Don Brown Chevrolet

Popped into Don Brown Chevy on a whim to see about possibly buying a Spark & was lucky enough to be paired with salesman Jeremy West. Jeremy showed us two cars fitting my request, one was not right, but the other was perfect. Did a quick test drive, fell in love & started the buying process. Jeremy gave me 1,000 off as a first time Chevy buyer & Jerry in finance helped me get another discount by signing up for a credit card. Quick process, great rate & an overall excellent experience. Thanks guys!
Update — so things have taken a bit of a downturn regarding the overall experience. Can’t take anything away from Jeremy, and I wouldn’t, he was very helpful and I don’t regret buying the car. What I DO regret was thinking for one minute that anything that Jerry the finance director was saying was anything but bs, The whole ‘sign up for this card and you’ll get $ 500 was a complete fabrication. Now, when I ask about it, Jerry is laying on the «you must have misunderstood» line and trying to make me feel guilty for following up and that maybe my stupid ladybrain just didn’t understand. I should have known better and guess I’ll think about this next time I’m in the market for a car. Just FYI — there is NO $ 500 Credit Card check deal and they will make you feel ridiculous for ever following up. Jerry claims to be «looking into it» but I truly doubt I’ll ever hear back from him. I’m hoping to move on from this bit of ugliness and just enjoy my car but I’m bummed about how negative this whole thing turned.
I still want to leave a positive review for Jeremy and if I ever hear back on any of it, I’ll update again,.

I used to bring my car here for all maintenance, and I have not had the disastrous experiences described by others on here. Their labor costs are higher than some, but I feel the mechanics are more knowledgeable and trustworthy than many nearby competitors. They have never screwed anything up, although the delay to get an appointment can be frustrating. They will transport you to/​from home or work (within reasonable mileage). I also had to get my vehicle worked on due to a part recall, and it did take months for the factories to get enough parts made. The staff has done what I feel is all they can to take care of me, including replacing a defective door handle at no cost to me outside of the warranty period, as many cars with the same handle had the same issue. During my past experiences, I have never encountered rudeness or bad customer service.
I have not purchased any vehicles from this business, so I have no basis upon which to review their sales team. For oil changes and tire issues, I have opted to take my car to other establishments, as they often are faster and more affordable.
The biggest cons are higher labor costs and needing to wait a while before you can get an appointment.
3 stars is A-​OK by Unilocal standards

Was very impressed with the customer service and the efficiency here.

I called Don Brown Chevrolet to have my first oil change and this is oil change only and they don’t have any opening until next Wednesday, really for an oil change? You must be kidding me! Maybe because first oil change is free you so you have to wait!

I called to schedule a recally repair on my car. The receptionist was extremely friendly and the dealership was able to book my appointment for a week later. That was perfect for me because it gave me time to arrange alternate transportation to/​from work.
Dropping it off is a cinch. You pull into the garage, get out, and check-​in. Easy enough.
They called the same afternoon, around 3, to let me know that the car was finished. Unfortunately, that was my late night working, so I had to wait until the next morning to pick it up.
Getting the car back was the same story. Very nice, courteous staff all around.
I like that my 21-​point check came back without any recommendations. My car has a fair amount of mileage on it, so I was expecting there to be something. The fact that there wasn’t anything indicates to me that there is honesty with the office.
The only negative thing I can say is that my parking space hang tag disappeared after our service, but I think it was mistakenly thrown out with the service hang tag. No biggie since we were able to get our pass easily replaced.
I would definitely consider bringing my car back here for service since the location is convenient for me and the service was great!
I think the previous less-​than-​stellar reviews were probably due to bringing cars in during recall high season. My notices were almost expired, so maybe that’s the difference.
Maybe I’ll give them a look for my next car purchase ;)

I’ve tried making an appointment online at least a week in advance but every time I book one, I receive an email from Emily stating the” time and date are unavailable” and to respond to her email with alternative dates and times. I replied to her once asking what was their availability and she never responded back. Anyways, so after the third time trying to book online, I decided to call this past Monday, praying they will have an open appointment. Mondays are my only weekday off day as I work during the day Tuesday-​Saturday. I was happy to hear they had an appointment available at 2:15pm. When I pulled into the Service Center there was four cars in the garage. One of the employees asked if I had an appointment, which I gave him my information. He then said he will look for Jerry to come and assist me. Another patron came to me and said she has been waiting on Jerry for the past twenty minutes. I kind of started getting worried but the employee came back and informed us that Jerry was on lunch. He then instructed me to go to another woman’s desk to get checked in. She was really nice, I forgot her name, but she’s the one who has the Yankee Candle on her desk. I’m glad I had my laptop to keep me occupied because I waited almost 90 minutes for my car to get serviced. I can understand to some degree because it was a Monday afternoon. I have a warrenty on my car so I have no choice but to come back since its free, I just wish they offered extended times and had accurate appointment availability online.

Updated: 6÷12÷15
I feel like the guys here value their job, they mentioned they are overwhelmed with recalls, service calls, phone calls, etc. but sometimes customer service is really important, it’s what keeps people coming back. I read over a lot of the reviews people have left and it seems that if you bought your car here, it’s great reviews, collision receives mediocre reviews and the service department ehhh. Maybe those who have great service don’t leave reviews and maybe they need encouraged to do so. I don’t know the thousands of peoples overall opinion of Don Brown Chevy but from Unilocal it’s just an average A-​Ok.
Over the several weeks from the very start of getting the bumper fixed to picking up the car today, I heard from many employees that the collision and service is two different entity’s and one doesn’t have much to do with the other… I’d think it would be nice if both departments communicated. You have one name to your business, Don Brown, but communication wise it’s two different parts of town and two different businesses. My review starts off pretty bad but today, they did ok. I don’t think one person here particularly is bad, I just think the location needs better communication which is why I rerated it at a 2 being Meh. I’ve experienced better.
6.4.15 Can we get a 0 star? I took my car to the collision center to have the bumper repaired. I got the estimate 2 months ago and they honored that but when I got my estimate they stated it would be a 1 week (5 businesses days) turnaround. I called on the 7^th business day and they said it would be ready the next day. I had also requested when I dropped it off for an oil change be done and look at a few other issues I was having. So when I called Wednesday (8^th Business Day) they said there was no guarantee that the oil change would be done that day and that they were very swamped. I had a hard time even getting to talk to someone after I’d get transferred, then I’d eventually get transferred back to the person who originally transferred me, beyond aggravating. It was AWEFUL! I’ve never seen a business that wouldn’t be able to get that done when the car has been there for 8 days. I had a rental car that was being paid for by insurance so it’s not like I could just leave it there any longer although by the time they closed on Wednesday I had to wait until Thursday to pick up my car. I wish I would have inspected it before I left. A part they had to totally replaced is chipped and the bumper has gaps on the sides where it wasn’t fit properly on the car. I called and left a message for customer service to return my call and still 3 weeks later have yet to get a call. I am to a point where I don’t even want to step foot in that place ever again. It took me 40 minutes when I picked up my car on Thursday for them to bring it from service where it was waiting for an oil change back to the collision center. If you’ve ever been there you’d know it’s not across town. Totally ridiculous in my opinion. I wish your customer service and communication was better but you guys are lacking!
Update Monday 6.8.15
Thursday 6.4.15 I received a call from the customer service department stating that my call must have gotten lost in a black hole after I posted the previous review. (I’m sorry but someone had to have gotten it… Technology can suck sometimes but it’s also easier to not deal with a complaint.) I told the Customer Service Rep, about what happened. She offered a free oil change since I still needed one — I get those with my car’s warranty, then offered a $ 20 gas card, said that’s fine but then after her telling me that they want to make things right and not lose a customer, I agreed to bring my car in for the servicing. She then offered a free rental. She stated that someone from service would be calling Friday 6÷5÷15 to go into more detail with me. I was ready to update Thursday with a more positive review but then Friday came and Friday went with no call. I understand they can be busy, I kept hearing about how many recalls they have. But it doesn’t take 5 minutes to call, I called Monday 6.8.15 to inform the customer service person that I didn’t receive a call. He called a few minutes later. I went over everything with him that I needed serviced/​looked at.
Dropped my car off Tuesday (next day). Re-​went over everything with the service department, said it would be a few days. He explained everything and went into detail if there would be any possible cost. Rental car was waiting.
6÷12÷15 — Friday
I received a call on 6÷11÷15 stating that my car was finished but they wanted to look over it. Received a call today 6÷12÷15 stating it was ready they gave me a heads up on if I owed anything. Went in and everything was quick and done. So far so good on everything! Thanks for making it right Service Department and Customer Service.

I was very pleased with my recent experience with the Don Brown Collision Center. They looked for ways to save me money and time in getting a broken side mirror fixed. When I brought in the mirror, they popped it on quickly free of charge! This was my second experience with the collision center and both times I have been satisfied. The only complaint I have would be that they are not open later in the day or on weekends.

After purchasing a 2012 Cruze, I discovered that my vehicle had two open recalls on it. Since I purchased it used from a Ford dealer, I needed to find a Chevy dealer to get the recall repairs done. I called and spoke to a woman who told me that the first available appointment was in two weeks. Not what I wanted to hear, but fine, they’re busy, I get it. When I asked if it would be possible to get a loner vehicle during my appointment so that I could still get to work, she transferred me to a supervisor’s voicemail without completing the scheduling of my appointment. I tried to call back three times and was unable to get through to her to finish scheduling my appointment. Frustrated at now having wasted about an hour trying to get this done, I submitted an appointment request on their website. That appointment was supposed to be this morning (because the website made no indication that the next available appointment was in two weeks) but I never received a phone call or email verifying my appointment. I live less than two blocks from Don Brown and had intended to take all of my vehicle maintenance service to them because of the convenient location, but they have made it very clear that they are not interested in gaining my business.

Made an appointment 4 days ago online and they have no record of it. Fine, strike one. The younger guy asks service person in the bay about it and he responds that he doubts it will happen. Strike two. Younger guy comes back and says «yea we won’t be able to get you in». That was it. No options or other solutions. I’ve been warned by my family about coming here but it’s so close. Made an appointment at one of the other many local dealers for today within an hour and a they’re giving me a loaner.
Take your business elsewhere. Look at the other reviews. Even if this is the closest one, call south county or west county because they will treat you right. Hopefully someone from GM straightens this place out, it’s been a long time coming.
I will not respond to customer service calls from this dealer so just drop it. TFCO

I’d give zero stars if I could.
I called Don Brown on 10÷28÷14 to schedule an appt to get some recall work done on my car. The person who answers the phone said she would connect me to the recall dept but that it would be an answering machine and to leave my info and I’d receive a call back within two weeks. I did as instructed, and three weeks later had not heard a thing. I called back on 11÷20÷14 and actually spoke to a person who set up my recall appt for 12÷12÷14 (another 3 weeks).
I dropped my car off after hours the night before my scheduled appt. I received a call from my customer service rep the next afternoon (the actual day of my appt) in which he proceeded to tell me he «didn’t get my car finished, in fact, I didn’t even get it started.» I was given the option to pick up my car so I have it for the weekend or leave it there until Monday when he said they’d be able to work on it next.
Monday rolls around and they call me to let me know my car is finished early afternoon. I was able to get there to pay for my vehicle (I had them run some diagnostics for a starting problem I was having – which they couldn’t find anything wrong – and had them replace a break light), but I had to come back after hours to get the car.
I picked up my car about 8pm that evening. As soon as I touched the steering wheel, I immediately knew it wasn’t right. It was very heavy steering to one side and far too easy to turn to the other side. One of the recalls dealt with the steering, so I didn’t expect to pick up my car in what seemed worse condition than I left it.
I called Don Brown on Wednesday to discuss my problem and see if I could get it in again. The person on the phone said I could bring it in at 845am. I brought my car in (which took about 15 minutes just to drop it off due to how busy they were). When
I told my service rep (the same one I’d dealt with since I brought my car in the Friday before) what was going on, he said something to the extent of «we just got a message about this yesterday actually. After we do the recall there’s another step we have to do now because this can happen.» Right. I asked how long it would take and he said a couple hours, leaving me under the impression it would be done in two hours or at least by lunch, so I take the shuttle home. I wait four hours before I call to inquire about the status of my vehicle. I’m told they can’t give me any idea when it’ll be done. I ask to speak with a manager but am told they are too busy. My service rep proceeds to tell me that I «have to understand that we’re swamped with all of these recalls, you saw how busy we were when you came in this morning» and he tells me the managers are just as busy and he really doesn’t know when they could even call me back. Okay, but I made an appt! If you are too busy to get my car finished when I scheduled an appt, then schedule less appointments per day. I mention to the service rep all of my troubles and that the car shouldn’t have even gotten to me in its current condition, to which he replies by telling me he isn’t trying to make excuses as he keeps making excuses. Then I say I want a refund on the diagnostics I paid. He says he can’t do that and offers me a free oil change. I say no, I only want a refund, and he says the only other thing he can offer me is a rental car for $ 30 a day. This in turn makes me furious as the car is only there from their inability to do the recall work correctly in the first place.
At this point I decide to call the GM customer service/​complaint line to see if they can help. They put me on hold and call Don Brown while I wait. She informs me they’ll be calling me in just a few minutes and I hang up. I wait 20 minutes before anyone calls me (it’s now 220pm). It’s a manager who says who she is and then just says What can I do for you or can I help you, something that left me feeling like she knew nothing of my woes. I started by asking to know when my car would be finished to which she replied she didn’t know. I told her I needed the shuttle service to pick me up to come get my car, which ends at 4pm, so I asked if she could guarantee that my car would be finished in time for me to use the shuttle service. She replied that she couldn’t guarantee that and that she hadn’t «been out there» and didn’t know the state of my car. I said I wanted compensation for all of my troubles, and she offered a free oil change and tire rotation. I again declined and said I just wanted reimbursement for the diagnostics I paid for. She said she’d pass on my request and that they’d call he when my car was done, whenever that might happen. And she just acted like I was a real pain in the ass.
I finally receive a call at 242pm from my service rep saying my car is done, I’m getting my $ 100 refunded, and that I’m now on the list for the shuttle.
No one even seemed apologetic.

Nobody was able to help reschedule my appointment to get repairs done for a recall on my car. They only have one person who schedules appointments and doesn’t work on weekends. When I called (3 times) I was put on hold and then disconnected. When they finally got back about rescheduling my repair appointment, they told me it would be almost 2 months later! Horrible service and incompetent employees. I will never be going to them for anything again and I advise everyone else to do the same.

I had a great experience at Don Brown Chevrolet! The experience was made very smooth and easy by Paul DeYoung! Thank you!

I have mixed feelings about this place.
The great thing is that there was a safety recall on my vehicle and they managed to work me into a very packed schedule in order to get this done before I graduated and drove off into the sunset. Thanks– that really was helpful. (I’m not being sarcastic.)
The one star review speaks to the way I was treated in the shop. Like most auto places, they will try to strangle money out of you– this is more common than it is uncommon, and this is coming from someone whose grandfather owned and operated his own mechanic shop. You really do need to go into most places with a «no-​nonsense, grab the bull by the horns» attitude. But these folks are different: they won’t take no for an answer and will try everything in the books to get their way.
I’m a woman who happens to know a little about cars because cars interest me. I also have several friends who build cars and often go to them whenever I have questions/​concerns. So, when they offered to run a diagnostic check for a «check engine» light for $ 100, I declined, as many places will offer the same service for free and anything more than $ 50 is robbery.
Second, the old joke with people who work with cars is to place a thing of duct tape over the «check engine light» when it goes off because it can be anything – water in the gas tank, dirt, etc. Now, to be fair, I was having an issue this winter when the car wouldn’t start and I’d have to tap the break to get the gas to squirt into the engine. This (at the advice of my friend, who build cars) was likely due to the cold or some dirtiness. When I was explaining to my father (who had come with me; the car is legally in his name) that it did act up some in the frigid weather but was a-​OK when it warmed up, the man overheard us and wanted to know what I said. I repeated that, and he claimed that cold weather won’t make a car act up (lie) and when I repeated, again, that since it warmed up above 20 degrees there hadn’t been any issues, he said, «Fine. Whatever. You’re right.» When I left to check on my mother in the car, he told my father a story about a «young woman» who damaged the car by putting diesel fuel into the engine, costing upwards of $ 10,000 in repairs, because she was too afraid to admit this to her parents. (The insinuation was that I’d roally messed up my own car and didn’t want to own up to it and that he should override my decision.)
Third, a woman who I’d spoken to accused me of bringing the car in at a time later than «we’d scheduled” – 7AM. On the telephone, we hadn’t scheduled a time. When I asked when I should bring it in, she said, «Sometime in the morning. We open at 7AM. Keep in mind that the sooner you get it here the sooner we can get it done.» I brought it in at 9:30 and she was quick to accuse me for «forgetting» my scheduled timeslot. There was never any scheduled timeslot. Really, auto shop lady, own up to your own errors.
So basically, this experience was like walking into a classroom of five-​year-​olds, who were simultaneously ageist, sexist, and the auto-​shop equivalent of «Mean Girls.» Have fun, if you decide to go here. Bring your battle armor.
EDIT: As an update, I brought this to a reputable mechanic in Nebraska and they ran a diagnostic for free. As it turns out, a mouse had nested in my engine area over the winter and chewed through the electrical wires in the wire harness. It didn’t affect anything other than my car’s temperature gauges and was a quick fix. The mechanic also said it was likely the trouble starting (in my particular car) was due to the frigid temperatures and unrelated to the «check engine» light.

I dropped a Chevy off at Don Brown for a handful of engine repairs. The service rep called to discuss the issues and the quote, and, after I received his quote of $ 1,094, I called around to other local service shops to gauge the adequacy of this estimate. It was a little high, but not worth the hassle of relocating the vehicle and I looked forward to receiving a quality Chevrolet service/​repair. I called the service rep back and we discussed the work and the quote again, in which I mentioned multiple times that the service would not exceed «Eleven hundred dollars» in price, I wanted to drive this figure in as I knew I wouldn’t be there to sign any estimate in person — the service rep agreed with the price maximum.
Later in the afternoon, the service rep called back to notify me the vehicle was ready for pickup and he informed me, «after we knocked off $ 200, the total price is $ 1,650». I was floored and confused as I was under the impression the service rep would call to discuss any substantial additional charges — $ 550 is substantial. I asked him how and why there was a substantial up-​charge, and he claimed that the job came in just as he quoted it earlier in the day. Turns out, he and I had a very large phone miscommunication that ended up costing me an additional $ 450 — $ 450 (if not more) I could have saved, very simply, by taking my car down the street to a different shop would I have known the quote was actually much larger than discussed with the rep. Though the rep did have an estimate with «$ 1,600» circled on his sheet once I got into the shop, I’m extremely confident we discussed two figures on the phone «$ 1,094» and «Eleven Hundred». The shop was defensive and indifferent to my testament when I came into the shop to confront the situation, they did budge $ 100 to get me out of their shop.
I left a voice mail with Don Brown and promptly received a call from a customer service rep. She was kind and seemed apathetic towards my situation, yet they refused to right the situation and no other moneys were recouped.
The vehicle works as expected, well. I recognize I’m partly to blame for not coming into the shop to examine the estimate first hand, but I felt comfortable with our multiple conversations which drove home the estimate. I have always driven Chevys and I will continue to do so, but I will not be coming back to Don Brown for the way I was treated once the issue was presented to them. Note to All; come into the shop for the estimate.

The worst thing I have to say about Don Brown is their access from southbond Kindshighway is kind of a pain and their lot is very crowded with actual inventory.
That second comment was sarcastic because that is one of the best things about them. You can really see and touch options instead there being only one showroom model.
Aaron was great and kept me informed throughout the whole process without being too pushy.
All in all, a super smooth painless experience. In ten years when I need another car I will be visiting Don Brown.

I wish I had looked at these reviews before bringing my car to the Collision Repair center for service. After leaving my car there for one week, I received it back with only half of the work done. There evidently was a dispute over what the repair center and what my insurance company were supposed to do, and it does appear that my insurance company bears some responsibility. My primary concern is that when I spoke directly with the person at reception about having the repairs done, she neglected to tell me that there was a problem and that she needed additional information. Instead she told me everything was all set. I think she was overwhelmed and just wanted to move on to the next waiting person. A week later, after having been told the car was completely repaired, I went to pick it up to find only half the work done — and, had to find this out myself. No one at the repair service told me that they only did one part of the repair. Poor, expensive, assembly-​line service is what you will get at this place.
Review Update:
As Shawn at Don Brown mentioned, after posting this review, I was immediately contacted by Pam in Customer Service. Everything Shawn said is correct. Pam handled things very professionally and discussed concrete ways they will implement to make the service experience more helpful and supportive of the customer. I appreciated her call and realized that I had I requested to speak with her or someone in the Customer Service area, much of yesterday’s frustration could have been alleviated. Lesson learned.

This place fucking sucks! They have no customer service skills at all! They treat their customers like shit! I have had several bad experiences with this place and would not recommend anyone going there to purchase a car, service, body or paint! Burn this bitch down!

Just. Don’t.
This place was shady from the moment we stepped in, to the (multiple) times we walked out. To *try* to make a long story short, we were trading a car in for a new one. While we were out examining the car we were going to buy, they ran the Carfax report on the car we were trading. The man that was working with us took us back to his office, and seemed distraught, and explained he couldn’t give us the deal he previously offered after seeing the Carfax — apparently the car had a salvaged title, and had all these accidents and stuff. This was news to us, as we had owned the car for the past few years and hadn’t known any of this. After going over it ourselves, and matching up the dates and apparent accident information, we insisted this was the wrong car, none of the dates matched up to when we already owned it, there were wrong cities on it — we just knew it wasn’t our car. The guy insisted it was, but we made him put in the VIN again, to get a new report. Sure enough, the entire time, he had the wrong Carfax — even though he was absolutely adamant it was the correct one, that there was no way he had fat-​fingered the VIN. We should have walked away after that, but we didn’t.
Every single thing we tried to negotiate on, he had to go back to his manager and see if it was okay. Every time, he came back and insisted they couldn’t go any lower, etc. Again, we should have walked away — but we really wanted this particular car, so we eventually ended up making a deal. Part of the deal was to get some things fixed there — but every time we went to drop the car off, there was lots of confusion about who was paying for the repair, what was being repaired — it was just a huge clusterfuck every time we went in over the course of two weeks. When we would walk in, the front desk wouldn’t even greet us (not sure if it was us, or everyone — they all seemed too preoccupied playing on their phones).
Comparing Don Brown Chevrolet to other dealerships we have been in and bought cars from, this place was just a total disaster. They definitely have the vibe of the typical car salesmen — shady and untrustworthy. There are much better dealerships to spend your afternoon at, definitely pass on this one if you’re looking for a car or need service done.

Stopped in looking for a used HHR. Frank, the sales man I spoke with, was helpful at first. I wasn’t prepared to buy that day and told him it would be a couple weeks. Over the next two months he must have called me 10 times asking if I was ready to buy. When I finally was, I called Frank and explained that George Weber had similar vehicles on their lot for $ 2000 less, and if they could meet the price I would buy the car that afternoon. Frank told me it wasn’t a problem, that is until I got there.
Once I got to the lot, Frank told me he couldn’t verify the price of the vehicle on the internet and that the vehicles he was finding were different models. My BF showed him the website for the dealer (Frank was looking at AutoTrader even though I had told him it was actually on George Weber’s website). Frank went to «talk to the manager» and came back with a different price as ‘the lowest he could go.” I thanked him for wasting my time and we left. The next day I bought a car somewhere else.
Fast forward 10 days, I get a phone call from Frank, again, asking if I was still interested in an HHR. Dude, get a hint. You wasted my time by telling me to come in and you weren’t able to meet the prices of other dealers. Stop calling me.