FMW is now Herbs... :( - BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum

vs60r · 06-20-2007, 03:49 PM

Any insiders here know what's going to happen to FMW? Heard from my SA that as of today they are part of the Herb Chambers family... And I have had nothing but bad experiences with Herb...

DasBlitz · 06-20-2007, 05:34 PM

What is FMW?

Titania · 06-20-2007, 06:23 PM

FMW = Foreign Motors West

And I've heard nothing good about the Chambers either. I doubt this bodes well for FMW customers.

ska325xi · 06-20-2007, 06:27 PM

Herb Chamber BMW in Brighton/Allston is the worst BMW dealer on this planet

Shinchan · 06-21-2007, 12:54 PM

they are prob trying to kill all boston area competitor.. if we suck at customer service... why don't we just buy all near boston area bmw dealer and continue with our bad service.

fotios335i · 06-21-2007, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ska

Herb Chamber BMW in Brighton/Allston is the worst BMW dealer on this planet

I agree. most of them are just dicks and they try to make you feel like your a nuisance. they are arrogant.

tambo916 · 06-23-2007, 01:06 PM

I had my car in for service at FMW, already Herb Chambers, on Friday. I was talking to my SA and she said they are planning to move to Sudbury (Route 20), but probably not for a few years. She didn't seem to think much would change, but we will see about that. I have heard nothing but horrible things about Herb Chambers as well. Might need to find a new place to service the car.

The service on Friday was good. No complaints.

Anyone hear anything about BMW Peabody? I heard they have good service, but it is far from my house.

Brunotheboxer · 06-23-2007, 03:29 PM

I heard through a friend that when you buy a car from Herbs you have to bend over and grab your ankles before you take delivery.

Kev · 06-23-2007, 11:03 PM

Herb Chambers is the worst dealership possible in the Boston area. I bought my E55 AMG from them. They actually fired my sales person for giving me too good of a discount! When my car was rear-ended in Wayland on Rt 20 back in March. It took Herb 72 days to get it fixed and it was done in such a haphazard manner that there is at least 1800 worth of repairs that need to be done on the car. Also, even after a month of getting my car back, they still haven't finish the paper work and settle the charge with the insurance company. I'm still 1800 out of my pocket for the aftermarket parts that I supplied for the repair.

Their Enterprise rental also stuck me with a 4200 dollar rental bill and the manager from the branch keep calling me to taunt me (even after I disputed the charge with my c/c company coz they charged me 2500 one week before I returned the car, and charged another 1700 a week after I returned the car, right before I could terminate the c/c). I finally had my attorney send the branch manager a letter to tell him to shut the f*ck up. HC is the worst dealership I've ever dealt with. I would stay far and away from any HC establishment from this point on.

I was once at their BMW establishment. I walked in and spent 30 minutes looking at the M6 and no one showed up to serve me (I look really young so don't know if that would be a factor). I left without even getting any information about the M6. People that work are just a bunch of snob....

I bought my current BMW from BMW Peabody and I was very happy with their sales team. I'll checkout their service department when I have my shadowline trim installed.

dmichael · 06-27-2007, 07:45 PM

I have to agree with all the posters here, of the 2 cars I bought from HerbC, 1 BMW and 1 Merc, were both horrible sales experiences, only to be topped off with even worse service experiences. I swore them off forever. I'm concerned that if they keep growing and buying up more BMW dealerships, soon they will obliterate price competition, and we'll all be paying MSRP +.

For those of you who used to use with FMW, which was always a darn good dealership, you may want to try Wagner BMW, just a few miles up route 9 in Shrewsbury. Big brand spankin new building, well laid out and huge lots, and they really have their act together. A very professional organization. I am sure Herb is moving to Sudbury just to get a little further away from Wagner.

Herb Chambers = EVIL

Lassaxi · 06-28-2007, 11:12 AM

I ordered my car around the time that the FMW-Herb Chambers deal was going gown (February '07). Basically, it sounds like what happened was that FMW was essentially an employee-owned company, and a number of the more powerful, older employees and managers, who were either recently retired (and still owned shares) or who are on the brink of retirement supported the buyout because it would give them tremendous value for their shares.

As for the issue of moving to Sudbury, my CA told me that was likely to happen anyway. The current building in Natick has a lot of issues, including that they simply do not have room for both the M-B and BMW dealerships under the same roof. FMW was likely to move to Sudbury anyway over the next couple of years, and I was told that one of the reasons for selling to HC was so that the employee stockholders wouldn't have to foot the bill for the relocation (which is going to be very expensive).

From what I understand, many of the remaining CAs are not pleased at all with what happened. It's a real shame. I went with FMW over BMW of Peabody because FMW could come up with better lease terms. But I very much liked BMW of Peabody as well, and the CA I was working with there was excellent. I think both have a decent reputation for service, and Peabody has a relatively new service center not far from their main showroom that more than doubles the number of cars they can service at one time. I definitely would have bought form them if they had been able to match the lease deal that I got at FMW.

I bought a Honda few years ago from Herb Chambers of Burlington. I will say this about them: Herb Chambers (at least the Honda dealer) is actually a not a terrible place to shop because they are very predictable. They are definitely a "hardball" dealer, and, at least their Honda sales people responded well to hardball tactics. For instance, I wanted certain options on the Civic I was buying, and the sales person at HC told me that he could not get them for me at a price I would be willing to pay. Since the guy was being a complete prick about it, I called a local Toyota dealer from my cell phone while sitting at his desk, and got a quote over the phone for a similarly equipped Corolla. Magically, he was able to find the exact car I wanted for exactly what I wanted to pay.

I did not have to play these sorts of games with the folks at FMW or BMW of Peabody like I did with HC, but if you don't mind playing the games (and I don't), you can walk away with a good deal from HC.

vs60r · 06-28-2007, 08:32 PM

Well, whatever. Nothing we can do about it. At least for now it's still the same friendly faces...

If anything changes, I heard a lot of good things about Wagner and they are not that much farther away...

pato610 · 06-29-2007, 02:24 PM

I had a bad experience with Herb Chambers, so I went to BMW peabody, and they weren't much better. for those of you North of Boston, I went with Tulley BMW in Nashua,NH off of rt 3. They've been great, my family is know on our 4th BMW from them.

Spazdoc · 07-01-2007, 01:32 PM

I am in Downtown Boston, so Natick was already a little bit of a drive for me anyway. I may end up heading to Peabody if the SA change at all.

The only problem is that I prefer to stick with one dealership for all my service, just to show consistency. This helped when my Honda's transmission blew at 48K miles, and the dealership went to bat for me when the Honda reps were not happy with covering the work.

06-20-2007, 03:49 PM	#1
vs60r Private Drives: 335i Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Boston Posts: 93 iTrader: (1)	FMW is now Herbs... :( Any insiders here know what's going to happen to FMW? Heard from my SA that as of today they are part of the Herb Chambers family... And I have had nothing but bad experiences with Herb...
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06-20-2007, 05:34 PM	#2
DasBlitz Major Drives: bmw 328i 07 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: new england Posts: 1,146 iTrader: (1) Garage List 2007 328i [0.00]	What is FMW? __________________

06-20-2007, 06:27 PM	#4
ska325xi Major General Drives: 325XI Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Boston Posts: 6,286 iTrader: (25) Garage List 2006 333 [0.00] 2006 325xi [0.00]	Herb Chamber BMW in Brighton/Allston is the worst BMW dealer on this planet __________________ RPI Scoops, BMW Perf. Intake + Carbon Filter Removal, BMW Perf. Exhaust, PBX, CF Cowl Covers & Lower Snorkel, Matte Black Grills, Rep Hartge Lip, ///M Spoiler, BBS 219m + RE960pp, CF Wrapped Headlights, LUX 5.0 + Solaris Silvers, Vista DRL, Blacklines, Lic. Plate LED, 3M CF Di-Noc Trims, BMW Perf. Alcantara Steering Wheel + Alcantara Trim, ///M DCT Paddles, BMW Perf. Shift Knob + Boot, ///M Novillo Ebrake Handle + BMW Perf. Boot, ACS Pedals

06-21-2007, 12:54 PM	#5
Shinchan LED Rules Drives: 335xi Coupe Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Watertown, MA Posts: 783 iTrader: (0)	they are prob trying to kill all boston area competitor.. if we suck at customer service... why don't we just buy all near boston area bmw dealer and continue with our bad service. __________________ LED Pimp...

06-23-2007, 03:29 PM	#8
Brunotheboxer Colonel Drives: 335iS Coupe Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Boston/Cape Cod Posts: 2,924 iTrader: (0)	I heard through a friend that when you buy a car from Herbs you have to bend over and grab your ankles before you take delivery. __________________ "...I maybe drunk, but you're ugly, and I can sober up..."

06-20-2007, 06:23 PM	#3
Titania Private First Class Drives: 2007 328 xiT Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 198 iTrader: (0)	FMW = Foreign Motors West And I've heard nothing good about the Chambers either. I doubt this bodes well for FMW customers.

06-23-2007, 01:06 PM	#7
tambo916 Enlisted Member Drives: 2006 325i Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Boston Posts: 39 iTrader: (0)	I had my car in for service at FMW, already Herb Chambers, on Friday. I was talking to my SA and she said they are planning to move to Sudbury (Route 20), but probably not for a few years. She didn't seem to think much would change, but we will see about that. I have heard nothing but horrible things about Herb Chambers as well. Might need to find a new place to service the car. The service on Friday was good. No complaints. Anyone hear anything about BMW Peabody? I heard they have good service, but it is far from my house.

06-23-2007, 11:03 PM	#9
Kev Resident Anesthesiologist Drives: VW bug with a misplaced engine Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 8,810 iTrader: (24) Garage List 2009 Porsche 911 Ca ... [4.75]	Herb Chambers is the worst dealership possible in the Boston area. I bought my E55 AMG from them. They actually fired my sales person for giving me too good of a discount! When my car was rear-ended in Wayland on Rt 20 back in March. It took Herb 72 days to get it fixed and it was done in such a haphazard manner that there is at least 1800 worth of repairs that need to be done on the car. Also, even after a month of getting my car back, they still haven't finish the paper work and settle the charge with the insurance company. I'm still 1800 out of my pocket for the aftermarket parts that I supplied for the repair. Their Enterprise rental also stuck me with a 4200 dollar rental bill and the manager from the branch keep calling me to taunt me (even after I disputed the charge with my c/c company coz they charged me 2500 one week before I returned the car, and charged another 1700 a week after I returned the car, right before I could terminate the c/c). I finally had my attorney send the branch manager a letter to tell him to shut the f*ck up. HC is the worst dealership I've ever dealt with. I would stay far and away from any HC establishment from this point on. I was once at their BMW establishment. I walked in and spent 30 minutes looking at the M6 and no one showed up to serve me (I look really young so don't know if that would be a factor). I left without even getting any information about the M6. People that work are just a bunch of snob.... I bought my current BMW from BMW Peabody and I was very happy with their sales team. I'll checkout their service department when I have my shadowline trim installed. __________________ kev { divinum est sedate dolorem } < working on a bug with a misplaced engine >

06-27-2007, 07:45 PM	#10
dmichael Lieutenant Drives: 2011 GTI Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 452 iTrader: (1)	I have to agree with all the posters here, of the 2 cars I bought from HerbC, 1 BMW and 1 Merc, were both horrible sales experiences, only to be topped off with even worse service experiences. I swore them off forever. I'm concerned that if they keep growing and buying up more BMW dealerships, soon they will obliterate price competition, and we'll all be paying MSRP +. For those of you who used to use with FMW, which was always a darn good dealership, you may want to try Wagner BMW, just a few miles up route 9 in Shrewsbury. Big brand spankin new building, well laid out and huge lots, and they really have their act together. A very professional organization. I am sure Herb is moving to Sudbury just to get a little further away from Wagner. Herb Chambers = EVIL

06-28-2007, 11:12 AM	#11
Lassaxi Major Drives: April ED - E90 328xi Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 1,035 iTrader: (0)	I ordered my car around the time that the FMW-Herb Chambers deal was going gown (February '07). Basically, it sounds like what happened was that FMW was essentially an employee-owned company, and a number of the more powerful, older employees and managers, who were either recently retired (and still owned shares) or who are on the brink of retirement supported the buyout because it would give them tremendous value for their shares. As for the issue of moving to Sudbury, my CA told me that was likely to happen anyway. The current building in Natick has a lot of issues, including that they simply do not have room for both the M-B and BMW dealerships under the same roof. FMW was likely to move to Sudbury anyway over the next couple of years, and I was told that one of the reasons for selling to HC was so that the employee stockholders wouldn't have to foot the bill for the relocation (which is going to be very expensive). From what I understand, many of the remaining CAs are not pleased at all with what happened. It's a real shame. I went with FMW over BMW of Peabody because FMW could come up with better lease terms. But I very much liked BMW of Peabody as well, and the CA I was working with there was excellent. I think both have a decent reputation for service, and Peabody has a relatively new service center not far from their main showroom that more than doubles the number of cars they can service at one time. I definitely would have bought form them if they had been able to match the lease deal that I got at FMW. I bought a Honda few years ago from Herb Chambers of Burlington. I will say this about them: Herb Chambers (at least the Honda dealer) is actually a not a terrible place to shop because they are very predictable. They are definitely a "hardball" dealer, and, at least their Honda sales people responded well to hardball tactics. For instance, I wanted certain options on the Civic I was buying, and the sales person at HC told me that he could not get them for me at a price I would be willing to pay. Since the guy was being a complete prick about it, I called a local Toyota dealer from my cell phone while sitting at his desk, and got a quote over the phone for a similarly equipped Corolla. Magically, he was able to find the exact car I wanted for exactly what I wanted to pay. I did not have to play these sorts of games with the folks at FMW or BMW of Peabody like I did with HC, but if you don't mind playing the games (and I don't), you can walk away with a good deal from HC. __________________ May 3, '07European Delivery, Redelivered on 6/11/07 - Monaco Blue/Beige, Steptronic, ZPP, ZCW, PDC, iDrive/Navi with RTTI, Logic 7, Xenons, HD Radio

06-28-2007, 08:32 PM	#12
vs60r Private Drives: 335i Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Boston Posts: 93 iTrader: (1)	Well, whatever. Nothing we can do about it. At least for now it's still the same friendly faces... If anything changes, I heard a lot of good things about Wagner and they are not that much farther away...

06-29-2007, 02:24 PM	#13
pato610 TiAg E92 328xi Drives: 328xi Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 67 iTrader: (0)	I had a bad experience with Herb Chambers, so I went to BMW peabody, and they weren't much better. for those of you North of Boston, I went with Tulley BMW in Nashua,NH off of rt 3. They've been great, my family is know on our 4th BMW from them.

07-01-2007, 01:32 PM	#14
Spazdoc Major Drives: 2007 E90 335i - Montego Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Evanston, IL Posts: 1,126 iTrader: (7) Garage List 2007 335i [0.00]	I am in Downtown Boston, so Natick was already a little bit of a drive for me anyway. I may end up heading to Peabody if the SA change at all. The only problem is that I prefer to stick with one dealership for all my service, just to show consistency. This helped when my Honda's transmission blew at 48K miles, and the dealership went to bat for me when the Honda reps were not happy with covering the work.