Awful Dealer Experience in Hollywood
 

So, I called my dealer (Scion of Hollywood) and they said my car (whiteout/AT) is in.

However, they notified me that they were adding leather and tint for an extra $2500, making the price to be $28,840. The guy had the nerves to say they "NEED to make a profit." I told them that I did not want leather, and they retracted their statement saying that it wasn't installed yet and they would call me back.

I got a call back and NOW they said they added tint and Lo Jack (wasn't mentioned to me before) without telling me. The price is now $27,840. An extra $1590 for tint and Lo Jack?!

I'm furious because I put $1000 down on the car back at the beginning of the month. I just want my whiteout/AT :(

Sorry to hear it. I have just have been upfront with everyone I have spoke to. I wasn't sure what the market was going to be like at the launch. Mine all have leather but at least I will be upfront and tell you.

Sorry nyanpire that is just crap. Why can't these Scion dealers just give people what they ordered. Just plain wrong.

How do these cars "have leather"?

Installed aftermarket.

Can you post a pic of the leather interior?

I'm sorry they did this. :(

Not aiming this at you; but here is a novel idea for some dealerships, give people what they asked for when they placed a deposit.

I gladly will. When they get back on my showroom I will gladly snap a few photos. Mind you that my cellphone camera is not to great. But I do my best.

That's crazy. I would be pissed too. Leather should only be an option for a car like this. I could see if this was a luxury car but it isnt. Not saying that leather is a bad idea but it probably wouldnt suit someone that wanted to do motorsport.

Not a single person placed a deposit with me. I advised them not to.

A point I will make is: Remember dealers still own these car. They are not "your" cars. Another point is : Will anyone be financing and FR-s or BRZ? Maybe thru B of A or USAA, Well then again "not your" car. The bank will legally hold the title of your FR-s tell its paid off.

Sorry to put it this way I know it makes me sound like a jerk. I much rather people have the truth then be given the run around by a dealer.

Quite frankly, if I was you OP, I wouldn't buy it. If you agreed on a certain car at x price with no added accessories, then they shouldn't have added these items without your approval.

But, I do want to see what their "leather" looks like.

So the only way you would give someone what they really wanted was to have them pay in full with cash ? What if the bank doesnt want leather either ...

Unreal. If you want to tell the truth then come out an say profits mean more to you than customer satisfaction. Truth.

even buying a house people leave the option of upgrading the floor from carpet to hardwood. a car is the same. your dealer owns the car, sure, so does the developer. leave the leather as an option, let the consumer touch it feel it, if they are as nice as you say they are, the consumer will pay them, no need for the cheap sale tactic of forcing it into the deal.

you sound like a young enthusiastic saleman defending his employer, i have respect for you, but i see flaw in your logic.

Tell them to remove the lojack, charge a reasonable price for the tint, or you're coming to get your deposit back. Be patient, these cars will be everywhere within a week...you just might have to drive a little.

No idea what car loan bit is about. I mean you realize your dealership finances the cars sitting on the lot, most likely through a line of credit securitized with your inventory? Did you ask the bank before you added aftermarket accessories to their inventory? I mean realistically they decrease the value of the car.

Also what about getting a kid a loan through said bank who owns the car after sale which is $3k above MSRP? Is that really in the banks interest?

Yeah, kinda does. Many people are buying the FR-S as a "sports" car. Leather is a luxury item that is actually often a detriment in a sports car because it does not hold you in place like a good cloth seat. I would not buy a car from you.

If you're in SoCal why go anywhere but Longo? There is a dozen closer dealerships for myself but Longo seems to be the way to go without dealing with shady dealerships

Yes, I do agree 100% with Lonewolf. You do have the option of sticking it to them, walk away, and get the same car in a week from an honest dealer.

Just putting this story in the thread, gives the "Scion of Hollywood" dealer a black eye for sometime to come. Hopefully, the $600+ profit margin will offset the bad reputation they're getting out of such an attempt "to make a profit".

In short, you had legs long before you drove cars; walk away - use your legs as well as your better judgement, now.

you are merely there to provide a simple service. the customer let you know what they want, and you go execute to the best of your ability to meet their demand.

the deposit transaction that was given is simply formality to show both party will act on good faith.

i picked up a BRZ last weekend. my sales person was very direct and upfront about what he can and can not do. he doesn’t try to up sell, add unwanted add on, or try something else to maximize his earning. guess what, by doing just that and providing a service of inform me with the progress of my order, he have earned top rating in terms of customer service from me, which will yield him a bonus at the end. in addition, becuase of his HONEST service, i am recommending him to everyone else who is interested in a BRZ even if they can get a car sooner becuase he is dependable.

based on what you are saying, your underlying message tells me that, from the get go you are not capable of meeting customer demand. that you are not to be trusted, which is why you don’t want to take a deposit because you are in no position to make and keep a promise.

So am I the only person that got a delivery sheet confirming the cost of the care and all fees minus my deposit at pre-order?

Dealer can't f with you if you get this, it's a signed contract basically. And my dealer had NO PROBLEM doing this for me.

So MrFRSLa, you don't appear any better than these other dealers, 3k markup whether it comes with leather or not is still not right in my opinion.

Wow! That makes zero sense.

When I got my mortgage on my condo, the bank effectively owned the vast majority of it.
But funnily enough, after agreeing to the mortgage they didn't subsequently send builders around to install a load of naff shag carpeting, put My Little Pony wallpaper all over the place, and then insist I still live in it.

The method of payment should have sweet feck all to do with the condition of goods someone purchases and what they should expect to receive.

I'm glad you're being straight forward.

As said buyer, and one that was considering calling you at one point, I'm sad to see that you're putting leather in all of your cars. Are you going to do this for all allocations for the foreseeable future? You're all over those forums, and see how the users react to the cars and markups, etc, so it strikes me as odd that you'd do this.

EDIT: Removed the loan comment as I was wrong. Just did some keyboard homework.

No paying cash would give you the title full ownership over the car instantly. Your right the bank can choose wether they want to take the loan or not.

Which customer is unsatisfied?

When I hear about things like this, the child in me can't help but think that the dealership is just jealous in our new awesome FR coupe so they want to kill our happiness by making money themselves.

MRfrsLA makes a point though, we don't own these cars and if we wanted the car a certain way for MSRP, we would have gotten that in writing before signing leaving any sort of deposit.

Yes, I do realize my dealership finances every car on our lot. It's referred to as "flooring". Again the bank can choose to take the loan or not.

Just pointing something out.

You are correct. Seeing that I am a small Scion dealer trying to increase my volume. After the few dozen phone calls I recieved I realized that demand was to high for the limited allocation that I would be getting. So I did not take any deposits. "you are not capable of meeting customer demand." Yes you are correct in that regards.

"you are in no position to make and keep a promise" incorrect, I promised that I would stay in touch and let everyone know when the FR-s arrived. I called and emailed everyone on my list. If you happen to look in a few California posts that I have you will see that I followed up almost instantly

I agree 100%. Why would a dealership add on aftermarket leather in the first place on the FR-S? Dealerships that are doing this don't care about you, they are just milking the demand and cashing in. They should at least make add-ons as an option with the customers consent. Carson Scion added all kinda of crap that I would never need but made the car way over MSRP

I am just the sales guy..... No say in what we do with cars. Not such about future allocations.

I would responsed to this but seeing that you live in the bay area and your userman is Capt Canuck. I will not

I grew up in San Jose so I will not responsed to anything that has Canuck related to it! Go Sharks!

You said it yourself Demand, that will be the key word around this car for a few month besides, WOW what a great car.

True story I spoke with him after a similar experience this weekend. You can't take it personally it just up to each dealer. Best thing to do is shop around and find one with minimal add ons.

OP if it's not too much of a hike, or he'll just call Hooman scion in lbc. They have minimal add ons, only problem for me is I'm still waiting for my car to show up this week.

(Ugh. Just saw that I fat fingered "foreseeable" and autocorrect was like "Oh you meant forceable!" Pretty funny when you read it out loud.)

I totally get that. You're just trying to be helpful, and I really respect you for how honest you've been on these forums. Sometimes I know that the people above you make decisions you cannot control, so you do what you can with what you have.

Seeing as you are "a small Scion dealer trying to increase my volume." wouldn't it make sense to give the customers what they want and sell the car for a fair price thereby increasing sales and future allocations?

You may be falling prey to your own marketing hype that the FR-S is going to be a hard to find car for months to come. I predict that cars will be readily available at MSRP in several weeks. We shall see.

EDIT: Anyway, I see that you say you are just a salesman. I wish you luck in selling your FR-S allocation with those marked up prices. It is going to make it tough on you. /thread

I'm sorry, I missed your answer to my original question. If I was paying cash, would you sell me the car the exact way I wanted it. I.E, at MSRP without leather or any other add-ons ?

/Rant

This adding on of stuff and "You get what we say you want" attitude Scion is taking is going to quickly kill the buzz around this car. It's going to end up as a "This could have been great." Type of thing that was quickly destroyed by greed.

The first people that are going to buy this car NOW are the enthusiasts, the fans, the people that have been waiting for years to buy this car. They are the ones who are going to be your street team, your word of mouth sales team. They are the ones that are going to help drive further sales of the vehicle. No-one at these dealerships seem to understand that. They all want money NOW. No-one is going to pay 30k for a Scion lightly. Especially not in this economy. The brand just doesn't hold that kind of weight behind it. It's target audience as a brand are younger people who are on a budget.

Personally putting this car around 30k makes me walk. I can go buy a Cooper S EXACTLY as how I want it instead for that price. E-X-A-C-T-L-Y. I'm not getting things that the dealer feels I "need" to get. Tada-sans vision for this car has been completely lost on the Scion management in the US. I'm actually pretty sure that Jack Hollis would also not be please to see so many dealers turning off this key sales audience with tactics like this. If you want this car to do well, treat your customers like customers and not like numbers. Help them get what they want, and they'll come back to you, recommend people to you. Netting you MORE sales.

I really hope Scion wakes up. They're gonna end up with a lot of cars sitting on the lots if they keep adding forced add-ons to these cars. Scion really took care of most of the 1st 86 people, it's a shame they aren't doing that for the other potential owners. They really didn't get the whole concept of this car as a platform. They jumped the gun on trying to get add-ons, and didn't think about the future. "Once word is out and we have more things we can add, we can work on getting future users to do the bolt-ons." Once the fans and enthusiasts move on, the me-too crowd shows up. The People that had no clue and want luxury things show up. Then it's time to add leather, HID, Nav, etc. Those will be things they want in their car, and they'll likely be wiling to shell out for that.

As an automotive enthusiast, I'm not willing to pay for that stuff. I don't need it. It adds weight, it sets this car up as a "Could have been great" car. I have YET to find a car in the bay area that doesn't have stuff added on to it. As a long time fan, and someone who saved up enough cash, and moved financial mountains to make this purchase happen. I'm sad and disappointed by the man-handling of this car in the US at this point, specifically in my area. So much wasted potential ruined by greed and an inability to be a forward thinker.

/end rant

/Hijack rant
Amazing how short sighted dealers can be. People do remember. The problem is it doesn't just hurt the dealership, it hurts the brand. If only there were a way to quantify the damage it does, dealers, and car makers would be a little smarter about how they treat the few people they can get to be passionate about their cars.
/end Hijack rant

Let's just look at it in a simple matter. His whole argument about who owns the car was just a justification for marking up the car that is in high demand right now.

Just wait till all the hype dies down and more cars are available. If you want it now expect to play the mark up game. If you can wait then I would suggest throwing a deposit down at a dealership that isn't marking up the car to people that have been waiting on there preorders