Dear Mr. Chambers,
I want to write to you to share praise about your service manager, Joseph Rondinelli at Herb Chambers SAAB in Boston.
My spouse and I recently moved home to Massachusetts with the 2004 SAAB we purchased pre-owned (with 8,000 or so miles on it) in 2006 from a SAAB dealership in Western Pennsylvania.
Let me preface this experience with the statement that we both love SAAB products and the uniqueness of the ownership experience. Between us, we have driven many different SAAB models and enjoyed each of them. This black convertible is no exception, but over its time with us, it has proven to be quite a temperamental vehicle.
We were lucky to have excellent customer service in PA at the dealership where we bought our car and were cared for by a service representative who I got to know quite well because of the number of times our car was in service. I learned the importance of a great service representative because of the number of electrical and other glitches that seemed to plague our vehicle (the car would not start at times, the radio/back-up proximity sensors would cease to work, the rearview mirror would clunk, the CD player failed 2x, etcetera). I asked her once to print out the list of warranty work done on the car and it was at least three pages long! However, because of the certified warranty, we never had any cost associated with the work and loved the car, so we chalked it up to part of the experience.
We were lucky to meet Joe at Herb Chambers SAAB. I did not think we would ever find a service representative as terrific as our previous one in PA, but I was wrong. Joe is fantastic! He recently helped navigate me through an ordeal, which without his guidance I would have spent a great deal of money that did not need to be spent.
While in for warranty work, I also asked the service department to look at the rear of the car because there was a scraping noise. I was notified that my rear brakes were metal-on-metal (and the front brakes were 2 – 3 mm). I thought this was odd because I had just had the rear rotors and pads replaced in December 07 and only 17-18 thousand miles ago. I also questioned what was happening because I had not needed to replace the front brakes on the car (with about 42 thousand miles on it right now) and I had always learned that front brakes tend to need to be replaced more often than rear. I was hesitant to do the work (brakes/rotors are expensive) after such a short period of time and sought a second opinion. A brake place looked at the car and said there was more repair work that needed to be completed. I called Joe.
Joe took the time to explain a great deal about the mechanical layout of the brakes on a SAAB and told me about a new service bulletin that was distributed to dealers. He offered to have the shop take another look while I was away on vacation.
Ultimately, when I returned, SAAB had approved a goodwill replacement of my rear brakes and rotors all thanks to Joe’s research and determination to get to the bottom of this. SAAB also approved fixing my roof, which had begun to rub against itself while stowed under the tonneau cover.
I am grateful for Joe’s help and determination to satisfy the customer as well as for his technical knowledge, and I know that I will rely on his advice in the future as I am sure this car will need future warranty work in addition to normal maintenance and wear work.
I love this car, even with its many “little quirks†and I am happy to return to Herb Chambers SAAB and Joseph Rondinelli to help keep it in top-shape.
Thank you for employing such a terrific staff member.
Justin
