Do not buy from these people.  They do not know how to treat their clients and try to scam people whenever they get a chance.  The dishonesty that these people showed my parents, who have been loyal customers of them, indicates that they lack training in customer service. 

In March, my parents decided to buy a Toyota Tacoma truck from Lustine Toyota/Woodbridge in cash out of their TSP savings.   My parents made a partial payment, and also wrote a personal check for the remaining balance with the promise from the dealership to not deposit the check until the TSP money was already there.  Considering that the TSP disbursement money was taking too long, Toyota Lustine threatened that they would deposit their personal check , regardless if they had the money or not in the account.  My parents then decided to take the money out of their personal savings account, where they went and got a Cashier Check from their bank.  They paid off the car and were told that the title will be issued in 10 days and mailed to their address.

21 days later, my parents received a letter from their bank telling them that they had received a title owned by my dad but with the bank shown as Lien Holders , even though they didn’t have any loan on this car and were very surprised by this action.  My dad took the letter to the dealership and the woman, whose name was Danielle, that makes the title informed my dad that in April 10, 2009 she called their home and she talked to my mom asking her if they needed a Lien.  My dad called my mom to verify this and the woman also confirmed to my mom that she talked to her not knowing that my parents where in Panama in April 10.  She told my parents that they were calling the bank for them to release the title to us.

Five Days later, another letter came from the bank mailing the title back to them showing the bank as lien holders with a stamp from them releasing the car to them.

My parents took the letter and the passports to Lustine Toyota on May 22 and asked to talked to the General Manager Jim Giddings and went to explain him the situation, at what he looked very annoyed, then he asked
“So what do you want”

My parents said what they have already told Danielle that they wanted a clean title with no lien, so they were surprised to get another letter from the bank indicating that this had not been done.  Lustine Toyota’s General Manager then went to tell my parents that they have two options:  1. To take the title yourself to DMV and waste 1 or 2 hours waiting or have them do it or 2. Wait two more weeks for Toyota to rectify the mistake that the bank had made.   He kept claiming that Lustine Toyota did not have anything to do with this error but  that the bank  were the ones who put a lien on the truck.

Not only blaming the bank, he kept praising how efficient the employee involved in this incident, and claiming that she was never at fault, but my parents. Even though my parents clearly proved that they were out of the country when this Danielle allegedly called to ask if they needed the lien.  Parents told him that this action by Lustine Toyota has questioned their honesty and integrity and clearly showed discrimination and what he was doing was playing with my parents intelligence. 

As my parents were walking out his office, my mother turn back and said, “By the way we will be writing an official complain to Better Business Bureau  because I believe that this incident really looks like discrimination .”

The General Manager yelled at my mother the following derogatory statement: “NOW, YOU ARE SHOWING YOUR INTELLIGENCE!”

My mother calmly replied, “No, I believe it is you showing your intelligence.”

He yelled back:  “Do whatever you want!”

My parents in good faith bought the car in Lustine Toyota and they took on their own to mistrust, question their honesty and integrity by taking on their own to put a lien on the car.

How can this man represent Lustine Toyota when he clearly lacks the education and professionalism needed to be in this position. Additionally, with the economy being the way it is, and car companies losing business, you would think that they would learn how to treat their customers.  It is definitely an eye opener and I encourage you to find another Toyota to do business with.  As you can see, we are not the only ones who have felt discouraged with this dealership: 

http://www.cardealercheck.com/review/1547.html

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lustine+toyota&vps=1&jsv=159e&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.452734,86.660156&ie=UTF8&latlng=38642135,-77265455,1769659948654353311&ei=HBAbSuagJY7ENoWEjJoE&sig2=oZzd-dlrFzTATtIDVA8hBw&cd=1

http://local.yahoo.com/info-12684179-lustine-toyota-dodge-woodbridge;_ylt=Ai7EMqihe3Eilaxh5V1Y3xiHNcIF;_ylv=3?csz=Woodbridge,+VA

Family Saying Goodbye

Originally uploaded by dreamingindc

In one of my favorite movies “Vanilla Sky,” the expression was said “Just remember, the sweet is never as sweet without the sour.”

The children and I had a wonderful time in Panama. We spent tons of times with the family, and I feel like we got closer to them. I miss them horribly, and I wish I was with them all the time. I wonder how my life would have been if my parents would have remained in Panama. I feel like we missed out on a lot being away from everyone.

They have so many memories together that we only hear but never experience. All I can do is enjoy the time I do get to spend with them.

causeway Panamá

Originally uploaded by Seracat

While I sit here waiting for my family to pick me up to go to the Causeway and realizing that I am getting a heinous heat rash, I am thinking about the five reasons that I am glad that I came to Panama.

1. Seeing My Family – Being that my immediate family are the only one who are in the U.S., I am glad when I am able to return and see the rest of the family who are still in Panama. Also, I am glad that my children are able to hang out with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmother, etc.

2. Visiting the Places in My Childhood – I am returning to all the places that I spent my childhood. It´s great to be able to share that with my children. It makes me kind of sad to see where I spent with loved ones who are now gone, but I am glad that I at least had them in my life to have those memories.

3. Being Able to Escape the Cold – It has been super cold in the DC area, so I am glad that I am able to escape to a place where it´s always nice and hot. Even though I now have this itchy heat rash, it´s well worth it.

4. Time With My Little Sister – I am so happy to be able to share this great time with my little sister who is going to be deployed. Hopefully she feels the same because I am so happy we are here together enjoying the fine weather. =D

5. Able to Think – It is always great to get away and start thinking about what is really important in your life. I have been thinking like crazy and now that I have been away from my every day life, I now understand what I want when I return.