Steve Zion Sr | Page 12

From the moment we walked in the door professionalism was evident. We were greeted with welcome smiles and made to feel at home (chairs, water, coffee, etc.). We knew what vehicle we wanted and dollars we evident. We were greeted with welcome smiles and made to feel at home (chairs, water, coffee, etc.). We knew what vehicle we wanted and dollars we were willing to pay. We were unfront with what we were willing to pay, what we desired for our trade in and within a matter of 20 minutes the deal was done with both parties happy. The Toyota staff we worked with were fantastic, honest and sincere. More

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This dealership is a great place to go to buy a new car! I was very pleased with the entire experience. For one, the staff is excellent—friendly, not pushy, very knowledgeable, and clearly striving to do th I was very pleased with the entire experience. For one, the staff is excellent—friendly, not pushy, very knowledgeable, and clearly striving to do their best for you. Comparison shopping around the CT area at dealers rated highly on DealerRater (didn’t bother with not-so-great dealerships) found similar pricing. Toyota of Wallingford didn’t have the absolute lowest price on the car, but they offered a fair price on my trade-in, offered lifetime free oil changes, and couldn’t be beat for customer experience, so we decided to go back to finish the purchase. The color of Camry that I wanted was actually delivered a few hours before we finished the paperwork. Although the car needed to be put into the computer system, the hub caps put on, washing, detailing, etc., Yas really stepped up to make sure that everything went smoothly and we were able to drive the car home that day. It really seemed like he went the extra mile to make that happen. Paul was great to work with on finishing up the paperwork—a really friendly person, very knowledgeable and helpful, and was clear on the content of the documents that were being signed. Steve (Sr.) stopped by a few times throughout the process and was very reasonable, not-pushy, and easy to work with. It was a great experience and I am very happy with the way everything worked out. More

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We have been dealing with Toyota of Wallingford for years. They are they only people I trust to tell me the truth about the car and anything else we ask. I always tell other people to go only there bec years. They are they only people I trust to tell me the truth about the car and anything else we ask. I always tell other people to go only there because they are out standing with helping thier customers with buying a new, used car or just a problem with thier car. We just purchased a renewal on our extended warranty on our car which now gives up peace of mind. What is also so great about there is that everyone treats you with prespect this includes everyone from working on your car to Steve Sr. and Jr.. More

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Everyone Steve (the owner), Ron Jackson and last but certainly not least, Dan Roberts, made this buying experience a delight. No high pressure sales pitch, no rush job to get us out the door just a rea certainly not least, Dan Roberts, made this buying experience a delight. No high pressure sales pitch, no rush job to get us out the door just a real pleasurable experience. For anyone in the market looking to purchase a vehicle, I highly recommend this dealership. Hopefully we will have as much pleasure and success with our Avalon purchase as we did with the Dealership. Dan, major kudos to you my new friend, you were terrific! More

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I am soooooo happy to have purchased a car from Wallingford Toyota! Truly amazing guys over there. Seems like every other dealership you go to the owners are usually very cocky and quick to turn yo Wallingford Toyota! Truly amazing guys over there. Seems like every other dealership you go to the owners are usually very cocky and quick to turn you away if your situation isnt perfect with credit etc... If anyone is looking for a great and friendly car buying experience...this is the place to go! The owners, Steve Zion and Steve Zion Jr have to be the most funniest, nicest and knowledgeable people i have ever met. A sales man there by the name of Dave McGovern also helped me out tremendously!! Very great friendly people!! Funny as xxxx too... I didnt feel like they were trying to get a sale at all, they were all about helping you to get what you want and for the exact price per month that you could afford to pay. They worked hard for weeks for me and were very patient with me =] I am so grateful to have met them at Toyota of Wallingford and i will be forever grateful! Make sure if your looking to purchase a toyota or scion, or any other car for that matter...go see my new friends, trust me, you will not be disappointed! Thanks to Steve, Steve Jr and Big D!!!! <3- Nicole More

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I have been in service industry myself for 30 years. I have never seen such dedication of the highest quality of customer service of any company, especially in a car dealership, as I have witness with Toy have never seen such dedication of the highest quality of customer service of any company, especially in a car dealership, as I have witness with Toyota of Wallingford. Here is what went down. After researching and visiting dealerships for about 2 months for a purchase of a used or new truck, I became quite disgusted. Everytime I went to a dealership, it was like going into battle. A war that seemed unwinnable. The most recent encounter with Branch Toyota in Middlebury (read my review on this website) has left me battle worned and emotionally drained. I had enough! Next day was a Sunday, I decided to go down to Toyota of Wallingford to look at sticker prices of the 2011 Tundra. All dealerships are closed Sundays (so I thought) and I just write notes with my wife and compare options, pricing, and so forth in peace. I been to Edmunds.com and other websites that help you with Invoice and MSRP prices. Not an exact science but you need to do your homework so you can obtain the best pricing. So here we are. My wife and I at the dealership, getting sticker prices of what's left of the 2011. My wife state she sees people walking into the showroom and someone is coming this way! CRAP! They are open on Sundays from 12-4 where every other dealership is closed. Didn't homework that! I was finishing a conversation to some other guy who was also in the parking lot sharing war stories of other dealerships. At this time Mike Cote was just waiting patiently, off in the distance but within ear shot. After my conversation with this guy was done, I approached Mike and asked him what was the sticker price of this vehicle since it was peeled off the window. Knowing what I just went through with the other dealerships, he acknolwedged that he understood my pain and was just going to provide me with my request and if I had any other questions, he would be available for me. That's it! Here is where everything turned around. Mike brought a paper over of the list of inventory, invoice and MSRP pricing. WOW! This guy is not a car saleman but actually someone is willing to help me obtain the best pricing within my range with the options I want. This gets better! We test drove the Rock Warrior addition. Beautiful truck! This was our 7th test drive. While my wife and I compaired our other drives with different models, Mike was silent in the back seat. Did not give us any sales pitches. Just answer our questions. Other test drives, sales people know that this is when the customer is most vunerable. Love the feel of a brand new vehicle, ride and features. I actually had to crank the stereo to drown out other saleman constant babbling. Mike was a perfect gentleman. I have been a Toyota person for 20+ years. 1989 Toyota Pickup with 277,000 miles before a truck hit it in my driveway! After that, 1998 Toyota 4Runner with 171,000 miles. Both just oil changes religiously, some common repairs, that's it. My 4Runner was up for trade-in but I didn't bring it with me. Without looking at the vehicle, Mike offered me $500 more than the other dealership and a $1,000 more than 1 other dealership. You know you are not going to get full retail unless you sell it on your own. I keep my vehicles in good shape and know what I can get. This was an OK trade-in deal I was reluctanty willing to settle. Now what happened next blew my mind! The next day, my wife and I drove the vehicle in for their assessment. Now we are dealing with Val Santos, the sales manager. Very friendly, open, and from my impression, honest. My battle scars are healing because of this dealership. Val reviewed our 4Runner and offered us $250.00 more! We split the difference of what I wanted in a trade-in and the price offered ($500) and gave me an additional 500 dollars off of the already low price of the new truck. I have to ask. What dealership is willing do this? Zero percent fiancing is a dealmaker. How can you beat this? In the long term, this is a sound fiancial decision. Saved us thousands in fiance charges of other dealerships and buying a used vehicle. Between Mike and Val, we finally agree on the price for the new Tundra. No hassles. No haggling. Just adults doing business the way business should be done. I have a hard time letting go of money. Mike and Val made it painless, enjoyable, and putting the customer first! I wanted to take off the decals of the truck stating Rock Warrior. No hesitation on their part. Done! Doing the paperwork after the deal was cemented by my signature, Paul Solomon explained everything to us per line item in our fiancial agreement. At this time, the owner came in. Yes, the owner! Mr. Zion shook my hands firmly as I stated it was an honor to meet him. As you are now aware, I do my homework. I researched Steve Zion to see what kind of man I would be giving my money to. His contributions of charity, giving full Christmas consisting of trees, food and toys to needy families is just outstanding! Really gave my wife and I a warm feeling. I inquired about this article I read. Being humble, Steve told me the reporter came up to him and asked him questions. He did not want publicity on this great humanitarian act and did not offer any information as the article did not quote him at all. It went to print anyways. I am sure there is more contribution that Steve Zion gave to society that we don't know about. The integrity of this man is without question. It shows because it filters down to the rest of his employees and staff. Diane Roberts also came into the room. She is the customer service manager. She was so wonderful and we had a pleasant 10 minutes or so with her and Steve Zion. I know how precious and valuable time is. Steve and Diane didn't dash in and out but actually took the time to talk to us. Diane even called my wife the next few days after we have taken delivery of our truck to see if everything is to our satisfaction. The deal was made and Diane still took the time to make a courtesy call. Outstanding! Still not done with my story. A week goes by and we notice there was a flaw in the driver's mirror. We all missed it. I discovered it when I put on a convex mirror for better viewing. Mike Cote brought a serviceman out immediately and stated that he will take care of everything. He will get in touch with the service manager, a new mirror will be ordered, and they will call me when it's in. No problems. I didn't have to do anything! My wife discovered a scratch betweeen the cabin and the bed. I told Mike I didn't care about this but he took care of it anyways and had the scratch removed. Just overwhelming! In conclusion, Toyota of Wallingford represents how other business, not just car dealerships, should conduct themselves. As a small business owner myself, they treat people the way they should be treated. With respect. More

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Ok, so we located a mini-van on their website that had all the features we had been looking for. The 2006 Chrysler Town and Country had Stow and Go seating and a DVD entertainment system. When we went to all the features we had been looking for. The 2006 Chrysler Town and Country had Stow and Go seating and a DVD entertainment system. When we went to test drive the car I was very pleased with it. Mike N in sales even arranged it so that we could test drive the van for the entire weekend. We were very impressed at that point with the dealership.... that is where it ended! When I returned the van on Monday I pointed out that the radio did not work, the dvd player did not work, the check engine light kept popping on and off, the brakes squealed and there was no owners manual in the car. Mike assured us that they would take care of everything and that if we purchased the vehicle we would be 100% satisfied. After multiple meetings with the finance managers where our &amp;quot;contract&amp;quot; kept miraculously changing (interest rate almost doubled, downpayment wasn't correct, monthly payment jumped from $240 - $390) we were told that the only way we would be able to purchase the vehicle was is they didn't fix the dvd player. We then asked if we could take the van to a company that fixes/installs dvd players to see what it would cost us to replace the broken one. The company told us that it would be approximately $1500 to replace the broker dvd player and it would take under 1 week to complete the job. When I explained to Wallingford Toyota that we would purchase the van if they took $1500 off the price we were told that they couldn't do that because the price was at its lowest, however, they would be willing to work with us to fix the problems we discovered. They also worked again with Toyota financing to get our contract back where it started. We signed the papers on 2/4/11 and were happy that although there were some issues with the car, Toyota of Wallingford would fix them. As of today, 3/11/11 - the antenea was replaced so that the radio would work but that it is. I still do not have a working dvd player - am being told there is no eta for it to be fixed, the check engine light still turns on and off (they told me that it may be &amp;quot;air&amp;quot; in the gas tank but can't be sure), the brakes still squeak (told it was the material the brake pads were made of) and I have no owners manual (supposedly the service manager has ordered it but no one can confirm that). I repeatedly have called the dealer to be told that no one is available to talk with me, when I leave messages they are not returned. I finally spoke with Val the GM last week and explained the story and informed him that we purchased this vehicle specifically for the entertainment package since my family travels out of state each weekend. When he said he didn't have an eta for the fix, I asked if they might have a loaner we could use for that weekend so that we would benefit from a dvd player. Of course after &quot;much searching&quot; nothing was available (believe me I didn't really hold hope that there would be one). My only suggestion to anyone who is looking to buy a used car from these folks, DON'T - if I could turn the car back over to them and buy something else I would..... I plan on contacting Toyota's corporate office as well as the CT better business bureau and Attorney General.. this dealership provided false advertising and does not stand behind their sale! update 3/14/11: since writing the original comment Steve Zion Jr has contacted us and has worked through our issues with us. He did work with us to provide a loaner car while our car was being fixed. The first loaner was a 2004 Toyota Highlander that they had just brought in - the car had nearly no gas, reaked of cigarette smoke, windows were filthy, driver side door lock did not work. I was happy that they were &quot;working on the car&quot; but discouraged that the loaner they gave us was in such poor shape. This car had no DVD player and I had explained we bought our van because of the entertainment package since we travled so much and needed a loaner with an entertainment package at this point so we wouldn't be inconvienced on our travel. update 3/24/11: Since the last update, Steve Jr did swap out the 2004 Toyota Highlander with a 2010 fully loaded model that we would be able to use on our trip. This car was wonderful and I really appreciated that they finally listened and seemed to be ready to finally provide a good level of customer service. They did finally replace the broken DVD playr with a brand new one, replaced the headliner in the van with a new one and have also replaced the brake pads that were causing the squeek. We do appreciate the extra effort that they have gone to at this point, I only wish they could have been as responsive prior to us having to submit the dealer rater review and contacting Toyota directly. Our van is ready today and we will be picking up tonight. I only hope that the level of customer service that we received from Steve jr will continue once we take our van back. We picked the van up and unfortunately, again, there was no follow through.. something very minor but just one more disappointment in the chain of all the others. Steve jr had said on the phone that they washed the car and it would be waiting for us - the car was not washed, there were pieces of broken plastic and wires left in the car. The new dvd player did not have a manual, had to ask for one and then the topper was we started the car up and there was no gas - I am positive there was at least a 1/4 tank when I dropped it off but the light was on and it was on E. When I went in and talked to them about it no one would look at us, they "whispered" in their high desk and I could see them shaking their heads. I felt bad for Mike N the salesmen because he was standing there not knowing what to do or say. Basically I told them forget it and walked out... I believe our relationship is basically done with Toyota of Wallingford, we don't even want to go back for the free oil changes that we are supposed to get - not sure what would happen if we did.. More

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Bottom line, it felt like no matter how busy these guys and ladies were they made it feel like you were the priority. I have not seen this level of customer service in years. Because of our experience, we and ladies were they made it feel like you were the priority. I have not seen this level of customer service in years. Because of our experience, we will go to no other dealership for our car needs even though closer ones exist, worth it! More

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It is with GREAT PRIDE and PLEASURE that my wife and myself write this review. We have purchased many vehicles throught the years, and never were we treated more fairley and friendly and like FAMILY th myself write this review. We have purchased many vehicles throught the years, and never were we treated more fairley and friendly and like FAMILY then by TOYOTA OF WALLINGFORD!!!!!! We would also like to mention that the service is outstanding!!!! We would like to SPOTLIGHT two of the SHINING STARS that TOYOTA should be PROUD to call their own..... Owner Steve Zion and Diane Roberts. Who keep us coming back TIME AND TIME AGAIN!!!!! THANK YOU for everything that Toyota of Wallingford has done for us and our family through the years. Big John & Phyllis More

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