Troy Sansom
Michael's Toyota, Inc.
PO Box 2026
Bellevue, WA 98004

Dear Troy,

I am writing to respond to your letter. You claim to "take a personal interest" in your potential customers. Because of this, I am wondering if you can explain to me why your dealership saw fit to waste several hours of my time.

I visited your dealership and test-drove a Toyota Echo with James Ellis, your salesperson. He did a great job of demonstrating the vehicle, and I was impressed with it. In fact, I was so impressed that I started shopping several dealers on the Internet.

Upon completing my Internet shopping, I made a deal (which is attached) for a 2000 Toyota Echo coupe. I proceeded to order the car, which through carorder.com is shipped directly from the manufacturer. Since that takes some extra time, usually a month (I expect my order in another week or two), I called James and explained the deal I'd made. I was-and am-ready to buy an Echo from a local dealer at exactly the same price. There is no penalty for canceling an order from carorder.com, and I'd rather buy from someone local than have the car shipped in from out of state.

James put me on hold to ask his manager, came back on the phone, and told me that it should be no problem to match carorder.com's price. He invited me to "come on down" to the dealership. So I did.

Imagine my surprise to be put through the traditional car-sales experience-sitting at a desk, being asked about financing (which had been prearranged), insurance (which I didn't need), trade-in, etc. None of this was particularly relevant since I was sitting at the desk with my checkbook, ready to write a check for the full amount of the car. Finally, James went to go "talk to the manager." After about 20 minutes, he came back with a price approximately $1,000 more than I've secured from carorder.com, with the words "BEST DEAL" arrogantly written in CAPS and double-underlined. Of course, the "BEST DEAL" was not a good deal at all. And it certainly wasn't worth my time.

So, Troy, you haven't done your best to "satisfy my transportation needs." In fact, your dealership has done nothing so far but waste my time. And my poor treatment during the buying experience has done a great deal to dissuade me from recommending your dealership to anyone else, or from having my new Echo (when it arrives) serviced at your dealership.