128 Volvo

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of 128 Volvo:
Excerpt from letter sent to Volvo North America:

My wife and I are currently a two-Volvo family – hers a 2001 S80 T6 and mine a 1998 S70. We live 2.5 miles from 128 Volvo in Wakefield, MA. We couldn’t ask for greater convenience – you’d think. Perhaps my logic is flawed, but I have been of the belief that the best place to have a car serviced is at the dealership as they should have a level of expertise unmatched. Moreover, from a customer retention and repeat buyer standpoint, they should have a vested interest in providing top notch service. Allow me to give you just a few notable examples of my experience with 128 Volvo’s service.

1. In early 2003, my S70 was making a scraping sound when steering the wheels to the left and right. On the first visit, they determined that the steering rack had to be replaced. Yet, the symptom didn’t go away. On the second visit, they did a brake job. Yet, the sound didn’t go away. On the next visit, they determine that the steering rack’s ball joints/control arm had to be replaced. Yet, the sound didn’t go away. Exasperated, I had the service manager ride in the car with me. He exclaimed, “Oh, that’s just rust build-up around the rotor… I can fix that in about 15 minutes and will cost you about $25.” How do you think I felt after spending thousands of dollars and enduring a major inconvenience?

2. In mid-2003, with 60,000+ miles on my S70, I had to bring my car in 3 times within a 2 month period due to the check engine light. All three times, they supposedly diagnosed the problem, charged me money, and sent me on my way. Obviously, they didn’t get to the root of the problem, but despite their inability to solve the issue, they kept charging me more and more money with each subsequent visit.

3. In early 2004, with 70,000+ miles on my S70, the check engine light came on again and the engine was hesitating and had a rough idle. After 3 months and numerous visits, they insisted on performing the 70,000 service, replaced the exhaust manifold, flushed the transmission, replaced the spark plugs (twice), replaced cap rotors, ignition cable, distributor cap and arm, and yet, the problem was never resolved. Essentially, the service manager didn’t have any other ideas and put me back on the road. Completely frustrated, I drove 35 miles to Nashua, NH to give Lovering Volvo a try. In one quick visit, they discovered the following: “Found spark plug tip bent and 2 out of 3 screws that hold down distributor cap broken. Replaced spark plugs, drilled out and replaced screws.” Please note that up to this point, 128 Volvo was the ONLY place where I have had my S70 serviced, including all oil changes – everything. Nobody else could have done this to the car.

With the experience of my S70 at 128 Volvo, we were determined to cope with the exceptional inconvenience of driving the 35 miles to Lovering every time there was a problem with either the S70 or S80. Though nearly every visit proved costly, and though both cars seem to be in the shop every few months with a new problem, Steve Bergeron and his team at Lovering Volvo exhibited top notch servicing, from the customer interfacing aspect through to their technician team’s competency. They always get it right the first time. Whatever accolades you have given Lovering Volvo’s service department, let me assure you, it’s not enough. Steve and his team are the only reason why I haven’t already traded in both Volvos for another brand.

4. Two weeks ago, our S80 wouldn’t start. It made a machine gun sound. We were stranded. AAA came and jump started the car and instructed us to drive the car to the nearest mechanic. With this advice, it seemed prohibitive to drive it 35 miles to Lovering Volvo. So, against every bone in my body, I decided to take it to 128 Volvo. They diagnosed the problem as being dirty battery terminals and charged me $80 to clean them. I picked up the car and brought it home. The next day, the car wouldn’t start – same machine gun sound. I had AAA tow the car back to 128 Volvo. They kept the car for 5 days and in the end, couldn’t diagnose it. In their words on the invoice: “Battery analyzer indicates recharge needed but no internal faults. Charging at 13.8. Slow charged battery and tested for draws. Only typical consumption present…Road tested extensively at low speed with all accessories loading alternator and charging never faltered. Battery at full capacity at end of road testing. No faults found.” I exclaimed to the service manager that of course a fault was found – THE CAR WOULDN’T START…ON 3 OCCASIONS! Nevertheless, he shrugged his shoulders, said that they can’t find any problems, and sent me back on the road with the car. The next day, the car didn’t start. I had AAA jump-start the car and I drove it to Lovering Volvo. Although I obviously didn’t have an appointment, Steve Bergeron said to just bring it in and he’ll have his team work on it right away. Within 15 minutes in the shop, the technician discovered that the battery had a dead cell. They replaced the battery and after 2 weeks of unbelievable inconvenience and frustration, the problem was easily solved.

I can only surmise that the prevailing issue with 128 Volvo’s service department is a combination of a lack of attention to detail, a lack of caring, a lack of pride in their workmanship, burnout, a deceitful plan to maximize service revenue, and outright incompetence. Any one of these factors is unacceptable. Possessing all of these qualities has resulted in one definite customer status: I will never every do business with 128 Volvo again and cannot see a reason why I would every buy a Volvo car ever again.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (Used)

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of 128 Volvo:
I recently purchased a used 2008 Volvo at 128 Volvo Saab. I had heard from a colleague that they were not great for Saabs, but thought I would try them anyway. I should have listened. I can not recommend this dealer at all. They had agreed to clean the car inside and out, it was delivered with dirt in the back and was definately not cleaned well, if at all. I purchased it under the impression that it had a climate package, when picking up the car, it became obvious that it did not. The sale man's response was "oh well, you can buy heated seats for $500". They delivered the car with 1/4 a tank of gas and only with 1 key. This was one of their higher end models and certainly not an inexpensive car. I would like to know why Volvo corporate has not done something about this dealership. I wish I had walked away from this deal rather than suffer through their horrific service for a car we could have gotten somewhere else. I have been with IRA Audi for the past 8 years and wish I had found a car with IRA, but they did not have Volvos. It would have been worth buying a different car to be guaranteed the high quality of service they provide.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of 128 Volvo:
Con artists, liars. NEVER get a car from 128 Volvo. Promised me waiver of small amount of excess miles on a lease maturity if I rolled into a new lease, but then after the transaction they said "we never said that". They NEVER return phone calls. Worst dealership, horrible customer service. Tell all your friends. Volvos are great cars, but this dealership is terrible. Go somewhere else. Have heard much better things about Jaffarian and Boston Volvo.

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of 128 Volvo:
I had a good experience while visiting for my Volvo repairs. Although it is under warranty, they were very helpful in giving me suggestions on the fixes. I have a good knowledge of cars so I can easily spot on whether they are giving me crap or not. Anyways, overall they are heavily stressing on their service department to come through. They are very sincere about the customer satisfaction. You actually get survey from that particular dealer, from actual Volvo corporate and sometimes you also get a phone call about service. I know that's just too much communication for a single service but these guys are working hard to improve in their customer satisfaction.

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Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of 128 Volvo:
They are very quick to sell you a car and will tell you anything to get the car off the lot. When it comes to covering what they promised and filling out the paperwork they lack.

To sum up my experience: They are quick to sell and extremely slow to service.

128 Volvo told me the car that we were purchasing had a bumper to bumper factory warranty of a year and or 19000 miles left on the vehicle (it was a used car with 31,000 miles) but after things started to go wrong with the car a few days later I found out the car had less than 30 days on the factory warranty. I am sure David Nardone (the used car manager and my sales person) did not know that it was that short but he is the one that told me this twice. This was also confirmed by another employee of the dealership. I would like to think that this was an honest mistake but none the less it was promised, warranty information was omitted and or not filled in on the sales contract because of this. In addition the Buyer’s Guide was not posted in the window stating the warranty information. I now have doubts due to the lack of response from 128 Volvo. They do not seem to be willing to do anything about it and a certified letter declaring that they used deceptive and unfair practices to sell the vehicle.

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