Gwinnett Place Honda

Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
Dennis Hamilton was by far the most professional car salesman I ever worked with. As a single mom, my time is real real important. From contacting him on the internet he was kind and LISTENED TO WHAT I WANTED. I had gone To Curry earlier and decided I was going to get everything together before I took another chance at a dealer, as I didnt feel like my needs were being met there. He was very knowledgeable and if he didn't know something he wrote it down and went and got all my questions ansered. I have never seen that before. Who does that? My kids loved him too. I even introduced him to my sister. They didn't work out, but Oh well. He was a perfect salesman. HIGHLY recommended. I love my INSIGHT!

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
Tim was wonderful to work with when I bought my 2010 Pilot!! I would definitely recommend him. Once I got to the dealership, the process was smooth and efficient- extremely important since I have 2 children. I have sat in the dealership for hours before but not this time. Everything was done and waiting for me. He made car buying easy.
When I got my running boards installed, Mike was great: friendly, fast and efficient. It was raining so he pulled my car around for me back under cover so I could reinstall my car seats.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
I am a first time car buyer and I definitely reccommend this dealership if you are looking to buy a car. They were all friendly and knowledgable about the car.
We arrived coming from the Ed Voyles dealership in Marietta and had a horrible experience there. So I was not feeling very hopeful. It was already late at night and I was tired and I assumed that the salesman would be also since it was already 9:00pm at night.
It was a 2009 Honda Civic EX. We were very specific about the car because I wanted the right color with navigation. So they said they had the car and to go ahead and come out.
When we arrived, they were waiting for us outside and the car had already been pulled around waiting for me. I was so impressed. First time car buyer and I felt like I was getting the all star treatment. I was not expecting this.
I test drove the car, they ran the credit report, and I signed the papers, and I drove away with the car within an hour and a half.
I love the car and the dealership was great. I will definitely be coming back for my next car.
Richard was the salesman and he was wonderful. He made the entire experience great!

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Reason for Visit: Sales (Used)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
I have owned Hondas for over 25 years, and I have most often bought new cars, paid them off, then handed them down to nieces or nephew as their first car. One niece has been driving my 1993 Honda since I gave it to her with almost 100,000 miles on it. So, when I was in the market this time, I was looking for a used car with low mileage for a nephew, eventually. I found the car I was interested in on the internet and emailed Gwinnett Place. Tim got back to me in a very timely manner, was helpful, and followed through on the delivery. James could not have been more pleasant, and both of them called me during the wek to check on my picking up of the car. They were both very professional and treated me as a customer, not a ditzy female who knew nothing about cars. I was very pleased with my experience there and would use them again.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (Used)

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
I purchased a 2007 CRV from Gwinnett Place Honda on Sunday July 26, 2009. My salesman was Michael Wright and my finance person was James. We agreed on a price, a monthly payment and agreed to give me 3600 for my 2000 civic. We signed contracts agreeing to these terms. Let me start out saying the only issue they had with getting my loan was i was a first time buyer, my credit is good, my income is good, everything else was just fine.....

Friday July 31, 2007 James called me around 10am. He told me that they would only be able to give me 2500 for my old car unless my father would cosign. I told him that the contract stands, if they could not honor it that I would be up there to pick up my old car that day and give them the 2007 crv back. He said he would call me back. I waited until about 3pm and had not heard back form him so I drove up there. While I was driving my mother called and spoke with Danny Whong. He told her they would give me the 3600 and that they would lower my monthly payment too and he was sorry. When I got to the dealership they tried to haggle with me some more and lower what they owed me. Finally we signed a second contract with a slightly lower monthly payment (about a dollar) and agreed upon the 3600 check for the old car. I Was told I would receive that money in six to 14 days. I gave Mr. Whong any paper work he needed (ie paycheck stubs to prove my income). While signing the contracts I asked James about getting my an owners manual for my vehicle since I did not have one, he brushed it off and told me they were probably mailing me one.

Monday, August 10th, 2009 around 1pm I called the dealership in regards to missing a part to my car jack kit, the car manual and my check for $3600. I was transferred 6 or 7 times. I left a message on Bob Wannamaker’s voicemail. No one called me back

Friday , August 14th, I called Michael Wright, and left a message for him on his voicemail. Asking for the car jack part, my manual and my check. No call back. I later emailed the dealership at about 7pm that same day using the ‘contact us’ email on the website. (I have faxed a copy of the email to you) It stated that I had tried to contact them in regards to the car jack, manual and check. No reply all weekend.

Monday, August 17th, 2009 I received a voiemail from James asking me to come in and sign more contracts. I asked him if he was calling in response to my voicemails and emails, he didn’t know about them. I was told that Honda of America would finance my car loan by Danny Whong on July 31st, now I was being told that they were between two different contracts that Honda of America wouldn’t finance it unless they dropped the price $660 dropping my payments $13 a month OR it could stay the same as originally agreed on. But they did not want to make me drive up again to sign another contract so they needed me to sign two. James proceeded to tell me that he would get me my check as soon as the next day because they would know what contract would be financed the next day and he would call me. I could pick the check up or have them mail it.
I then asked for the jack part and the manual and Rodney Brown assisted me, I told him about the ordeal I had been through and he gave me his contact info and told me he was manger of used sales and he would help me form now on and to call him Wednesday to make sure everything was taken care of. I asked him when my payment would be due since per the first contract it would be due the 25th of August and that is right around the corner and I have no bill and no account number for my loan. I was told they were unsure it could be that Tuesday or a month from now. It depended on which contract.

Tuesday August 18th, 2009 I received no phone call from James.

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 I called Rodney Brown and left him a voicemail. I receieved no reply. I emailed him (email included in fax) No reply.

Thursday August 20th, 2009. I contacted Honda of America at 1pm after no reply from Rodney Brown. I filed a complaint with Mary, Case number N012009-08-2000385. I was then adviced to call the general manager and I did not get the results I wanted I should contact the attorney general to find out my rights by her.

I called to speak with the GM after speaking with Mary at Honda of America and he was on vacation. I was then transferred to Bob Wannamaker. He told me he would work on it and get back with me that day. He called me shortly letting me know that Honda of America would be funding my loan and it would be taken care of. I asked him when my payment would be due and how much since I did not know which contract they had agreed on. He said he would find out and get back to me.


Friday, August 21st, 2009. Bob contacted me and left a voice message. He wanted to let me know my contract would be available Monday the 24th and my payment would be due Tuesday the 25th, but Honda of America (who I have my loan with) wanted me to make my payment first before they would agree to fund it. So the dealership wanted to take the first payment out of the 3600 that they owe me and make the payment for me.

I called Honda of America Financing and they don’t understand what is going on with me needing to make a first payment before they will finance the car. They said that didn’t make sense and that I could make the payment to them once I have an account number and did not have to pay through my check that the dealership owes me.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
I have to say that if you are in the market for a Honda, not only should you take a serious look at Gwinnett Place Honda, but that you should DEMAND to work with Tim Kettler! He was hands down the best person I have ever dealt with in all my years of car buying. I almost didn't even consider Gwinnett place because of an experience that my brother had there years ago and the fact that some of the other quotes I had from dealers closer to me were better than Gwinnett Place Honda's by a few hundred bucks! Well one dealer near Mall of GA flat out LIED to me to get me to drive out there... they didn't even have the Accord V6 in the color that I was looking for, and even then the silver one they did have was somehow higher priced?! After that I took time off of my busy schedule to go pick one up from the other dealer that had given me a lower quote. I know all the fine print on quotes say accessories are optional and it seems that every dealer adds something, but the other dealer and I agreed on a price (higher than their first quote, yes they "bumped" me too but I wanted the car)and after EVERYTHING was agreed to and written down, when they put me into the "finance office" (even though I was paying cash) this other dealer changed my price by another $200! At this point I was pissed off so I left without buying.

After all the BS with these other dealers I went back online to do more research. I found a couple of dealers with the Accord I was looking for but I also started looking at dealership reviews at which point I found this site. After reading all the reviews I see that yes Gwinnett Place Honda has some real ugly reviews from awhile back which can be expected from any large business, but what really shocked me was the several more recent posts that not only were all great, but all mentioned Tim Kettler as the reason for the great service.

So with all this new info I contacted gwinnett place honda and asked for Tim Kettler. He was very pleasant to talk to. I didn't tell him anything about the other dealers I'd been to or about seeing his reviews, I wanted to test him out.

This is where he truly shocked me. I told him what quotes I had and I wanted him to beat them to which he replied he wasn't going to play any games with me. Say what??? He explained that most dealer's definition of a "drive out" price was whatever they wanted to say to get me to "drive out" to see them. I would have argued this with him had I not already experienced this firsthand where I was supposedly told all costs just to have things pop up when I got there or that something was "just sold".
He was very nice and upfront even though I was very "abrasive" to say the least since at this point I was tired and frustrated of my past 2 tries to buy the Accord I wanted.

So I set an appointment to meet with Tim Kettler the next day since he was very pleasant plus he said he had the Accord I was looking for. I got a little concerned during my drive there that I might have the same problem that the car was "just sold yesterday" so I called Tim on his cell phone and told him my concerns to which he surprised me AGAIN by saying that not only was the car still there, but that he had the key in his pocket for our appointment within 20 minutes and that he had hidden the car out back. He asked me how far away I was for our appointment that was in 20 minutes to which I was about 15-20 minutes away. I thought this was a setup as to it being "just sold" or "hidden"... but when I arrived there the place was HUGE and Tim had just brought the car up front and parked it as I was pulling in. Now hows that for service!

Ok so now I'm already extremely impressed with the surprise concierge treatment I'm getting I'm starting to see exactly what it is that Tim does to get the types of posts he has from happy customers. Ok, great, first impression was very impressive, let's see what happens with the rest of the process and the pricing. Tim was in no way shape or form like your traditional car salesman. Tim Kettler was not pushy at all and he was very nice and pleasant even though I was kinda being an asshole because I expected just some surprise or something to come up after my past 2 experiences in the last few days trying to buy this Accord. I was still very abrasive because I thought if I let my guard down that I'd be open to getting taken for a ride yet again. I was just plain shocked when we got to the pricing and it was exactly as he said it would be including all the fine print. I did lie to Tim a couple times and told him I might go look at the places I'd already been to see if Tim could get me a better price. Tim's price was actually the best out of all the dealer's when you got to the bottom line, plus he never had to lie to me or play games like all the other dealers did to me.

So not only did Gwinnett Place Honda have what I wanted, Tim Kettler got it for me at the best price AND gave me the best car buying experience EVER! I was in and out with my new Accord in just over an HOUR! He did exactly what he said he would do from the beginning and KEPT HIS WORD!

Thanks again Tim for everything! I will make sure to tell everybody I know about our transaction. I feel sorry that I took my frustrations from my past experiences out on you and that I lied to you so I hope this post makes up for that. I'll also make sure to post this elsewhere for you just because of that.

It's not always where you go, it's who you work with. Gwinnett place not only had the biggest selection I've ever seen, they also had the best person to work with.
If you want the best of both, go to gwinnett place honda and ask for Tim Kettler to help you out.

And Tim, if you're ever tired of selling cars I'll hire you in a heartbeat.

B.C.
CEO of a Fortune 500 Company

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
I would give our new car buying experiance a 5.0. I initially read some negative reviews about Gwinnett Place Honda after I looked for vehicles on their website so, I was apprehensive about buying a car there. I decided not to let other people's experiences deter me from checking them out. I looked at cars through the internet purchase program. I called and talked with Tim Kettler. My wife and I decided to go to the dealership after an informative discussion with Tim. He was very knowledgeable and accomodating. We were not rushed and he was patient as we could not decide between an Accord or a Civic. When we decided, the process took a reasonable amount of time and there was no pressure. He gave us a price that was acceptable to us and we bought the car that night. My wife has enjoyed her new car very much now for the last 10 days. We would like to give Tim Kettler credit for doing a good job for us.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
I am a proud new owner on a 2009 Honda CRV. I initially went to Curry Honda, but after talking with the salesman for a bit, he seemed more interested in going home for the evening than helping me purchase a new car. Luckily, Gwinnett Place Honda is open late and we decided to head on over and see what they had. I was greeted by Tim Kettler, and had a very pleasant buying experience from there on out. I had a good idea of the model I was looking for and was not pushed into buying something that was more expensive. Tim made sure to show me all the in and outs of the car before the test drive, and I was surprised that the LX model had more features than expected. I got a very good deal on my vehicle and Tim did everything he could to make sure the Finance Department held up their end of the agreement. The only hold up was on my end since I had lost the title of my Jeep a few years prior. Tim said that it would be no problem and he would hold the car till I was able to obtain a new title. After almost two weeks, I finally received my title and later that day I was a new car owner.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
I purchased a new 2009 Honda Accord from Gwinnett Place Honda over the weekend and had an OUTSTANDING experience. I highly recommend Gwinnett Place Honda and my sales person, Tim Kettler; they conducted a very pleasant, honest and fair car buying process. They had the car that I wanted in stock and did not change their price quote when I arrived to purchase the vehicle. I cannot say the same for the rest of the Atlanta area Honda dealers......

I started shopping for a new car a few weeks ago, requesting quotes from several local dealers. I contacted several to narrow down pricing and to verify that the car I wanted was in stock. Every single dealer, with the exception of Gwinnett Place Honda, was dishonest - they either did not have the car in stock and tried to sell me something I did not want, or they drastically increased the previously quoted price through various add-ons and fees. Gwinnett Place Honda is the only dealer that had the car in stock and faithfully honored their internet price quote. Gwinnett Place Honda will be my first stop next time.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Gwinnett Place Honda:
My wife and I went looking for a new car, really looking for a Camry. We weren't happy with the way the Camry looked and decided to check out the Accord. When we showed up at Gwinnett Place Honda, we were immediately met by a Sales Manager who then assigned Tim Kettler to assist us. Tim went above and beyond what I felt a Sales Associate should do. He answered my many questions, endured my two test drives of the same car, and then worked with us to get what I thought was the best deal on the car. I am very happy with my Accord, and with the service and assistance I received from Tim Kettler. I would gladly recommend Gwinnett Place Honda to my friends.
If my future experience with their service department for periodic maintenance goes as well as the buying experience, I will indeed be a happy camper.

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