I was under the belief that car dealerships had got their act together these days because of the internet. I was under the belief that the days where they could play hard ball tactics with customers and get away with horrible customer service were gone. The underlying reason why I believed in this was because of what I thought of the strong influence that customer reviews on the web have on people’s purchasing decisions.
This past weekend, I had a rude awakening that told me that car dealers are still the same. They still have horrible customer service and think customers who walk in through their doors are people who can be easily taken for a ride. The past weekend I had to get my Odyssey repaired for some electrical problem. I got a call at 4pm saying that the car was ready to pick up. The guy told me he will call me back in a minute with the exact cost of repair. He never called back and when I show up at the dealership an hour later, the paper work is not done, he tells me that the car is being vaccumed while it is sitting in the lot. After I asked that I get to speak to the service manager, things got rolling. There were other customers waiting there with complaints similar to mine.
After all this, I find that there is a long scratch on the sliding doors that was not there when I took it in. Now I have to go back there to get this buffed. Imagine how pissed off and frustrated I feel.
When I got home, I did a check on the Internet to see if there were any reviews on this dealership. Sure enough, there was and every one of the reviews rates this dealership as one of the worst Honda dealerships.
I guess the car dealerships still have not learnt about the word of mouth marketing on the web or is it because the customer reviews are still not mainstream as much as I think they are or is it because every one of them is the same that consumers have no choice but to put up with such shoddy service?
Software Product Manager by Gopal Shenoy 
Buying my first car was a nightmare from Herb Chambers. I am a student in PA but my family is in MA so when I came home for thanksgiving break I stopped at Herb Chambers to look at a new Honda Civic. Worst mistake of my life. Getting everything together so I could finally drive the car back to school took over 2 wks and then I finally pick up the car and learn a week later that the car I was given was reported stolen. So now I am in PA driving a stolen car and my sales rep is of no help. They basically wanted me to drive a stolen car back to MA so I could exchange it. It wasn’t until we begged and got a lawyer that they finally agreed to drive my car to PA and pick up the one they had reported stolen. Never again will I buy from them and avoid Keith Obanor Banks or whatever his alias is at all costs! He is the most disrespectful and incompetent person I have dealt with.
Julie, that is indeed a bad story. As for the OP, I feel your pain. I work in the Internet Department of a car dealership and have a Auto Consulting service I run on the side (TrueCarGuys) and I personally do know how important good customer service is these days. Sometimes like Craig said, we have to deal with not only the dealer but the manufacturer so it can get complicated. I would encourage Julie to go on http://www.dealerrater.com and post her story on the dealer’s page because it will help other customers avoid their dealership and go somewhere who provides better service and doesn’t sell cars that are reported stolen.
Quick plug: I don’t know if any of you have considered buying through an Auto Brokering service (like TrueCarGuys 😉 ) because we have experience in which dealers are worth avoiding even if their prices are slightly lower, we keep a blacklist of dealers based upon feedback and stories like these on this blog comment feed. FYI Herb Chambers Honda is on our blacklist…
Honda in general can have pretty sorry service. I am looking for others who have had experiences with the Honda Civic Hybrid and the problem of the rear tires generating a lot of noise due to this. This problem is caused by a defective stablizer in the rear which cuasies damage to the tire. Honda will repair the stablizer but not replace the tires so the noise continues.
I am tired of getting pushed around. Anyone with this problem and wishes to join in a possible class action lawsuit against Honda please contact me. I have a meeting with an attorney concerning this next week.