i recently placed my countryman order with herb chambers mini of boston, after canceling it with another dealership who then tried to not give me my deposit back - after canceling it the next day! (i will write more about this other MA dealership next week and the shady sales tactics their mini dealership used on me, unless i get more a formal apology from their corporate ownership)

anyway, ian, sales manager, at herb chambers of boston mini is terrific, straightforward, no BS. so if you are in the market for a mini call herb chambers and ask for ian. if you are interested, i can provide you ian's number, just let me know. otherwise, be careful who you leave your deposit with and don't leave more than a $500 deposit. good luck to all.

 

We looked at MA dealers, Peabody came up with higher marks than Herb Chambers (seems HC made many unhappy customers after the sale).

Who was the other dealer?

Anyway, here's hoping your experience is better than the reviews I read!

 

you named the other dealership. without naming persons' names (yet), one person asked me "what if i don't give you your deposit back?" well if he didn't he would be in violation of the law, another person at the same dealership made pretend that i didn't want my deposit back with "oh, you want you deposit back"- i would expect these games at a one location used car dealership but not mini. these employees really hurt the mini brand, the dealership and the autogroup. i'm sure the service is really good...but the sales tactics left a bad taste and still upset the way i was treated.

anyway, what specifically did you hear about HC? so far, they have treated me with respect and a much better deal unlike the other place that you mentioned.

 

also, if you go to dealerrater.com, you'll find Herb Chambers of Mini rated a 4.8 out of 5 based on 85 reviews- the comments are worth reading so i'll take that all day long.

 

That's too bad to hear about Peabody. I've never used them but heard good things. So much for internet reviews I guess.

I cannot give you specifics about HC - this was 3 mos ago but the feeling we came away with is that HC had a terrible service center. Read more complaints about that than anything else.

Sad to say but I have yet to read many good things about MINI dealers in general. We researched them all (in NYS, Connecticut, L.I., and MA) and the one that seemed the best based on various 'net reviews was Peabody—go figure.

 

given the volume of cars sold at these dealerships, there will always be some issues. unfortunately, i got a real lemon of a sales person who had just come over from herb chambers bmw and seemed nice in the beginning. but that quickly changed after i canceled (next day) and i wanted my money back. he became unprofessional, sarcastic and snide. if i were his boss, i would have ripped off his little mini warmup jacket and sent him packing. i am still upset since this past monday, when this all went down. again, this is no reflection on their service department, only their sales group. (their policy is to refund deposits with no problem...no problem that is until you ask for it back) anyway, herb chambers of mini treated me with respect, gave me better pricing and i bought from them.

 

I can relate completely.

I had a run-in with a Honda dealership here in VT that still irks me to this day.

Had to deal with very pushy salesman. When we first walked in he was busy pressuring two elderly people into buying a car in the color they didn't want in a really aggressive manner. This poor old couple were so flustered that they signed a deal you could tell they didn't want to make.

So right away I didn't want to deal with this character.

We told him firmly the deal we wanted and the price we wanted to pay. He said he couldn't do it. We said fine (we were glad actually) and went to a different dealer much further away and got the deal we wanted.

I made the mistake of taking the car to the first dealer for an oil change about a month or so later and ran in to this same pushy salesman. He nearly accosted me, asking why I didn't buy the car from him but saw fit to use their dealership for service!

I reminded him how he wouldn't go lower and he snickered, saying that it's just business and if we really wanted, he would have gone lower.

This was 10 years ago—so as you can see, I am still bugged by it. Hope fully you'll let it go better than me!

 

when i went into the Lyons-Waugh Group HQ (mini of peabody corporate), i told the comptroller that i was concerned that because of this incident that i would get poor service if i used their service dept some time in the future....she assured me that i would only get great service. did you get good service despite you running into the crappy salesperson? did you continue to use that dealership for service? thanks

 

Yes and no. Their service dept was actually pretty good, we had used them for years for our first Honda, but we eventually stopped using them altogether. Now we use a local mechanic in town who we trust.

All in all, I don't think there are too many dealerships that are truly above board. In fact my brother was car salesmen for years, sold Volvo and then Subarus. He was never happy with the tactics the dealers he worked for used and eventually got out of that line of work.

At least from my experience, many (most?) dealers are usually very good at acting like their your best friend, until you complain or do something they don't like. Then they are your worst enemy.

 

I bought my CM All4 a few months ago from Mini of Boston, the sales experience was flawless, no BS. However after about 4500 miles I noticed an awful smell in my car (something dead). I tore apart the car the best I could but to no avail. I called Mini of Boston about this issue and the availability of the re-engineered chrome trim I had peeling. They told me to bring it in the next day and they would fix the strips and find the smell (for around $150). My car sat for a week outside, locked up, windows up before they got to it with the excuse that they didn’t have a replacement for the trim and they were just too busy to get to my car. After flipping out on them the Service Manager called and got them on it right away. Needless to say another week later and a $2300 insurance claim later they found the dead rat in my car….. I live in the middle of nowhere there are no Rats where I live but that is a battle I was not willing to fight. Anyway, they fixed the stink, some of the chrome strips but most of all apologized for the inconvenience, knocked $500 of the bill, detailed it inside and out and offer that for future service and maintenance issues to coordinate with them and they will deliver a loaner and take my car for service and vice versa. The Service Manager seemed genuine and wanted to make things right. I went from threatening to never bring my car there for service again to thanking them for their efforts to make it right. I live 65 Miles away and work 20 from the dealership.

 

Glad it worked out. Can't say that paints the dealership in the best light. Seems like you had to yell bloody murder to get them to make straight.

And you shouldn't have to do that - but, as you said, they tried to make it right.

 

i agree...sometimes you have to remind them what the goal is...customer satisfaction. and when a problem occurs, a good dealership fixes the wrong and makes it right. a bad dealership will be defensive and won't care. im glad herb chambers made things right for you.

 

Glad to hear that we could make things right I happen to be the service manager mentioned above... We have made some MAJOR changes in our dealership - from service on out to sales. As an owner and enthusiast, I am dedicated to making sure each client is treated how I expect to be. Dealers don't have to be scary, or expensive!