Gary Benson

Bad service experience Terrible service. Complete lack of customer support. Only looking out for their bottom line. Lie to you and don't follow through on their promises. Terrible service. Complete lack of customer support. Only looking out for their bottom line. Lie to you and don't follow through on their promises. Just last weekend my ~1 year old Scion FR-S dies completely out of the blue on the 405 while my eight month pregnant wife was driving it. This is a car that is just over one year old, was bought new from this dealer, and is still under warranty. We get it towed to this service center Saturday because it's close and despite previous issues with poor warranty service, they seem to be turning it around. Eddie Sandoval tells us: "We'll know what's wrong by the end of the day!" and "We'll cover you for a rental. Just call us Monday morning!". Monday morning comes around. No word about what is wrong with the car. What's worse is that they don't call back after repeated voicemails and I have to walk down to the service center and ask what the xxxx is going on. Turns out they're "waiting on authorization from Japan". "This has never happened before!" and I'm SOL. You can rent a car from us they say! Gee great! Nice bait and switch fellas. You promised a free rental and now I'm late to work. The last thing I'm going to do is give your company some money. Fast forward to Tuesday: if the issue is the clutch, we will not pay for it! But we need to tear down the transmission. If the issue is in the transmission we will cover it. I ask, so hey, tearing down a transmission sounds like a lot of work. If you don't find anything in the transmission, since you are doing this for investigatory work under a warranty, I'm not going to pay for that right? No. If we don't find anything *YOU* pay for the tear down. Ladies and gentlemen: The quality Toyota Warranty. Warranty and customer support means nothing to this company. Perhaps I have been too spoiled by Apple who actually, you know, fix their product when it breaks and don't try to gouge their customers. More

Report | Print

Thomas Soveg helped diagnose an issue with my car's ECU for transmission. Thomas Soveg along with Gary Benson and Phil Walker explained the potential scenarios of repair. All three were candid and su ECU for transmission. Thomas Soveg along with Gary Benson and Phil Walker explained the potential scenarios of repair. All three were candid and supportive if I wanted to get a second opinion. I had never gone to the dealership before for service. I am getting a new car and if it is a Toyota I would be open going to the dealership for service! ~ Elizabeth More

Report | Print

My wife went to Toyota of Santa Monica to purchase a new key to her 2011 Toyota Prius on 8/6/13. It cost her $652 and included $199.99 in labor to program a new key to the car. This didn't make any sense to key to her 2011 Toyota Prius on 8/6/13. It cost her $652 and included $199.99 in labor to program a new key to the car. This didn't make any sense to me so I went in to discuss it with the dealership on 8/7/13 and was referred to Gary Benson the Head of Service. Gary was very pleasant and explained to me that yes it does seem like a lot of money, but it is a very difficult job, it requires a very skilled technician, a very expensive special computer and takes 2 hours of labor, but they only billed me for an hour and one half. This didn't seem right so I called around and spoke to 3 certified toyota mechanics and all three of them told me the same thing, it's very easy to program the key to the car, it takes no special skill, they use the same computer they use for everything else on the car and it takes between 5 to 10 minutes. One of them quoted me $25 in labor, the other $40 and the third said if I bought the key FOB from him he would do it for free. I also researched the price of the parts they used, and some of them were inflated by 50% more than other dealers charge for the same OME parts. Turns out everything Gary Benson told me was a lie, his response was so slick and rehearsed that I'm sure this is a con he has used many times. I called Gary on 8/9/13 to discuss it and left a message, not surprisingly my call was never returned. Gary Benson, Toyota of Santa Monica and the L.A. Car Guy conspired to mislead and steal from me and my wife, their actions were intentional and criminal. I will be pursuing this matter to it's fullest. More

Report | Print

I went to Toyota Santa Monica to get my oil changed on my FJ Cruiser and I was very pleased. The service was very friendly and very fast. I will definitely take my car back to them in the future. I meet Gar FJ Cruiser and I was very pleased. The service was very friendly and very fast. I will definitely take my car back to them in the future. I meet Gary Benson and he is great, answered all my questions and could not have been nicer. Love this place!! More

Report | Print

I took my 2007 Toyota Tundra to Toyota Santa Monica this last week for an oil change and tire rotation and enjoyed the experience very much. I was in and out in a very short period of time and everybody th last week for an oil change and tire rotation and enjoyed the experience very much. I was in and out in a very short period of time and everybody there was great. They were all very nice and helpful, especially Gary Benson whom I had a wonderful conversation with, asking questions etc. Toyota Santa Monica will be my dealership from now on and I would recommend them very highly. More

Report | Print