pe.ma Pema Hegan's collection of news and ideas too long for a tweet

Toyota Prius I love you but you’re breaking my heart

I spend my days helping connect people with great businesses, so it's strange to have to do exactly the opposite for a change.

Really? Toyota broke your heart?

That's right. Four months ago Rosalynn and I walked into Mississauga Toyota and ordered a Toyota Prius (yay!). Three months later our car hadn't arrived and we had to wipe away the tears and cancel the order (booo!).

What the heck happened?

I guess it was just our turn to experience some really bad customer service. The final email I sent to the owner of the dealership, Stephen Gubasta, started with... "Our experience with Mississauga Toyota has been, without exception, the worst consumer experience my wife and I have ever had." and I wasn't exaggerating!

I thought I'd give you a quick play by play in the hope that you might avoid the heartache that we went through...

July 19th - We lease a Prius!

After calling around three Toyota dealerships we choose to lease a black 2008 Toyota Prius from Mississauga Toyota. Ros and I don't have piles of money right now so the only reason we could afford one was because of the excellent $4k cash incentive that the government offers for buying a hybrid (thanks!). We were VERY clear with the dealership that it had to be a 2008 model because the 2009 Prius would not get the full $4k incentive.... "You bet, no problem. Car will be here on October 2nd" they said.

July 29th - Our 2008 Prius becomes a 2009 (and we loose $2k)

Paul, our sales rep, calls to tell us our 2008 Prius isn't coming. In its place will be a 2009 Prius. This leaves us $2k out of pocket because of the differences in the government incentive scheme. Crap!

Luckily the sales manager, Andrew, steps in. He apologizes profusely and promises that as soon as he knows the cost of the 2009 model he will work out a discounted price to make up for the $2k we were out of pocket. He promises to call back on August 1st with new price details.

August 7th - Waiting for the phone to ring

Andrew doesn't call on August 1st (you'll notice a pattern here). We call him and leave multiple messages. He finally calls back and claims to still not know the price of the 2009 Prius but promises to do even more to help us on September 1st when he will certainly know the price.

September 10th - Still waiting

Still no call from Andrew :). We finally speak on September 10th after leaving several messages. He knows the price now but thinks the price or interest rate will come down on October 1st and doesn't want to quote us a price until then. Keep in mind our car was promised and confirmed to arrive on October 2nd.

September 17th - "What color did you order again?"

Paul, our sales rep, calls to ask what color car we ordered. At this point I almost have a full blown break-down. Luckily I still hadn't completely lost my sense of humor!

Paul tells us our black Prius has been "lost" and a silver one is arriving in its place. I suggest he call around every single dealership in Canada until he finds us a black one. He thinks this is a great idea and 3 hours later we have a black Prius on its way - still scheduled for delivery on October 2nd.

October 2nd - The day we get our new Prius!

This is the day we are scheduled to pick up our car. Nobody from Mississauga Toyota called :(

We still don't even know the price. I speak to Paul who tells me that the car is now delayed 2 weeks and won't arrive until October 15th. At this point I am a cross between livid and unbelieving (sense of humor finally starting to go :-/).

I feel as though Ashton Kutcher is going to jump out any second and tell me I've been Punk'd.

October 3rd - Meeting with the apologetic owner

I spend 1.5 hours in Stephen Gubasta's office, the owner of the dealership, explaining what has happened. He apologized profusely for the mix up, the mistakes and the poor customer service experience. He seems to fully acknowledge that his sales rep and sales manager have been incompetent and at times very rude (not returning calls etc.). He tells me to give him some time and he will "see what he can do".

October 6th - No dice!

I get a short email from Stephen basically saying he is sorry and that there is nothing he can do. After the rudeness, the fact we are $2k out of pocket, the late delivery (we had to pay to rent a car while we waited) and everything else... he wouldn't do a single thing for us.

Really? Would it have been to much to throw us a bone? Maybe a complimentary first service, a free oil change, a Toyota key ring? Anything to show he was sorry and try to salvage us as Toyota customers?... Nope!

I could only deduce from this that he was not sorry at all. Bummer.

With a tear in our eye we cancel the order and jump on GigPark to find a short term car lease - fast!

It gets worse - Toyota Canada don't want to hear from me

About half way through this whole mess I called Toyota Canada. Surely this kind of thing never happens? Surely they'll sort out the confusion immediately?... Sadly not.

Toyota didn't sound surprised by our situation at all. In fact they implied hundreds of people had ordered a 2008 Prius and were getting a 2009. And I guess they all called Toyota wondering why they were suddenly $2k out of pocket. Toyota gave me the line "we don't control pricing or delivery - you'll have to talk to your dealer". Great!

Is there a lesson in all of this?

1. Toyota are extremely arrogant in the way they sell the Prius. If you're thinking about buying a hybrid, maybe wait 6 months until they have some competition.

2. Even the holy Prius is subject to the rules of a car industry that incentivizes dealers to do some pretty shady stuff to sell cars. Keep your eyes open!

PS - There is a happy ending (we hope)

We're ordering a Honda Insight early next year (yay!). Let's hope Honda treat us nicely.