Herb Chambers Honda Commonwealth Avenue

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What a horrible experience I had when purchasing my 2016 Accord from Herb Chambers Honda in Boston. I should start off by saying that I purchased a new 2003 Accord from them (I still own it -- it has 74K miles on it) and my experience at that time was excellent so I thought I would go back to them for my new purchase. The salesman was pretty clueless and I was treated like a dumb@$$. During negotiations, I was trying to get them to lower the price and we were doing the (really dumb) thing where the salesman goes to the manager and "presents" my offer and then they counteroffer. So at one point the salesman asks me "So what is the price that you will agree to buy this car today?" I threw out $23,500, knowing that was a very low price, but if they agreed to it, I would buy the car. So the salesman goes to the manager and after a few minutes he comes back to the desk and says "Wow - I think the manager is having a brain aneurysm -- he agreed to your price!" Needless to say I was thrilled, and we shook hands. Then he has me sign some paperwork and takes it back to the manager but returns after a few minutes to tell me that a mistake has been made -- the manager thought the car was a 4-cylinder, not the V6 and my offer has been rejected. Huh? Didn't everyone agree to the price? Wasn't there a handshake? I'll bet you that if I had agreed to a price and shaken hands on the deal and then tried to back out, they would have pulled out some video of the handshake and told me I had to go through with the deal (there are video cameras throughout the showroom and negotiation desks area. Anyway, we go back to negotiating and finally agree to a price (yes, it was higher than $23,500). So I ordered a couple accessories -- a rear deck lid spoiler and some upgraded tires/rims. So the manager tells me "You need to pay us for those items now," which I was surprised at. I asked for clarification and he said that since they are not stock items, I will need to pay for them before they can order the car (so in addition to the $500 deposit on the car, I would pay for the spoiler and tires/rims. I asked how much the deposit needed to be and the manager told me $2500. So I paid the $2500, signed some more paperwork after getting confirmation that the car would be ready for pickup the following Saturday, and left. So that Friday I had not heard anything about picking up the car. So I called the salesman and he doesn't have a clue. So he calls me back and tells me that I did not pay for the accessories and therefore the car was not ordered. Huh? But I gave them $2500 as a deposit -- the exact amount the manager told me was required to order the car. Total chaos. It took an extra week for them to get the car, plus all the headaches with transferring the title, etc. I must have had at least 50 phone conversations with different people at the dealership about the purchase. It was so aggravating. Oh, and I was paying cash so there should have been loads less paperwork and agita than usual to seal the deal. When I finally picked up the car, the person I was dealing with was going over the "extras" and we agreed to a couple items - one of which was a 100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty that was with Honda. But after all the paperwork was signed, I discovered that it was a 75,000 warranty and it was not offered by Honda but by some third party that I never heard of. Overall a very poor experience. After I got the car my wife and I were discussing how long she would drive my old car (the 2003 Accord) before getting a new one and she said "Hopefully for two or three years but whenever it is, there is no way I am shopping at Herb Chambers!" So there's that. I would not recommend anyone buy a new car from them -- just a horrible experience. I haven't even gone into all the bs I had to put up with on the phone, how they would not give me info on a breakdown on the charges (for example, cost the of the car + tax + delivery fee + whatever else). I was told that's not how they operate. I always felt like I was being cheated by these people and I was always scared that I was being taken advantage of. When I took delivery of the car, before I signed that I had received it, I checked under the hood to make sure the car was a V6 - I really thought they would try to get me to sign for a 4-cylinder car instead of the one I had ordered. There are LOTS of Honda dealers in the Boston area. My next Accord will be purchased from one of them!

The service was fast and the service rep provided me with a coupon. This is the best Honda service location around because they are very professional and don't try to sell you service/parts you don't need.

I was not looking forward to buying a car, but Herb Chambers put me at ease. There was no sales pressure at all, they have a non-negotiable price (like Saturn used to advertise) which is already their best price (and below Kelly Blue Book in my case, due to other factors). I actually enjoyed buying my car from them, and would use them again.

The price my associate Brian gave me was very close to the cheapest price I could find online, although it ended up slightly higher (only $10) due to 'system quoting error'. I didn't insist on a price adjustment. The overall service was outstanding. I live pretty close by, so I dropped the car (10 mins), continued the day doing whatever I needed to do, and picked it up (another 10 mins).
Oh and they washed and vacuumed my car for free.

The experience was a very good one. I arrived just as they opened (7 AM) and was served within 5 minutes. The service technician listened to my requests and actually talked me out of what he thought was unnecessary service (replacing cabin filters). The car was ready when promised -- and what a surprise to find that they had actually washed the exterior and vacuumed the interior at no cost. It was a completely stress-free experience, very different from the ones I had at the dealership where I purchased my car.

Great

Over the past 20 years I have personally purchased 5 vehicles from Herb Chambers Honda. If you add on vehicles purchased by Family members and close friends, it totals more than 8.
I have always recommended Herb Chambers both for theirsales, and their Service Department. That has all changed. I noticed things were going down hill a few years ago when Howie Reske the General Manager of the Sales Department left. The experience my Husband and I had when purchasing his latest vehicle back in 2011, although not horrible, was definitely not the experience we had been use to when Howie Reske was Manager.
Then the Service Department started to go. First the long time Manager Paul Dineen left. Then the Service Representatives began leaving. All of a sudden the whole atmosphere changed. But being a loyal customer I thought, okay, most people don’t like change, I will stick it out.
Well, the final straw was this past Wednesday July 3, 2013. I brought my 2010 CRV in for Service because the Air conditioner was not working. The Service Representative Susan Moore was wonderful. She was pleasant, knowledgeable and crossed her fingers with me that the A/C would be covered under a Honda extended warranty due to a malfunctioning clutch.
The good news was the vehicle was covered and I only had to pay 149.00 for the uncovered Service. The bad news was someone stole my IPhone USB wire out of my vehicle. Now I know things like this happen. The cost of the USB wire is all of 19.99.
But that is not the point. One of the Representatives from Infinity offered me his, but I have an IPhone 5 not 4, (that was very nice) and the Manager of Service stated she would give me hers but she, too had the 4 not 5. Again, that was not my problem. My
problem is that I left my vehicle to be Service by Herb Chambers and SOMEONE STOLE something out of my vehicle.
The Manager informed me that she would review the tapes and
see who worked on or touched my car. That was on Wednesday. Today is Saturday, and I still have not received a phone call. No phone call to see if I replaced my USB wire, see if they could reimburse me, apologize for this happening –
NOTHING !!!!!!!!! I guess I was not that important of a Customer.
I will never again recommend Herb Chambers Honda. I will take my business elsewhere. Loss
of a customer and recommendations all over a $20.00 item. This is sad !!!!!!!