Complaint Review: Vandergriff Toyota - Arlington Texas

I live in Big Spring, TX and on December 31, 2012 my wife and I went to Vandergriff Toyota in Arlington, TX in hopes of purchasing a used 2011 Toyota Camry SE.  Travel time is approximately 4 and a half hours one way. While there I selected a vehicle that I liked and filled out the necessary paperwork to purchase the vehicle. The salesman that I was dealing with is named Jim Wesbrook.  During the time I was completing the paperwork Mr. Wesbrook took the car around the back to have it cleaned.  At approximately 8:30 p.m. all paperwork was completed and the car was driven in front of the dealership and parked under the lights.  When I looked at the car the first thing I noticed was the paint on the hood did not look right.  I am not a paint expert by any stretch of the imagination but I could tell immediately that the hood had been repainted.  I didnt notice this during the test drive because the car was dirty and it had rained earlier.  To my uneducated eyes what I saw was classic orange peel paint finish and what looked like small craters all over the paint surface on the hood.  At this point I told Mr. Wesbrook that I would like to speak to a manager.  A manager came out (unfortunately I did not get his name) and agreed that the paint on the hood was of subpar quality.  He told Mr. Wesbrook to call me in a couple of days to arrange to have the car bought back to the dealership and that they would wet sand and buff it.  I agreed to that.
A couple of days later I arranged to drive back to Vandergriff Toyota on January 21, 2013.  I arrived at approximately 7:45 a.m. and called Mr. Wesbrook.  He told me to take the car to the body shop. 
They have a body shop next door called Team Vandergriff Collision Center.  An employee from the body shop went outside and looked at the car and came back and told us that the hood could not be repaired by wet sanding and buffing. The only way to fix this was to remove the hood and repaint it and that they would have to keep the car for at least a couple of days.  She called Mr. Wesbrook and informed him of this.  Soon thereafter Mr. Wesbrook came to the body shop and told us they would give us a rental car free of charge and call us when the car was completed.  We got the rental car and left the dealership. 
At approximately 5:00 p.m. I was about an hour away from home when I got a call from Mr. Wesbrook stating that the car was finished and could we come back to the dealership and pick it up.  I asked Mr. Wesbrook how could that be when the body shop said it would take a couple of days.  He told me that he took the car from the body shop and had an outside person wet sand and buff the hood.  I voiced my displeasure to Mr. Wesbrook and told him what he was doing was not
right.  All he could say to me was that they did what they said they were going to do which was wet sand and buff the hood. Upon my arrival at the dealership at approximately 8:30 p.m. I asked Mr. Wesbrook can I have a receipt or a statement indicating the work they had performed.  He said his manager had gone home for the night.  I asked him for his managers name and he stated his name was Tyson.  I asked him if Mr. Tyson had a full name.  He said he did not know it.  I took my car and left the dealership and went home.  For the next 2 days I called the dealership asking to speak to Mr. Tyson and could not get ahold of him.  When I asked for his full name nobody could tell me what it was.
On January 24, 2013, I took the car to a local body shop in Big Spring, TX called Big Spring Collision to get an opinion of the paint condition and an estimate.  The shop noted in its estimate that the paint work had flaws and burns due to improper paint work.  On January 30, 2013 I took the car to Lithia Toyota in Odessa, TX and had their body shop, All-American Collision, look at it.  In their estimate they noted that the paint had fish eyes and orange peel. 
I believe that I was duped twice by Vandergriff Toyota.  First when they did not inform me of the defective paint work on the hood.  While I was there negotiating the price of the vehicle I was given a piece of paper which showed that they put $900 into prepping the car for resale.  I find it hard to believe that a large dealership can spend that much time and money in prepping a car for resale and not notice the substandard repaint on the hood.  To me this goes beyond just a simple little scratch in the paint work from normal wear and tear on a used car.  I was duped a second time when I was told that the car was going to be in Team Vandergriff Collision Center for 2 days when instead what they did was put me in a rental car, send me on my way and behind my back pulled the car out of the body shop without informing me of what they were doing.  They knew that if they would have called me and told me of their intentions I would have not approved it thats why they waited until approximately 5:00 p.m. to call me because at this time they knew there was nothing I could do about it. 
What I am seeking from Vandergriff Toyota is the cost to repaint the hood properly by Lithia Toyota.  The cost of which will be $1,129.51.  They do not have to deal with me directly.  They can pay Lithia directly. 
The fact that Vandergriff made arrangements for me to bring the car back on January 21st is proof that they agreed that the paint on the hood was subpar.  Also the fact that I could not obtain any paperwork as to the work that was supposedly done makes me suspicious that anything was done.  The estimate that I obtained from Lithia Toyota also states that the craters (which I now know are referred to as fish eye) and orange peel that I observed on the night of December 31st, 2012 still exist.  So in essence Vandergriff did nothing to resolve the situation like they said they would do.  All I am asking for is that the hood be fixed properly.  The term caveat emptor really does apply to buying a car at a dealership and Vandergriff Toyota did nothing to dispel that.  If anything, they have perpetuated it.