I would like to share my experience Sloane Toyota of Devon dealership that began on Friday, January 12, 2007 and Saturday, January 13, 2007.
I placed a call on Friday and spoke with Mark Miller asking him about a 2006 Sequoia.
Mark advised that he had a long standing customer coming in that morning to upgrade his 2005 Limited Sequoia to a 2007 Sequoia. I asked him how much they would be asking wherein he advised $38,000.00. He went on to describe the vehicle which was exactly what I was looking for. Mark stated that if I gave a deposit of $100.00 he could hold the vehicle for 24 hours where no other sales person could I sell the vehicle until I got there. I asked him to call me once the vehicle was there. Around 11:30 that afternoon wherein Mark stated that the truck was now theirs and I could come in and look at it. My fiance, Brett, and I arrived there at approximately 12:15 to view the vehicle. At that time we placed the $100.00 deposit with the understanding that we would be back on Saturday morning to work out the numbers. We received a receipt for the deposit and verified that the deposit was left on their system for the 2005 Limited Sequoia as promised.
Saturday morning at 9:48 I received a call from Mark asking if we were coming in to work out the numbers for the vehicle. I confirmed that we were leaving our home within the half hour. When we arrived Mark took our trade in vehicle to be appraised for a trade in value. Mark came back to the table with a different amount for the truck $38,336.00 (approx.) and $1700.00 for a trade in value. Brett countered with the $38,000.00 amount which was originally told to me and $2,000.00 for the trade in. Mark agreed however we wanted to test drive prior to signing on the agreed amount. After the test drive Brett signed the agreement and Mark left to get the remaining paperwork started.
Brett completed the loan information and gave a check for the remaining deposit. Approximately 15 minutes later Mark comes back with Chris the sales manager wherein Chris advised that he was very sorry however he was in the process of selling the same vehicle to another customer whom they had a long standing relationship with. He wanted to offer us a 2007 Sequoia however obviously there was going to be a significant price difference. I explained to him what we were told about the truck not being sold to anyone else since we had placed a deposit which was to hold the vehicle for us. Chris then went to talk with the other customers only to come back 10 minutes later to advise that he was refusing to sell us the 2005 vehicle. He told us that he understood if we told him to pound sand but because this other customer was a long standing customer he was selling to them and not us. This is outright DISCRIMINATION!!!! By Toyota accepting our deposit for the 2005 vehicle they in effect created a contract per their own policy which they then later violated.