One of the assumptions of modern consumption is that if you buy something you don’t like, you get to return it. You also assume that the salesman isn’t going to write your wife’s name on the bathroom wall and say she willing to have sex for money. Both of those assumptions, and more, proved not true for Mark when after he bought a Prius from Toyota of Naperville, IL.

It’s bad enough that the salesman, Jim Gentile, committed outright fraud on Mark’s car financing. But then after Mark complained and tried to return the car, not only was he subject to more bilking and his efforts rebuffed, his wife started receiving lewd phone calls from people who said they found her name and number on a hooker website. A phone trace revealed the phone numbers harassing Mark’s wife belonged to one Jim Gentile.

When Mark called the dealership to confront Jim, he found that Mr. Gentile no longer worked there. He worked for Pontiac and was promoted to manager.

A warrant is out out for Jim’s arrest for phone harassment and disorderly conduct but Mark’s thirst for justice is not slaked. He demands restitution from Toyota Corporate.

Anatomy of a sleaze bucket, after the jump…

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[Ed. Mark’s letter is too long to post in its entirety, so we’re just printing the parts that have to do with the harassment.]

After trying to return his car and being told by the manager to “get that car off his lot” before he called the tow truck and had it impounded, Mark reports:

“I received a call on my wife’s phone, the number was blocked. A man with an east Indian accent asked if my car was for sale claiming “there was a web site for losers who could not pay for their cars” and that my name was on it with a Prius for sale. The voice would not state their name so I hung up. This was the first of MANY bizarre calls surrounding our purchase.

During that month the content of the bizarre blocked incoming phone calls changed. They used to be at random times with the same male “east Indian” voice claiming to be Toyota corporate or Toyota finance, the calls were about paying for the car. Some were threatening, saying if we did not pay for the car we would lose our house at 1088 Heritage Hill Rd (that address is an apartment). The newer calls were directed to my wife Angela, the voice said there was a website stating she would have sex for money. My wife was absolutely horrified and demanded identification when none was given she hung up. These types of phone calls kept coming in, each one more disgusting than the previous.

The nasty phone calls continued at random times until April 21st when my wife received 5 blocked incoming calls in 1 day. All of them were sexually suggestive and vulgar in content. We called the Winnebago Sheriffs and had an officer sent to our residence to file a report. We had a sneaking suspicion that Jim Gentile was the person behind the telephone voice. The call about losing our house in Naperville came after we had moved to Rockford, but our phone number and old address were on paperwork filed with Toyota. The officer took some information and suggested we file charges for harassment and disorderly conduct. We went down to the Sheriffs office and filed charges, we waited the 48 hours necessary to complete filing a charge, then we finalized it. Monies from tax return allowed us to finally retain a lawyer. After discussing the case with the lawyer he said we had a clear case of fraud. He was intrigued by the phone calls and stated that it would be interesting if we could find out about the phone calls and Jim Gentile.

“We subpoenaed our phone records since phone representative said as long as the phone was answered by a human, the calls could be traced. The records could only be obtained for 45 day prior to request. It took a few days for the information to come in; when it arrived we went over all the numbers. The records showed two different numbers repeatedly calling Angela’s on April 21st. We did not recognize the numbers so we called each as a test. One I called was answered by a male voice, I asked if this was Bob and a familiar voice said that I had the wrong number. I quickly asked if this was Jim, the voice said “yes this is Jim”. I hung up and tried the other suspicious number and listened to a message stating “this is Jim Gentile; I’m not able to answer…..” Now I had proof that it was our Toyota salesman harassing us over the phone through a course of over four months. He had obviously been reprimanded or possibly fired over his fraudulent actions. I called Toyota of Naperville and asked for Mr. Gentile. They said “he no longer works here he was promoted and now works for Pontiac”.”

“I deserve some comeuppance for mental, physical, and monetary stress including destroyed credit which is a direct result of a soured business dealing with Toyota Motor Corp.”

“As of June 14th, 2006 Winnebago County States Attorney Issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Gentile for phone harassment, and disorderly conduct.”

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