Ardmore Toyota and a bad taste in my mouth.
 

I wrote this letter to Toyota of America. Love the FRS, hate the dealer.

Toyota of America,

As a recent purchaser of the 2013 Scion FR-S, I would expect nothing but devotion to selling your flagship passion car. I am amazed that a dealership has been allowed to ride on the coat-tails of Toyota's credibility and offer disgustingly luke-warm service. My frustrations are with Ardmore Toyota's ability to complete a very simple task.

6/7 - My wife and I are test driving Audis next door and see the FR-S on display. We come to the dealer asking for a test drive and make it known we are serious about purchasing. Carl provides a deep condescending sigh. We were in good spirits, but the treatment of, "here's yet another test driver that won't buy" is a slap in the face.

We love the car and decide to purchase the FR-S, however, the car does not have the factory radio installed. This is not a worry because we will be installing an aftermarket unit.

6/9 - We coordinate with the dealership to complete additional paperwork and radio pickup the following Monday/Tuesday.

6/12 - I drive 1hr each way in Philadelphia traffic to sign additional paperwork and pickup the radio. Unfortunately the radio is unavailable because parts is closed. Carl in sales told me he would have the radio set aside. I am still very forgiving at this point. Tim in finance suggests that they can drop off the radio for me on Wed/Thurs (13/14) at my job OR ship it to my home address. I let him know that either is fine and that shipping is preferred.

6/16 - I receive a phone call from parts that my radio is in with my name and is ready for installation. I spend the next 15 minutes explaining that the radio should have been shipped OR dropped off to me per Tim. The parts gentleman is unaware of a Tim and offers to call me back after investigation.

6/16 - I get a follow up call that they will ship the radio to my home and that they need to take care of the logistics of shipping it.

7/2 - I call to inquire about the radio. As the dealer has failed to get me my radio, I am ready to drive 2+ hours to pick up my radio and not deal with the shipping hassle.
7/2 - I receive a followup call from Josh in parts that my radio addressed to "DONALD LEE" has been GIVEN to another FR-S customer last Saturday. It was a "call" made by Josh as the Radio had been at the dealership since 6/8. Now I must wait another day to pickup my radio. Josh offers to ship me the radio, but at this point, I am unwilling to trust this dealerships ability to follow through on their uncoordinated service.

The principle of the matter is:
- I should have had prompt phone calls on the status of geting my radio to me. I only received call backs upon my inquiries. Unacceptable follow up.
- The dealer OFFERS to ship me my radio and FAILS to follow through. This is unacceptable.
- The dealer sells the radio appropriated to me and MISAPPROPRIATES it to another owner. This is unacceptable.

During ownership of my Honda S2000, Audi A3, and now the FR-S, I have never been so frustrated by such a simple task.

The dealership staff was uninspired in their knowledge of automobiles, and leaves me unwilling to revisit another Toyota dealership ever. Not to mention that it took a TREMENDOUS amount of coaxing my wife to visit Toyota in lieu of Audi, Honda/Acura, Mazda and others.

My wife has made it clear to me that her next car will be an Audi and NOT from the Toyota/Lexus family.

I can not help but agree with her sentiment. I should be picking my radio up tomorrow 7/3 as it was ordered today, but the water has already been spilled. Experience is in the details. Shipping a radio is a very small detail. It is an Inconsequential detail. The failure of an inconsequential detail conveys that i do not matter. This too is unacceptable from a company that promotes excellence.

I am deeply disappointed in Toyota's excellence by virtue of Ardmore Toyota.

Respectfully,
Donald Lee
2013 Scion FR-S Owner.

Reporting bad dealers to Toyota (and Subaru) usually ends with the Regional managers contacting the dealer and reprimanding them, but at this point (after you have bought your car) I am not sure that they will compensate you in any way.

I'm still glad that you contacted them, and I am also glad that you love your FR-S!

In the end it's not about compensation. The sale is done and I'll be getting the part that I should have received weeks ago. At this point, all I can do is provide public knowledge as that is what keeps companies accountable. It's probaby more important on an enthusiast forum where the individuals spending their money become very selective with where they spend it.

This is an opportunity here for Ardmore Toyota to reach out to the community and let their enthusiast base know that there's a dealer that the enthusiasts can come to and recommend whole heartedly. You see this all the time with the mod-friendly VWVortex Dub dealers. Rare, but they exist. Time will tell how this dealer holds up. My 1 star review added to the multititude of others average 2.5 stars on yelp doesn't help.

Excellence is a marathon, not won in masses, but one individual at a time. Hopefully the negative reviews will become inconsequential and be covered up in a mass of positive reviews. Time will tell...

Good on you for writing the letter about that dealer, but I wouldn't count out Lexus dealerships as they accommodate and kiss butt like no other (at least the ones I've had experience with)...they make you feel like a king

I've seen this too. I had a VW Jetta/Audi A3. Audi definitely runs circles around VW, but VW still has the same lineage of care and service. VW and Toyota being on the same playing field, VW still trounces the experience I had. Also had a S2000/Integra/RSX/TL from the Honda/Acura world, and the non-upscale brands still did well.

The wifey's already made it clear that the next SUV will be the Q5. I really was trying to get her into an RX series, or even the Lexus CT (a3 replacement), but nope nope. This sealed the deal for the Q5.

The dealership is your problem, not the maker of the vehicle. If your wife thinks passing up on a Lexus for an Audi is a good idea, then I feel sorry for your pocketbook in the future.

I think that Lexus will drive twice as far and twice as long as that Audi. Audi's sure do look nice though.

If you're willing to go to Ardmore Toyota I highly suggest you give Thompson Lexus in Doylestown, PA a chance. I am in no way associated with them but I have no problem saying good things about Thompson and all of Thompson's dealerships. Doylestown, PA is a fairly nice area with some very upscale "old money" parts of town, this might be why Thompson is such a good dealership.

To give you an example...I was roaming the dealership when I was around 19 and lusting at the Lexus ISF. A saleswoman comes up to me, makes casual conversation with me (after me saying I can hardly afford to look at a car this nice), and then proceeds to grab the keys so I can check it out and be ready so I know what I want 5-10 years down the road. That's a dealership right there.

Chuckles. Why do you think I was trying to convince her to get into a Lexus RX for her SUV choice? My german cars, I like to drive to about the 50k/warranty and trade them. My Japanese cars, I'll run them till 120-150k+ and then find new owners for them.

As long as the Audi is covered under warranty, you're pretty much golden. I chose to pay the Audi tax over VW because the Audi's are assembled in Germany and the cust service is excellent if/when you have an issue. Still may have a headache for random stuff, but I've had an overall fantastic experience with Audis. Their QA & longevity has improved a good bit since the early 2000s.

Dude you need to chill...theres nothing worse than an entitled customer who cannot understand that mistakes happen...you sound like some uptight east coaster who goes with Muffy and Buffy to the yacht club... Dealerships deal with hundreds of people every day...you didn't buy a Lexus...or even a Toyota... You bought an entry-level makers hottest selling unit... Be thankful you even have one...if you want the white glove treatment try Lexus but don't lump them together...apples to oranges...jerk demanding customers get lousy service btw try being nice and relaxing life's too short to write a letter to a car company over a stock stereo unit that only took a few weeks to get installed...and there's always the survey to express your opinion of which I'm sure you've already decided to tank them on.... Go buy and Audi or better yet a Jag-U-arrr lol

Couldn't agree with you more. My local Lexus dealership always pampers me, treating me with free breakfast for those morning maintenance's and supplying me with whatever I need.

Don't let this one Toyota dealership ruin your experience; especially don't let it affect your opinion of Lexus. I highly recommend you and your wife go to a Lexus dealership. Maybe you'll even change your mind about Audi's after it!

You're wrong. Dealerships do deal with hundreds of people a day but that is no excuse. He is a paying customer and should have been made a top priority. They said they were going to ship out the radio to him and they should have followed through. Good customer service is what makes customers want to come back and do more business with you.

It should be noted that the dealer REPRESENTS the maker Toyota to potential buyers and any bad behavior reflects on Toyota. So if you are Toyota what would you have to say to Ardmore?

I totally disagree... First of all I don't even understand how the radio is not with the car at the point of sale in the first place. That is on Scion. The owner should not have to jump through hoops to get his radio. If I was the manager I would personally deliver the radio to his house with a couple free oil change coupons.

Word of mouth is huge and Scion has been struggling for years. They should be taking all the positive press and interest in the FRS and running with it. It is a chance to turn the name around and build a loyal customer base.

This dealer does not get it...

When you say "purchased the car", I hope you mean you put down a refundable deposit?

Why not expand your net and try to get your car from a different dealer.