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Beware of Downtown Toyota, 677 Queen Street, Toronto

Posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 7:57pm CDT by 56b10fee

Company: Beware of Downtown Toyota, 677 Queen Street, Toronto

Category: Other

Beware of Downtown Toyota, 677 Queen Street, Toronto!

I would avoid Downtown Toyota, 677 Queen Street, Toronto at all cost. After demeaning experience at Downtown Toyota, 677 Queen Street, Toronto, I am recommending to everyone I know to stay away from this dealership.

On June 7, I responded to an advertisement for a used 2001 Suzuki Vitara. The vehicle displays 68K and the asking price was $8,950. First I asked about the warranty and was told that it was for two years, and covered the power-train. I test drove the vehicle and made an offer, conditional upon the vehicle being checked by Sammy, my preferred mechanic. (Sammy's Service Centre on Yonge street is an excellent establishment. I have taken my vehicle to Sammy's for a number of years, and trust him greatly.)

The sales rep for Downtown Toyota, Alex, spoke to his boss about my offer. The "boss" came over and told me that they don't want their cars all over the city and if I wanted to take it to my mechanic, I'd have to sign a bill of sale and leave a $1,000 deposit. I said no and left.

Foolishly, I contacted Downtown Toyota, 677 Queen Street, Toronto the next day to suggest that I take the car into a Suzuki dealer, just down the street. I once again stated my offer, and was told that I did not need to leave a deposit.

I arrived at the dealership and the sales guy and I dropped the Suzuki off at Downtown Suzuki (wonder if there is any relationship). I asked for an inspection and a compression test.

Several hours later I was told that the vehicle was tested and everything was fine. Alex and I picked up the car at Suzuki (was told several times by the service manager and the service clerk about how impressed they were about the vehicle, which struck me a quite unusual) and paid my $200 for the privilege.

Upon returning to Downtown Toyota, I said that my offer stood. Alex first tried to sell me a $500 anti theft insurance policy. I said no repeatedly. He then went to talk to his other boss. After 30 minutes, his boss came out and told me that my offer and their price was $2100 apart.

Basically they thought that, since I had sunk $200 into a test that produced "glowing" results, I was emotionally attached to the jalopy, and could be played like a fish. Needless to say I had had enough of this nonsense and left. Shortly afterwards, I called the "boss" and asked why he jacked the price up. He responded that it was to cover the cost of the warranty. I promptly informed him that I would never deal with his firm and would publicize this experience to whatever extent possible.

Avoid Downtown Toyota, 677 Queen Street, Toronto. They have no regard for their customers and view them as suckers and fools who can be easily manipulated. Although I have no beef with Downtown Suzuki, they seem awfuly chipper about five year old vehicles they inspect. Think, I'll stay away from them as well.

I have since taken my old Buick back to Sammy to have it fixed, and will drive it till it drops. I cringe at the thought of having to do business with another used car dealer and may give up driving after my Buick passes on.

Sincerely

Ken Brown, Toronto

7 Comments

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9477a35e, 2009-06-20, 09:48AM CDT

Thanks for your post. You have given me a heads-up about this establishment and cause to rethink my approach into buying a used vehicle from a dealership.

Thanks again,

V

2efc00b9, 2009-09-18, 12:41PM CDT

Thanks for the headsup... I was being contacted repeatedly by these guys to visit them...

7723a4fd, 2010-01-08, 03:16PM CST

Their service department isn't any better. For a dealership that claims to value their customers their staff prove otherwise.

I have come to the sad realization that dealerships are operated by douche bags..

81636050, 2010-02-02, 09:14AM CST

i just had a similar situation

yesterday i took my sienna in to downtown toyota to have an automatic sliding door addressed as it was no longer functioning. they quoted me 1500 bucks to replace it. i took the "make it manual" option for $177. they went on to tell me the driver's door was dysfunctional for $200 and the brakes were seized, rotors shot and that would be 1300... unsure i took the sienna to a different toronto dealer and asked them to check the brakes... response - front is brand new (i replaced them this past summer) real has at least 50% life left. both front and back fully functioning, do nothing. cost $0.00

what am i to think of downtown toyota...

not sure i could recommend them to friend or foe, never go there again. hope they go out of business and do the community a favour.

550f3513, 2010-04-18, 09:53AM CDT

These complaints are very valid. I should have looked them up before going there. I brought my car in for service, and $800 later after a report saying my breaks were at 50%, there is grinding noise and loud squeaking. There is also a rattling in my tires after they had it balanced. When contacted about these issues, they did not respond. Avoid Downtown Toyota at all costs! The Don Valley Toyota dealership is much much better!

95a7bacf, 2010-11-08, 01:17PM CST

Hi Ken, My name is Stephen Hinbest, I am a pre-owned product advisor at Downtown Toyota. It sounds as though you have had a very undesirable experience at our dealership. That is unfortunate.

I personally work in the pre-owned department at the dealership. After years of working in pre-owned vehicle sales, I chose to work for Downtown Toyota 8 months ago because of their reputation. I have never experienced a dealership that preaches honesty and quality like Downtown Toyota. Which is why your story saddens me as well motivates me to respond.

Though your experience happened years ago I still feel that your experience is unacceptable. I not only offer my sincere apology but also welcome both yourself and any other readers of this blog to personally contact me to discuses their experience and allow me to correct what we have wronged.

Myself and the dealership take major strides daily to provide downtown Toronto with excellent customer service quality and build trust worthy relationships for purchasing and servicing your car.

I have a ton of pride in this dealership and welcome any contact with clients that do not feel they have been treated fairly.

I also welcome anyone who is currently considering our dealership as the location to do business with on their next pre-owned or new vehicle to contact me and allow me to demonsrate everything our dealership truely has to offer. Then you can make an educated decission on who you would like to deal with.

Sincerely,

Stephen Hinbest 416-465-5471 x135

77a72e71, 2011-02-15, 07:43PM CST

I went for an oil change and end up with my car being towed because they told me it was leaking oil and couldn't be driven or fix it for an astronomic sum. When checked by another mechanic he couldn't believe it. $70 the fix. I didn't learned from Toyota dealers until 2 years later i had another overcharge of $600 of 1 hour labor at Yonge/Front Toyota for my new corolla. No more Toyota Stealerships for me thank you

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