Wellesley Toyota

Wellesley Toyota responded

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Evangelista, I regret to hear of your dissatisfaction with Toyota of Wellesley and the purchase of a beautiful 2006 Lexus RX400h Hybrid SUV. Due to the preceding snow storm and poor economic climate, we did close on New Years Day. However, we do not purposefully try to inconvenience our customers, and we did leave a recorded message on our automated telephone system stating we were closed. I'd like to mention that both Jeff and I (Nai, not Michael) were plowing snow on New Years Day, and although we were closed, we happily opened our doors for a personalized one-to-one customer sale. We did not answer calls nor help others, but just you on New Years Day, and the result ended in a sale of a Lexus for $18,000, or 35%, less than the price of a new Lexus RX400h. This was an incredible price, one that Lexus dealers in New England were charging for similar mileage and equipment, NON-HYBRID Lexus RX-Series SUVs. I do apologize that Jeff was not as accessible as we both would have liked. He was on vacation that week, and in hind-site, we will be assigning a second salesperson to assist in deliveries of those on vacation. Thank you for the suggestion. I would like to add that Jeff Tang did come in for the physical delivery of your vehicle, even though he was on vacation. I am sorry we communicated poorly on the document that was not necessary. The document that we asked for was the registration for your trade, which should be present in your vehicle in the event that you're pulled over. We ask for this document to show proof of ownership. Yes, we could have looked else where, but out of procedure, it's always better to ask for more information than to be stranded without. I think this was an honest mistake where one employee wanted to be safe and asked for more information than necessary. I will go over the necessary documentation with our managers and sales staff so they can better direct our customers in the future. Again, I apolog

Wellesley Toyota responded

...CONTINUATION... Again, I apologize for having to wait for the inspection sticker. The process itself takes 10 minutes, but because of state mandates that suggest a first-come first-serve basis, we found ourselves in an unlucky situation where others looking for an inspection sticker were already waiting in line when your husband showed up. I think this is where the confusion lies. I am sorry you were made unaware of the first-come first-serve basis, and I will remind our employees to explain the possible wait to our future customers. Lastly, I would like to mention in fairness to Wellesley Toyota that we offered a free rental to you and your husband while you were waiting for delivery of the Lexus. We offered this rental without your solicitation because you were driving illegally on your Corolla trade with an expired registration and inspection sticker. We wanted to protect you against the threat of a ticket or tow, and I am sorry you negated this consideration in your review of Wellesley Toyota. If you wish to change your review in lieu of this message, it would be appreciative. If not, please keep in mind that we will also post this response. Sincerely, Nai Ko Jr.

Wellesley Toyota responded

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Evangelista, I regret to hear of your dissatisfaction with Toyota of Wellesley and the purchase of a beautiful 2006 Lexus RX400h Hybrid SUV. Due to the preceding snow storm and poor economic climate, we did close on New Years Day. However, we do not purposefully try to inconvenience our customers, and we did leave a recorded message on our automated telephone system stating we were closed. I'd like to mention that both Jeff and I (Nai, not Michael) were plowing snow on New Years Day, and although we were closed, we happily opened our doors for a personalized one-to-one customer sale. We did not answer calls nor help others, but just you on New Years Day, and the result ended in a sale of a Lexus for $18,000, or 35%, less than the price of a new Lexus RX400h. This was an incredible price, one that Lexus dealers in New England were charging for similar mileage and equipment, NON-HYBRID Lexus RX-Series SUVs. I do apologize that Jeff was not as accessible as we both would have liked. He was on vacation that week, and in hind-site, we will be assigning a second salesperson to assist in deliveries of those on vacation. Thank you for the suggestion. I would like to add that Jeff Tang did come in for the physical delivery of your vehicle, even though he was on vacation. I am sorry we communicated poorly on the document that was not necessary. The document that we asked for was the registration for your trade, which should be present in your vehicle in the event that you're pulled over. We ask for this document to show proof of ownership. Yes, we could have looked else where, but out of procedure, it's always better to ask for more information than to be stranded without. I think this was an honest mistake where one employee wanted to be safe and asked for more information than necessary. I will go over the necessary documentation with our managers and sales staff so they can better direct our customers in the future. Again, I apologize for having to wait for the inspection sticker. The process itself takes 10 minutes, but because of state mandates that suggest a first-come first-serve basis, we found ourselves in an unlucky situation where others looking for an inspection sticker were already waiting in line when your husband showed up. I think this is where the confusion lies. I am sorry you were made unaware of the first-come first-serve basis, and I will remind our employees to explain the possible wait to our future customers. Lastly, I would like to mention in fairness to Wellesley Toyota that we offered a free rental to you and your husband while you were waiting for delivery of the Lexus. We offered this rental without your solicitation because you were driving illegally on your Corolla trade with an expired registration and inspection sticker. We wanted to protect you against the threat of a ticket or tow, and I am sorry you negated this consideration in your review of Wellesley Toyota. If you wish to change your review in lieu of this message, it would be appreciative. If not, please keep in mind that we will also post this response. Sincerely, Nai Ko Jr.

Babaloo3 responded

Hi Nai, I apologize for the mixup in names; I misheard the first day we met and didn't have your card. I did mention in my review how kind it was of you to open the dealership for us; I'll add to my review that we didn't think to call ahead and therefore missed the voicemail message that the dealership was closed. I'm glad that you will be rethinking the way that you handle purchases when a salesperson goes on vacation during the process. I think we talked with 4 or 5 different people; it was disorganized and frustrating. I understand the first-come first-serve situation with the inspection; I didn't realize that was mandated. I'll remove that comment from our review. I'd like to respond to the other points you raise and perhaps you may want to edit your response as well. -I requested the free rental; it was never offered by Jeff or anyone else. I requested it because our Corolla's heat was not working well and we were concerned that Troy would have trouble with the defrost given all the snow and ice that was coming. I didn't request the rental because the registration was expired; the registration was current through October 2009. My request for the rental seemed to throw everyone for a loop, and I think I waited about an hour before Jeff and Craig were able to work out the paperwork. -The current registration card was in the glovebox; I had missed it when I was cleaning out the car but was told by Craig that we had to supply it (although Jeff said an expired registration was OK). I spent a long time searching through our home and files for it, and asked Shaun Fisher, over the phone, to check for it in the glovebox. He didn't take the time to do that, but when I came in to do the final paperwork, Michael told me that it wasn't needed after all. Troy found it in the glovebox when he checked the car one final time the night he picked up the Lexus. -I don't think your mention of the price is a valid point -- it's not a new Lexus, it had 25K mil

Babaloo3 responded

-I don't think your mention of the price is a valid point -- it's not a new Lexus, it had 25K miles on it, so it can't be compared to the price of a new Lexus. The price was comparable, and even higher, than many of the other 2006 Lexus RX400hs with similar mileage that I looked at online. My point in the review was that we were pretty easy customers -- a 15 minute test drive and a cash deal, and the only consideration we received was a compact rental car, which I had to request. There was no flexibility on the price, no offer of any additional benefits or discounts, nothing that would make me say "Wow, this dealership really wants my business!" In fact, we got warnings all during the sales process that we may have to pay hundreds extra for more keys or owners manuals. We heard "Congratulations on your new car!" about a million times from Jeff, but that's not what I wanted to hear. What I want to hear is "Thank you for your business. It means a lot of me that you came here, and we really hope you'll come back so that we can keep the car in topnotch condition and also when you need another car in the future." What I also appreciate are those small details that make an expensive shopping experience special. You may want to visit Acton Toyota. We bought our Sienna there a few years ago (again, a cash deal). While they weren't very flexible on the price either and their service prices aren't great, they take care of their customers very well and make you want to return. I guess the main thing I wanted to communicate was that the dealership appeared to be very disorganized from the communication that we received. Jeff would tell us one thing, and someone else would tell us something different. The impression we were left with was that Jeff was telling us things we wanted to hear but that weren't necessarily true (for instance, that the dealership did inspections on Saturdays). Anyway, I don't like to list a whole bunch of pointless details on an inter

Babaloo3 responded

(argh! they should let you know there's a word count limit! :) Anyway, I don't like to list a whole bunch of pointless details on an internet review. I'll remove the info that I listed above, and I hope you'll edit your response so that it's accurate. More importantly, it's my hope that this information will help to improve some of the processes at the dealership. I would have been happy to share this information directly if you had called to follow up on the car purchase, but we were given the Dealerrater card and told to do it online. Barbara Evangelista

Wellesley Toyota responded

Hi Barbara, I would prefer if we kept this communication private and do not list anything online, neither your original comments or my comments. I think it only causes confusion. I actually worked at Acton Toyota in the summer of 2001, so I know how well the Moran family runs a great Toyota store. Craig Kates was a former Acton Toyota Sales Manager for 7 years. I believe strongly that Toyota of Wellesley and Acton Toyota are unique in our goals to be customer service oriented. If you look at the other comments made on dealerrater.com, Jeff's name is mentioned frequently. I suppose his absence on vacation was the main reason for the communication gap. He is not trying to say only what the customer wants to hear. But, I will talk with him and let him and others know to say "thank you." Thank you is not used enough, and I agree completely. About the rental: I will not disagree with you because I was not present, but my point is, we did provide you with a rental free of charge. And in my point of view, this is a concession to the price, thus a "discount." I don't think many other dealers would have done the same without a charge of $58 dollars a day. Thank you for all your insight. I certainly learned a lot from you. Take care, Nai

Babaloo3 responded

I guess we'll have to disagree on this one -- I'm going to leave the review online (I did edit it, by the way). If you want to post your response, feel free, but I hope you'll edit it to be accurate. I did read many of the reviews about Toyota of Wellesley on Dealerrater before posting my review and came away feeling that we certainly didn't get the experience that others did and wondering what we did wrong. (I think mostly it was that we got a salesperson who was not in the office for most of the following week.) With regards to the rental, I was told by Craig that if we didn't return it by Wednesday morning, we'd have to pay $38 per day. Also, my exact words to Jeff on Saturday the 3rd were "Can you comp me a free rental until we pick up the car on Tuesday?" If he's telling you otherwise, he's not being honest. I figured I'd ask, not really expecting to get a free rental, and was prepared to drive the Corolla until we got the Lexus on Tuesday, but then Jeff was able to work it out. (continued)