Heritage Toyota Catonsville

I have been trying to contact someone in the Finance Department for the pass 3 days. I sold my vehicle and I am due a prorated amount refund from a GAP insurance and Toyota Care I purchase.

I call and the person who answers transfers me to Finance. It rings and rings and rings, and finally someone who needs to take a message picks up. No one has called me back. I continue to call each and everyday.

Leaving several messages each time I call. I am losing money everyday I don't get this processed. Does anyone out there no a solution, besides take a drive into the dealership. Which by the way I cannot do.

due to the distance of the dealership. HELP!!!!

Stay away from Russel Toyota. It is the most dishonest and untrustworthy dealership and I will outline the issues we had.

Before going to the Russel showroom I already had an offer from the sales person, Kal Lester, with the internet price of $15,608 for a Toyota Corolla LE along with a $250 discount. Quote: “To make it even better, it is getting towards the end of the month and we are offering you an additional $250 off of our Internet price”.

When my wife and I got there the things completely changed. Instead of being a $250 discount, he added an extra charge of $750 to the internet price, explaining to us that this was because we financed the car instead of paying for it in cash. We had never heard about this and finally agreed to sign a paper with $18,200, the final price of the vehicle on the road, which included all the extra charges, fees, freight, our Toyota trade allowance of $300 and the sales taxes. The deception didn’t stop here. We went into the finance office where for the first time we heard about the manufacturer’s rebate.

The finance lady, Stacey Andreadakis, informed us that in order to qualify for this rebate we have to finance with TD Auto Finance (1.94% interest) instead of with Toyota Financial Services (1.90% interest).

Unfortunately, I trusted Stacey and signed the “Sales Contract” without reviewing the numbers.

When we got home we realized that we’ve been screwed again; instead of getting the selling price of the vehicle reduced by $750 (the manufacturer’s rebate) to $17,450, it remained the same $18,200 because they increased again the selling price by another $750 and then deducted the same amount as a rebate to prove to us that they already included the manufacturer’s rebate. In fact we didn’t take advantage of any manufacturer’s rebate which was supposed to be granted to us by Toyota Corporate for having been a loyal customer (over the 20 year period we owed 4 Toyota cars). And on top of that we ended up paying also a higher interest.

As innocent customers, we tried to reach out for help at the management level. Therefore we left numerous messages and emails for David Gruner, the general manager of this dealership, hoping that he would resolve this issue. To our disappointment, after talking to him we realized that he cares less about customers and more about money and this trick is in fact their typical practice to deceive and rip off customers. They have no respect or consideration for customers.

Bottom line: we’ve been deceived 3 times:

1. $750 extra payment according to Kal Lester, because we financed the car instead of paying for it in cash;

2. The $750 rebate was not offered to us;

3. Financing with a higher interest in order to get the manufacturer’s rebate which we never got it.

We totally regret that we purchased our car from Russel Toyota. We had a totally unhappy experience with the Sales and Finance people from this dealership.

This is the worst experience we've ever had buying a car, which caused us lots of frustrations and unhappiness'. I would warn customers to stay away from this dealership. Russel Toyota is the most dishonest and untrustworthy dealership.

Hopefully Toyota Corporate will be more helpful.

I recently worked at Russel Toyota and was treated very poorly . They took money from from employees and then talked about how they want the best for the employee .

I also seen them mistreat customers as well as say racist statements on the sales floor . I want to know how you can let one of the sales managers talk about how much he hates Muslims and they are terrorist , however they have Muslim employees.

If you need a job I would steer clear of this place , they have no concern about there sales staff and there well being. If you leave they will not pay you and keep giving you the run around .

Broke down on Tuesday 3/24/15 on 695 and was towed to Russell Toyota. Thirteen days and nearly $5,800, including rental, later we got the van back.

On 3/31 was told van would be ready on 4/1 at 5:15 pm. We are from Harrisburg, PA so family drove down on 4/3 only to be told van wasn't done and to come back on Saturday. Called on Saturday and still wasn't ready. Called on Monday and still not done.

Although I was told to leave at 2:30 and it would be done till I got there. Got another call at 3 and told me it still wan't done. In this thirteen day period I called Toyota National who only agreed to cover the cost of the rental, up to $500.00. I also called Russell's service manager, general manager, and customer relations manager, none of whom would call me back.

I was able to meet with the customer relations manager when I picked the van up. She did try to get Toyota to split the cost of repair to no avail. I have since called again for the general manager, who is apparently the only one that can provide a regional manager's contact info., and still no call back.

No one can explain to me why a 5 year old van with 72,000 miles needs a new transmission and why this new transmission only comes with a one year warranty even though it should be the same one going into a vehicle coming off the factory line that gets a 3 year, 36,000 warranty.

The breakdown and cost to repair is bad enough but the lack of a warranty and lack of concern about customer satisfaction is inexcusable. Unless Toyota addresses this to my satisfaction I can pretty well guarantee that we will never buy another Toyota and will certainly never recommend them to anyone.

I am extremely upset with Russel Toyota (Rolling Rd/Rt 40)

My car has not been operating correctly for a long time, and diagnostic tests could not identify the problems until major damage had been done to the electrical system. I own a 2009 land cruiser and this is my third toyota purchased. Until now, I had confidence in your vehicles. I have no faith in the tools you use to identify problems. There are too many issues to discuss in 100 words or less. Over six weeks my car was in the service department, and guess what, it's back at Toyota again.

Lucille Bethea 511 Random Road Baltimore, Maryland 21229

410525****

I purchased a new TRD 4 runner that is a hard model to get so i had to wait for it to come in and that was not a problem i expected it to take till the end of December. It actually showed up a week early so i was excited to pick it up.

It took for ever to get all the paperwork done and i signed more paper and releases then i did when i purchased my house. I paid for it in full, and i believe that was a mistake because now they has all the money and control. I left the Dealership and immediately recognized a problem with the hood shaking and bobbing. I called the service manager and he told me to open and close the hood to make sure it was closed securely.

I explained i already did and i used to work on cars for a living so i am qualified to confirm the hood is closed. He said that they could not look at it and would have to leave it. Nice new car and no ride home, Great! So off i go the rest of the way home not happy one bit.

I came back a couple days later since the dealer is 45 minutes from my house and a job to work i was unable to return the next day and when i get there so many cars in service lane i couldn't pull on the lot. I returned the following day and got the same you going to have to leave it. I would not except that again and insisted they accommodate me. They reluctantly did have a tech inspect the problem.

He said that's the way it is and could do nothing. I had to get back to work and left. I did at this point call the sales manager and explain that this is a safety issue.having your hood move and bob distracts you from focusing on the road,its like having someone wave there hand in front of your face while driving.He said he would get back to me later that day and didnt. I called and left several messages and no return call.

I finally insisted his operator get him a message personally so he finally called back and acted as he forgot the conversation. He had his head service manager call me and he would give me a loaner car so that i could leave it but then said that he did not have a loaner car so it would have to wait until the following week. I told him i was going to one of my customers near their dealer ship and would call him when i was a half hour away. He would have his head problem tech take it for a ride.

We met and went for a ride and he confirmed the problem. His words were " I'm not a fan" I guess that was his way of using diplomacy. He told me that it could take two months for the factory to decide what to do. I called the Sales manager back and explained that i purchased a car in good faith and its not right.

That i already almost rear ended someone and that it and was not driving it more than i have to.I have had it for 30 days now and have 900 miles on it.I have driven my pick up in place of it and logged 4000 miles. Why would i not drive my new Toyota if there was no problem. I asked them to take back the Vehicle and His response was i could trade it,or they would purchase it back at a lot less then i paid. Now he will not take any of my calls.

By the way i should mention that i have been a polite gentleman the entire time, so there is no reason for him to ignore me. Next he has his customer service person call as a consolation and after almost two weeks,she just repeated what he said, but did say she was sorry. So to sum up. They sold me a car and have been paid.They could care less about my problem and are making no attempt to do anything to resolve my issue.

No one should be treated so poorly.

I will never buy another vehicle from Russell Toyota and im going to share my experience with everyone i come in contact with.

On my dash board "maintenance reorder" popped up on 09/17/14. So, I called Russell Toyota & she asked me if I could come in by 12:30pm.

I told her "yes". I asked her how much is it going to cost? She replied nothing due to under 2 yrs. warranty.

She also, mentioned that it's going to take half a day. This is the appointment dep. I got to Toyota @ 12:40 to service dep., & told the guy I'm late but, have an appointment @ 12:30. I went in to the counter & told my name, need someone to take me home.

He told me, it will be done around 2:30pm. I said oh! I'll wait. I said appointment dep., told me it takes half a day.

They got done @ 2:15pm. I signed the paper, gave me back my key. In my car there was half of bottle soda setting in my cup holder, radio channel changed, a/c was on which I didn't put on or I didn't put on my radio. These people don't know how to keep their hands off of someone else things.

I don't appreciate!

Not communicating to each other & lying to customers. What a service!!!!!!!!

Beware service department. We had a solid buying experience here years ago buying a 4Runner for my wife (would have given that a 5). Like most we do not use dealership for normal service due to cost. The warning lights (several) came on the way home late from work. Wife made an appointment to get that checked and a $64.99 74,000 mile inspection (e.g. oil change). When she went in the service rep (e.g. salesman) pushed a preferred 75k package that was $604. My wife argued about the internet deal and Ryan the salesman said he wished they didn't do that. They spent 5 minutes arguing the differences in which Ryan showed her an item breakdown with no explanation. My wife at this point thought there was some type of communication barrier and signed it thinking they HAD to be talking about the same thing. She had a confirmed appointment for a $64.99 75,000 mile inspection and to get her warning lights checked out. This was at 1PM.

Late afternoon they called asking her to approve $1,400 worth of work. She said no. Now she's completely perplexed and asking how they got to this. The girl said she did not know as she was not the technician. By early evening they called and said they were done and the bill was just under $1,000.

We went up to pick the vehicle up. Long story short Ryan was not there so Karen, the manager said we would have to pay and come back the next day. Her position was my wife approved the estimate. But that is an estimate only and work beyond that has to be approved.

When we went back the next day of course their position was they explained everything to my wife and she approved it. We have been married for 28 years and I know my wife did not have that explained. This was not the case. At one point Karen, the manager even said we assumed no work had been done on the vehicle since there was no record of service. That has strong implications that they pushed this service on my wife and supports my wife's assertions. At no point did anyone ever bring up my wife's appointment or understand that she had concerns. She was very vocal because they all remembered her. When I mentioned this was such a bad situation with very serious "bait and switch" perceptions that I would not buy a car there again Karen the manager actually asked me "if I was really going to buy a car there based on not having ever had our 4Runner serviced there?" Talk about rude and an utter lack of business sense. Why would I go to a dealership for service that just charged me $1000 for a 75,000 mile service? But I would have come back to buy a truck there (until this).

We asked to have $500 of the $1000 refunded. They said they would split that with a credit. I believe in integrity and turned it down for two reasons. First the customer service was horrible and no idea they were a business and second were the lack of integrity. And I am being generous. There would be no reason to trust that anything I did would not turn into much more. But then again, that is a business model also.

Bottom line they did not follow their own internal process and the communication was horrible. This entire episode would have been avoided if they had simply brought up the appointment and executed that or started from there.

STAY AWAY from these people. Plus, who needs a vehicle that requires a $1000 service check at 75,000 miles? I have a Dodge Magnum and a Jeep Grand Cherokee with over 155,000 miles and haven't spent that much in its life. I ran three Fords (Bronco, F150 and Explorer) over 200,000 miles before anything major ever needed done.

Be very careful if you decide to buy a car here! We agreed on a price. Unfortunately I trusted them and didn't review paperwork carefully enough - my fault! They added over $ 2000.00 to the price of the vehicle. When I caught them I brought it to the attention of the salesman, Victor Tabinski. He could care less and his explanation was "the manager did it, you will have to talk to him". The manager, Matt Bukowski, admitted that he did in fact add to the price of the vehicle, after the salesman told me one price.

What they did was take the savings in taxes from my trade ($1900.00) and then added it to the price of the vehicle. His explanation was that if I went to another dealer I would have lost the $ 1900.00 tax savings unless I bought a vehicle from that dealership, so he "decided to add it on to the price" at their dealership because I was going to buy from them anyway. Absurd! I would have easily gone to another Toyota dealership because there a NO other dealerships that would have done this. Lesson learned - review paperwork before signing at this dealership. Its outrageous that they would do something like this but I guess there are a lot of people that unfortunately did what I did and just trusted them and signed the paperwork. The additional $ 420.00 that they charged was for "prepping the vehicle" which they described as "cleaning".

Bong Lee in finance did the financial portion. What I find interesting is that he posted a Google review of how great this dealership is. Any company that needs employees to post reviews to increase ratings is a company that can't be trusted!

I ordered two accessories that needed to be delivered to the dealership. The salesman, Victor Tabinski, and the Finance Manager, Bong Lee, both stated that I could bring my title and second remote/key for my trade to them when they installed my two accessories, since I didn't have them with me at the time of the sale. I appreciated that from them as it saved me a trip back there.

Next, I received a call from Walt McDonald, another sales manager. He began threatening me because I hadn't bought the title and remote/key back to them yet. I explained what his salesman and finance manager told me but he could have cared less also. He began threatening me and acted like a child. Obviously the employees at this dealership don't communicate between each other.

On a side note, when the accessories did come in I dealt with Karen Farina in their service department. She couldn't have been more helpful and pleasant to work with! She apologized for the behavior of the entire sales department. The sales staff need to take a lesson from her in being truthful and treating customers the correct way!

BEWARE OF RUSSEL TOYOTA AND AUTOMOTIVE

My tires were wearing irregularly, and my Toyota was veering excessively to the right.

I visited Russel Toyota on Caton Avenue to get a front wheel alignment. I was charged $80.95. Upon inquiring about my alignment I was told I needed new tires. My tires were used less than 25,000 miles and were warranted for 55,000 miles.

I was also told Russel did not perform the alignment I had paid for. Within the week I went to Pep Boys where I purchased my tires. They explained that my tires were wearing improperly and would continue to do so until I got an alignment. They performed a free alignment check to determine this. I then paid for an alignment, and now my car drives perfectly.

After the alignment I drove to Russel’s main location on Baltimore National Pike, and spoke with their service manager. Three days later I spoke briefly with Wade Sterry, their General Manager. He said he would investigate, and get back to me. He never has. Three more days later, I spoke with Jennifer Robinson, their so-called Customer Service Manager. She apologized for Sterry’s behavior and promised she would get back to me. Again, I am still waiting.

Midas, Pep Boys, Mr. Tire and most if not all service centers perform free alignment checks. Russel not only did not do this, but I needed to go elsewhere to get an alignment I had paid for.

This is not the first time I have been ripped off by Russel. In 2010, I got conned into replaceing a drive belt, although I had limited mileage. Even now I only have 55,000 miles on my car. Although I have had Toyota’s since 1973, I have never needed a drive belt replaced.

I suggest that Russel be avoided for any service problems.

I invite anyone to contact me for additional information.

Anthony Raymond, Jr.973 Circle DriveBaltimore, MD 21227(4**) **7-0837Email: traymond51@***.com

BEWARE OF RUSSEL TOYOTA AND AUTOMOTIVE

My tires were wearing irregularly, and my Toyota was veering excessively to the right.

I visited Russel Toyota on Caton Avenue to get a front wheel alignment. I was charged $80.95. Upon inquiring about my alignment I was told I needed new tires. My tires were used less than 25,000 miles and were warranted for 55,000 miles.

I was also told Russel did not perform the alignment I had paid for. Within the week I went to Pep Boys where I purchased my tires. They explained that my tires were wearing improperly and would continue to do so until I got an alignment. They performed a free alignment check to determine this. I then paid for an alignment, and now my car drives perfectly.

After the alignment I drove to Russel’s main location on Baltimore National Pike, and spoke with their service manager. Three days later I spoke briefly with Wade Sterry, their General Manager. He said he would investigate, and get back to me. He never has. Three more days later, I spoke with Jennifer Robinson, their so-called Customer Service Manager. She apologized for Sterry’s behavior and promised she would get back to me. Again, I am still waiting.

Midas, Pep Boys, Mr. Tire and most if not all service centers perform free alignment checks. Russel not only did not do this, but I needed to go elsewhere to get an alignment I had paid for.

This is not the first time I have been ripped off by Russel. In 2010, I got conned into replaceing a drive belt, although I had limited mileage. Even now I only have 55,000 miles on my car. Although I have had Toyota’s since 1973, I have never needed a drive belt replaced.

I suggest that Russel be avoided for any service problems.

I invite anyone to contact me for additional information.

Anthony Raymond, Jr.973 Circle DriveBaltimore, MD 21227(4**) **7-0837Email: traymond51@***.com

David Day from Russell Toyota is the top seller in this industry and at this location, now I know way because he is a FAST TALKIN BULL *** RUNNING A SCAM ARTIST... I explained to him the amount of money I had and how much I wanted to spend but that didn't matter because he talked me out of getting the best for my money and instead giving HIM MORE MONEY BY MAKING A SALE....he's a crook....I walk into this dealership and I trusted this person to give me the best for money and low behold he didn't and I felt like I was taken and was taken advantage of....I went to another Toyota dealer (R & H) and felt like I should have come here first and then one of the dealers said that ..."you are number 4 that came through because - MR DAY - has taken them for a ride"...literally. I will make sure I find a way to let all that will listen know that RUSSELL TOYOTA is the worse car dealer ever.

"You must consider the bottom line, but make it integrity before profits". This is a quote from Denis Waitley, a noted author, keynote lecturer and productivity consultant who counts Toyota as a customer.

If only the Russel Toyota dealership followed such sage advice. In my opinion, the leadership and management of Russel Toyota are total void of fair and honest dealings, focused solely on the bottom line. I recently purchased a Toyota Prius from Russel Toyota. After purchasing my Prius from Russel Toyota, I realized that they made what I thought to be an error in the pricing.

I left the dealership in the late evening (9:30 – 10:00 PM) and returned at 9:00 AM the next morning. I purchased the vehicle based on an internet advertisement that gave the price of the vehicle with a detailed listing of the features and accessories. The ad further stated that additional charges will apply to "fees & $200 dealer document fee". In talking to the salesman, I understood the "fees" to be the sales tax and MD licensing & titling fee.

After arriving home, I realized that Russel charged me $760 for freight, an item explicitly listed as part of the internet sales price. As state above, I returned to Russel within 12 hours of my purchase to get his error corrected, only to be treated with total disrespect by the Sales Manager Ryan Pope and the General Sales Manager Matt Bukowski. Matt in particular treated me with a tone of arrogance and disrespect one would not expect from one in his position. The facts are plain for all to see.

The freight is specifically listed in the ad under "added options", along with the floor mats & body side molding (both of which I was not charged separately). Yet, Russel Toyota added the freight charge back into the cost of the vehicle over and above the quoted price and Matt refused to make a correction. He basically said that misleading or not, the State of Maryland permitted him to advertise that way and he would continue to do so in the future, regardless if it was right and fair. Clearly, he could care less about the tenants of honesty and integrity and focuses solely on profits.

Matt refused to take the car back per my request. Though he got this sale, Russel Toyota will never again get any of my business nor will I ever recommend Russel Toyota to anyone.