San Francisco Toyota — Local services in San Francisco

I recently purchased a Gold Certified 2022 Toyota Camry from San Francisco Toyota, and unfortunately, my experience has been far from smooth. The dealership operates as a "one-price" model, meaning no negotiations, which was not a huge deal for me, but there were several issues that made the overall experience frustrating: Test Drive: The test drive was very short, just around the block. This made it difficult for me to properly assess the condition of the vehicle, especially when it came to small details. Gold Certified… but with Scratches?: The vehicle was labeled as Toyota Gold Certified, which gave me high hopes that it had been properly inspected and reconditioned. However, I noticed scratches on all four bumpers, something that clearly should’ve been addressed before certifying the car. FYI.. the scratches weren’t shown in the online listing. BSM Feature: After driving the car home, I realized the Blind Spot Monitoring feature wasn’t working. To Jamir’s (salesperson) credit, he responded quickly and arranged for me to bring the car in for repairs. The issue was fixed, but the repair took around 2.5 hours, which was slightly an inconvenience since this shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place. Cigarette Remnants: When I opened the sunglasses compartment, I found cigarette remnants! This wasn’t disclosed to me during the sale, and I felt like it was a serious oversight. Here, I’m really starting to question this dealership’s certification process. Detailing Appointment: After sharing my concerns in a review with Toyota and the Sales Manager Alan about the cigarette issue, he offered a “full detail” of the car as a remedy. Since I had his attention, I asked if it would be possible to get the scratches fixed as well considering the circumstances and he said he’d make a note to the service team. I genuinely hoped that they would fix the scratches and that itself would have made me very happy, so I gave it a chance and agreed to an appointment at their Geary location, expecting a thorough cleaning (and also since it was an 8 hr appt). Unfortunately, it was a complete waste of my time. The only thing they did was an ozone treatment, which I probably could’ve done myself at home. The car wash didn’t even fully clean the exterior, and the interior was left how it was when I drove to the appointment. I spent 2-3 hours and $40 on Uber on what was essentially a basic car wash. Overall, I feel like I’ve wasted both time and money. The experience left me with a bad impression of the dealership, especially considering how much I hoped for a better outcome after purchasing a leased Gold CPO vehicle. I would have expected better attention to detail and service after the sale. I’ve attached photos to show what the dealership’s “full detail” is. Please bear in mind that these are just some of the few dirty marks on the car, adding everything would honestly just be super nit-picky. I love Toyota and Lexus vehicles, but I honestly would never purchase from San Francisco Toyota again in the future.

UPDATE:

Alan, the General Sales Manager, reached out and made a genuine effort to make things right. He was professional, transparent, and kept me updated throughout the entire process. The service took some time, but I was provided with a rental vehicle, and my car was returned in excellent condition. (Cleaned, repaired, and with thoughtful extras I didn’t expect.) I truly appreciate the time and care Alan put into resolving the issue. I feel confident working with him on any future issues...

I had my vehicle serviced at the SF location off Van ness on 03/26. I want to provide a thorough step by step on my experience.

I had a 7am appointment. As I got off my vehicle, I stood there, no one making eye contact, as if I just didn't pull up and not in their driveway. Finally, I asked one of the attendants for help and he pointed to Moe, who is the person assigned to service my vehicle. On the consult, he sold me on a Toyota Care plus package bc my car is under 30K miles. This includes 1 Major service and 3 minor services. Given my car is fairly new, I opted for this deal.

The car was serviced, to my knowledge a MAJOR service was performed as part of my Toyota Care Plus package. My car had both the maintenance & windshield light on. This was noted on the notes portion when making the appointment online. This will be crucial for my 1 star rating.

I received a text my car was ready for pick up. When I showed up I received the same treatment, I just stood there in front of Moe, while he then left his desk to inspect a car that had just pulled down from their ramp. No courtesy or customer service to say "I'll be with you in a just a second, or bother to even acknowledge me", so I turned around and asked everyone out loud, if I could be helped. One of the techs on the computer, asked me if I was here to pick up a car, and pointed to their office across. I guess, Moe, ignored me completely and made me stand there like an idiot.

As I entered their office, the receptionist, a woman, just sat there doing nothing staring at the door. I asked her if I could be helped and she asked for my name. She proceeded to ignored me the entire time I was standing there, looking for my paperwork and having conversations with an asian man sitting across from her. So, while they had a whole conversation, I decided to take myself to a waiting area with no instructions, no acknowledgment of my car, or communication of what is going on. I also want to note, this should've been a simple transactions, I paid for the services online prior to picking up my car. A nice option, which deserves a portion of my 1 star review. The asian man later came over for an update, to let me know my car was on the way, because somehow he couldn't say that while I was standing there like an idiot.

On Sunday (03/30), my windshield light came back on. I feel they did not do a major inspection of my car and they only filled up the windshield liquid enough to deactivate the light. This was upsetting because I started to think what other services did they not do completely. My trust is now completely gone, and confident they did the bare minimum on my car. I don't have time to take my car back in due to work schedules, so I had my partner purchase windshield fluid at the store. This was so disappointing.

The only good experience I had was when I got in my car and left...

This is my second leased car from Toyota. This time is with Vanness location. It was a great experience although some hiccup along the way but overall, it was a great experience indeed.

Erick - who is our Sales Rep. He was very helpful and friendly. He helped us find a car with a price that fits our need. We finally got the car that we grow to love and enjoy. We really appreciate all his help and support as well. He is great in customer service too! We talked a lot during the ride to pick up the key and it does not make us feel like we were wasting our time at all. He helped us through the whole process until delivering the key to us when picked up. Thank you so much Erick!

Steven - who helped us do all the paperwork. He is very smiley and helpful. We didn’t have so much time that day and he finally helped us make it happen. He helped us with all the paperwork process, explained and suggested what we needed with the car that could help us use with peace. We finally purchased the tire protection as well. I also agreed that we probably need it in the long run as we don’t know what we will be driving onto these days. I got my first car tire punctured and I didn’t have this protection at that time and it cost me $350 out of pocket to change one tire. However, during the paperwork, the person named Frank called to inform me that there was some system issue that caused the price to be calculated wrong. There was some negotiating along the line but in the end Frank contacted me back to let me know that they will honor and be responsible for the system error on their side. I hardly see that in the corporate world these days how the big company can accept and be responsible for their mistakes and this is impressive. So, thank you both for helping us with all that!

Alan - Sales Manager who contacted me to check in if all the issues are solved and if we finally ended up happy or disappointed. We are very happy with how the team managed to really communicate with every single customers to make sure they are happy and satisfied with the purchase. From GM to Sales Manager and from Sales Manager to the team to work together to find solutions for customers. I am actually very impressed and appreciated. Thank you!

I used to think the target and sales goal are the only thing this type of company care about but they have shown that the before, during and after service are also the big chunk of it that they do care. So, thank you so much for helping us solved all the issues and make sure we are happy with the purchase. And we definitely are!

So, if you are thinking of buying or leasing a car, Toyota will definitely be a great selection for you. And the car runs great so far as well!

Highly...