5101 SE Federal Hwy | Stuart, FL 34997
Sales: 888-224-1144 | Service/Parts: 888-224-0624 | 772-287-7877 | Map/Directions
Sales Hours:
Mon – Fri 8:30 AM – 8:00 PM
Sat 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM
Sun 10:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Service Hours:
Mon – Fri 7:00 AM – 6:00 PM
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We Feel We Were Ripped off and Taken Advantage of by Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart
This is a Summery of Our Dealings with Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart . Once they get your money you are out of luck if anything happens. The Better Business Bureau gives Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart (TCTS) a rating of F, its lowest rating. It was the Worst Car Buying Experience in our more than 41 years of buying cars. The process made my wife angry, stressed out, frustrated, confused and to the point of crying. The Dealership Paperless Technology System (DPTS) was a nightmare turning a simple process of buying a car into a three-hour ordeal. DPTS kept freezing up and randomly changing data. IT people had to be called in to get it working which added to both the confusion and length of the process. On the last page of the final form DPTS unexpectedly changed my wife’s first name from Florcita to Patricia. There was no way to delete this so we had to start the process all over.
DPTS caused us to have major physical and mental fatigue because to use it you have to lean over the edge of a desk and bend your neck straight down to stare at a flat screen embedded in its surface. The surrounding room and sales floor lights reflected off its surface. Half the time you could not read what was on it or what you were agreeing to from this awkward body position. In a short time our neck and shoulders started to ache and we both had a major headache of trying to read what was on the screen.
TCTS did not explain the deal and they spent most of the time hard selling maintenance contacts. They refused to provide a printed copy of forms for us to review and said they only had digital format which they gave to us on flash drive. Thus we had no opportunity to review what we had signed or have any questions we might have had to be answered. You had to leave the dealership, take it home and review all the information on your own personal computer
I did this and was shocked at what I found. I found that the flash drive contained not only our personal information, but also the personal information of a previous customer Yanet Rodriguez (so much for dealership protecting your personal information). I reviewed all of our forms and found numerous typos, corrupted data and completely wrong information.
I tried to contact TCTS about the way we had been treated and to correct the wrong information DPTS had put on our forms. The General Sales Manager and Owner of TCTS failed to respond in any way to our numerous calls and letters. When we made four visits to the dealership- they were conveniently never there or unavailable to talk to us. We talked to Customer Relations Manager who expressed that she was so sorry this happened and would get back with us. She never did.
On my last visit to TCTS I tried to talk to the most senior manager that was available. The result of my request was they sent out a low-level Junior Salesman with a condescending attitude who said he could do nothing and I would have to take it up with General Sales Manager and that he is not here right now.
Because of all the above we feel we have been taken advantage of and ripped off. Under normal conditions if we should have been able to review the deal and have any questions we had answered. But we were never given this chance. If we had been able to do so we would not have bought the car or signed any forms of a deal that clearly benefitted the dealership at our expense.
We will never deal with this dealership again
Details of my Complaint
Worst Car Buying Experience in more than 40 years of buying cars
# We feel we have been taken advantage of and ripped off
# What should have been a simple matter turned into a three-hour ordeal?
# While saving the dealership a lot of money not having to print any documents, its DPTS was a nightmare for any customer
1). It kept crashing and more than once we had to start over from the beginning
2). The process was frequently interrupted as they had to call in several other people to deal with glitches in system
3). As the customer you have lean over the edge of a desk and stare at a flat screen. Half the time you could not read what was on it or what you were agreeing to from this awkward body position. You neck and shoulders were soon starting to ache and you got a headache from eye strain of trying to read what was on the screen.
4). We assumed we would have the opportunity to review everything before it was finalized. We assumed wrongly. The deal was not explained and much of the time was spent trying to sell maintenance packages. At this time we had no idea what they were offering for our old car, what the new one would cost and what the interest rate would be. We were not able to find this out until the next day when I reviewed the information at home.
5). With a sight of relief that we were on the last page of the final form, the DPTS randomly changed my wife’s first name from Florcita to Patricia. The process was halted and after conferring with several people it was determined once the system did that you could not just delete it but had to start all over again. At this point we had been at the dealership more than two hours, part of which was sitting in an awkward position staring at a computer screen with hard to read text and numbers. It was near 8PM. Talk about mental and physical fatigue as we were forced to do it all agin. We both were in a mental fog.
6). After we had finished I requested a printed copy of everything we had just filled out so I could review it. They refused to do this saying it’s all now in digital format. They then handed me a flash drive that supposedly had all of our files
Flash Drive Contents
> The next morning I opened flash drive and was shocked at what I found. Not only did I have our documents, but those of a previous customer Yanet Rodriguez. Some much for the dealership claim of protecting your privacy.
> I reviewed all of our documents and found them filled with numerous typos and wrong information- misspellings my name four or five times, wrong insurance coverage and driver’s license numbers, etc. etc.
> I figured if I talked Fil Catania, General Sales Manager’s we could resolve some of these issues
Dealing with Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart
* After numerous unsuccessful calls to try and reach someone, I physically drove to the dealership to have a face-to-face contact to help resolve these issues. That is a 30-mile trip and over an hour travel time each trip. The result of these visits was lip service, misinformation and attitude of that is your problem and not ours.
* Fil Catania, General Sales Manager
1). Called him four times, got the receptionist who took my name, number and reason for calling. He never returned any of the calls.
2). Physically went to dealership four times and asked to talk with him. He was conveniently never there or unavailable to talk to us.
a). I was told he was in all day meeting and was not available. Come back Tuesday
b). He just went to lunch. Come back in a couple hours
c). He is in Italy
* Amber Woods Owner Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart
Having no luck with Fil Catania, General Sales Manager’s I sent a number of letters to Amber Woods Owner Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart and hand delivered them to the dealership so there be no possibility of them being lost in mail. Almost six months later she has yet to reply to any of them.
* Shantel Ewards Customer Relations Manager
Talked with her and she said. She was so sorry this happened. I will be working on your problems and promised to get back with you and take care of this. But she never did. Scripted Lip Service
* Eric/Derk Salesmen Low Level Junior Salesman
In frustration I made one final visit to the dealership to try and resolve this situation. I asked the receptionist to talk to Fil Catania, General Sales Manager. I was told he had been on vacation in Italy for more than two weeks. I then asked to speak to the most senior manager available about a problem I was having. She went to one of the office and short time later a young man came out and introduced himself if memory serves right as ether Eric or Derk. He asked what was up. I explained the problem and showed him a copy of one of the letters I had sent to Amber Woods Owner Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart. I asked him what the dealership was going to do about this? When I asked him this his expression change from one of bored indifference to that one of a person who suddenly smelled something gone bad.
He said he was just a junior salesman (so much for seeing the most senior manager) and he had no power to do anything. He said he would have to ask his manager what to do. He got up and went into the office he had just came out of. A short time later he came back out and sat down. He said his manager said that I would have to talk to Fil Catania, General Sales Manager. I asked to speak with him. He is in a meeting right now you will have to come back later, in a day or two. I was tempted to ask if meeting was in Italy (where according to the receptionist he was vacationing), but decided it would be a waste of time.
Because of all the above we feel we have been taken advantage of and ripped off. We should have been able to review the deal and have any questions we had answered. We were not allowed to do this. Under normal conditions we should have been given printed copies we had signed (Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart refused to do this) and been able to review all the information. But we were never given this chance.
Under normal circumstance if we had been able to review the deal they were offering we would not have bought the car or signed any forms of a deal that clearly benefitted the dealership at our expense.