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Herb Chambers MINI
Rating Details »
Category: Car Dealers [Edit]
Neighborhood: Allston/Brighton1168 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02134
(617) 731-1700
- Nearest Transit:
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Harvard Avenue (Green)
15 reviews for Herb Chambers MINI
Test Drive a mini. Love it and interested in buying it. We didn't buy that day, but the process of being a potential buyer was all in all not bad.
As soon as the papers are signed, this is where it all goes down hill.
Lets go over the sequence of events:
1. Arrange for a pickup of the car and schedule a time for pickup. We were 10 minutes late for our appointment. In this time, our sales person went for a test drive. We were fine with this until over an hour and a half later, we were still sitting there.
We go to get the car, and the Venture guard we sprung an extra $700 on, and the bonnet stripes were not installed. We decide to take the car for the day and bring back later for service.
2. After arranging to drop off for service to install the stripes and venture guard, it was clearly relayed that both the front and back bumpers would have the venture guard installed. We get the call that it has been completed and go to pick it up. The stripes were there, the front venture guard was installed, they forgot the back. We leave it yet again.
We speak with our sales person who expresses "disgust" in the service we have received. She tells us she wants to make it up to us and will Fedex us some license plate covers as a "sorry for the bad service."
3. The car is finally complete. The dealership arranges to drop off the car and avoid me a trip out to Allston again. All is well. My girlfriend writes an honest assessment of our service in a survey to the dealer.
4. The dealer calls back. In this process they state they want to do whatever it takes to make us satisfied customers. We remind them of the promise from our sales person to send the plate covers. They say, we'll check on this and get back to you tomorrow. 2 to 3 months later, we haven't recieved a call back.
5. Our car was bumped and it did some damage to the venture guard. A service guaranteed was that if/when you want to replace the venture guard, call us up, and we'll swap it out free. Service informs me the replacement is "not covered" due to the car being bumped. Apparently a bumper guard does not cover bumping...
***UPDATE*** After speaking with Sales, they waived the cost for the bumper guard. This ups my review one star.
I have called the sales person 3 times now to ask about this with no call back. They have our money, thats all they wanted. Lets just say the service is less than spectacular.
Absolutely LOVE the car! The dealer plain and simple sucks.
* As a side note, my girlfirend and I stopped in to Mini of Peabody to check it out. I have to say. they ACTUALLY have cars to you know LOOK AT when you are buying them and the staff was incredibly nice. I can't say I have experience dealing with them, but I KNOW I will not be recommending Herb Chambers MINI of Boston to anyone.
Life is about managing expectations, folks, and some of the review writers might need to adjust theirs. I walked into Herb Chambers last August with the notion that I'd like to own a MINI, but I was not yet convinced. From beginning to end, it was by far the most pleasant car buying experience I've ever had. I was blown away by the first class treatment from Ian Miller, uber sales guy, and Aaron Walker in Finance - who intelligently laid out my options for the 2 add-ons that I purchased while breezing through the paperwork. There was no hype, no pressure and absolutely no attitude displayed by these great people. Marcello even put quarters in the meter for me!
I had to wait for my car, as it was still in the factory at the time of purchase, and it arrived exactly as they anticipated. The delivery was even fun as I learned from Robbie all of the amazing details of my new MINI. At one point Mark, service manager, stepped in and waved his magic wand over a small glitch we were having with the radio. I have every confidence that I will have great service from Herb Chambers MINI when it is time for that experience.
I love my car and it puts a smile on my face when I look out the window and see it in my driveway. Although I've never written a public review in my life, I suspect there are a lot more very happy Herb Chamber MINI customers out there who I would call on to write a positive review, most deserving by this team. RIGHT NOW, don't wait! And if you already wrote one and are reading this, then please tell everyone how happy you still are! I'm probably a MINI-for-life driver and would hope Ian and Aaron are there when it's time for my next one!
I have NEVER had bad experience here. This is my second MINI cooper, and I wouldn't go anywhere else but Herb Chambers MINI. Rich, my sales rep (twice), is on top of his game, and very laid back and chill. He's always so accommodating, whether it's helping me customize my MINI or servicing my MINI. He goes above and beyond the call of duty, and I admire that about him and the service here at Herb Chambers MINI.
I've serviced my MINI here twice, and every time, it has been impeccable!!! I've even received complimentary rides to and from work from their service center. I love my MINI!!!
The only reason for deducting 1 star is because their showroom lacks model cars to check out. When purchasing an item such as a car, you want to see many options and in several colors, styles, customizations... because the MINI is so hot, they tend to sell fairly quickly; hence leaving a shortage of floor models.
Ugh, gross. Let me tell you about my first visit to this craphole.
My friend and I walk abound for 15 minutes-- no joke-- and not a single sales guy approaches us. You'd think make side comments like "Where are the BMWs?" "I wonder if we can test drive something?" and "Maybe someone will come help us..." would incite some sort of interest on the part of the sales rep to come, you know, try to sell us something.
So, we leave vowing never to return. -1 star.
Then, I get a call from the GM. Seems my friend has a friend who knows her personally, and she's gotten a call telling her how mistreated we were. She wants to invite me back, and apologizes for the way we we(n't) treated. Back to netural on this.
This is getting long and boring, so bottom line is I'm set up with a lame sales guy who tries to upsell me, doesn't get my budget, and tells me herb chambers doesn't negotiate prices on used vehicles. Amazing. I wasted a good hour of my life at this place, and another two minutes reviewing it.
Ouch, I couldn't believe the bad reviews that are here. Maybe I am one of the few lucky ones. I bought 2 MINI's from HC MINI, and I have never, ever had a complaint about them. The service manager, Mark is awesome! He always goes out of his way to help. My only complaint, is with the rental car company that they used to use, HC would rent a car for me for extended service and the cars that I got were either filthy or throw away, low dollar junk. But HC rectified that by using a different rental car company.
I have thus far had a positive experience with Herb Chambers MINI. I am currently leasing a '07 cooper...
After going for a test drive around the BU area, I decided to order one with the 6 week delay. 1-2 weeks in, I wanted to change the color. I contacted the sales staff and the change was done without any extra charges or haggling.
The finance side of things seemed a little sleezy...the guy running it continuously was pushing all sorts of unnecessary insurance.
I get easily agitated by the thought of auto service (sketchy mechanics, long waits without a car, etc.), but I recently had to schedule a service appointment. It went well; I drove right into the service bay , explained the problem, and they took the car for repairs with the cost covered by warranty. I went to wait in the customer lounge with a big screen TV and free coffee while my rental came. The car was fixed by the next day and getting it was carefree.
Overall, good experience so far but -1 star for the finance department.
As legend has it, Herb Chambers owned a copier franchise and sold it. One day he was looking to buy a car, and was so mistreated by the staff, he bought the dealership.
I respect that kind of grit, so I will be easy on his Mini dealership, but facts are facts.
I walked into his dealership to BUY a car, not look at, haggle, negotiate or shop and even compare. About 15 minutes later, a nice enough woman(name withheld) asked if I needed help. For the test drive, they copied my license and I waited another inexplicable 15 minutes
So as I was test driving, this lady informed me that it was 6-8 weeks for a new car. I then asked if they would be willing to sell me their demo car..again no haggle, just needed a car. No problem says she, she will speak to the manager and call me in the morning.
That was 5 days ago. My secretaries phone calls have been unanswered as well as inquiries from the Mini website, which ironically go to this dealership
Wonder if Herb needs to buy a Mini?
Holy crap--world's most expensive oil change. And the service is nothing to write home about.
I bought my Mini out in Peabody a few years ago, because the folks at Herb Chambers didn't have any available for a test drive, but did have a few in stock for sale "at a premium". Sleazy, eh? But Peabody is such a pain in the neck to get to that I started doing my regular service at Chambers. Never again. They have different guys working there each time I go in, got grease all over the place, way overcharged, blah blah blah.
The parts department seems safe enough, if you just want some wiper blades or something, but other than that, I'd stay away.
I bought a Honda from Herb Chambers years ago, and every interaction I had there felt slimy. Not to mention the numerous fuck-ups from the service department - like the time they replaced my CD changer and installed it upside down? Yeah.
I bought my Mini from Herb Chambers and the sales staff was fine, and Mark in service is a nice enough guy, but I still question the quality of work in the service department. It took them something like three tries to fix a rattle in the passenger side door from the speaker, and then the drivers side door wouldn't unlock after they'd done some work...
And every time they screw something up, and I try to get them to throw me a bone, all I get is "Well, you're welcome to take your car wherever you'd like for service..."
Why do I keep going? Well, it's like any abusive relationship. I keep telling myself "Oh, they'll change, once they realize how great I am", but time after time, I keep getting hurt. Won't someone help me break this vicious cycle?
No, really, I keep going back because they're on the T and conveniently located. That's about it. Although, I am writing this from the lounge at Peabody Mini...
so this is how the story goes
me: id like to look at a mini
ahole:uh ya, if you want, put down 4k and the waiting list is till august
me: wouldnt it be nice to see the car first?
douch: huh?
me:smell ya
no dice, i got a jetta instead
I own a Mini, which was purchased from Mini of Peabody. When I bought my Mini, I lived in Brighton. Now that I live out west, I still take my Mini to Peabody, although Herb Chambers is an hour closer. I think that says a lot about my opinion of Herb Chambers of Mini.
I went to Mini of Boston twice. Once in 2005, and another in 2007. In 2005, the guy who was selling to me was really a nice guy. Very pleasant and he basically said "You can either pick from the stuff that's come in, or you can build your own.". He was great and I thought hard but the crazy gas prices and the electronics compelled me to go to Prius. He even walked me up to Porsche dealer and let me sit in a few as I was also thinking about Porsche. I don't remember his name, but I swore he knew everything about Mini and he was a lot of fun to talk to. Unfortunately, I didn't see him again in our next trip to the dealership because if we did, it would've been a totally different story.
Come in 2007, I took my then fiance (soon to be my wife) as she needed a car and this time it was a totally different experience. First of all, I sat and waited 15 minutes while several kids were picking their noses and surfing the web until one of them realized that they were there to actually WORK. I listened to them chat about parties and surfing the web. And that was the beginning of a down hill. This middle aged guy appeared and he seemed rather irritated. (Maybe nobody else is trying to sell a car?) He started with "We don't have any new convertible but we have a used one.". At that point, 2008 minis with turbos came out and convertibles were still super charged so we wanted to try both of them out. I was dead set on manual so off we went. My wife was overwhelmed and scare of driving a new car. So when she tried to drive, she was scared and she stalled. The guy yelled at here and said "You don't know how to drive a manual! You are dangerous!". My wife had tears in her eyes and I asked her to pull over. So I drove the car back and I told the guy off. "Look, she drives a beat up accord 4 door for past 2 years and she hasn't had a single accident. And it's manual and we live 5 minutes away.". So we went up stairs and this sales guy insisted that we buy one of the cars being shipped. I said "No. I want to order a specific one. A sidekick edition.". He said "You are going to have to wait for a very long time and I'm not even sure if that's available.". B.S./Lies. I ordered a sidekick 2 days later. He also kept insisting that we buy automatic. I got fed up telling him repeatedly that I wanted a manual.
My wife was upset and convinced that she couldn't drive a manual. (Next day, she was driving her car - with manual transmission- to her work. LOL). We went to Mini of Peabody and we test drove the car. My wife stalled and our sales guy smiled. He said "It's normal for people to stall with a different car. Don't worry, you'll be fine.". So she drove on 93 few miles. Stop and started few times on the side roads and she was fine. We purchased our mini and he threw in a rubber mat for free as well. Since then, we've always gone to a Mini of Peabody. With our manual sidekick convertible.
I never got my mini serviced at Herb Chambers so I don't know how good or bad they are. The first sales guy (tall, skinny, blond young guy) was awesome, but the latter experienced was so bad that I never bothered
This review is for the auto body shop side of things, not the sales side. I have a general dislike of mechanics. I guess I should actually say I have a "distrust" of mechanics. And I hate bringing my cars to dealerships cause I am for some reason convinced that the shadiness level is higher. But, not many mechanics know how to work on a MINI or have MINI parts so when we first got our car (before we discovered Aladdin), we went to Herb Chambers. For an oil change, our car does that synthetic oil stuff. And you know how when you get a car there is a booklet that tells you what you should check and how often? Well, most of us don't do everything it says right? We brought our MINI to Herb for a standard oil change. They told us that we hadn't had a full on complete check of everything possible since we bought the car (we bought it used). Made sense to me to have this stuff checked (whatever the "stuff" was). Well, they said it would cost $400!!! Umm....no. Please give me my $50 oil change. And that's it.
I do believe it is good to keep proper maintenance on your car, but I am also convinced that mechanics and especially dealerships try to get you to do more than you need to do. This is the case here in my opinion. Everytime we brought it to them, they always wanted to do something else to it to milk more money. Negative, son.
The staff there are nice and helpful, but my distrust flag went up. I don't think they are shady, I think they do good work, I just think they know how to milk all of the money out of you that they can. So for our maintenance needs we found a cheap, honest, and fantastic mechanic (Aladdin Auto) where oil changes are at least $20 cheaper, but for body work we may still have to bring our car here.
Nice and friendly staff. There are only two MINI dealers in MA (one in Peabody too). They are more familiar with BMWs than they are with MINIs with the exception of the one and only MINI service engineer---there is only one, Mark.....awwww, he is great and extremely efficient AND did I mention that he is SUPER cute (and the only reason why I am writing this up)! Is it wrong to try to break something in my vehicle so I can see him again!! All the more reason to get a MINI which by the way is the only car I will ever buy---it makes me smile on a daily basis.
Leased a 2009 MINI Cooper S in early October 08. Sales manager was a little aloof, but otherwise the sales team was great. We were in need of a car fast and were flexible in terms of features, so they got us one we liked within a week. Rich obviously loves cars and loves getting potential customers excited about them - he spent an hour going over my new car with me when I came to pick it up. Overall a better experience than that next door at HC Honda where I felt like cattle. So far, so good. If my review changes upon further interactions (maintenance, etc) I will report.
With a digital prompt on the dash telling me I was 350 miles away from a Mini inspection, I made a following week appointment for their two hour 25,000 mile look see at every weld, belt, hose, wire, wiper blade and the rest. This morning I arrive at Herb Chambers at 0630 for an 0700 appointment. Mark, the Mini service manager (extremely gifted people person) was there before me and opened the garage and drove my Mini to a work area where it will be tended to first thing When he asked me what time I wanna pick it up I told him 2-4 hours. 3 hours later I came back and it was washed and ready, and free! 50,000 BMW warranty. We may've gotten off on the wrong foot. Sometimes that happens. Herb Chambers Mini is a most pleasant experience. Tell 'em I sent ya, they'll let you watch TV and have coffee. Or drive you to wherever in Boston you want to go. Mini Cooper owners of the world unite!
