Herb Chambers Complaints or Commentary to the Herb Chambers Corporate Office

At The Herb Chambers Companies we sincerely value your personal experience at our dealerships. Whether you visit Herb Chambers to shop for & buy a vehicle, have your current one serviced or simply to pick up parts or accessories - we hope that you find Herb Chambers’ staff helpful, courteous and professional at all times.

Please use this form to provide feedback directly to the Herb Chambers Corporate Office regarding any aspect of your experience with any Herb Chambers dealership. We appreciate you taking the time to do so and you will receive a response promptly after completing this form.

I want you to know that we value feedback that compliments great service OR highlights areas in which we need to improve the service we provide to you, our valued customer.

Sincerely,

August 11, 2010

Dear Mr Chambers:

I work for a company that has given me a company car for the past thirteen
years, so I have not had to purchase a personal vehicle in all that time.
Recently I have found that I have a need to purchase a new truck. I’m
writing this letter to let you know that you absolutely have THE BEST
Executive General Manager for your dealerships.  If it weren’t for Dan
Bertolussi, I would have purchased my vehicle from Harr Toyota in Worcester.
Last week, I was pressured into signing a contract with Harr Toyota by the
end of the day.  They told me that they really needed me to close by the end
of the night because it was their end of the month and they needed me to
meet their quota. Although I was comfortable with the price that was
negotiated, I couldn’t help feeling like I got cheated out of money on my
trade-in.  I stayed up all night researching the trade-in value of my car
and realized from every site I looked at, that in-deed I did get cheated out
of the full value.

I work in sales for a pharmaceutical company as the Senior Executive Account
Manager for several New England states, and some of the major traits the
company looks for in hiring is a person who demonstrates certain core
values;  a few of these are transparency, integrity, and customer focus.
I’ve been through many negotiating classes and classes to help us recognize
personality traits; with that said, from the moment I met Dan, I felt like
he could be trusted.

I told him about my experience with Harr from the night before and how I
didn’t feel good about the sale.  I told him that I was willing to cancel
the order if he could make a better offer.  Dan was very honest with me and
looked in the book on my trade-in value, and immediately told me what I
already knew, which was that I could’ve got signifcantly more on my car.

I went back to Harr to let them know that I wasn’t happy with their sales
tactic, and that I prefer to deal with Herb Chambers.  Their reaction to my
decision was disgraceful.  First I was told that the deal had already gone
through and it was too late (which I knew it wasn’t).  Second, they
bad-mouthed Herb Chambers by stating that the business has really been
hurting there, because Harr has taken the market share lead and Herb
Chambers is desparate (they then agreed to match the price and take $500 of
more).  Thirdly, they refused to give me the car keys back from my trade-in
(they told me that the sales guy wasn’t in and took the keys home).  It got
heated and the manager ended up miraculously finding the keys.

With all this said, I think you have realized now that I will always be a
loyal Herb Chambers customer, and will never go back to Harr Toyota.  I only
purchased the Toyota Tacoma for one- two years because I’m doing new
construction on my house and needed a truck.  In a year or two, I will be
visiting Dan Bertolussi again for a luxury vehicle.  His honesty and
integrity is what will make me a loyal customer for life.  I have already
told numerous friends about my experience and strongly suggested that they
use Herb Chambers for future purchases.

If you would like any more information about my experience, please feel free
to contact me.

Sincerely,

Michelle

8/11/10

We bought a truck yesterday and I had to write you about an
exceptional employee.  Jeff Moran  was probably the nicest, down to business
car person I have ever dealt with.  No only did he not waste our time, he
showed us a bed covers (on his own truck) and how it work.  He made our
truck buying experience a real pleasure.  I’ve never said that before.  As a
result of his help we are getting the cover and tires from your dealership.
He is a keeper…
Sue

8/10/10

I started working on purchasing a vehicle from HC Honda of
Westborough in early July.  After a lengthy process of finding the exact
make, model and color of the car I’d been waiting for, Josh found one and
secured it until I could come to Massachusetts.  On July 22nd I met with
Joshua Mono of Westborough Honda.  He had just begun a new position in the
financial division there. I spent 2 hours with Joshua, who went over every
piece of paperwork, the warranty options and other … at no time did I feel
pressured, overwhelmed or intimidated by Joshua. His professionalism and
knowledge were both superb.

I was also able to test drive the RAV-4 with Rick Riganese.  He informed me
of the car’s many special features and made sure I was well-versed in the
operation of the vehicle before getting on the road.

On Thursday, July 29th, Joshua personally delivered the new car to me in New
Hampshire.  Again, he spent a great deal of time and patience going over any
questions I had and accompanied me to my town hall to transfer the title of
my trade-in truck.
I want you to know that you are very fortunate to have Joshua Mono as your
employee.  He will go far in your company and I wanted to share personally
this great experience I had as a first-time, and future customer buyer from
Herb Chambers.

Thank you for listening,
Kathy

8/9/10

Greetings Herb:

Last week, we walked into your Toyota of Brighton (Boston) show room to buy
a Rav4. Yesterday we took delivery of the same.

I want to give due credit and compliment the following for helping us and in
some instances going out of the way to help us what we want. Please take
care of them and give them our BIG THANKYOU for a service well done and a
very good customer service

1. Doug Courchesne – Main sales person
2. Paul J Seymour – Doug boss from sales
3. Nathan Piasta – Finance
4. Jennifer Sanchex – Licensing
5. Pat Markey – front desk
6. Tim

The above mentioned are really great to work with and they are the best, I
know of in your company.

Thank you & Regards

Lionel & Prema

August 6, 2010

Dear Herb,
I wanted to let you know of a fantastic experience I had yesterday at the Service Dept. of the Hyundai dealership in Auburn. 

I was finishing up my Meals on Wheels route, right in Auburn, when all of a sudden, my fairly new Santa Fe literally stopped working.  I work for Evercare Hospice and had to get to a patient’s house immediately and was desperate to get there as fast as I could.  I was able to restart the vehicle and barely get it into the dealership.  Within 5 minutes of hearing my concerns (more about my patient than the car), I was out the door with a loaner. 

Within a few hours, the car was fixed, ready to go, and all covered under warranty.  Kudos to Bob Pascarelli and his team!  I did bring them a thank you attached to some donuts, but wanted to publicly tell Herb and all that read this….THANK YOU!

Sincerely,
Melissa

8/5/10

I just purchased a used Honda CRV from Herb Chambers Honda of
Burlington and would like to comment on what a positive experience it was.
This was my first experience buying a car by myself and I was intimidated.
After doing months of research and looking at similar cars online, I was
pleased to find a quality vehicle at what I think was a fair price.

I consider myself fortunate to have worked with Sergio Urquijo to buy the
car. Sergio was a pleasure to work with and I appreciated his approach. I
felt no pressure and everything went very smoothly. When I bought the car he
told me that they would go over the car and make sure everything was in good
working order. I was pleased with the outcome – new brakes and rotors,
alignment, differential service, replaced fluids, wiper blades, a second
automatic lock key, etc. I felt that I was delivered a tight vehicle in good
working order. And I thought that was the end of that.

But then I noticed that the automatic lock for the driver’s side passenger
door was not working and there was a small area on the rear door hinge where
the paint had chipped off. I was nervous about bringing the car back to
address these things because I thought that for sure once the sale had
closed, that would be the end of the good treatment. I was very pleasantly
surprised that Sergio was extremely responsive to my concerns and resolved
everything efficiently. I felt that he was very concerned about making sure
everything was all set and that I was happy with the car.

It was a very big deal for me to buy this car. I am now a single mother and
trying to make ends meet is challenging. For me, buying this used car was a
stretch. I wanted to find a nice, safe, and reliable car that could take me
and my son on many wonderful outdoor adventures, and I feel that I found
one. For Sergio to treat me with the respect of someone buying a fully
loaded, brand new car made the whole experience much better and more
positive than I expected it to be. I hope this car lasts me a very long
time. But I will return to your dealership should the need arise, with great
hopes that Sergio will be there to help me. And I will also recommend him
and your dealership without reservation. Thank you so much.

Judy

August 4, 2010

Dear Mr. Chambers,
  At the beginning, I shall like to commend the quality of attention and
service that I have received at this dealership. I had come in looking for a
3 year old Corolla and walked out with a brand new Prius! All this thanks to
the capability of the people that I interacted with who convinced me of the
technical superiority of the Prius and also the financial wisdom in going in
for a lease and then buying the car back.

  In particluar I shall like to bring to your attention the following
persons.
1.) Mr. Biola Balogun: He is as passionate about his products as anyone can
be. All it took was for him to take my wife out for a test drive in the new
Prius and she was sold. Literally! We had seen the Honda Accord before but
after he explained the computerised controls of the vehicle to us, there was
no question that we were going in for a Prius. Furthermore, in light of the
recent negative publicity for Toyota, we were wary. But Mr. Balogun
displayed no such defensive attitude and instead displayed a faith in his
products superiority. We will certainly remain friends even though my sales
transaction is complete and I will be seeing more of the service managers
that I shall see him.
2.) Mr. Chris Wong: He is indeed a polite gentleman and very accomodating. I
tend to be a hard bargainer and Mr. Wong managed to find a deal that I felt
was value for money. He kept smiling even when I told him that I would take
delivery only a few days later. I find that he maintains a very good team
atmosphere and is very approachable.

3.) Mr. Patrick Allonso: I was struck by his swiftness and mastery over the
financial details that can be befuddling even for experienced buyers like
me. Pat is indeed very consumer service oriented and I am saying this for
two specific reasons. One is that we wanted a very specific number on our
licence plate since we believe in numerology. It tends to get complicated
but Pat kept following up wiht me and my wife till he had a number that
satisfied our wishes. Furthermore, in the excitement of buying the car, I
had forgotten to buy Gap Insurance. Pat accomodated me about 5 days later
and got the paperwork re-done so that I could have gap insurance. I came
down a little heavily on hi for this one but he maintained his polite
attitude.

4.) Last but no least, Mr. Nate Piasta: Nate does not know this but I have
called your dealership twice with very small queries that maybe be trifle.
As accomplished as he is, he had the courtesy and patience to explain even
these minor matters to me on the phone. Furthermore, today he re-did my
paperwork for the gap insurance and I had a very pleasant interaction with
him. There was a financial detail that took 4 explanation attempts for him
to get thru to me and he remained ever patient.

  On the whole, I am extremely happy with the experience here. Being a BMW
Herb Chambers customer, I tend to compare between the two and find that
customers here too get to feel like they are buying the very best cars in
the world.

Best Regards,

Chandrika

08/04/10

To whom it may concern, I bought a 2010 chevy truck from you and
so impressed with Jonh Scola Jr that three months later came back to buy a
2010 chevy cobalt, and come to find out that John had been promoted to the
finance department, and it turns out that it was a perfect fit.  The reason
being is because he amazed me even more.  I can promise that you have a
customer for life as long as you employe people like Jonh Scola Jr, and rest
asured that I will most definately will send every freind and family member
to see him.

Sean

July 30, 2010

To Whom it May Concern:

After writing about my exceptional sales experience last week, I find it only fitting to follow up by writing of my service experience this week.

This being my first BMW, there were a few things I was unfamiliar with and concerned about since the car is so intuitive. With this, I made a shopping list of questions and concerns I had about the car and called the service department. I dropped the car off on Tuesday and was pleasantly greeted by Colleen. Colleen was extremely patient and listened to all of my concerns. She was such a pleasure to deal with because of this. From the moment I walked into the service department from when I picked up my car, she kept me updated on the status and was courteous in doing so.

After my initial visit to service, Colleen set up a test ride with the shop foreman. He was also a pleasure to work with. Often times techs can be condescending if you raise questions that may seem obvious to them but not to the ordinary driver. He answered every question I had and best of all, explained “why?” in a manner that I could grasp and understand. I felt totally comfortable knowing that his expertise was going into the diagnosis.

Again, my hats off to the wonderful service I received at this dealership and I will refer anyone I know who is in the market for a BMW to BMW of Sudbury.

Thank you,
Michael

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Hello, I wrote to you the other day regarding a friend of mine who was having difficulty regarding his “Certified” Honda Accord.

My friend told me that Honda Seekonk contacted him the other day regarding his situation, apologized and asked that he bring his Honda in so that they could perform the necessary repairs – which he did yesterday.

As you and I know, this individual was not treated fairly, but that in itself doesn’t mean that Herb Chambers would make this right. So the fact that you took action to make this “right” I would like to say “Thank You”. I know my friend is grateful as well and I am at least hopeful that he can be treated more fairly in the future when bringing his car to your dealership for future service needs. Again, thanks!

Bill

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Monday, July 26, 2010

Friend of mine was looking for a used Honda Accord “Certified” he looked at the Seekonk dealership but left not able to agree on the price of a vehicle. I was passing your Honda dealership in Westborough and saw a “Certified” used Accord that looked good and seemed to be price right. I suggested to my friend that he should give your dealership another chance and go with me to look at this vehicle even though this location is much farther away (he lives in North Providence, RI). The salesman at the Westborough dealership was willing to work with my friend on this car and my friend did in fact buy it from your Westborough dealership. During this process the question of honoring any warranty work would be covered by any of your Honda dealerships. So now a couple of months go bye (about 4,000 miles) and he is enjoying his Honda Accord however he hears a noise when braking and decides to bring it to your dealership in Seekonk, which is about a mile from where we work. They tell him the vehicle needs rear brakes and rotors – he asks about the warranty – they say it is not covered – however, when buying this “Certified” vehicle he was told that this vehicle had at least 50% or more life on the brake components. My friend does not drive fast, aggressive or in any other way that would cause his brakes to wear out at 4,000 miles. That is not in my opinion the No. 1 problem – the problem is the service department at Seekonk. They told him they couldn’t help him because he didn’t buy the car from them??? He bought a “Certified” Honda from one of your Honda dealerships and they are unable to help him. He calls back to your Westborough dealership and the person there tells my friend to have the Seekonk service department call him for verification etc. so Seekonk can do the work on his car. He then calls Seekonk and they tell my friend they will not call Westborough, have Westborough call them – completely blowing him off. My friend is not an aggressive consumer and does not wish to cause anyone any discomfort however he is not in a position to pay for new brakes this soon after buying a “newer” car, one that was sold as “Certified” and sold for more money than a comparable non-certified vehicle.

This is no way to treat a customer – he did buy a car from Herb Chambers, in my view this behavior wouldn’t even be acceptable if it was about an individual who bought a car not from your dealership.

This person deserves to be treated with respect – he’s not looking for something for free. When the warranty period is over for his car wouldn’t you want him to still bring his car to Herb Chambers for service – service that he would be paying for over numerous years to come?