I'm thinking of filing a complaint.

[Rockrivr1]

This past weekend the wife and I spent a good amount of time looking for a new car for her. I was going to go to the Group Shoot on Saturday, but got caught at work. Once that was cleared up, car shopping we went. Laura currently owns a 2005 Hyundai Tuscon that runs just fine, but there are some excellent deals on new cars going on right now. We received a phone message last week telling us about a special at Herb Chambers Hyundai in Auburn. They are giving 120% on the Kelley Blue Book value. So Saturday we head down there to see what they have. Of course a sales guy jumps right on us as soon as we pull into the lot. We tell him we're looking to trade the Tuscon, that we received the call about the 120%, that we found an internet coupon for $400 off and that Hyundai was doing $2000 off the list price for the the Elantra. The guy says no problem and we start looking at Elantras.

My wife falls in love with the fully loaded model. Sun roof, power everything, etc'. So we tell the sales guy we want that car. The problems start right there. This car had no new car sticker on it. It had a dealer made sheet on it, which you see on used cars. The car had 400 miles on it so I was thinking it was a demo, which was good as I thought it would get us money off. The sales guys says they will need to look into that, but for now he took the price off the car next to it that had all the same options in a different color. All told the price was $18,010 on the Herb Chamber's sticker that was next to the one from the factory.

Now I know there is this whole haggle thing that is going to start, and I usual love this part. But I knew something was off right from the start. First the sales guy starts with what our trade is worth. We knew from looking at the value that the KBB value was $9,500 and 120% was $11,400. The guy tries to tell us her Tuscon is only worth $7000. What the lady that called us failed to mention is that the 120% is on the "fair" market value, not the good value that our car was valued at. Also it was up to 120% and not 120% guarenteed. I immediatly call false advertising on them. This brought over the sales manager, who I forced to listen to the message left. No mention of up to 120% and nothing about fair market value. So they concede that point. I also push the used car, demo car piece due to them not being able to provide the factory provided sticker. The sales manager concedes that as well and takes money of the sticker price of $18,010 and gives us a monthly price we can live with. We tell them they have a deal and the sales manager leaves. My wife is all excited, I'm happy for her and then the General manager sits down in front of us and proceeds to be a complete ass to us. Saying that he will not waive the "fair market" value and that the price on the car we want is not valid, it was not a used/demo car and that the price was actually $20,500 for the car and not $18,010. I call BS and tell him to come outside with us and see the sticker on the car next to the one we want to buy. I shit you not, he looks at the $18,010 price, looks at me and says "That price is incorrect as well" and tries to point out all these numbers that should equal up to $20,500. He also states that he cannot sell either car to me at the $18,010 price. I'm obviously mad now and my wife is ready to choke the guy. The GM basically tells us to take it or leave it and that he doesn't care if we buy a car from him or not. He then tells us to take our keys back and to go somewhere else.

I've bought a number of used cars but have never had an experience like this. I honestly think they used false advertising to get us there, they tried to sell us a used/demo car as a new car and when the GM realized we had worked too good of a deal, he deliberatly came out and sabotaged it so we would leave.

I'm definitely writing a letter to Herb Chamber's Corporate Office to complain and I'm going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I'm also contemplating whether I should file a complaint with the AG office as I think they are doing something illegal. Not sure about whether I'm going to do that one yet.

Plus, screw them. My wife and I got a better deal yesterday at Ira Toyota in Milford. She's now a proud new owner of a "mostly" loaded 2009 Toyota Matrix, which she likes much better then the Hyundai.

Damn I was pissed on Saturday though. Do you think what they were trying to pull something illegal? Would you report it to the AG?

[clinotus]

Do the complaints, I've done them before and have gotten amazing results because of them. It also depends on the company as well, I did one with a major retailer once and had my issue resolved three days after I filed with the BBB.

Glad to hear she got a better deal in the long run, so all was not lost. :)

[MassMark]

I would go all the way to Hyundai and beyond....

[trophygrl]

write it to herb chambers, himself.

he is a pretty decent guy and i am sure he would love to hear about your poor experience---

they can give you that price- they just don;t want to- i paid invoice for my toyota- and believe me, they made up for it in the back-end of the deal.

unfortunately, demo's are considered "new" because they have never been registered- they use dealer plates and still have a certificate of origin, rather than a title

also- a good way to rip down a sales person is to have internet back up in-hand and to keep them from talking about monthly payments or what the price is, including your trade.

make them give you a botttom line price before you even mention a trade... always throw the "i have a possible trade in", after you have negotiated.

it gets them every time.

[sksguns]

This past weekend the wife and I spent a good amount of time looking for a new car for her. I was going to go to the Group Shoot on Saturday, but got caught at work. Once that was cleared up, car shopping we went. Laura currently owns a 2005 Hyundai Tuscon that runs just fine, but there are some excellent deals on new cars going on right now. We received a phone message last week telling us about a special at Herb Chambers Hyundai in Auburn. They are giving 120% on the Kelley Blue Book value. So Saturday we head down there to see what they have. Of course a sales guy jumps right on us as soon as we pull into the lot. We tell him we're looking to trade the Tuscon, that we received the call about the 120%, that we found an internet coupon for $400 off and that Hyundai was doing $2000 off the list price for the the Elantra. The guy says no problem and we start looking at Elantras.

My wife falls in love with the fully loaded model. Sun roof, power everything, etc'. So we tell the sales guy we want that car. The problems start right there. This car had no new car sticker on it. It had a dealer made sheet on it, which you see on used cars. The car had 400 miles on it so I was thinking it was a demo, which was good as I thought it would get us money off. The sales guys says they will need to look into that, but for now he took the price off the car next to it that had all the same options in a different color. All told the price was $18,010 on the Herb Chamber's sticker that was next to the one from the factory.

Now I know there is this whole haggle thing that is going to start, and I usual love this part. But I knew something was off right from the start. First the sales guy starts with what our trade is worth. We knew from looking at the value that the KBB value was $9,500 and 120% was $11,400. The guy tries to tell us her Tuscon is only worth $7000. What the lady that called us failed to mention is that the 120% is on the "fair" market value, not the good value that our car was valued at. Also it was up to 120% and not 120% guarenteed. I immediatly call false advertising on them. This brought over the sales manager, who I forced to listen to the message left. No mention of up to 120% and nothing about fair market value. So they concede that point. I also push the used car, demo car piece due to them not being able to provide the factory provided sticker. The sales manager concedes that as well and takes money of the sticker price of $18,010 and gives us a monthly price we can live with. We tell them they have a deal and the sales manager leaves. My wife is all excited, I'm happy for her and then the General manager sits down in front of us and proceeds to be a complete ass to us. Saying that he will not waive the "fair market" value and that the price on the car we want is not valid, it was not a used/demo car and that the price was actually $20,500 for the car and not $18,010. I call BS and tell him to come outside with us and see the sticker on the car next to the one we want to buy. I shit you not, he looks at the $18,010 price, looks at me and says "That price is incorrect as well" and tries to point out all these numbers that should equal up to $20,500. He also states that he cannot sell either car to me at the $18,010 price. I'm obviously mad now and my wife is ready to choke the guy. The GM basically tells us to take it or leave it and that he doesn't care if we buy a car from him or not. He then tells us to take our keys back and to go somewhere else.

I've bought a number of used cars but have never had an experience like this. I honestly think they used false advertising to get us there, they tried to sell us a used/demo car as a new car and when the GM realized we had worked too good of a deal, he deliberatly came out and sabotaged it so we would leave.

I'm definitely writing a letter to Herb Chamber's Corporate Office to complain and I'm going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I'm also contemplating whether I should file a complaint with the AG office as I think they are doing something illegal. Not sure about whether I'm going to do that one yet.

Plus, screw them. My wife and I got a better deal yesterday at Ira Toyota in Milford. She's now a proud new owner of a "mostly" loaded 2009 Toyota Matrix, which she likes much better then the Hyundai.

Damn I was pissed on Saturday though. Do you think what they were trying to pull something illegal? Would you report it to the AG?

Always include the local consumer's ggroup fo the AG's office.

It's just that now you already have a car they can't really do anything for you but log your complaint.

[Mikey]

Welcome to Herb Chambers, my wife use to work for them. She knows all the people there and ummmm.... good luck...

[drumenigma]

It sounds like they really treated you guys like crap. Definitely go the complaint route. Big companies hate bad publicity like that. I mean look at what you did here, you posted your bad experience here on a public forum for everyone to see. I know I rely on learning from peoples experiences at businesses and with information like this it makes me much less likely to go there in the future.

[Mike-Mike]

Order a useless car in a crazy color with stupid options then cancel it!!

[ARguably]

I have gone to Herb Chambers Dealerships in the past, Hyundai in Auburn, and Dodge on Rt 20 in Worcester. Both times, I felt they were con artists. I would file complaints with the Corporate office, and the BBB. Good Choice on the Toyota, it will outlast 3 hyundai's...and cost less to maintain...

[Dman]

We made a formal complaint with Hyundai about Herb Connolly's service department. We did not even a call back or a letter back from them or a return "Thanks for the letter". The crap they pull with this lifetime warranty is a joke, after dealing with them I would never buy a Hyundai again. I used to be high on them after seeing friends and family have good results with their Hyundai...