Herb Chambers complaint, commentary & update

21 08 2005

A lot of you have IM’d me, e-mailed me, and a few brave souls have left comments here about issues you’ve had with Herb Chambers. For those of you who don’t know the history, I’d gone through a series of issues with Herb Chambers a while back with my Infiniti. After getting a very unacceptable con job from their service department, I was subsequently ignored, passed around, bullshat, blown off, lied to, then ultimately made fun of by the staff there.

In Herb Chambers’ response to my letter (authored by their executive Jeff Wilson), they smugly denied any responsibility and referred to the fact that I’d blogged it for “lack of something better to do.” Jeff even enclosed a convenient printout from my blog, with the relevant text circled. I appreciated this not only because of its usefulness as a tool for following along, but also because until he did that, I’d never seen one of my own blog entries printed out before.

But I’m sure Jeff meant it all in a nice way - after all, he didn’t know about the DigAtari 2600, and probably thinks Google Cred is some kind of pizza. Nor is he aware of the fact that I sometimes eat hash brownies and hide in a cold dark basement and write in my blog over stolen wifi. (The fact that no one reads it makes me feel much safer saying so.)

The thing is, I thought I was all alone in here, all by my creepy pathetic blogging self, then suddenly I’m dealing with gobs of inbound traffic via search terms like herb chambers infiniti and finding myself in the top handful of results for almost any relevant term one might use when researching their BBB-decal-displaying organization. All because I had time between my Warcraft tourney and masturbating to Lord of the Rings videos to jot a note in my cute little diary.

I had planned to take legal action against Herb Chambers Auto Group if they didn’t offer to make things right. I really didn’t care about the money. It was about the way I was handled and treated, and the poor quality of service. But with no time or energy to pursue anything more formally (much too busy surfing for ceramic cats on ebay), I had let the matter sit on the shelf since March.

And over that time, I have noticed a constant hum of feedback from people who’ve found themselves in various pinches with the Herb Chambers group, with issues ranging from sales tactics to warranty service.

And having just, late last week, received word from yet another person who read my blog and actually decided to take their Saab purchase elsewhere, I realized that my blog is having a much greater impact than any legal action would.

The latest customer relayed to me that when he called the salesperson to call the deal off, the sales guy said, “are you going to believe some guy on the Internet, or are you going to believe me?”

Perfect.

“Hello?”

Viewing 358 Comments

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    I worked for the HC Companies for a number of years in several capacities. I must say that I like the interaction of dealing with the public, however my experience with the company is less than desireable. I beleive that Herb is an honorable man, however is not really trully aware of the actual goings on within his dealerships, or in many cases he turns a blind eye to what makes him money, I suppose this is what happens when one becomes a billionaire.
    The dealership that I worked for did not drug test until after an employee was hired, and in many cases if they failed they were allowed to re test until they passed. They were supposed to conduct background checks and driving records, however about 50% or more had either no driving license or a felony record or both, this was routinely overlooked. Employees that were fired for drug test failures were rehired, employees fired for forging customer signitures on legal documents were rehired. Employees were routinely harrassed and verbally degraded by both managers and co workers, and this sort of behavior was commonly allowed. The working hours were ungodly and employees had no life whatsoever, if you wprked there that was to be your life, and if it was not you are blackballed......so sad but so true and so happy to be out of there. Herb or Jim if you read this please take a long hard look at your operations especially your GM's I won't say which onesm just look long and hard
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    I've been out of the Herb Chambers Toyota location working in the BDC for about six months now. I have my life back and it feels good. In my new position I get off work at 4:30 and have my evenings to devote to my personal life and my weekends. The pain and anxiety of being there is gone. It's like being delivered from evil. Looking back the worst part about being there was having to work with this die-hard HC devotee named CK. He really knew how to get over in that culture. He was a total phony. He looked upon the customers as a commodity. He lied to get them into the showroom. Treated the rest of us in the department like we were a virus and only thought of himself. The ironic part was he was ripping off the company too. We got paid for bringing people in. Not much by the way. I don't know how much he made but they gave me $400 a week, $5.00 when the came in, and an extra $10.00 if they bought a car. I'm black and CK is white. I was floored when this black guy working at Honda told me he only made $300 a week. What CK would do every day was steal as his own walk in customers. No one questioned him. He tried to steal one of mine which is how I found out about it.. Between the time the lady first came in and when she purchased, she'd gotten married and had a name change. Not knowing she was really my customer, CK tried to steal her from me and I caught him. They didn't do anything about it. I'm a competitive person but I like a level playing field. I could never do better than CK because I refused to cheat and lie. They loved him like he was the second coming of Christ. Once when I honestly reported the reaction of a customer after following up, they wouldn't let me do it anymore. The sales manager accused me of trying to make his salesmen look like a bunch of idiots. He zeroed in on me like an heat seeking missile after that to the point where every day took one more piece out of my pride. Eventually, one day when he was going to drop the boom on me for the umpteenth time, I literally ran out of the side door and never went back there. Now I bump into a lot of the people I trained with on the street and none of them are there anymore. Like me they are happily out of that rat's nest. The only good thing I can say about working there is that my supervisor, Brian Jung, was one of the nicest people I've ever met and worked for. A real professional and a gentleman. I'm sure one day he'll come to his senses and find a position where he can make as much as he does there without having to sell his soul. CK will probably never leave. He's got his racket so fine tuned that he probably can't make an honest living anymore. One day I went into the lunch room to find one of the salesman crying. He was so hurt that he couldn't go to church because he had to work every Sunday. He was a nice guy too. I felt so bad for him we prayed together right there. I wanted to comfort him. Some of these guys have families and can't just run out the door like I did. They're the ones I feel most sorry for. Like another salesman who told me his wife calls HC "prison time". His job there separated them to often. He couldn't wait to be "released". The real shame is it doesn't have to be like that. I survived.
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    I will make this short annnnnd well not so sweet. Herb Chambers is all about money, always has been always will be. But to his defense he is the president of a corporation and the main function of a corporation is to generate revenue. But now and them these COE's and V.P.'s lose sight of who got them to where they are, we the customers did. Herb not only has lost sight, he is friggin blind, he has no regard for people whatsoever, consumers, employees, competitors he will do what he can to win his little game of fame and fortune. He makes himself appear to be such a wonderful person but the fact is his employees have no life and we the customers suffer from their poor attitudes due to the burnout factor. I have to laugh when I see the Chambers stores open on EVERY holiday except Christmas and Thanksgiving, oh wait they were closed on the fourth of July as well gee what a great guy...lol. I must admit I do not know the man personally and I am sure that he is a genuinely nice guy but he should take a note from the Tasca family and realize that people have families and holidays and Sundays are important to these families. Do not get me wrong it is not just Chambers but too many of these big auto groups have totally thrown away any value to family and that is a shame in todays society.

    Now for my buying experience, I purchased a vehicle from one of the luxury stores in the Chambers group and all I will say is what a nightmare, I should have ran but I did not. I HAVE NEVER seen in my life what I witnessed at this dealership, the GM was in the middle of the showroom swearing and screaming at one of the sales people to "get the fuck out". I was absolutely shocked by this and my sales person was beyond embarrassed, and I did feel bad for it was not their fault. I went about my purchase and a couple months ago went back into the dealership for service and what do you know, the same GM swearing at a customer to "GET THE FUCK OUT". It seems this is the extent of his vocabulary, I assure you I will never set foot into that location again had I been that customer I would have knocked the GM out. I am not sure why herb would surround himself with this type of person but once again it must come down to money. I guess the "get the fuck out" guy must be a great GM for him for I Have found out he has been with Herb for years. I assure you that you would NEVER experience that type of behavior with the Boch, Balise or Inskip auto dealers. I could go on for hours but what's the use things will never change just felt the need to warm the public, before buying from Herb try some of his competitors and then compare. Do your homework, and do not get sucked into that extra shit they try to sell you. lastly I think we all should not buy cars on Sunday's and holiday's so that we can get the employee's of these dealers some sense of life back.
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    Thank you for that comment. I didn't read your entry before I wrote mine. I'm Mr. Morris. It is so true. Christian men who love the Lord have to almost sneak to church on Sunday and if they come in late they get read the riot act and are threatened with termination. Men with mouths to feed. Like the guy I had to pray with in the lunch room. It's good to see a customer who is sensitive enough to recognize that this is going on there. They tried to make me work like 3 17 hour days over one holiday. I told them "no". One of the days was my regular day off and I was taking it. They looked at me like I just kidnapped the Lindbergh baby. (I know I'm giving away my age but being over 50 is not a birth defect) Your comments are right on!!!
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    I found this site while looking for a used civic for my daughter before I actually set foot into a dealership. I went through it. Went through the car process. Then, decided to comment back here:

    So I walked into a store the other day to make a small household purchase. The place was confusing. I couldn't find what I was looking for, and when I asked a person who worked there they gave me an answer with an attitude (talk about friendly service!), and sent me to the garden center rather than where I needed to get to. Half an hour later, I found what I'm looking for and found the check out lanes. I waited, and waited, and believe it or not, waited some more. Finally, after listening to my kids tell me how tired they were and didn't want to wait anymore, I reach the cashier; who, by the way is having a side conversation about her and her ex boyfriends latest fight. It made for a terrible afternoon. With that said, all people who work for this store state wide (or further if it goes that far) are morons, incompetant, and I will NEVER buy from them again.

    Point of the story? Things go wrong. In stores, large buisnesses, banks, and... ready?... car dealerships. With the amount of people that walk onto those floors everyday, it's bound to happen once or twice. People also tend to rant and rave more about bad experiences over good ones. I know I do. And granted, sometimes you have to in order to get someone to deal with your problem. But, going into how horrible every employee is? Seriously, come on. I hated buying my last car. I got treated the same way everywhere I went. What do you want? A civic. How about this instead? No. Great financing! No. C'mon! No C'MON!!! No..... etc. etc. Boch did a great deal of that, and honestly, I got it at Herb Chambers as well. The thing is... it's there job to try to get us to buy these things. That's how they make a living. That's how they support their families.

    Lastly, so that this doesn't become too extended, I read a lot about the sales people who post on here to be lying, (which clearly they are), but who's to say some of these posts aren't from a competitor trying to make Herb Chambers look even worse and/or adding fuel to the fire? Sometimes you need to jump in and do something for yourself to see if that was one of the few bad experiences or not, rather than just going by some on-line posts. Just my two cents to all those who read this and are planning on buying a car in the future.
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    I have had nothing but good luck with Herb Chambers in Boston on Commonwealth Avenue. My husband and I are each into roughly 4 cars with then (leasing and buying) through the BMW dealership. We have become lifelong customers, as they have treated us so well there. Sure, there are sometimes glitches when you pick up a new vehicle, but they do their best. They accept ownership of issues/problems, have been accountable and do whatever they can to accommodate us and rectify anything. It is the first place I have ever gone where the car buying experience has not been a nightmare, and I look forward to doing business with them. I also trust them. It is a very busy dealership, and everyone is working hard. I highly recommend them!
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    I previously posted on this site to warn others of how business is done at Herb Chambers Honda in Westboro, and I have to retract that. After posting on this site I received a call from the general manager that night to address my problems. He promised to make it the easiest car buying experience ever and he did. He introduced me to the best salesman Rick who has been more than helpful. They gave me what I deserved for my trade and further reduced the price of the car. They helped with student financing and with my out of state plates. Rick stayed on top of the DMV to get the job done. Rick also did a great job of explaining the car to me which was not previously done. All I can say is not every salesperson is going to be great, but there are some people in this organization that care and want to do business professionally.
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    Wanna have some fun? Go to the Jeep dealership on 114 in Danvers and try to buy a car. Always three or four salespeople outside smoking their brains out and too busy to help you. When one of them approaches, you can smell the odoeur of stinkin' smoke and they like to get close enough to breathe on you. Real comfortable! Once was enough for me. The dealership in Salisbury is pretty good. You pretty much get the bottom price right away and they're friendly. Amazing!
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    I brought my car to Herb Chambers to be repaired after an accident; and after 90 days now they still can't fix it. They cannot get the power sliding door to close. They have replaced everything in the door three times and still nothing. I have called corporate five times and have never received a call back. Even when I tried to trade in the car, they tried to take advantage of me. They quoted me a price and when I went to sign the finance forms they tried to pull a fast one on me. They said that since they gave me such a good price on the new car, that I was not eligible for the 2.9 financing. If I wanted the special financing I would have to add $1500 to the price f the car. So I ended up walking out of the dealership. Now I cannot get any manager to call me back. The only person who has been any help was the service rep. He seems to understand my frustration. I finally had to get the Attorney General involved to try and resolve this issue.
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    Re: Comments from (Former HC Employee (11:31:19) :) above.

    My father worked for Herb for a very short time. Every thing stated is exactly what he experienced as well. I can vouch that those statements were not written by a disgruntled employee looking to get even with Herb, they are TRUE.
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    Anyone listen to Jay Severino promoting the high regard for buying a car at Herb Chambers? Apparently he has an inside track for being treated unlike the ordinary customer, since all he does is rave about their superior ethics and quality of lovefest that goes along with buying a car at one of the Chambers outlets. Well, I went into Flagship Motors buy a Mercedes E500 4matic, and I wound up walking out. Arrrogance in wrinkled Marshalls suits parading around as though we are non existant. Anyway, I did buy one in a NH dealership for a great, no haggle price and the service has been top notch. Thanks, Herb.
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    I bought my new 500 mercedes at flagship motors only to find out it had been damaged during transportation to the dealership.I drove around the parking lot to find that a company called Chips Away was spray painting it outdoors in a tent in the rear parking lot of the dealership.The temperature outside was less than 20 degrees.I called Lynnfield town hall and they told me that Herb Chambers does does not have an auto body permit and that he circumvents the law buy subcontracting it out companies like Chip's Away..Chips Away website boastfully claims they have never lost a law suit ..come to find out they are run by a couple of lawyers...had i known in advance of consummating the purchase of this vehicle that it was damaged behind my back,repaired behind my back in a "third world" tent i would have taken my business elsewhere..do not be fooled by the "state of the art" dealership buildings because your car could be the next to be repaired in a tent ,without any disclosure to you..this was an $85,000 car!!
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    at herb chambers "we don't steal from you"we're just helping you unload your wallet"
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    In all fairness, Kelly Blue Book is not an accurate representation of used car values. The market changes DAILY, as gas prices soar diffrent vehicles values change. People are trying to trade-in their large V-8 and V-10 trucks, the market is flodded and these vehicles are worth FAR, FAR, less than KBB lists. For a fair assesment of a vehicles value look at Manheim Auto Auction or in your local area ie. Lynnway Auto Auction. I used to work for Herb and I agree with alot of the comments here, I wouldn't send my worst enemy to visit his dealerships, but, facts are facts.

    Former Flagship Employee
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    Today I went to Herb Chambers Honda in Westboro. I had the worst car buying experiences of our lives. The salesman under priced our trade in by $2500 of the Kelly Blue Book value. Beyond that I was pressured into buying a car without knowing what the APR would be...crazy! The salesman based my tentative monthly payment off of a "range of APRs" that he later divulged was around 9% which did not take into account my good credit. When I decided to leave the dealership the salesman told me I was cheap and would continue to be cheap the rest of my life. Overall this was a despicable experience and even if they do decide to give me the deal I wanted I will not purchase through them.
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    Has anyone sucessfully negotiated the "smart price" ?
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    Let me just start by saying that this site is somewhat of a legend in the Herb Chambers community, when i was working for the company at Honda in westborough we were threatened with our jobs if we were discovered to have even gone on this website. I have to say that this is an impressive thing to see that so many people have had issues with the company and been treated so rudely. Rest assured though what goes on behind the closed doors in the sales office is much different than what those bright smiling faces on the showroom present. I have seen first hand how people are really treated in the auto world. This was the first job in a dealership for me and most definately the last. I was disgusted at how ignorant and rude the salesman and managers were. Watching the sales guys come in laughing and bragging about how they just tricked so and so into buying their new honda for $xxx over msrp, and how the guys would make crude comment after another when an attractive woman would come in. But what made me the most sick was the racism that went on there how every single person right up to the sales managers including Mike Kelley, Gregg Vitello would refer to the Indian or other Arabic Customers as "Butt-as's" (refering to a phrase they would often say) and mocking their accents making fun of them in the backrooms. This was rediculous I could not beleive that this was allowed and tolerated. I thought this was something that was only going on at my dealership but after going through training and seeing the other dealerships it was no different. The unprofessionalism within that company is horrible. I could go on and on about the shum in the backrooms of Herb Chambers dealerships, not to mention i even purchased a vehicle through the company and it was a complete nightmare! I even worked there iand it was a mess, they tried to rape me on pricing tack on these extar b.s. fees like I didnt know what was going on, I didnt even get a set of spare keys they told me I would have to pay for them. But anyway thats a whole different story I may post that one some other day, but bottom line is 90% of the people who work in sales at this company are not your friend, that smile is fake, and yes they are taking advantage of you and making fun of you in the back room, so whatever car you buying dont buy from Herb Chambers they are sleezy people, and p.s. do ALL of your home work before buying a car find out the invoice and the net pricing and fight it to the penny because there is plenty of room to play and they will milk you for every dime!
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    I just found this site----it's "GREAT"---nutty customers,nutty employees,it's
    some of the funniest reading I've ever seen.

    After saying that, I too woud like to share.

    I recently went to Braintree Ford to purchase a Mustang GT.I had the pleasure
    of meeting BOZO THE CLOWN,better know as Scott Lewis.

    Mr. Lewis is the GM---I call him BOZO not only for his looks,which are very
    close to the real BOZO,but for the way he destroyed the wonderful feeling I had
    about purchasing my dream car.

    I can't explain how aloof this man is-----he really thinks he's important--he's a car salesman for god sake.He gets paid alot of money and he ruined what could have been a sale.I could spend hours explaining what it was like--
    like so many of you have--but it is easier to say,I WON'T BE GOING BACK THERE AGAIN------------EVER.

    Thanks for listening,
    Car-buffed
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    I recently checked into purchasing a pre-owned vehicle from Herb Chambers Saturn of Warwick and I must say, I have seen some badly run businesses in my time, but this places takes it to a whole new low. First things first, my salesperson Bob pretty much tried to bully me into buying a vehicle which I was not the least bit interested in. I believe the term "grinding" could be used to describe his sales tactics, boring me to death with non-stop double talk and nonsense in the most monotone voice I have ever heard. After suffering through several hours of his torment, I was directed to speak with the general manager, who seemed more like he couldn't even hold a job at Burger King, much less manage a multi-million dollar dealership. I found myself wondering if he had wandered in from the local methadone clinic or perhaps escaped from a mental institute. As he stared at me blankly with his bloodshot eyes and stuttered incoherently I felt as if my attempt at purchasing a vehicle was too bothersome for him to worry about. I was utterly disgusted by my experience and instead purchased a vehicle from Flood Ford a few miles down the road and was very pleased with the treatment they give to their customers.
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