I came to Herb Chambers of Burlington to buy a new Honda Civic. The greeting and the test drive were great. However, it all changed when we started talking about the price. The salesperson named a price that was a couple of thousands above what I would pay for the car, and I asked him to lower it. He gave me the price X and said that it was a fair market price and that they could not go below it, otherwise they would lose money. I showed him a price quote from another Honda dealer that was $1,000 below X. I asked him to beat that price and sell me the vehicle for $2,000 below X. The sales person called in the manager B. who explained to me in an extraordinarily rude way that: (1) it is because of such customers like me that they are losing business, (2) whatever I had written in the quote from another dealer simply cannot be true because it is far below what they pay to Honda for the vehicle, (3) that therefore I am a lier. He also added that I should immediately go back to the dealership that offered me the “unreal” price of X – $1,000. What else could I do? I replied by saying that it was a pleasure dealing with him, to which he answered “Was it a pleasure, really?!”. I said “Sure!”, smiled, and left. Never in my life have I been treated that rudely.Eventually, I went back to the dealership that offered me a lower price quote and got my Honda for the price $1,750 below the price deemed “minimal possible” by Herb Chambers. It turned out that Honda had a cash back promotion for car dealers going on, and the dealers were getting a great deal of cash for every vehicle they sold. This is what made the low price possible. Conclusion: the manager is unprofessional and rude. He is also a lier since he undoubtedly knew about the Honda dealer cash promotion that is communicated directly to all Honda dealers.
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