First off, I live in WA. 286 mile round trip drive...

First off, I live in WA. 286 mile round trip drive to get to Portland. The ONLY reason why I would travel this far was for the Prius Prime which they will not be selling in WA and I have been dreaming of since roughly March. I'm willing to write Toyota off all together after this. I know that one person not buying from them won't change much but maybe posting my experience will help others.

I made an appt online Sat to come in Sun and test drive a Prime that they had. Less than 20 minutes later I started to receive the junk e-mails and calls that dealerships LOVE to send you when you say you are interested in a vehicle. I ignored a call from the sales rep Julie. Her voicemail said (Quoting directly from the voicemail, thank you Apple) Hi this is Julie calling from Toyota of Portland. I did receive your chat in about a Prius Prime we have here. It looks like you're going to be coming in tomorrow around 12. Well I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. If I do not get a hold of you today please give me a call back my number is [She says her # here and I'm not hateful enough to give that out]. Again this is Julie calling from Toyota of Portland thank you so much and have a good day bye-bye "

SO my question to you, reader, is that if you received that message you would be under the impression that you have an appointment with Julie the sales rep the following day at noon to test drive a Prius Prime, correct? Keep reading...

I called Julie the next morning to confirm my appointment and that they still had the car (I'm not unreasonable, I know vehicles can sell at random). The office didn't answer. I called Julie directly, with again no answer so I left a message saying that I will be in at noon.

Upon arriving to the dealership I was informed that Julie was out because of snow. Also, I wouldn t be able to test drive the Prime because it has not been cleared by the service center and has no oil. Needless to say, I was upset. I can understand if the car has to be inspected before it is allowed on the road, no worries. But don't send me on a 5 hour adventure! The salesman (who was really apologetic and very nice I wish I would have gotten his name. Long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail) said he could drive the car around front for me to look at. Hmm.... it's out of oil but you'll drive it around front?

I saw the car and feel that if I were to have seen the vehicle in a better mood I would have placed an order that same day. Being in a foul mood made me only really see flaws in the car (not that I could inspect it that well, it seemed like I would have gotten the salesman fired for even sitting in the car).

Today, I received a call from Julie. With no notes in my appointment, she wanted to make sure everything went smooth. She said Sunday is her scheduled day off so she was not able to make it in. WHY WOULD YOU MAKE AN APPOINTMENT FOR A SUNDAY IF YOU KNOW YOU HAVE SUNDAYS OFF?? Spending several minutes on the phone I came to the conclusion that she is an arrogant sales rep who needs to learn several key points of customer service. Admit when you made a mistake. Say you re sorry. Try to make it right. That is what customer service is all about. I have a customer service job too. I'm human, like Julie, so I also make mistakes (though hers certainly appears like an intentional mistake since you should know your days off and schedule accordingly). The difference is, when I am wrong, I admit that I am wrong instead of saying "I did everything on my end that I possibly could have done for you. No, Julie, you did not. You could have scheduled me for a day when you are at work. That would have been the very LEAST you could do.

I told a manager at my local Toyota about my experience and he said he will advise his staff not to refer WA customers to Portland Toyota for the Prius Prime. Salem Toyota will be receiving their business.

It's just a classic case of bait and switch. I had never even heard of this saying before posting about my experience with Toyota on social media. Sales reps like Julie give the good ones a bad name.