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,

January 5th, 2011
Herb Chambers
259 McGrath Highway
Somerville, MA 02145

Dear Herb:
I am glad to say that I am now a proud member of the Chambers family of car owners. I have to confess that I thought the experience of buying a car was similar to going to the dentist, necessary but painful. I now tell everyone about how wonderful it was buying a new car from one of your dealerships. I know this sounds like a commercial, (which I would be glad to volunteer to be in). It really was a great experience. Starting with Neal Bocian, who directed me who to talk to, Dan Bortolussi, the GM who was quick and responsive, Matt Newhouse, the Finance Director, who was pleasant and professional, Dan Garney, the sales consultant, who took all the time to explain every detail of the vehicle to me.  Everyone was great.
There were the big things, like offering the best price and my best trade in offer, finding the exact car I desired right away and getting it to the dealership. There were the small things, like filling the tank up with gas, offering me hot chocolate while I waited for the second wash after my test drive got the car a little dirty in the snow. Having a documentation fee lower than other dealers. Taking three forms of payment for the vehicle. These benefits, everyone being so friendly and helpful combined with the fact that I really love my new Hyundai Elantra has made the whole experience very pleasant and exciting.
Thank you for the leadership that created such a positive experience.

Sincerely, Your Loyal customer,
Robert

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

12/17/08

Dear Mr. Chambers,

Thank you for your prompt response.  Mr. Bortolussi did contact me and made arrangements to take care of the situation.  It was resolved quickly and to our satisfaction.  We are both very happy and relieved.  Thank you so much for your assistance in this matter.  Mr. Bortolussi did a wonderful job.  I now know who to call if we run into any problems in the future.

Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Kathleen and Pat

____________________________________________________________________

12/16/08

I have spoken to the customer and apologized for the issue she had.  We are picking up the vehicle tomorrow at her place of business. We will be getting her new plates at the RMV, putting a sticker on her vehicle, making a duplicate key and will have it back to her before she leaves for work.  She and her daughter are very satisfied with the outcome.

Thanks,

Dan Bortolussi
General Manager
Herb Chambers Toyota of Auburn
Herb Chambers Hyundai of Auburn

____________________________________________________________________

12/15/08

Dear Mr. Chambers,

I am writing on behalf of my mother who purchased a car from your dealership approximately 2 weeks ago. My mother wanted a Toyota Rav4 and I suggested we look at the Herb Chambers dealership as my husband and I purchased a mini cooper from your Boston store and were quite pleased with everything.

We have been very disappointed with the service we have received since purchasing the vehicle. It began when we were waiting to be called when the registration was ready to be picked up and to get an inspection sticker.
We never received that call.  After 5 days we called and were told it was in fact ready.  My mother brought her car in, picked up the registration and was denied a sticker due to and issue with her license plate.  The service department told her they would contact her to pick up her car and take care of the problem at the registry and get her a sticker.  We are still waiting for that phone call 11 days later. I have called 3 times to find out what is going on and finally was told today that the dealership would not be doing this. We need to take care of it ourselves, which is fine except it is contrary to what we were told originally.  I also expressed my displeasure with the salesman, Renel Plymouthe.  He was not concerned and did nothing to rectify the problem. He stated that I would need to talk to a sales manager if I was unhappy. He didn’t even offer to transfer me or have him call me. He told me to call back and ask for Jeff Moran.  I did this approximately 5 hours ago and am still waiting for a return phone call.
Which has been the problem all along. Nobody will call us back. I also requested a second key for the car and was told that we would have to pay for it. I suggested that their customer service was seriously lacking in this sale and the least they could do was to give my mother a second key.

I feel terrible that my mother is in this predicament because of my recommendation and that is why I am writing to you on her behalf. I believe that you would not be happy with the way we are being treated.

I thank you for your prompt attention in this matter.

Sincerly,

Kathleen

11/8/08

Hello Herb,

Wanted to tell you how well my purchase went after receiving your email and speaking with Dan Bortolussi. His intervention turned things around and made the transaction a delight. Adam Tremblay was extremely helpful and his professionalism was a breath of fresh air. My vehicle arrived a few days earlier than projected and Adam did everything possible to ensure that the delivery to me went smoothly and without any delays or problems. Jason DiPietro handled the final paperwork promptly and most professionally.

You should be quite pleased and proud of your management staff, they stepped up and saved a deal that was about to go south. I do want to thank you for your intervention and kind assistance.

Regards,

Donald

___________________________________________________________

10/20/08

Dear Herb:

As a past customer of Toyota of Auburn dealership, having purchased a 2007 Camry Hybrid in April 2007. In July 2008 we received a message from the dealership asking if we might be interested in buying a 2008 and trading our 2007 towards it. We returned the call several times, but received no call back. Finally in August, we stopped by and spoke with a manager and a salesperson. We arrived at what we thought was a deal to trade our 2007 in along with $3,200 for a 2008 hybrid with the same features as ours. We were told that there was a vehicle due in for late September, which had supposedly been ordered by another customer, but we were going to get the vehicle (even though it had a sunroof, which we did not have on our vehicle). We signed papers and gave a deposit of $500. I lined up a new car loan with my bank, expecting to close by the end of September. Near the end of the month I received a call from the salesman, telling me the vehicle was slated to be in by the end of that week or the beginning of the next week. I prepped my bank to be ready as well as my insurance agent. I then got a call from the salesman apologizing and telling me the vehicle was going to someone else (presumably the person whom had ordered it). At that point I was quite annoyed and my wife was furious. We informed the salesman that we wanted our deposit back and that we’d go somewehre else.
WE then received a phone call from a manager (Adam Trombly) who suggested that they could swap a vehicle for the 2008 Camry Hybrid that we had wanted (color: dark grey) with your Bsoton dealership, and that he expected we should be able to get it by the 3rd week of October. We asked that he put this in writing, sign it and fax it to my law office, which he said he would do. Based upon his representations, we agreed to leave our deposit in place for this vehicle in late October.
The fax that was sent to my office was an inventory summary for the vehicle and a copy of our deposit check, not what we had requested. Later in the ensuing week I called to speak with Adam about this but was told he was on vacation and when I told the young lady I spoke with what I was looking for from Adam, she told me she would have that paperwork done by the “swap manager” and faxed to my offcie by 8PM that evening. Needless to say, that never happended.
When Adam returned from his vacation I called him to ask the status of the vehicle and was told he would check with the “swap manager” and get back to me. Didn’t happen either. I called him last week and was told by him that the vehicle was expected and that he would call me back with either good news (the vehicle was in) or bad news (the vehicle wasn’t in). Well, that didn’t happen either. I called him today to tell him that if the vehicle was not coming in this week I wanted a return of my deposit monies. He told me he needed to speak with the “swap manager” and asked if I would hold for a few seconds so he could check with him. I was put on hold, then a few seconds later I was disconnected. When I called back I was told that Adam was in a meeting with the “swap manager” and would be done around 10:30AM. I informed the fellow taking the message that I needed to hear from Adam ASAP when he was done or I’d want to pick up my deposit funds and go somewhere else. Well, as I write this lengthy comment it is 11:15AM and I still have not heard a word.
Guess I should have listened to the ad and called Ira or gone on down to see Ernie, Jr., which is what I plan to do as soon as I get my deposit funds back.
Don’t think you’ll see my business ever again.

Donald