Jerry Lundaguard

Any loyal blog reader knows that I have been having some vehicle problems. Last Saturday I blew the head gasket on my truck. After 212,000 faithful miles, she broke down on me. Since that time I have been in search of a new vehicle. And I have been getting fisted around on it. Saturday I took a test drive, and decided what I wanted. I have never had a new vehicle, so I thought I would treat myself to one. I thought my needs were pretty simple, a black Toyota Tacoma, with an access cab, V6 with manual transmission, with either the SR5 or sport package. Shouldn't be too difficult. On Saturday the dealership that I took the test drive at, Wilde Toyota, gave me a price. I said I wanted to look around some more before making a decision. Monday during the day, I sent out emails to nearly every Toyota Dealership in the area, and they all said they could get me that vehicle. Monday evening I was in phone contact and visited a number of dealerships. I soon learned that in all of southeastern Wisconsin there was only one dealership that had a vehicle that met my requirements. But three different dealerships promised me that vehicle. I decided that Wilde Toyota had given me the most time and I would give them the last chance to come in with the lowest price. When I spoke with them Monday night, they ended up beating the lowest price I had been given. They drew up the paper work and we signed everything. All was set in place and I had a new vehicle. Here is the snag. Toyota was offering a $1000 rebate through the end of the month of March. So if it was Wednesday or later, I would lose the $1000 rebate unless Toyota continued the promotion. When I left the dealership, the sales manager said that he was 99.99% sure that he would have the vehicle waiting for me Tuesday night. He just needed to do a little negotiating with the dealership that had this vehicle and get a driver to go and pick it up. I thought for sure I would hear from them on Tuesday morning. After all this was new sale and I am sure they wanted to get it in before the end of the month and for that matter before the end of the quarter. Tuesday morning came and went without a word. Tuesday afternoon came and went, still no word. I called my salesman at 3 in the afternoon and got his voicemail, I left a message and asked him to call me back. It is 6 in the evening, I still have not heard back from them. I called and asked for the sales manager.
I said "Hi, It is Rickie, the guys who's hand you shook last night and said it was 99.99% sure I would have my truck today. What is the status?"
Sales Manager: "We have run into a bit of a problem, and we have your truck locked down, but we don't have a driver and we can't get it here until Thursday."
Me: "I left your sales man a message and he never got back to me. Last night you said I was going to have my truck today. When were you planning on telling me this?"
Sales Manager: "I really don't have an answer for you. It has been really busy today. But I will let you know when we have your truck in."
Me: "And what about the $1000 rebate."
Sales Manager: "We haven't heard from Toyota, so we don't know. But when we hear something we will let you know."

Can it be more like Fargo? It was funny because when I was talking about the price I wanted, the salesman got up and went into the sales manager's office to talk about the price and then came back. I asked him "Did he have any gopher tickets?"

So it is Thursday and I have yet to here from the dealership, and I have a funny feeling that I won't either. I am pretty shocked at the crappy customer service that I am getting.