Reason for Visit: Sales
I recommend this dealer: No
My Review of Caldwell Toyota:
I went to the Caldwell Toyota dealership in West Caldwell, NJ to test drive a 2009 Corolla XRS (VIN: 2T1BE40EX9C011930) on April 24, 2008 and was greeted by a shady salesman named Larry. I was told that since it was after 7:30PM I could not test drive the car. Therefore, I returned the next day and was greeted by a nice helpful young man named Mario. We went for a test drive and he was very helpful. After our test drive we were forced to deal with Larry as we were his "up" as Mario explained, since Larry had greeted us the prior day.
After some negotiation he returns and tells us that he "accidentally" gave us a lower cost ($22600) and monthly payment of $289-310/month. The new price was about $50 off the $25323 MSRP (an increase of over $2000). Then our monthly payment was changed to $489-540/month up from $289-310 with $3000 down payment. This was even before a credit check was ever made!!
Next a sales manager name Ralph Mosely, a rather large man (6'3") with one white eye, came over and in a angry and nasty tone told Larry to get up from the desk and he would "handle this." He proceeded to give a false apology and was very rude with me. He told me that he could never give me the car for the original price as it would have amounted to $17000 for the car. However, this was incorrect as Larry had already shown me earlier that the original offer price with the "allegedly wrong" pricing was $22600.
Calling Ralph out on this lie infuriated him and he became very aggressive- to the point that I thought he was going to hit me! He snapped at me and told me to tell him what I wanted to pay. I offered $21500- a fair mark up from my original offer of $19500- mind you this was negotiation- I knew very well that it was a low price and expected him to lower merely his price a little (less than $1000). He told me that the price was way too low and I told him that it was well over his "mistaken calculation" of $17000- if that was what he honestly thought I was naive enough to believe. I told him that I am a numbers guy and he would have to do better with the "correct price" and not try to tell me that the numbers which both I and Larry knew had added up to $22600, were actually adding up to $17000.
At this point he exploded in anger and shot up out of his seat saying "you know what- I will do you a favor" and reached out his hand to me. I expected him to grab me as he reached for my arm, instead he grabbed my hand and forced me to give him a handshake- saying "negotiation over, there's the door."
I stared at him in disbelief as he stared angrily at me, chest pushed out and hands clenched. I then turned and shook hands with the nice young salesman who originally helped me, Mario, and thanked him for his help and left. As I walked to my car, which was parked right outside the large plate glass window were the desk was located, Ralph, the sales manager, began shouting at this staff and pointing at me menacingly through the window.
And why? At no point during my time at the dealership did I act aggressively or inappropriately, I merely acted as a professional and how I would treat a fellow professional in a business transaction. And in return I was not only rudely treated by this dealership, which has the audacity to claim in ads that it is ranked #1 in customer satisfaction and then try not only to raise the price on me, but also kicked me out of the show room when I questioned the sales manager's incorrect calculations.
I expect more from a Toyota dealership and am now considering purchasing my vehicle from a Honda or Mazda dealership, as their dealerships treated me fairly and in a friendly manner And the best part of this? Well I had visited this local dealership because it claims in ads that it is ranked #1 in customer satisfaction! Good luck if you decide to purchase here, and Caveat emptor (buyer beware)!!
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