seph
07-23-2012, 12:57 PM
I just want to share my experience at Granville Toyota (located at Fraser and Marine) so that readers can make an informed decision when deciding which dealership to go to. I would not recommend this dealership at all. The salesperson I dealt with was wonderful and I would give him five stars, but he was let down by his colleagues and bosses.
I'll skip my whole car shopping experience and go directly to the part where things started to go downhill (sorry it's still a long story). When I decided on leasing the a car from this dealership, I was sent to the Financial Services Manager to go over the paperwork for credit application. After I left the dealership, I had some questions, so I gave her a call. I wanted to know if there is GAP insurance in the lease contract (at this point I haven't seen the contract yet), and she told me “I don't think there is such clause in the contract...but I think you should be covered.” This wishy-washy answer made me really uncomfortable. I told her that I was concerned about such an important clause not being written down in the contract. She did not offer to provide other form of assurance / comfort / explanation on this matter, but simply told me if I was really worried I should get additional new car insurance from ICBC. I was not impressed with this answer. I think as a manager who routinely advises customers, she should know what's in the contract. If she wasn’t sure, she should offer to confirm with someone who knows. I later found out from another dealership that Toyota does provide GAP coverage on its leases, but it's not written into the contract because this coverage is automatic and does not require the customer to pay. So, apparently this information is available to finance managers at Toyota dealerships, but this particular person had no desire to find out more to better service her customers.
The Financial Services Manager was supposed to send some documents to my insurance agent the day before our meeting. However, an hour before our scheduled appointment, I gave the Financial Services Manager a call and she told me at that point that nothing had been sent because the office fax machine was broken. How was my insurance agent supposed to get his work done in time for our appointment if he hadn't received anything?
When I arrived at our scheduled appointment time, the Financial Services Manager told me uncaringly, “I’m with another customer right now.” It turns out someone with a later appointment time showed up during my appointment time, so she took him in instead of keeping to our pre-arranged appointment. I think this was a very poor decision, as it only showed her complete disregard and lack of respect for her customer who had the courtesy of showing up at the agreed-upon time. I waited for about 25 minutes and decided to voice my concern to the Sales Manager. When I told him that I’d been waiting for a while, he apologized but brushed me off. I could not sense any sincerity in his apologies. From his attitude, I could tell that he really didn’t think that making his customers wait and wasting their time is a big deal. I also told him how I was not comfortable with the Financial Services Manager's answer on the GAP insurance. He told me that’s not something that people would know, as he himself didn’t know the answer. I think this was a very poor excuse and also showed incompetence. In a way, he was telling me that he didn't know his job.
I wanted around for another 25 minutes or so and there was still no action, I decided to walk. When I asked for my deposit back, the Financial Services Manager responded, “what’s the problem??” She’s made it very obvious that she simply didn’t think her customers’ time is important, and didn’t care for customer service at all. When the deposit was returned to me, she had forgotten to return my insurance paper to me at the same time. I was almost out the door when the Product Advisor caught and reminded me to make sure I had my insurance paper. My sister was with me at the dealership, and she made a comment to the Sales Manager about this oversight by the Financial Services Manager, and the Sales Manager harshly replied to my sister, “I’m done with your comments! They are getting stale!” I was in awe, as I’ve never seen a salesperson, not to mention a sales manager, being so rude to his customers.
Before I left, I requested to see the General Manager. The GM came to talk to us, but he was not interested in hearing what we had to say. He came into the office, threw his hands in the air, and declared, “I know you are upset, but my staff has tried.” His tone and body language conveyed the message that he was not interested and didn't care. Not once did he offer to do anything to make me feel better. The Sales Manager was standing behind the GM and kept making remarks such as “I warned you”. I found these comments very immature and highly unprofessional.
After I got home, I wrote a detailed letter to Toyota Canada. I described the sequence of events in detailed and offered my comments on what could have been done better. I just got a call from Toyota Canada today, and they did not make me feel any better. Essentially they told me that the dealerships are independently owned, so there isn't much Toyota Canada could do. They told me that they've already forwarded my letter to the dealership's management (which is rather useless, considering that the GM was a part of the complaint) and communicated with them. I requested that my letter be sent to the owner of the dealership so at least he is aware of what's happened and the poor quality of the people working for him. Toyota Canada couldn't even do this for me. They just kept telling me that the letter has been sent to management and that's all they could do. Toyota Canada did not give me the feeling that they were taking my complaint seriously at all. The representative who called me kept implying that she didn't think the dealership did anything wrong. When I offered my recommendations on how to improve, she kept wanting to cut me off, as if she was not interested at all. This call just made me even more upset. To the customers, Toyota boasts how they value customer satisfaction and customer feedback. When a complaint really happened in my case, Toyota just stands with its own and takes its side to protect its dealerships.
I've read some other posts in this forum and realize that my experience wasn't the worst that could happen. However, hopefully by sharing my experience I can help people avoid this kind of unpleasant experience. The people at Granville Toyota have no respect for customers and don't know what customer service is about. I would strongly suggest everyone to stay far away from Granville Toyota, unless you want to pay lots of money to be treated like a “nobody”. If you’re not buying an expensive car, I don’t think they care about doing business with you. Save your time and go elsewhere.
I'll skip my whole car shopping experience and go directly to the part where things started to go downhill (sorry it's still a long story). When I decided on leasing the a car from this dealership, I was sent to the Financial Services Manager to go over the paperwork for credit application. After I left the dealership, I had some questions, so I gave her a call. I wanted to know if there is GAP insurance in the lease contract (at this point I haven't seen the contract yet), and she told me “I don't think there is such clause in the contract...but I think you should be covered.” This wishy-washy answer made me really uncomfortable. I told her that I was concerned about such an important clause not being written down in the contract. She did not offer to provide other form of assurance / comfort / explanation on this matter, but simply told me if I was really worried I should get additional new car insurance from ICBC. I was not impressed with this answer. I think as a manager who routinely advises customers, she should know what's in the contract. If she wasn’t sure, she should offer to confirm with someone who knows. I later found out from another dealership that Toyota does provide GAP coverage on its leases, but it's not written into the contract because this coverage is automatic and does not require the customer to pay. So, apparently this information is available to finance managers at Toyota dealerships, but this particular person had no desire to find out more to better service her customers.
The Financial Services Manager was supposed to send some documents to my insurance agent the day before our meeting. However, an hour before our scheduled appointment, I gave the Financial Services Manager a call and she told me at that point that nothing had been sent because the office fax machine was broken. How was my insurance agent supposed to get his work done in time for our appointment if he hadn't received anything?
When I arrived at our scheduled appointment time, the Financial Services Manager told me uncaringly, “I’m with another customer right now.” It turns out someone with a later appointment time showed up during my appointment time, so she took him in instead of keeping to our pre-arranged appointment. I think this was a very poor decision, as it only showed her complete disregard and lack of respect for her customer who had the courtesy of showing up at the agreed-upon time. I waited for about 25 minutes and decided to voice my concern to the Sales Manager. When I told him that I’d been waiting for a while, he apologized but brushed me off. I could not sense any sincerity in his apologies. From his attitude, I could tell that he really didn’t think that making his customers wait and wasting their time is a big deal. I also told him how I was not comfortable with the Financial Services Manager's answer on the GAP insurance. He told me that’s not something that people would know, as he himself didn’t know the answer. I think this was a very poor excuse and also showed incompetence. In a way, he was telling me that he didn't know his job.
I wanted around for another 25 minutes or so and there was still no action, I decided to walk. When I asked for my deposit back, the Financial Services Manager responded, “what’s the problem??” She’s made it very obvious that she simply didn’t think her customers’ time is important, and didn’t care for customer service at all. When the deposit was returned to me, she had forgotten to return my insurance paper to me at the same time. I was almost out the door when the Product Advisor caught and reminded me to make sure I had my insurance paper. My sister was with me at the dealership, and she made a comment to the Sales Manager about this oversight by the Financial Services Manager, and the Sales Manager harshly replied to my sister, “I’m done with your comments! They are getting stale!” I was in awe, as I’ve never seen a salesperson, not to mention a sales manager, being so rude to his customers.
Before I left, I requested to see the General Manager. The GM came to talk to us, but he was not interested in hearing what we had to say. He came into the office, threw his hands in the air, and declared, “I know you are upset, but my staff has tried.” His tone and body language conveyed the message that he was not interested and didn't care. Not once did he offer to do anything to make me feel better. The Sales Manager was standing behind the GM and kept making remarks such as “I warned you”. I found these comments very immature and highly unprofessional.
After I got home, I wrote a detailed letter to Toyota Canada. I described the sequence of events in detailed and offered my comments on what could have been done better. I just got a call from Toyota Canada today, and they did not make me feel any better. Essentially they told me that the dealerships are independently owned, so there isn't much Toyota Canada could do. They told me that they've already forwarded my letter to the dealership's management (which is rather useless, considering that the GM was a part of the complaint) and communicated with them. I requested that my letter be sent to the owner of the dealership so at least he is aware of what's happened and the poor quality of the people working for him. Toyota Canada couldn't even do this for me. They just kept telling me that the letter has been sent to management and that's all they could do. Toyota Canada did not give me the feeling that they were taking my complaint seriously at all. The representative who called me kept implying that she didn't think the dealership did anything wrong. When I offered my recommendations on how to improve, she kept wanting to cut me off, as if she was not interested at all. This call just made me even more upset. To the customers, Toyota boasts how they value customer satisfaction and customer feedback. When a complaint really happened in my case, Toyota just stands with its own and takes its side to protect its dealerships.
I've read some other posts in this forum and realize that my experience wasn't the worst that could happen. However, hopefully by sharing my experience I can help people avoid this kind of unpleasant experience. The people at Granville Toyota have no respect for customers and don't know what customer service is about. I would strongly suggest everyone to stay far away from Granville Toyota, unless you want to pay lots of money to be treated like a “nobody”. If you’re not buying an expensive car, I don’t think they care about doing business with you. Save your time and go elsewhere.