Herb Chambers Honda in Boston

Oh boy do the Chambers companies suck. Ok here we go. Noah has been calling me for days to come down and check out the Honda Pilot I emailed him about. Well I finally made the long trip to the dealership. First I could not even find a parking spot because of where this place is located. Fast forward, Noah went home and Felicia greeted me and turn me on to a sales man. I forgot his name but he had all these selling awards at his cubicle including pictures of him accepting a award from Herb Chambers. Well he left to get the car I guess. I sat there and waited, and waited, and waited. I never saw him again and he never checked back with me. For all I know he proably went home. So 30 min later I browsed the show room. I took a long look around and noticed a side exit. I went outside and this guy, I think his name was Kevin, was no where to be seen. I then I walked toward my pick up truck and screwed. The place is a joke, workers playing around like it was a high school home room and the teacher was out sick. Place sucks. I hope Noah calls me again so I can tell him off. AVOID, by the way Herb Chambers is a franchise so there are different owners to the dealerships.

After sending a letter to Herb Chambers, I received a phonecall from customer service within 5 minutes. They offered me free oil changes to suffice for my «suffering». This is the letter I sent:
A few years ago I walked into the herb chambers cambridge location. Salesman sold me a 2006 honda civic. He gave me carfax, car looked good– he SOLD ME! I was excited. A month into my finance, some things started going wrong. Went to grab my paperwork in my file cabinet, and realized all the car fax I was originally shown, the information I was provided, and everything I had been given in my folder, had been removed. I KNEW I had those documents. But I also left them on the desk in the showroom when I test drove. Shortly afterward, I then found out at that time, the 11.5K car I had purchased, was KBB valued at 7 grand dealer price. I walked into herb chambers boston, told them my dilemna and was thrown into a 2010 honda accord. My payments increased. But it was ok, it was slightly better than the civic. I have always been a honda fan! Since I was a little girl– my dad swears by honda. At approx 90K miles I knew my warranty was coming up and I didn’t have many options. My payments were at 300, because my civic had rolled over negative equity. Same thing happened with my accord that happened to my civic. No one would help, no one had extra options– I felt helpless. So, I walked into Nissan in Nashua and they took my trade in and gave me terribly Wrong information, and here I am, 29 years old, a new business owner, newly married, stuck in upside down under water negative equity. I made the biggest mistake I could’ve made in my 20’s. And I made decisions based on the information I was provided– that I had no other choice. I had 9 grand in negative equity on my accord. I walked into Commonwealth honda, and again they could do nothing for me. I did internet inquiries, tried to find other herb chambers locations and came across Peter’s Nissan. Nissan sold me on a dream and again, I was swindled by an inexperienced sales person who made certain promises and pitched ideas– that I have now found out to not be reality. I’m screwed. My current car payments are 500 $ my maturity date isn’t until 2021, Nissan is NOT the car I waanted, but I needed something newer and that would last and I needed something that would guarantee to run for several years. Looking back, I am appalled that employees and PEOPLE within the company of Herb Chambers– or any dealership for that matter– can get away with this. I feel like I was taken advantage of, and I feel hopeless with options. I know the nissan dealership has NOTHING do with herb chambers– but looking back– it originated with your company. I miss honda care. I miss the product. I miss the excitement I had when I got in my vehicle. Unrealistically speaking, I know if I could’ve taken it back and dealt with a more honest and professional salesperson, instead of someone callous and vindictive, or if I had been given honest humble information from the get go — I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am currently in the process of reviewing the herb chambers company on Unilocal,and making sure other consumers have accurate information on the type of manipulation and dis-​compassion that can be given to the average every day female buyer. I wish I knew what I know today. And I hope, that in the future, your company elects to higher more honest, caring, devoted, passionate men and women– because I truly believe those are the principles that allow businesses to thrive and allow other human beings/​buyers to feel respected and appreciated. I spent a LOT of money on all 3 vehicles– and financially in the worst possible position that anyone could be in. Your company has broken my heart and put me through a devastating financial bind. I hope that moving forward this never happens to anyone. I am utterly disgusted and at my absolute wits end– and that is the purpose of my message. To make you aware of the experience I had with Herb Chambers. I apologize if I sound forthright or make you uncomfortable.

Sorry for the upcoming novel about why this was a poor experience…
–Emails from two different people at 7:34am and 8:21am, with a phone call also at 8:21am — my communication preferences said email, or phone only after 5:30pm. 8:21 is even before their showroom opens.
–Made it clear that I wanted pricing info by email so I didn’t waste anyone’s time going in if there was no deal to be had. I was at least convinced enough that it was possible, I made an appointment
–At the dealership, receptionist had me write my name on a piece of scrap paper and told the internet manager (Daniela) I’d set the appointment up with that I was here so she could come say hi, then was sent to the waiting area where I got a cup of water.
–Daniela came, with that piece of scrap paper in hand, and addressed me as Mr. [Middle-​Eastern last name]. I’m pale and blonde — don’t remember what exactly the name she used was, but it was not a white man’s name (not trying to be racially insensitive, just relay the fact)
–When she asked if I was there to see the CRV, I said no I want to see the Civic (initial request online had been for the Civic EX-​T) — and she still wasn’t clued in that she had the wrong customer info sheet.
–She introduced me to the salesman, who also seemed to think I was middle eastern and wanted to see the CRV. When I saw he just had someone else’s information on his printed sheet, I said «that’s not me» and laughed it off as an easy mistake. Daniela called back to his desk as he took my real info to let him know, in case he hadn’t figured it out by then.
–While he was copying my license, I noticed the body language of the other sales reps sitting there waiting for customers. They didn’t want to be there at all.
–Back in front of the dealership, got a quick rundown of features. I had also asked beforehand about heated seats (one of the main reasons I’d requested info on the EX-​T instead of EX). It was 20 degrees and windy, so even if I was looking at the LX that would’ve opened the door for upsell — but they didn’t even mention the car I’d actually asked about.
–Zero effort. I had to bait him into even thinking about offering me a deal. He asked me what I wanted to do after we sat back down following the test drive. If I didn’t want to talk pricing, I would’ve just left. I told him I wasn’t in dire need of a new car, but if I got a good deal I had my checkbook and title (for a trade) with me.
–Their special was $ 58/​month for the LX. I said I was hoping to spend around $ 100/​month, and he went over the down payment, fees, etc. that would’ve brought the LX to about a $ 5,000 initial payment — he didn’t seem to think there was any way I could do it, and I said a couple times that would be fine.
–After going back and talking to his manager, he came back and just said nope we’re not going to consider anything. Heck, he could’ve tried to downsell me and get me in the LX. If you’re not even going to talk about a car with the one feature I specifically mentioned wanting, talk about something cheaper (LX) that wasn’t much of a step down from what I drove (EX).

I had a similar experience as others here. The service department is very poorly run. I made an appointment for 8am for a simple oil change, when I arrived they were not prepared to take their schedule appointments and were shuffling cars out of the lot. Myself and about 10 other cars waited to be let in until about 8:20. After gaining entrance to the shop I was the 4^th car placed into the line. I handed off my keys and was told it would be an hour. This is longer than an oil change should take in my opinion especially when I had made an appointment for first thing in the day hoping to be in and out quickly. I waited 2 hours watching other people who had gotten in after me come and go while I continued to wait. I was finally called paid and continued to wait another 20 min for my car to be brought around.
I will not return for service again, and when my lease expires will be taking my business else where. With services like true car taking most of the guess work out of buying a car the only thing left for a dealership to make an impression is service and with the «service» herb chambers is providing I will chose to take my business elsewhere.

The lack of customer service, knowledge of vehicles and overall rudeness on all levels is astounding. From the front desk, sales manager, to finance manager, I could not get a direct answer if the car I was interested in was available, the financing terms were vague at best and when I put a down payment to purchase the car there were hidden fees that they were trying add to get more profit. This has been by far the worst car buying experience I could have imagined.

This review is for the Honda service department.
1. Staff was incredibly rude. Not at all helpful when I walked in for my first visit ever. The woman at the desk was looking at her cell phone the entire time.
2. I had scheduled an oil change for 5pm which I was told would take an hour. After 90 minutes I returned to be told that the woman who had taken my case had left for the day. The woman at the desk seemed baffled then annoyed that she had to actually get up to find out what happened with my car.
3. It took a full 2 hours for a simple oil change. I’m never coming here again. Prime Honda in Dedham takes 30 minutes and the staff is amazing. I’m going back to them.

I wouldn’t recommend this place to people even if they were giving out their cars for free. I have never left this place short of being completely pissed off. Honestly, I can deal with the creepy salesmen who have no semblance of professionalism and flirt with me and make me extremely uncomfortable but what I can’t deal with is their incompetent customer service. Since I’ve had my car, which I am leasing, I’ve had to go back for an oil change twice. Both times they ended up taking 4 – 7 hours longer than they told me. The second of these two times I thought it would be smart to drop off my car before work at 8 am and come pick it up after 5 pm. It would have to be ready you’d think, well these impressive «agents» managed to keep me waiting in their filthy waiting room for another hour. Another thing that I thought was appalling is that from the day they handed me my keys, the key fob barely worked to lock & unlock unless I was standing less than a foot from my car. I put off going back and letting them know, because I didn’t think that my blood pressure could handle going back there for some time. I went back when I got my first oil change and told them about this. They charged me $ 10 for a new battery for the key fob which I wasn’t even going to fight them on because it’s $ 10, whatever. This «new» battery didn’t make any difference, and when I went in for the second oil change I told them about this and the female assisting me, I hesitate to call her a woman, told me that I should have said something sooner and that I’ll have to pay for a whole new key which was around $ 100 I believe, and she also indicated that they don’t test the keys when they first give them out. I’m sorry, is that my fault that you do a half ass job? I suggest that the employees stop snacking and filing your nails while you’re «working» and that management have a mandatory customer training course quarterly, because clearly their initial training isn’t sufficient. Looking forward to the day when my lease is over and I drop my car off here, and never go back.
Also, just look at the selfie of one the employees on this Unilocal page… Need I say more?

This place is great if you just want an oil change. Do not let them do anything else to your car. I can’t tell you how many times they did a service that didn’t need to be done or didn’t do a service that shortly after the car was inspected had to be done somewhere else. In a lot of cases it was an emergency repair that they should have caught during inspection but did not.
Again, it’s fine for an oil change but always have a second opinion on maintenance.

Horrible customer service. I bought a car about a year and a half ago, they only gave me one key, and although I should have made another they are not willing to help me out all. this is horrible customer service. I work at an auto dealership myself and I know how things are supposed to operate I will never buy a car from those people again. Stand by your word.

As is the case in many businesses, the quality of my experience was completely dependent on the people with whom I worked. Caroline reached out to me after I expressed interest in a pre-​owned CRV that had recently dropped significantly in price. She made sure that I was only interested in that particular car, and not any Honda in my price range. Surprisingly, I was never pushed to look at another vehicle once I made my preference known.
Dewayne immediately took me for my test drive and explained that he didn’t want to waste my time if I didn’t like the car. I respected the fact that he wasn’t going to try and talk about financing or anything else before I saw the car.
Luckily, I didn’t need to negotiate financing terms because I already had a loan. When Dwayne broke-​down the tax, tags and fees, I expressed my disappointment in how high the document fee was. Luckily, I had researched what types of fees to expect before I went to the dealership. While he couldn’t lower the fee (dealers are not required to charge the fee, but once they charge one person they have to charge everyone the same amount), Dewayne added $ 100 to my trade-​in to cut the overall price.
I was not especially impressed by being forced to wait an hour between agreeing to purchase the car and being able to sit with someone to sign the paperwork. It seemed a bit ridiculous to have one person in a huge dealership that was able to let me sign the paperwork. Once I did sit, I had to listen to the guy try to upsell a bunch of additional services. Luckily, once I firmly declined any add-​ons, I was not pushed to reconsider.
Once I got my car two days later, I noticed a couple of problems. Dewayne brought me to Robert in the service department, who was great. I was able to leave the car with them for a few hours, so they balanced my tires that day. I also scheduled a day to drop the car off to have a couple of tiny chips in the windshield treated so they didn’t spread. The CRV was priced well below market value, and I assume the windshield was part of the reason for that. I didn’t mind that the chips were there, I just wanted them treated.
I picked up the car later that day and they had replaced the entire windshield! All of the repairs and maintenance was done completely free-​of-​charge and I was never made to feel like I was making any unreasonable requests.
My experience purchasing my car was much less stressful than I was expecting. Yes, there were annoying parts and frustrating parts. Overall, however, I was pleased with how smoothly everything went. I was especially impressed that they replaced my whole windshield without charge or complaint.

Today has stunk at Herb Chambers and before I would have recommended them. I got here and the service lady didn’t let me finish my description of the problem. Then they couldn’t find a record of the battery their salesman had promised me he put in back in January. They sent me to sales to get confirmation and of course the salesman no longer works here and they sent me back to the service department which again said they never changed the battery. Ok. Then I come back four hours later never having received a phone call and my car is parked in front. I am still waiting to talk to a service representative.

I’m very disappointed with the customer service at Herb Chambers Boston service department. My expectations for Herb Chambers have dropped tremendously. First, I’ve been having the same issues with my check engine light since February 2015 and the service department has done a poor job assisting me. I paid a lot of money this year at this establishment. Herb Chambers had me waiting for a week before telling me what was wrong. I wasted time from work to rectify this issue. Guess what, the problem still existed up to yesterday when I decided to go somewhere else.
I’ve purchased three cars from this dealer. When I buy my new car this year it will not be with Herb Chambers and I will not be using their service center. I’m a dedicated customer and I deserve better.

Eric Poulson was very helpful when I went in to get my Civic Coupe.
As someone who really hates coming to buy cars as a result of past bad experiences, he helped me get the car I wanted on a plan I felt comfortable with and I was able to get a pretty decent price. I was even able to get Lo-​Jack. The customer service here was great all around. The parking lot can be pretty tricky at times but usually isn’t too bad if you come later in the day. I forget who my finance guy was but he was great too. I came back a week later for my inspection sticker and was in and out. I was able to get a quick bite at Soulfire BBQ while I waited and they called me when it was ready!

Where do I begin! Before I start, let’s just say that yes, all of the previous Unilocal reviews which rate them as 1 star are absolutely correct. I went into Herb Chambers today in order to physically inspect a 2009 Honda Pilot which was for sale. I have been eyeing the vehicle for approximately two weeks and the price dropped to an attractive price and I walked in check in hand from DCU ready to make a deal.
Upon entering the dealership I proceeded to the customer service desk and informed the young lady there that I wanted to take at look at the above-​mentioned vehicle which was for sale. After hearing our interaction, an individual who’s name I did not get approached me and stated that he was going to show me the vehicle. Without going into details, this guy has the worst and I mean I would write another word which rhymes with a woman’s breast and ends with a tty, attitude in the world. Apparently, there was some confusion as whether the vehicle was still for sale as I guess another perspective buyer was eyeing the same vehicle. However, rule #1 in sales, everything is for sale until the someone has either left a deposit or has paid for it!
Long story short, this guy didn’t even want to show the vehicle! Didn’t talk at all and I even asked him «Hey buddy, do you want to sell a car?». I mean damn! I literally told this guy that I have been watching this car and noticed that they dropped the price twice and I was ready to buy because the car was attractively priced for a Honda Pilot. All he had to do was act like he gave a damn and stop acting like I was wasting his time which was the easiest part.
You know it’s a damn shame when the car salesman doesn’t even want to make a sale. Complete waste of time and truth be told, I would have paid asking for that damn car. Even though I wasn’t 100% sold on the blue interior.
Truth is, you get what you pay for as the Herb Chamber Lexus in Sharon is like being in a Ferrari Dealership in Beverly Hills!

My initial impression starts when the parking lot requires I feed the meter — no problem. Walk into the main entrance where 2 people are talking & on their cell phones, no greeting or smile — no problem. The place isn’t busy, but no hello or asking if I needed help — odd.
For 20 minutes, I walk around an extremely unorganized indoor showroom & limited outdoor selection. Used & New are mixed among each other. After finding the model I’m interested in (20 minutes) outside, I ask to see a salesperson.
The salesperson is the 1^st to say hello & greet me after being their guest for 20 minutes in the dealership — maybe things will get better. While outside, I saw an HRV that had specs I liked, design I loved & a $ 10k lower price. I inquired but was abruptly told I «wasn’t going to be getting an HRV because they were selling out.» — problem. I tell him I’m interested in an Accord Hybrid & spend another 15 – 20 minutes of dealer foreplay & forfeiture of my license, email, phone & almost blood type. Test drive on a stop & go road & return to the dealership.
I sat in the chair asking questions regarding offers, finance & all other costs I should know. In rehearsed fashion, there were few direct answers and when presented with what my payments would be (after he went to finance), he came back with full MSRP! I wanted to ask if there was a banana sticker on my head for them to think I’m a complete sucker to pay full retail on a color I repeatedly said I didn’t want.
The dealer was up & down from his desk a lot, leaving me sitting there wondering why my time was not of Honda’s concern while he did whatever he was doing. While he was gone, a very upset customer who had recently purchased from this dealer was venting her displeasures to another sales rep at the far left back desk — that removed trust!
Finally the sales manager introduced himself and was willing to help me get another color or something other than the 1 black one in stock. He was also willing to lower prices closer to other dealers for the exact car. Seeing a car is something I’ll be stuck with for a few years, I wasn’t going to sign & drive from this 1^st & very unimpressive visit & came close to having a revival in the dealership so that they could know the many error of their ways.
I’m thinking the Herb Chambers «name» is one to avoid when it comes to car buying!

I took my car to their service center with the spare tire on and a shredded flat in the trunk. They have this weird and long check in procedure. I had to wait in a waiting room for ten minutes to talk to someone who actually didn’t know anything about servicing cars to find out that it would take 2 hours before a technician could look at my tire.
Give me a break! How hard is it to check if they have a matching tire in stock. I only went there because we bought the car there so I figured they would have a matching tire in stock. We went down the street to Firestone and were in and out in under an hour.

Don’t go to that place. They overcharge customers comparing to other dealers. Our car spent over 3 hours for (oil change, air filter.) and they charged us over $ 300. They never called after our car was done and they ignored us (we were standing in the dealer, asking for help), really worst customer service.
I went to this place few months ago and it was not like that. I don’t know what happened. Now all what they care about is getting more and more money from.
Bad customer service and they overcharge.

5 stars for Hudson Charles, 2 stars for Herb Chambers.
I decided on getting a car and looked around the area. Google brought me to Herb Chambers Honda in Boston. I walked in with no intention of buying anything; I just wanted more information. When I first walked in, the salespeople didn’t swarm me and weren’t intimidating at all, but still attentive and approachable. I started looking around and went to Hudson Charles. He was very friendly, personable and informative, and seemed to understand my situation. He ran a credit check and gave me quotes on leasing a new 2015 Honda Fit LX. I said I had to think about it and I didn’t plan on buying anything for another month. He let me know that he would follow up with me in a few weeks, which he did, but was not insistent or pushy; he honestly wanted to know where I was with my decision.
I was able to ask him over the phone a list of questions I had been saving up over time (Do you offer free oil changes? No, but there are promotions all the time. Can I get the graduate discount of $ 500? No, because it only applies to students who have graduated within 2 years or will be graduating within 6 months (neither of which applied to me). Can you throw in some all-​weather floor mats for free? Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem). He was very helpful and informative throughout the entire process. Other reviews were bad because of the salesmen, so I guess I was lucky I got Hudson instead of someone else. He seemed really down-​to-​earth and understanding.
After some research I found a cheaper quote from Honda Cars of Boston up in Everett, MA. I called Hudson again and he said Herb Chambers could match their quote, and continued to keep my appointment to meet with him again. By the time my appointment finally rolled around, I was confident that I was going to take an hour or two to sign some paperwork and pay for a brand new leased car. The quote that Honda Cars of Boston gave me needed to be verified, which he did, but said that the payments would be about $ 14 more than what I was expecting to pay. I tried to negotiate it more and Hudson went to get the General Manager to see if anything could be done.
The General Manager was a completely different personality than Charles and, ultimately drove me away from the deal altogether. First off, he said the price the other place had quoted me probably didn’t include the all-​weather floor mats. I said well, if your price does include the floor mats, then I’d be paying for them myself, anyway; you wouldn’t throw them in for free like you said you would. Secondly, he kept writing down random numbers on a piece of paper and doing incorrect calculations to try and confuse me. I’m no math major, but I could clearly see that he was doing everything wrong and the numbers he was giving me didn’t make sense.
The General Manager and Hudson left me to think about my decision. The GM came back and said that «we might have a problem. Apparently Honda only allows you to put down no more than 20% as down payment.» The car is about $ 17k so 20% they figured would be around $ 3.3k or something. That would make my payments $ 144/​month, which is completely outrageous and WAY more than I was expecting to pay per month, and not even what they quoted me in the FIRST place. They first quoted me down payments of $ 0, $ 1500, $ 3000, and $ 4500. The more money you put down the less your payments are, so I was planning on putting the most amount down (preferably more than $ 4500) so my monthly payments would be a lot less.
The GM put his hand out to shake mine and I pretty much walked out. Hudson flagged me down a few minutes afterwards and told me that he was upset with his manager «because if the other guys are able to get your business then we’re obviously doing something wrong.» He wanted me to keep him posted on my decision in the future.
I took the $ 22 Über ride to Honda Cars of Boston, met with Justin who gave me the quote I was promised (or close to), paid for the car, and was out of there in 2 hours.
TL;DR: Hudson was amazing and doesn’t deserve to be working at Herb Chambers.

Can I give 0 stars? This is the worse dealership I have ever been to.
Nobody looked at us when we walked in, after 30 minutes of walking around looking at cars some guy finally came over to ask us what we want. He showed us some cars and sat us down to provide pricing. He wrote down the models we were interested in, excused himself to go get pricing (I guess he’s not qualified to quote on his own) and vanished… After 10 minutes of waiting we saw him just standing there looking for his manager or someone to provide him with a quote. We told him we need to go, gave him an email address to send us the quotes.
Guess what we still didn’t get? The quotes!
What we did get was an email from their Biz Dev manager asking how they did. God, I hope they fix this place or they won’t be in business too long… Until then– go elsewhere. Your money and time is too valuable to be treated this way. Find a place that makes you feel like they value you. This isn’t it.

I have been taking my cars here for years. Their parts and service center was always the best. They have always had kind, very knowledgeable service representatives and have always done a good job fixing my car.
If this review was written 5 years ago it would be 4 — 5 stars.
When I bought my car from Ernie Boch it needed a clutch bracket. I suspect that they did a crappy job fixing it, and 2 years later I was driving my 2003 Honda Accord to Herb Chambers Honda to look at the clutch again.
Herb Chambers confirmed that the bracket was broken again, but also insisted that I should get a new clutch as well. «How much will that cost?» I asked. $ 2700 USD! They then proceeded to insist that they did not feel good about letting the car leave without the clutch being fixed.
I asked for a breakdown of the price of the clutch:
14 hours labor (at $ 100 an hour, I think)
$ 1300 parts
Here is what is really wrong with the new Herb Chambers:
After they told me about the clutch they told me that ALL 4 BALL JOINTs needed to be replaced. However, the car had been inspected THE WEEK BEFORE, and Massachusetts checks ball joints specifically during inspections!
…
This means that either the guy (with a service station of his own looking for service) missed ALL 4 BALL JOINTS or Herb & Co. are lying to create unnecessary repairs.
Another thing is the obviously inflated quote for the clutch. Here is how much a clutch kit costs on Amazon (about $ 200 — $ 300 as I write):
…
This means that they mark up their parts 300%. Okay. Lots of places do that, but it is still too much markup on an expensive part. We are not talking about a CUP OF COFFEE!
Here is what really made me mad:
I got the clutch fixed elsewhere for about $ 850. I was charged about $ 300 for parts and for 6 hours labor. Herb LIED about it taking 14 hours to remove and install a clutch so they could CHARGE PHONY PRICES!!!
They act as though they are performing open heart surgery :(
DON’T GO TO HERB CHAMBERS ANYMORE!!!
UPDATE:
I had to Drop this review to 1 star once I verified that the ball joints were still good. The Mass RMV inspection station got it right and my new mechanic confirmed. Totally disgusted by Herb now :(… been driving for over a year with them!!!