he is the brother of the GM at the dealership (Lexus of North Hills in Pittsburgh). That dealership is the best looking and best equipped delarship I have ever seen. Also when we first went there we were greeted by Juan Dela Vega, who was the epitomy of what a Lexus sales rep should be: exteremly knowledgeable about the car, courteous and knew all the pluses and minuses of the car compared to competitors and was willing to point them out readily. When we went back 4 months later, Juan was promoted to sales manager at another dealership in another state and we were greeted by the "village idiot". I liked the car so much, I tried to see past the guy's shortcomings, even when he sent me on a test drive with fumes in the tank and I had to coast to the pump and buy gas at my own expense. I said "what the heck" as he was pushing buttons randomly to see what they actually would do and when he did not know how to even go past the first screen of the navigation. As I said, "the village idiot" hired based on his credentials as the GM's brother. Part of the deal was "no fee"courtesy trades for two of my cars.

Fast forward. I called him 2.5 months after my order and got the "I was just going to call you" bit and was able to get a port date of May 10th. He said 7-10 days from port and insited on 99% reliability of that window. I found the buyers for my two cars I would do a courtesy trade on to save on taxes. Today is now day 10 and I call the guy all week and he does not return my calls. Stop by the dealership and I get the "I was just about to call you" bit. He tells me that there will be a $160 mandatory safety check on my courtesy trades. He says the car has not been shipped from port yet and that they will get it on the truck on Monday. Now he says, that "reliable" port to dealer date is 1-2 days. Now the whole place is stinking with this Geo Metro dealership style. So I ask him to show me evidence that the car exists. He then starts screaming at the top of his lung in front of all customers and tells me that he is the GM's borther and that I should take it or leave it and that he "doesn't have to treat me nice". I go to the inventory manager and confirm that the car exists but for whatever reason it is sitting in the port.

This is the worst treatment I have ever seen in any dealership and certainly I have been pampered at any luxury car dealership I have been to. The way I see it, my options are:

1. Tell him to take the car and ............., go to another dealership and order an '07 and wait till September.
2. Ask the sales manager (not the GM, who is probably as dumb as his brother, proven by the fact that he hired him) to have someone else complete the transaction, write a letter to Lexus corporate and scald him in the survey.
3. Tell him to take the car and ........ and go buy something else (Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Infiniti etc. )

I really like the car but I am not sure I can now stomach taking this from an idiot. Why does Lexus allow stuff like this? What do you guys recommend that I do?

Tony1

Option #1

Style2k6

option 1 but I would find an 06 that is equiped the way you want since the dealerships are going to be trying to get rid of the 06's to make room for the 07's plus the 07's will most likely increase in price and not change any. And you won't have the long wait.

knox_sport

Could you go to another dealership and see if they could get your car for you somehow? Either a dealer trade or swiping from the other dealer's allocation somehow?

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Don't pass up a car that you've been wanting because of one person.

Go through Option #1 and find a dealer that can provide the service that the first dealer could not provide.

Also, call Corporate HQ and file a complaint. Your treatment at the dealership should be handled by Lexus, not by you personally. If anything, let that dealership learn their lesson by (1) not having a sale, (2) negative word of mouth from you that will affect their business, and (3) being disciplined by Lexus. Don't stress about them anymore.

Good luck and keep us informed.

TimboIS

When I called corp to complain that my local dealership would not place a special order, they apologized, etc, etc, but their only response was "try another dealership". Corp isn't going to a damn thing, other than to make note in the round filing cabinet (trash). I'm sure you'll get the same type of response. The dealerships are independently run/owned, and if they want to lose business, so be it.

EBMCS03

Since the car is sooo close and is basically here... I would goto the sales manager and work with him. Screw the Big Ape if the sales manager doesnt treat you right and tells you to go back to the ape then drop the whole thing... goto another dealer. Give them one more chance.

Turkoman

Thanks for the replies and support. I plan to let corporate know regardlessof what I end up doing but like Timbo said, I am a bit unsure as to whether they really do anything about it.

I also really want the car since it would be impossible to find one exactly like it anywhere with the PS option. I would have to give up the PS package just to even consider that.

I am going to try Knox and Phillip's suggestion to try to get the other delaership to swipe the car from them. I don't think after this I can really stomach being treated like this and still pay a penny to that sales rep. Even if he himself doesn't complete the transaction, if you buy from the same dealership with another rep assigned to you, the original rep who started the sale gets the commission. So he makes money by just sitting by the door and greeting prospective customers, hence "he does not have to treat them nice" in his own words.

By the way, don't let the beauty of the delaership fool you. If you are from the Pittsburgh area and reading this post, avoid Lexus of North Hills until the GM (Kevin) has moved onto something else. He appears to be the root of the problem by not keeping his brother on a tighter leash or by not keeping him out of the entire place period. If you must shop at that location, avoid James Mullin as your sales rep.

Of note, I heard from the other dealership that this sales rep's name (Jimmy Mullin) is dirt in the Lexus dealership chain but due to his brother, "he can get away with murder". He reportedly has a string of unhappy customers. Apparently he was acting really goofy at the Pittsburgh auto show this year when the other reps were ready to "deck him" according to their own words.

ecr527

I would probably go with option #1 as well. Like the others said, I would definitely file a complaint with Lexus HQ. The likelihood of them actually doing something about it is probably slim, but at least they'll have record that this dealership is having issues. I'm not sure how it goes with Lexus, as I haven't had to complain (yet) about them, but with Acura they give you the "we're so sorry for your bad experience, but each dealership is independently owned, so we really don't have any control over the situation" line.

Turkoman

Well I talked it over with the other dealership in Pittsburgh, which is much more Lexus-like. The rep there said that I would have to tell North Hills that I would not pick up the car and then once I have my deposit back and the car is freed up, they would proceed with processing the sale with a dealer swap or something like that. My concern now is what happens if these guys sell the car or decline the trade in the interim. Then I would risk losing the car altogether. What should I do?

Turkoman

Any thoughts on the dealer swap issue offered above?

AsianGirl007

iTrader: (1)

You can try the dealer trade but both dealers have to agree on the trade and since they already know there's a buyer hot for the car (you) it's doubtful they will let that car go.

If you really really want that car may I suggest you do not allow the "village idiot" to make commission off of you.
Go to the sales manager and tell him the story and insist you get another salesperson assigned to you.
**Clearly state you do NOT want this to be a split deal and you want 100% of the commission to go to new salesperson. Use this exact terminology. It means the "village idiot" will get nothing.

Good luck.

TimboIS

Bottom line, you either stand by you principles or you can suck it up take the car. It looks like it might be difficult to have both. Only YOU can make that decision.

Turkoman

Timbo, you are right in that either way it will be a bad deal for me and I am losing sleep over this. I am so digusted that I would really have pulled the trigger on another brand car this weekend had I not committed so much to this car (wheels, tires, etc., my buyer for my trade even has her cashier's check made out etc.). The whole experience has turned me off not just from the dealership but even from the Lexus brand to be honest. Just bought another car (Mercedes) in February and the experience was like night and day.

The more I think about it, the dealer swipe carries some risk that I could take had I not lined up my trades etc. Asian Girl, I really think your suggestion is my best bet right now. I just hope the village idiot's brother (the GM) won't prevent me from making the switch. I will lay low until they give me a call when the car has arrived and then I will tell the sales manager that I will only pick it up with a new salesman who should receive 100% of the commission. If they insist on me working with the village idiot, then I guess it may be good bye Lexus and good bye to this forum.

IthacaPete

This guy sounds like a perfect tool. I would invite him to ***** and fall back in it. I suggest getting the car someplace else. I love mine as do many other people here. Make sure that you take the time to write to Lexus about your situation. Good luck.