NNStewart

I got a very strange reaction when walking into my dealer in atlanta (buckhead) georgia. Nothing. No one looked at me, (a receptionist did say good morning), or greeted me. I looked at the 2004 c230 for a good 10 minutes, although I am in the market for a 2003. I opened door and sat in it. From inside the car, I could see sales people, but I guess they had a hard time seeing me.

I went with the intent to treat myself and felt maybe I could even haggle, since I was paying cash..... but no one was willing to haggle with me.

Okay, me = 32 year old black man (I hate the term african-american) who wanted to drive off in a MB today... I have to also add that there were black salesmen as well and they did not offer to entertain me... guess they figured all I wanted was a brochure. So is the concept that money talks non inclusive to certain groups?

Being into ecommerce I cow-tow to anyone with money... why is it not the same in luxury car sales? Or is this experience not the norm...... I watched how "other" people were able to get MB branded water handed to them while waiting for all change (Yes, I was able to walk throughout the whole area with out getting any help..)

Sadly, I just approached a sales man.. but that is not how it should be....

I've read on this forum that some people think that the c-class was meant for a certain type of person.... is that the frame of mind of dealerships as well?

Lynn

I am white and at the time I was shopping for my car, I was a few days short of my 50th birthday. I walked into one of the local dealerships dressed business casual and was ignored for over 10 minutes by a group of sale people talking about baseball and a couple reading the newspaper. A few of the sale reps were busy with customers. The customers being helped included two couples, one black and one white, and an Asian man.

Eventually, I interupted one of the newspaper readers, who very grudgingly went to get a demo and gave me a very, very short test drive with no attempt whatsoever at selling me the car. He didn't introduce himself, give me a card, or take my name and number. When I asked about six speed coupes, he said to call the receptionist every three days.

I later heard that you practically need to be introduced by another customer to be treated well at this dealership. It doesn't seem that they were racist, since the black couple and the Asian man were well served, but more along the lines of arrogance. I hope that is the case with you. I did find a dealer where everyone is treated as if they are about to buy a fleet of S class cars, so try another dealer.

MJ50

personally, in general, i don't like sales ppl to entertain me...
they know a lot less than members here and they bug me asking all these stupid questions...

however, i want them to entertain me after purchase.
some ppl don't know u anymore after the sales... which is bad service...

jbcritch

MB has informed me that they do not haggle on the price of their cars. Most dealers I talked to (Atlanta and Macon Georgia) would not come off price, but the sales guy would take a hit off his commision if it meant selling a car. The most I had heard was $800 off.

With that said, there are deals to be had for older cars. Understood you were looking at 2003. I just bought mine when the 2004 came out and got $3000 off plus some extra goodies thrown in by the dealership.

Dont know why salespeople would not be aggressive. I have heard of that many times though. I went with an inside edge...knowing the sales rep personally (and still only got the $3000 off which was MBUSA money) so I cant comment on why no approach. An attorney in our office went in his pickup and wore jeans with the intent of buying one on his day off and no one ever came to speak to him but did speak to a few other couples that were in nice cars and dressed "nicer."

Oh well.....

moa4r

you should consider yourself lucky, most people have trouble getting dealers off their back... seriously, though, a lot of car salesmen are a-holes and won't talk to you if you don't "look" like you are buying, but from my experience, it really depends on the dealership and the people running it. Unfourtunately, we don't have too many other choices, so when buying, either you have to find an honest dealer or just deal with the poor buying experience if you want the car bad enough.

NNStewart

Thanks guys, probably just me overreacting.... i will head to Mercedes of South Atlanta....

I once saw a Cosby Show episode, where Bill was trying to tell his son, that you have to dress down so that the dealers didnt think you had a money to sell, therefore possibly willing to lower the price a bit just for the sale.... ah, televison.

LorinserCClass

LOL!!!! haha that would work for a Hyundai or Toyota dealership but not at these SNOBBY german retailers!! Another word of advice, dont expect better from a BMW dealership. I dont like to use the race card too but you know what a lot of these salesmen do filter you out by race/age/looks before they approach you. I had issues so last time I bought my Audi I took care of it through the internet before I got there =p

ggong5150

When I bought my BMW when I was 24 I went to 6 different dealerships and nobody would give me the time of day. I went to a dealer that was over an hour from my place and an elderly man greeted me and asked me if I wanted to take the car for a spin. I bought my car from him cause he didn't look at me like I was some punk kid who just wanted to look at the cars. I was dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans, very casual.
Then when I bought my Benz I got helped from just a few people but where I bought my car the salesman was awesome. He was a young guy like myself who was into cars and let me test drive all the cars I wanted. On the day I bought my car he spent over 4 hours with me that day to make the sale.
I guess it just depends on the demographic area that you are in. Although most of the luxury car dealerships have older sales people and some judge you by the way you dress!

MARK CUMMINS

I Would Shop around VIA the Net..Cars Direct and Others then try the The MB Dealers ..Internet Sales You will hold all the cards if you do your homework..Just Emails..Then You DONT Deal with Sales Monkeys ......That PROFILE you....
I Have had my fair share of BAD dealers..But Yes There are Some Good Ones Out there

I Guess The Sales Monkeys will Never Learn ...
Case In Point I Have a Good friend that wanted to Buy a NEW Rolls Royce...He walked into the RR dealer in Shorts and T shirt
They Blew him off...He went to another RR dealership and ..again in shorts and T shirt ..and was treated like a KING...
Got a Great Deal...If There is such a thing on a Rolls?

Buellwinkle

I'm white but drive a p/u truck and went to a Lexus dealer and they were nice to you in comparison, a nice older gentleman in a suite told me that deliveries where around back like I wasn't good enough to even enter their showroom. I guess I'm too low class to drive a foo-foo Toyota. Didn't want to do business with them so I got an MB the next day, paid full price, cash. Most people have some prejudices wether you are too young, too old, wrong nationality or race, dressed wrong, drive the wrong car, or have the wrong accent. It's just life. They won't tell it to your face but they are thinking it.

Avoid them at all costs, check out an online seller like CarsDirect.com, no dealer BS, car delivered to your house. Or use one of the online buying services that send you quotes by email. I got fantastic deals that way. Unfortunately the $4K incentives from last month aren't there anymore from what I can see.

NNStewart

Got a little extra time today, so I will try another dealership.

http://www.southatlanta.mercedescent.../b/index.jhtml


I'll let you guys know how it goes...

jbcritch

NNStewart,
If you have the time I do recommend Jackson Automotive down here in Macon....another hour south of Atlanta. Ask for Tim Callaway and tell him John Critchfield told you to go there...or just call him and ask what kind of price deal he can give you...worth a shot if you can save another $800 or so.
The # is 478-477-4858
John Critchfield

Buellwinkle

NMStewart, any relation to "Bubba" Stewart, supercross champ?

revstriker

I think a lot depends on the dealer, the sales person, the time of day and day of week. On a busier day, I can imagine that the sales people do not want to waste too much of their time with people that are not serious about buying a car. So they pre-judge people based on their first impression. You could argue that perhaps they are turning away some customers, but I bet they could probably argue that they are also not wasting time with people that just want a "test ride" cause they think the car is cool, and therefore can service even MORE buying customers.

Just a thought. If I look like ***** when I'm out, I'm never surprised when people treat me the same.

vkaushal

That happened to me in 1999 at House of Imports in Buena Park. The dealer didn't think I could afford a Benz and no one would talk to me. I was in the market for an E320. P*** me off. I went to Shelly BMW and ended up buying a 528i and paid cash. Last year I bought a C230 Sedan from Rusnak but made the deal on phone (paid $1500 under invoice).

tom incredibie

i just wrote a long post but when i tried to go back after a preview reply it was lost....

soooo long story short. id experienced the same thing. contact them through the internet. be patient. you will run into people you want to knock out. stay strong. dont budge. i got my car close to 2000 off invoice. before tax. so it was well over 1500 off msrp out the door.

froopyscot

I agree with the others - it's probably not race, just snobbery.

My story: When I was shopping for my car, I was still driving my 8-year-old competition package Dodge Neon. It was well kept but was 1. a Neon and 2. not just a little loud.

So, I drive to the nearest MB dealership, hoping to have an in person look at the C-coupe. Also, because I despise automatic transmissions, I wanted to take out a manual transmissioned car for a test drive, to see if I liked the way it drove.

Well, I wandered around the sales floor for 15-20 minutes. I was the only customer (I had taken a late lunch, so this was a weekday, mid-afternoon - pretty quiet on the sales floor!), and salesmen (no women) walked straight past me with not even as much as a hello. I'm fairly sure they saw the car I drove in with and made their judgment right then and there.

And yes, I was dressed on the casual side of 'business casual', as well.

Oh, and they refused to show me a manual transmission car. They said they'd have to order it, so I could put down a deposit on it, and then they'd see what they could do about getting one to the dealership. What a bunch of *****s! (This was at Herb Chambers in Somerville MA - avoid these f&$kers at all costs!)

Obviously I bought my '03 brilliant silver manual transmission coupe elsewhere.

NNStewart

Thanks...

When I went to second dealership, the receptionist (who was Black) greeted me within several minutes... I stated I was interested in the c320... she asked me if I wanted to see a brochure, I told her no thanks, i know what the car looked like.... she then said she would get me a sales person... i looked up and down the hallway at salespeople in thier glass offices, and lo and behold... she paged a black sales person.... (who had to walk by all the "other" sales people to deal with me....

This is probably nothing more than coincedence..... and i didnt read into it....

lars

It's a sign of bad management to be ignored on the dealership floor, and I surely would take my business elsewhere because it's probably no better in the service department. Several years ago I had a conversation about this with the sales manager of an import dealership. The three makes he sold new were Alfa, Ferrari, and Rolls/ Bentley, and I'd just made an observation about one of his customers. He said that they had learned never to judge a person's ability to pay by clothes or age, and that everyone who walked in the door got the same reception. Then, presumably, the appraisal started.

Crash

Everytime I go in for a service appointment at Keyes I take a walk around the lot. Even though I tell the "sharks" my car is getting serviced and I am just waisting some time, they bring out the manager to try and work a deal on every car I have a question about.

Of course next year when I'm actualy looking for a new car I'm sure no one will help.

BTW- I love this forum! I have learned more in the past 2 months reading this forum than the the last 2 years of questions at the dealership.

Thanks.

CarlssonCRS

if you pull up in a bentley arnage red label... they lick your a sshole! bwahahahaha

revstriker

You're probably correct. I have heard that dealers have some kind of system in deciding who deals with walk ups. It's quite possible that it was this salesman's "turn" to get a walk up.

SC04ksedan

My last two vehicles. a BMW and the MB were deals made with me never going to the dealer. I had salesmen friends back in college and I learned never to go to a dealer if you are seriously considering buying a car. There is far better and more accurate information online than most salesmon*&y are willing to learn. Once, you establish communication with the online sales manager (most dealers will have a dedicated person) and haggle a deal, I called made an appointment and left my deposit. My next visit was to pickup the car. I understand that these guys are trying to make a living and most lot dwelling salespersons will be at that dealership for less than three months.

ViKTORiOUS

Being that I am indian, it too was rough entering a dealership and given the right attention. I remember I went to a Jaguar dealership when searching for a Sedan in 2001 and the guy gave me such dirty looks, didnt even maintain eye contact and was just being dumb about everything, and when i asked him to search his inventory for a specific one i was looking for, he sighed out loud as if it was a 100 hour job. And i was with my friend in this hickish town, no offense guys, and because we were indian this one guy was giggling and shaking his head while smoking a cigaratte, so i stood in the little lobby area in this glass enclosure, and kept talking all loud so he was able to hear me, i was saying stuff like "look at him smoking his cheap cigarettes, hes only pissed off because he has a sh*tty job at a Ford dealership in the middle of nowhere and probably is depreived of booty from the bedroom, thus resorting him to give me dirty looks" I started laughing right at him and walked out of the dealership, got into the Benz and flicked him off. Boy was he suprised.

moa4r

damn dude,,, that was pretty cold, if i receieved any racist looks, etc, i don't think i'd go that far, i think it only makes them hate you and your race even more. IMO If you were polite about it and just smiled and tried to break the ice w/some friendly conversation you might make him think twice before discriminating on looks next time,,, just something to think about