There is a brand new building in El Cajon CA. Toyota of El Cajon.
They claim to be family owned, but the sales staff works every weekend while the owners enjoy every weekend off with their families.
I have been going there for years now and it's time for me to speak up on behalf of the many great sales people who have worked there over the years.
My friends and I go there in response to the marketing that we recieve all of the time. We have been getting postcards from Jenstar Productions Inc. claiming to give us the chance to win lots of money, we never have. We should know better by now because we have been going in to check our winning numbers only to walk away with some cheep prize such as a barbeque set, football or lunch bag.
Lately though, we have been going there to be greeted by Jen ( she owns Jenstar Productions ) to recieve our raffle tickets for their latest give aways including Chargers tickets or a Ipad.
We see the same old faces in the crowd each time. But something that we have noticed lately is that the honest and familiar sales people are no longer around. We see a guy named Harold Deem and Jen ( I don't think that she even works there as a licensed sales representative someone once told me that a license was required to engage a customer, but anyway I have recieved several phone calls from her). She and Harold Deem seem to be running the show there.
It all seems so strange now that they have a new dealership because the sales staff is full of new faces and hardly anyone is speaking english.
On our last visit we took a friend with us who was considering a purchase and that's when the real Toyota of El Cajon tactics came out. They presented him with packed payments and an outragous interest rate. And at one point they presented a lease and said that leasing is all about the payment and not about the price. After an hour of back and forth straining to understand the english that the "closer" used my friend gave up and left. It reminded me of years ago when open ended leasing and car dealer rippoffs where normal.
After speaking with a sales person who has now left Toyota of El Cajon I now understand what has happened there. I helped my friend track him down.
This person now works for another dealership in San Diego and explained that the turnover there at Toyota of El Cajon is due to the deception, lack of advancement oppertunities and difficult work schedual. He spoke of how the tactics of Packing and Leg works and I soon understood what had happened to my friend that day of the back and forth. Apparently not only do they play games with customers, but they also steal commisions from their own sales people. Several times as explained to me, the finance department falsified documents so that the lenders will approve contracts. And on one recent occasion a customer called the lender to find out that his documentation as presented by Toyota of El Cajon had been falsified. That customer was paid several thousand dollars to go away. And the finance director was fired, eventhough he was not the only one involved.
As for steeling commisions, each used car has what is called a Pack for detailing of the used cars by a outside company and in most cases the cost is not real nor does the company charge that fee to detail every car.
A car could be sold for sticker price only to have the finance department call the customer in later to re do the contract with a lower price for the car but including 2-3,000 worth of finance items that the salesperson does not get paid for. Therefore a sales person thinking that he or she has made a full commision after working for hours and sometimes weeks with a customer. Only to find a 100 dollar commision on their paycheck. It's not hard to understand why honest hard working sales people have left the dealership. I feel so bad for them and their families.
Some of the sales people have worked there for years and have been passed over for the sake of a dishonest buck. It's a shame. Not to mention the thousands of consumers who have been ripped off by the Packing and re-written contracts. Some of the consumers are now driving cars that have never been worth the book values presented to the lenders.
And now Toyota of El Cajon claims to be GREEN. Drive by on a weekend and take a look at the balloons as they fly above slowly being release into the sky and into the ocean. They boast a new EC logo standing for environmentally conscientious. To them it means we are only Ecommerce Chumps.
Karl
Highlands Ranch,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, June 16, 2010
to stay Updated about Toyota & Lexus vehicles by watching the videos and reading all of the articles, right?
anonymous
United States of America#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, June 12, 2010
The owners (Gary and Greg Kaminsky) of Toyota of El Cajon shouldn't be demonized. I honestly believe that their intentions for their employees are genuine and not ill-natured whatsoever. They have every right to take weekends off...they OWN the business. When you own a business...you can have the leisure to take time off on the weekends; or any other day that suits you. Furthermore, most of the employees there are hard working, good people. My intention is to vindicate the owners of this facility. Unfortunately, I cannot do so in the case of the general sales manager. I believe that the high turnover in the sales department is largely due to their dissatisfaction with the general sales manager. Anyway, I will not deprecate the GSM any further in this report...don't want to sound like the last person. However, I want to personally send a message to Gary and Greg Kaminsky (also to Michelle, or Dawn, or Human Resources): I urge you to talk to the sales managers, the salespersons and ask them what they think of their manager...you'll be surprised (or perhaps not) as to what their responses will be. I know that it's easy to become desensitized to turnover in the automotive industry; hell, salespeople have become expendable. It shouldn't be that way...but it is. What I'm suggesting is to take a closer look at how the department is being managed and maybe you won't get anymore "ripoff reports" like that last one. Oh, and I agree with the "GREEN" comment made by the disgruntled employee. Balloons? Stop it with the balloons already (just because they're green in color doesn't mean it's good for the environment). The last time I checked, latex balloons aren't recyclable. Try the reusable, inflatable gorilla.
Karl
Highlands Ranch,#4Consumer Comment
Fri, June 11, 2010
and the related articles, right?
Dawn
San Diego,#5UPDATE Employee
Fri, June 11, 2010
Dear Ex-Employee,
I am very sorry that you suffered a loss of income. Over the past couple of years and as a consequence of the economy we have all suffered reduction of our income. None of us have ever experienced anything quite like this before. When times are tough it is very easy to give in to the anger and frustration we feel and try to find someone to blame. I wish better times for us all in the future.
Dawn
Karl
Highlands Ranch,#6Consumer Comment
Thu, June 10, 2010
on the web.
anonymous
el cajon,#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, June 10, 2010
Toyota Of El Cajon......
I Worked @ Toyota of El Cajon for about 5 years... In the Begining it was good, liked it was making enough money to feed my family.. I have a wife and have kids... This dealership is the worst dealership that i have ever worked @. The Hours are crazy and the pay is a ripoff... They steal, cheat and lie to their sales staff.. Every sales person is very unhappy and frustrated about their paychecks being cut in half every month but they are also scared to speak out because of getting fired... They hide steal and kink every car deal that is made... It seems like a nice store and nice environment to work @, but the reality is that no sales people are happy there, and they are all leaving and there is mostly a new staff there... I feel so bad for a lot of the employees that spend some years there and it all went to waste... The GSM Harold Deem is one of the most evil man there... Fired so many people with family and kids...... And always putting people together... The customers are also getting ripped off and cheated... The owners need to realize and change the way they do business..... #1 Employee satisfaction and #2 Customer satisfaction... With out Employee Satisfaction there is no customer satisfaction...
Anonymous for Now!
Lakeside,#8UPDATE Employee
Wed, June 09, 2010
Looks like this website wasn't enough for you that you had to start a Facebook page. So obvious now that you are an employee or an ex employee with the rendering picture and the friend requests only to employees and/or former employees. Have you considered the fact that your doings may harm the livelihood of good people working at our dealership that have nothing to do with your tirade? Again...if you truly believe in your grievances come forward and speak up. Or get off your soapbox supported by lies. Unless you know that it is completely untrue, I don't see why you haven't. Here...I'll show you how to man up. Or in my case...woman up! Sincerely, Michelle
Paula
San Diego,#9Consumer Comment
Wed, June 09, 2010
WOW! I came across this posting while looking for something else online and kept on reading in disbelief. I have been a customer of Toyota of El Cajon for many years, bought several cars from them and had them serviced there, and I have always received a wonderful service. The employees I worked with were always very personable and helpful and went out of their ways to help me with whatever I needed. It makes sense. How else would they get all the customer service rewards they got?
The person who wrote this definitely has another agenda on his mind; he tries to make points that don't make much sense and only make him sound very bitter, jealous, uneducated and confused. A smart, reasonable person cannot believe the stereotypical accusations presented by this author. He complains just about everything just for the sake of finding something wrong.
He claims he is speaking up on behalf of the sales people working at Toyota of El Cajon but at the same time, he is criticizing them. Besides other things, he criticizes them for the lack of English proficiency when he himself doesn't even know that English should be spelled with a capital "E" (not to mention stylistic, grammatical and other spelling errors)! I wonder how many languages he himself can speak and how well...
I have participated in several of the raffles he mentioned, and I think the prizes they offer are pretty good - what is wrong with Chargers tickets, I-pads, BBQ sets or lunch bags? There are always many winners. And the fact that he never won the big money? Well, it is like complaining that he has been playing the lottery and never won the Jackpot. Also, I would think that the fact that they have a professional outside company conduct those events is a plus rather than a minus.
And going green? Does he even realize what goes into building an eco friendly building on this scale? Did he ever try to put at least solar panels on his house? I doubt it. I doubt he even recycles his own trash. He can just criticize a couple of balloons that probably accidentally flew away.
I could keep going and comment on almost everything in this posting but I realize that it is not even worth my time. What this person wrote goes against any experience I have ever had at Toyota of El Cajon and I know that neither I nor my family and friends will stop going to Toyota of El Cajon based on a bitter anonymous posting.
Anonymous for Now!
Lakeside,#10UPDATE Employee
Wed, June 09, 2010
I have worked for this company for many years. I am not only insulted by this posting but am actually embarrassed for the individual that wrote this. This is a great company, ran by wonderful, honest and caring people! I have never seen anything of this nature done. I feel after reading this posting it was written by either an ex-employee or an employee that has no idea of what they are talking about. Get the facts and don't asume! How dare you. You should be ashamed of yourself. If you had or have any concerns...you should be man enough to discuss your concerns and not hide behind a fraudulent posting. No company is perfect but I do know that the owners of this company would welcome your concerns and would work with you or towards some type of resolution. I am remaining anonymous...FOR NOW!
Dawn
San Diego,#11UPDATE Employee
Tue, June 08, 2010
These statements appear more to be from a disgruntled employee than from a customer and it is sad that someone would use the back door to try and make some sort of complaint rather than just walk into the owner's offices and speak to them directly about what any real issue might be. I would hope that you decide to have enough decency and respect to do exactly that. I have worked for many owner's in this industry for many years and I can attest to the fact that these owner's do their very best to make sure that they and their employees comply with all the regulations of the industry and the laws that govern businesses. They contract with companies to train the employees as well as contracting with companies to audit and verify compliance. If there is ever an issue with an employee who has violated the company policies or acted in an unethical manner they are swift to respond and react consulting legal staff if necessary to take whatever steps are necessary to correct and address the issue(s).
Statements like the ones made here don't just hurt the owner's they hurt all the employees. We take great pride in how we conduct business with our customers and each other.