First off, my apologies for the long read. Secondly, this post is not in regards to a Lexus vehicle, but rather a Lexus dealership.
With the San Jose, CA traffic, I recently decided to look for a Honda Accord automatic. With 2002 being the last year of the previous bodystyle, I decided to focus in on that year for a V6 EX. I forgot whether it was autotrader or cars.com, but I saw that Lexus of Marin had one having the 'ol "contact us for price". I did so and Salesperson X responded stating that it was 14.9K and in perfect condition. I stated it was a bit steep and just had a friend saw one for 11.8K with the same amount of miles that had already sold.
He responded that the lowest he could do was 13.75K. I said "no thats ok" and that was that since San Rafael was too far from San Jose for me to look at the car unless it was a super good deal. However, a friend of mine was running the SF Marathon in the coming weekend so I thought I would drop by the dealership before going to the marathon. I contacted Salesperson X and stated when I would be coming and what my intentions were (trade in my 2003 Civic EX Manual but would need to bring the car back later should a purchase go through since I needed to remove the alarm and bike rack). He agreed.
Once I got there, the Accord looked ok and so we started talking numbers. He looked at my Civic, which has never been in an accident of any kind, and said that it had bodywork on it. I told him it has never had one as I was the only owner. He stated that something must have happened to it before I bought it at the dealership since it was apparent. Seeing through this lowball trade in tactic, I held firm to what I said and stated nothing has ever happened to it as I took great care for the vehicle.
Back to the Accord, I asked Salesperson X if the car has been in any accidents and he said no, the only thing was a ding that the previous owner took out. I thought awesome since it was nothing major. We finally settled on a price of 13.4K where I felt it was very good deal with the stated condition. Signed the papers and did financing through them.
So here's where things start going downhill.
1) The Used Car Sales Manager says that he needs my Civic today and that he couldn't wait one week for me to remove the alarm and bike rack. He found a local alarm place and so I paid the cost it would take to remove the alarm.
2) Upon getting the keys or should I say key, it turns out they didn't have master keys for it. They only had one valet key for the car. What in the world? What kinda dealership only has a valet key and tries to sell a car? But I'm a pretty easy going guy so when Salesperson X contacted the previous owner and said he would get the master key, I said ok and left.
3) Upon getting home, I did a run through of the car again more closely and noticed uneven paint in the rear. I flipped through the literature they gave my which included the previous owners records. In there, was a report of an accident on the car. I was furious. I also had the vehicle inspection report that Lexus of Marin did which had a line item of "secure all loose trunk trim". Again, I was furious. I emailed Salesperson X as to my findings and he stated he knew nothing of it and to contact the Used Car Sales Manager. I replied that I would follow up with the Used Car Manager but that his reply was unacceptable. It was his responsibility to know the condition of any vehicle he was trying to sell and to make it sound like he was in the dark on this was deceptive sales practice.
Salesperson X responded stating that I was writing insulting and demanding emails. And for me to return the car by yesterday (Monday) for a refund even though they were under no obligation to do so. I consider myself a pretty calm and composed person and went back to read my previous emails. I found nothing insulting at all.
Almost as soon as I was done reading through my previous sent emails, Salesperson X sent a another email apologizing for his previous email. I responded by stating that it was not my original intention to return the vehicle but rather that Lexus of Marin compensate in price for the new info that has come to light since the car was misrepresented, and also to have a set of master keys made for when I would pick up my alarm and bike rack from my Civic. But should they want me to return the vehicle, it would not be til the weekend since San Rafael is an hour and a half away and I work 9AM-7PM. In my response, I carbon copied the General Manager requesting a conference call so that we could all state our cases. Salesperson X responded saying that the General Manager was too busy to contact me (gotta love the customer service and how management stands behind their team) but that they would extend the window til Wednesday for me to return the Accord. I replied saying that it was going to be the weekend only as I was not going to lose out on my work time for something where they were obviously at fault. I again sent the General Manager an email asking for contact on the situation. Unfortunately, neither the General Manager or User Car Sales Manager has returned my emails as of yet.
