Iron Trail Toyota — Local services in Virginia

Buyer beware!

First off, everyone was friendly and very helpful when we stopped in to look at a used truck. The sales guy (Eric Isaacson) had the truck ready and warmed up for a test drive.

Well after some wheeling and dealing we got a little better price on a new 2020. Looking back I think we got the price because they were going to shaft us down the road.

We get the "your monthly payment sheet", and there's a $900 plus charge for a winterization package. When we asked about this, we're told that they add this to every new car. It protects the car from rust and corrosion for 10 years, it's totally worth it!

Well what they didn't say, is that this will void the warranty that Chevy already provides for 3 years. So really you’re paying $900+ for a 7 year warranty that will actually void the warranty that comes with the vehicle.

During the "negotiation" process we asked them to throw in a bed liner, but they said no since they lowered the price. Okay that's fine. I asked for them to throw in some Weathertech liners. The sales guy (Eric Isaacson) talks to the manager and they say if we finance though them they'll throw them in. I said, "if you can match our banks interest rate, you have a deal". Rates come back and they are as good as the banks.

Guess what shows up on the final balance sheet! You guessed it, the weather mats. I asked about this and I'm told they just have to show it added on the sheet but it won't show up on the final tally. Well that's just a flat out lie. It's there in the cost column. Big deal $210, maybe they'll send me a refund check?

So we're doing the paperwork and she (Cindy Babinski) asks if we want to add a 10 year bumper to bumper warranty. My first thought is, that sounds expensive. But I ask how much. She does the calculations and says it will only add about $60 to your payments. It's close to 5k I think, but hey it's 10 years bumper to bumper! Sounds like a good idea, and we can cancel at any time.

Here's the rub! Chevy already gives you a 3 year bumper to bumper warranty, so really she (Cindy Babinski) should have said it's an extension of the already existing warranty. So you're really paying 5 grand for a 7 year extended warranty provided by a third party. You know the ones. They call you on your phone all the time about yours expiring and trying to sell you a new one!

Well we want to cancel the $900+ undercoating, the extended 7 year warranty, and get the dang floor mats!

So we call and talk to the finance lady (Cindy Babinski) again. Well we can't do anything until the paperwork is finalized. (They need the $15k down payment check) before they can cancel anything. Call her after the check we send in is cashed and she says that she needs a copy of the paperwork, the paperwork they gave us, because they need our address or something.

My fiancé called and got this load of BS, so I call back and she’s out of the office. I get the other finance person (Garrett Allan), good dude! I tell him we’ve changed our mind on the 3rd party extended warranty and say’s no problem. I’ll send the paperwork you need to fill out.

E-mail one of the general managers. Never get a response.

Call and leave a message with our sales guy (Eric Isaacson) and the general sales manager to call us back. No call back.

Call again and speak with the sale's guy (Eric). We talk about this $900+ undercoating. He admits he knew about the voiding of Chevy's warranty , but since it's extending it to 10 years, not a big deal. I say we want to cancel it but he says, "since we buy it through a 3rd party, they won't refund us so we won't refund you". Well that's just swell!

They did pick up the truck and bring it up there for the undercoating and floor mats, on 2/5/20. I did have to call 3 or 4 times to make that happen.

In conclusion, we definitely should have read the fine print and asked even more questions. They definitely leave out little tidbits and word things...

I ask what the out the door price. Brandie tells me the price, $1,000 more than what was listed online. She asks me what I was thinking for a price, I come back with a price that was $4,000 just to start negotiating. She tells me that she would let the car go to auction and get their asking price. My wife says that we need to run an errand and talk about it. Brandie tells us they're hours this weekend and to come back for a test drive if we want. We leave to take care of our errands talking about the car, price, basically a game plan. We agreed that we would go back to the dealership take the car for a ride, see how if feels and if it was good we would start talking price knowing full well that the dealership was not about to drop the price $4,000. Jasmine and I walk into the showroom where there are 2 pairs of customers waiting at desks so we start walking around looking for Brandie or anyone able to help us. We were not approached for more than 5 minutes before one of the other customers says with a laugh "There are people that are working here today." A few more minutes pass by before a man, Dean Wolstad, approaches us asking if anyone has helped us out yet. We tell Dean that we were working with Brandie earlier. He proceeds to tell us that he will go get her for us. So we wait some more, probably another 10 minutes before a women comes over and asks us if we have been helped. We tell her that we had told the other man who we were working but still have not seen her come out. A minute later she returns to introduce Krista who invites us to her desk, between the other 2 pairs of customers. We explain that we would like to take the car for a test drive. Krista gathers our information goes into the office to make a copy of my drivers license. Krista returns with Dean. He asks me in a rather assertive way if I was the guy who offered $4K less than sticker price. Yes that is me. "Well that is not going to happen." Dean Woldstad says. My response was "Well that is a starting point to negotiate." "No, I am going to get sticker price for that car. Don't waste our time." is Dean's response. "So you are asking us to leave? Am I hearing you correctly?" I ask. Dean says yes. We get up from our chairs and my wife proceeds to tell Dean that we had every intention of working on the price with Krista however being spoken to in such a disrespectful manner in front of other customers we will be taking our business elsewhere. Dean's response was "Good luck." My wife explained to him that we would find something and would never be back.

Once in the car, we received a call from Brandie, stating there had been a misunderstanding. We explained that there was no misunderstanding, we had come in to test drive the car from our earlier conversation and was told to leave. Afterwards, my wife shared that she was in disbelief that we had been asked to leave when just wanting to test drive a car, a vehicle we would have not issues purchasing if it was the right one. She also pointed out the obvious that when we spoke with Brandie, my wife had said that we would leave to discuss if it was worth pursuing knowing the price point shared by Brandie. When we came back and were connected with Krista, it was clear that Dean felt the need to come over with his chest puffed out to put us in our place and state the way that it was as if we would not have listened to the two female representatives we had been speaking to. If anything, we knew the price point as it had been made clear by Brandi, thought highly of our little interaction with Krista, and all Dean did was ensure that we would never do business with Iron Trail and are ensuring our friends and family don't as well. Many of our family and friends are in disbelief except those that have had experiences with Iron...

My first new car was from Iron Trail - 2013 Toyota Camry. Two weeks later, I bought a 2013 Silverado. Recently, I bought a used Highlander and a new Tundra.

Next to that, upon my recommendation, my parents bought no less than 3 new vehicles from Iron Trail and a friend also bought new because of our high opinion of the company. I'm mid-30's, already purchased 4 vehicles from them and thought this was my "lifetime" dealer. Enter 2019.

In 2019, I bought the Highlander and the Tundra. The Tundra had minor issues with the transaction - it was a new truck. Then the used sale - the Highlander came. I tested and liked it. I asked them to assess my trade while I did the test drive. They told me they couldn't do that. I think, "great - waste another hour of my time today... intentionally!"

After I signed papers (the finance guy was amazing, I will say - the reason for 2 stars) and my new, used Highlander was washed and delivered and I was at least pleased to leave with the vehicle. I plugged my phone charger into the USB hub... and nothing. After my salesman looked at it, they asked that I bring it back in another day and they'll fix for free. OK, a decent compromise except they know I lived more than an hour away. To bring it in meant taking an afternoon or morning off of work. Moving on. After the wash I noticed condensation in the back tail-light. When I brought it to their attention they said that it's a single unit, about $500, and wouldn't be able to fix it for me. Great, so you sold a vehicle about 15 minutes ago, when the issue was discovered you basically told me to F myself. Moving on...

On the ride home, my Oil Notice popped up on the LCD screen. Interesting, I thought. I brought the vehicle back (on a day off) to get the USB port fixed and address the oil change issue. The oil change switch wasn't "updated" when they changed the oil so they clicked a couple things and boom - it went away. Thought I was in the clear for this one but 2 weeks later... oil change notice came back even though I still had a few thousand miles to the next scheduled change. AWESOME.

They plugged a cord into the USB port and my phone started charging. So they said it was finicky and moved me along. Lo and behold, 40 miles down the road, my phone stops charging and the USB hasn't worked since.

Since this experience, I've contacted anyone I've recommended to go to Iron Trail and told them to stop and consider someone else. My "lifelong" dealer is no more. I will not go back. This last experience was enough to erase any positive experience I had.

This complaint comes at about the 1-year anniversary of purchasing both vehicles. I worked with two different sales persons, the floor manager and the finance manager. 5 stars for the finance manager...