TOYOTA OF HOLLYWOOD FL 33021 CLASSIC BAIT AND SWITCH....BUYER BEWARE Hollywood, Florida

Steve, the GM of Toyota of Hollywood, has gone out of his way to remedy this complaint, and has been most generous with his offers...but, the facts stand.  I live in the Florida Keys, and had traveled 3.5 hours to look at Toyota Sequoias in South Florida, in fact i put close to 400 miles on my wonderful Toyota Solara that day.  At the time of my call I was in Miami, 30 minutes away. This was a cold call to this dealer (using my dealer list from my Solara GPS) and skipped another dealer to come see the vehicle in question, all of which was alluded to in my report. This vehicle was NOT on their website at the time in question, and we never saw any ad for this vehicle referred to by Shawn, in fact it did not appear until the following day.  Mr. Crockett, manager or coordinator, whatever his title,   definitely stated he had a 5.7L because we asked him a second time to be sure it was a 5.7L as we needed to tow a very large boat and a the smaller V8 would not work.  We were definitely misled about the vehicle being on a test drive or under contract.  If Mr. Crockett had simply admitted his error about the engine size, instead of covering it up with more untruths, or even returned our phone message and apologized,  no one would be reading this, as I never would have posted this.  

I wish to emphasize that Toyota of Hollywood's GM has been outstanding in making generous offers to remedy my complaint, and make me a satisfied customer.   To date, I have still not received a letter of apology from "Crockett", although i understand he has, or will be, reprimanded by Steve, the GM  The complaint against Crockett stands as written, but I do retract my statement of "do not do business with this classic rip off business"...when you go to buy a car from this dealer, or any dealer, it's caveat emptor, let the buyer beware... there may be other Crocketts lurking behind those doors...

Steve, the GM, has learned a valuable lesson...your employees must be trained not only in sales, but ethics.  Admit your mistakes, don't cover up lies with more lies, apologize and make your customer satisfied, which Steve and Shawn have definitely done a good job of doing...it should never have come to this.

We occasionally post on "TripAdvisor" and have only posted positive reports.  We have been "Secret Shoppers", hired and paid to report the facts at Restaurants, stores and bars.  This auto dealer review, report, complaint are the first I have ever done, and we were not hired or paid to report on any dealership.  I do not wish to do this again.  If I were to attach my Curriculum Vitae, my accomplishments in life, as well as my professional, service and fraternal organizations, along with the offices in these organizations I have held, you would see I have been an outstanding citizen and a pillar of society.  My creditably is second to none..."so mote it be"

The general manager of Toyota of Hollywood spoke to the consumer regardind his experience at the dealership.  The consumer clarified to the GM that Mr. Crockett indentified himself quite possibly as the Business Development Coordinator and not "Manager" as previously mentioned.  Also the consumer made it quite clear tht he was in Miami, only 30 minutes away and not 3 1/2 hours as stated in the complaint.

The advertised vehicle in question did not specify engine size and the only option listed was leather interior.  The general manager offered the consumer a 2012 Toyota Seqouia currently in stock with leather interior at below the current ad price of $30,977 for only $29,988, in which the cusomer declined because of the 4.6 liter engine.  The consumer was also quoted a price on the new vehicle with exact specifications as desired with a MSRP of nearly $47,000 for only $39,500 in an attempt to satisfy the consumer.

This quote is well below dealer invoice and quite possibly a deal or price that cannot be mathched in the local market place.  We are still waiting for a response form the consurmer.

Toyota of Hollywood considers itself a business that operates with a degree of integrity and highest possible code of ethics. Having been in buisness for over 25 years of continued sales and services to the South Florida community. Customer satisfaction is our number one goal.

Regards,

Shawn Jones

Toyota of Hollywood

VIP Business Manager