Keith Pierson Toyota

So INCREDIBLY disappointed and frustrated This review is primarily submitted to express our dissatisfaction and anger with this dealership. In addition to this review, we will also be submitti This review is primarily submitted to express our dissatisfaction and anger with this dealership. In addition to this review, we will also be submitting our concerns of unethical practices to the BBB and consumer reporting. My family has been loyal customers of Toyota for several years. Our families friends and children have bought cars particularly from this Toyota dealership through their Loyalty program. However, this last experience will result in our last purchase with Toyota, given the circumstances. First and foremost, let me paint you a picture. My husband is a 20 year Veteran of the United States Marine Corp. I myself served as well, but only four years as my priority was to raise our children. When the time came for our children to drive, our first thought was Toyota. This was primarily for the safety features the vehicles had to offer. Our daughter, who works really hard, was the primary driver on her first Toyota, however, due to her having no credit, the financing had to be in our name. The sales rep at the time advised our daughter to maintain her employment and in a year, she would be able to come in and refinance. Two and a half years passed and my daughter not only maintained her job, but also picked up a promotion with better pay. She was so excited to come in and for the first time, and well earned, buy her first car. So this past weekend we made a trip to Pierson Toyota of Orange Park and met with Sales Rep Charles Thorton. We sat down and went over the options, provided all our information, and then went to look at a car. Prior to anything, we EXPLICITLY told Charles what we could afford and how much we were willing to finance. We were very clear with our intentions as we know what we can and cannot afford. With that in mind, Charles shows my daughter a vehicle and allows her to test drive. At this point, our 19 year old daughter is extremely excited as we begin to start putting this all together. Eddie (sales manager) comes over and begins to explain the process and advises us of what we can get approved for. Eddie also advises me that he can get me a great deal on my trade in with a much lower interest rate, if I was interested in trading in my Hyundai Sonata for a Toyota Camry. I advised him that on my vehicle we were upside down and I guarantee that he would not be able to get me a better deal than what I am already paying. After several hours, while still working on the sale for my daughter's trade in, I am advised that although I have been a long-time customer with Toyota, NEVER missed a payment, never asked for a forbearance and/or extension, that I could not qualify for the Loyalty Program because my trade in was a Hyundai (not bought through them)- although my other two purchases were a Toyota- Hmmm. I input this part, not because I really needed to trade my car in, but because what kind of people give false hope to others, only to be completely out of their ballpark. So let's continue... despite my frustration with being given false hope, I continue to proceed with the sale for my daughter's car because let's be honest.. that why we are really there. So Eddie first tells us that everything looks good and he can get us financed for something close to $580 ish... and after about 15 minutes, while we are reviewing some information with the Sales Rep Charles, he comes back and tells us that we actually got the payment down to $515-ish.. WOW!!! This is great news and oh man my daughter is so excited, she is glowing. So we finish with the sales rep and are directed back to sign paperwork. The deal is almost done and my daughter will drive away in a brand new Toyota Corolla, a car that she can wholeheartedly afford on her own and is well-deserved. We sit back with a gentlemen in the back office, he had a unique name, and we signed several documents to include the sales document, the contract, the sale and trade-in of the old Toyota, and so much more.. We are advised that due to her not having any credit, I would have to be the primary on the account, but she will be a co-buyer - so this is how we signed all the paperwork. The deal was done and my daughter was the proud owner of a new 2020 Toyota Corolla. Once we finished the paperwork, I went to sit in my Hyundai, while my daughter transferred all her stuff from her old vehicle to her new vehicle. At this point, I am still upset at the fact that they fed me a line of crap only to disappoint me, so I just sat in my car - (of course I tend to be more outspoken than most, so really, I was using self-control). While I am sitting in my car, Charles (our sales rep) comes to my window. I roll down my window and he says, "you didn't say goodbye", of course, I just play it off, because what good would it have done to yell at him and express my disappointment. He precedes to tell me that due to my inconvenience on my non-sale, that he was going to send our family a $100 gift card.. (oh we will get to that later). So now the sale is done and my daughter has her new car. We proceed to finish the rest of our plans for that day. My daughter was so excited, she (like every young girl) posted pictures of her and her new car for all her family and friends to see. Something she did on her own and she was so incredibly proud. So what happened? On Wednesday, July 10, 2019, my daughter gets a call from an unknown number. She answers the call and the lady on the other end asks for me. She tells her that this was her number and asked what this was in regards to. The lady on the other end hung up on my daughter. Only minutes later, my daughter receives a second call, except this time, it was from Eddie (the sales manager). He tells her that the financing for the vehicle did not go through and she needed to bring the car back. Words cannot even express her sadness and disappointment as we sat at that dealership for hours to be told everything was good, only to be told three days later that she had to bring the car back. So of course she calls us (me and my husband). We contact the dealership to see what is going on. We were advised that they would not approve the loan with just me and my daughter, that the loan had to be done with me and my husband. Well.... okay... not sure why! They advised us it was because of a repossession on our credit report from 2017. FIRST AND FOREMOST... what does that have to do with our daughter.. the repossession had NOTHING to do with her, so why couldn't she be on the loan? So, at this point, we are fine with taking her off the loan and only financing in our name, as long as she gets to keep the car. So Eddie (sales manager) tells us he will run the numbers and get back to us the next day, which would have been today. The entire day goes by and my husband and I have not heard anything from the dealership. So after my husband gets off work, he heads to the dealership to get this straightened out. In between "he said, she said", my husband waited over an hour just to get a response on what is going on with the vehicle. Eddie came out and told my husband that Toyota would not be able to finance through the Loyalty Program due to our repossession in 2017. Please keep in mind that Toyota was AWARE of this repossession (which I will give a history on in a second), when they ran our credit on Sunday and plugged in all the numbers. So I guess my question is... why would you allow a young lady with all the hopes to buy this car, to drive off the lot with this car, if you KNEW that the loyalty program would not approve a loan if there was a repossession? Wouldn't it have made more sense to say, "Hey, you have this repossession and there is a possibility the bank wont finance under the Loyalty Program, so go home (in our old cars) and we will call you this week and let you know if you were approved." Is it just me.. or was this a scam to yo-yo us into contract that we could not afford. So before I continue - let me give a history on the repossession. In 2015, we bought what was supposed to be a brand new Chevy Silverado - which at the time we could easily afford our payments. Both my husband and I were working and making decent money. Within a year the AC went out in the truck and Chevy refused to fix the issue under any warranty and basically told us, we were out of luck. In September 2017, we were blessed with Hurricane Irma which unfortunately for me put my job under water and out of business. I was out of work for nearly 4 months before I took another full-time job and a 10k pay cut. Needless to say, we turned in the truck with NO MISSED payments because we knew that money was tight and we had to give up something. (So although, this has nothing to do with our experience with Toyota, it gives a brief explanation as to why we had a repossession). However, please note, that even with the repossession, we NEVER missed a payment or requested a forbearance or extension on any of our vehicles. So back to the dealership. So this is it.. Eddie comes out and tells my husband that they can finance the deal (yo-yo) but not through the loyalty program and also if we finance the NEW deal our interest rate will skyrocket and our payment will be in the $640's.. xxxx..I could have just kept the truck for that. Of course, knowing we can't afford that, my husband tells him, "no deal". They agree that we will bring in their vehicle tomorrow and they will return my daughter's vehicle to her. Can you imagine the disappointment when my husband expresses his concern to our sales rep Charles, and his response is.. "well guess I will have to sell 16", then turns away from my husband as if there is nothing else to discuss since he knows he can't get anything else from him... Really.. is that all we are is a number to you - apparently number 16. My husband was so disappointed and livid, that he just left. You can't imagine how embarrassing and disappointed our daughter is to have to bring back the car that the sales reps and financing department made it so believable that she actually was able to start building and establishing her credit on her own. And as livid and angry my husband and I are, you would not believe how humble her response was. Instead of being angry, she says, "everything happens for a reason" and continues to maintain a positive attitude. Oh and that $100 gift card.. let's just say, we received in the mail today a card from Charles with his cards (of course) a link to leave a review (your welcome), and (3) $100 REFERRAL DOLLAR cards... seriously- like we would refer anyone after this experience! So I contact the dealership to see about leaving a review of our concerns and disappointment with Keith Pierson himself, and of course after the run-around, I am advised that I can leave my name and number and his assistant Kylee Shell would get back to me. And as unfortunate as it is to say, I don't expect a response from Toyota at all. All I have to say at this point, is Pierson Toyota, you should be ashamed of yourselves and your unethical practices. I really thought this was the kind of dealership that treated people like family - I could not have been more wrong. :( More

Warning! Go Somewhere Else! On July 1st I received an email from Austin Baker regarding my 2016 Scion iA that I purchased from Keith Pierson on June 11, 2016. It was inquiring ab On July 1st I received an email from Austin Baker regarding my 2016 Scion iA that I purchased from Keith Pierson on June 11, 2016. It was inquiring about possibility of trading it in. I explained at that time that my credit was less than desirable, the car has over 116k in miles and I was upside down in the car still owing almost $14k. They assured me I could still be qualified. After doing an on-line application and going over what my requirements where for trading my car in (NO down payment and payments the same as I am currently paying), I received a phone call from Andre’ asking me to come in a let them evaluate my car. I made the appointment and when I showed up Andre was with another customer so Kennedy Mumford took us to his office. He looked over everything and I explained the same details to him as I did in the email with Austin Baker. He looked over everything and we decided it would not be possible at that time; however, my husband offered to trade in his 2008 Chevy Silverado truck with my Scion to make the deal happen. Kennedy worked everything out to where we had no down payment and my payments were only $99 more than my current payments. After sitting down with Cole in finance, we drove out with our new 2020 Corolla LE. Then on July 2nd I received a call from Cole. He needed me to come in a sign some more paper work. They had made an error and needed me to resign some things. No problem; I was in and out without an issue. On Friday, July 5th, while I was at work, Cole called back to say he had missed another document I needed to sign. My Friday was a bit hectic, but I knew last time it was quick and I didn’t want to keep anyone waiting. So I left work early to get over there. I show up and Cole has someone in his office. I poked my head in and just let him know I was there. He said he’d be right with me. Those people in his office left shortly after and I still sat in the lobby. I sat in that lobby for over an hour waiting with not even the courtesy of an explanation. I was told once that he was working on it and he’d be right with me. I asked how much longer it was going to be after an hour and he said, not much longer. I see Cole and Kennedy in and out of the front finance office (the gentleman’s name escapes me) several times. Kennedy didn’t even look my way and Cole seemed to avoid addressing my wait or why I was actually there. Finally, after over an hour of waiting, I was escorted into Cole’s office where he said there was an issue with the financing. They initially tried to qualify me using the loyalty program and due to my payment arrangement history, I was not eligible for the loyalty program. He stated I would either need a co-signer, $4,000 for a down payment or we give the car back. Of course as I had expressed in the first contact with Keith Pierson employees, I was not in a position to make any sort of down payment. It was also never discussed by Kennedy nor Cole during the entire buying process that they were trying the loyalty program route of financing. They never asked if I had made any payment arrangements or late payments during the past 12 months of my current loan. If they would have inquired I would have told them I did have a rough spot financially and needed to make payment arrangement. When I asked why wasn’t this address BEFORE I was able to leave with the car, I was told they can’t see it from their reports, that they have to physically call Southeast Toyota Finance and speak to them for that information. If this is a qualifying factor, why in God’s holy name is it not done BEFORE a person is lead to believe that have been qualified?!!? I, of course, could not get an answer to my question! I said, if they wanted to run my husband’s info to see if he would qualify as a co-signer they could do so. I did make them aware his credit was in the same boat with me, so I didn’t think it would happen, but the gentleman in the front office said to try it and we would see. After giving all the info to Cole he left to take the results to the gentleman in the front office. Shortly after Cole left the office a guy came to us saying our cars were out front if we could go ahead and get everything out of the Corolla. Not even the decency to come back in and let us know that my husband would not work. Just a “show us to the door” approach. Now, my first experience with Keith Pierson was a pleasant one and I have truly enjoyed my Scion; however, if this is now the shady way of doing business with Keith Pierson, I will NOT be returning for my future purchases. I was flat out lied to by Cole as to why I needed to come it. Had he of been up from and honest with me, I would not be as angry as I am now. And then the way we were totally ignored during the final visit and the exit process was completely unacceptable. I am sure my voice will not a make difference in the way you chose to do business or the way your employees are programmed to treat customers, but I felt I needed to express my thoughts on this. I will also express my feelings with anyone I come in contact with regarding my experience with Keith Pierson Toyota (which will be MANY since I work in the front office of a worldwide company and love my social media connections). Just because we are not on top of the credit totem pole does not mean we do not deserve respect and honesty. I may not have good credit at the moment, but I was open and honest about that from the first contact with your people. And trust when I say, that will change and when it does, another dealership will get my business! More