Absolutely appalling!

An absolutely appalling experience! Barlowworld Toyota Menlyn – downright abhorrent! We saw a vehicle we wanted advertised on autotrader by Barlowworld Toyota Menlyn. The car was to be for my wife – we are new parents. My wife is on maternity leave. It started out ok – the salesman brought the vehicle to us. On the spot I said we would take it and my wife would like to finance it. We advised our situation – that my wife was on maternity leave, inconsistent salary while on leave etc. We were advised not to worry – F & I would assist with applications and options. We were also advised we could run the first debit 60 days after purchase so even more so this should not be an issue This is where things went downhill fast. It was back and forth – resending and re-explaining payslips etc Eventually we got feedback that the banks were not interested in financing due to a month or 2 of inconsistent payslips due to this leave. We did however also supply proof of employment and proof that she was going back to work on her full salary from August. While, we do understand to a large degree this is out of the dealerships hands – the service we received was nothing short of disgusting. While my wife spoke to the lady from F & I she received an onslaught of excuses and an argumentative attitude. When my wife spoke back, she simply passed the phone back to the salesman and refused to address the issue. When my wife simply asked why we weren’t advised prior to the applications that this might be an issue we received rude, nonchalant and argumentative responses. I then asked for a manager to call me. The salesman then called me back to put F and I back on the phone. This seemed to be an attempt at an apology, however all that happened is that she continued to make excuses for her rudeness and again handed the phone back to the salesman – basically putting the phone down on us twice I then eventually got to speak to a the DP. I advised my dismay. He advised he would get someone else from F &I to call us. This was done. We were advised there may be another solution for my wife to get finance due to the nature of the situation. We advised we would give feedback the next day as we would discuss and we might just do the finance under my name. That evening (Thursday 4th July 2019) I got a whatsapp message from the salesman that the vehicle has been sold by his colleague without his knowledge - how this is even possible I will never understand. Surely standard practice would have been a courtesy call to enquire if we were still interested and to be advised there was other interest in the vehicle? I called the DP again this morning (Friday 5th July 2019) to explain what had happened and he advised he would investigate and call me back. As expected….not a word so far at midday. One would think this could have been escalated. I have no words for the utter disgust I feel towards this all.


Regards, Peri

I just spoke to Ivan van der Westhuizen - Used Vehicle Sales Manager His response was all he can do is apologise. I asked why I was being apologised to instead of calling the new buyer and explaining it was a mistake.

His response: no he can’t, it’s sold and it was miscommunication between departments.

So basically their mistake must be our loss and not even attempt from them to remedy this. On top of which I don’t think this was a mistake or misunderstanding as they have our application for the vehicle. Ivan then said to me if I am going to raise my voice, he going to hand up the phone. It seems to be this branches policy to act *********ly and then to not actually deal with anything or take any responsibility and simply hang up the phone.

Well done Barloworld Toyota Menlyn!

A truly jaw dropping expereince! Regards, Peri