TheDarkSide

Fletcher Jones MB - A disappointment?

From the beginning, Fletcher Jones Merecedes Benz from my experience has been a disappointment. Whether its sales, services, parts, or just plan interactions with employees, their customer service standards are way below an average consumers expectations for a Mercedes dealer. I believe my expectation of a Mercedes dealer are relatively low. I don't expect to be served with a golden spoon just because I drive a mercedes (and maybe that is because I know I drive the lowest model), but I do expect to leave the dealer feeling somewhat confident about my purchase/service and expect to leave without being frustated or angered.

Just to recap one of many incidents, FJMB of Las Vegas accidentally put my 8.5" factory wheels in the front and 7.5" in the rear. Not a big deal until I went to the dealer to have fixed. I asked for my service adviser. When he came over I explained to him nicely that when I brought my car in over a month ago to fix the TPMS sensors.While washing the car I noticed the 8.5" rims on the front and the 7.5" rims on the rear. His instant reaction was defensive.

"No, we wouldn't have done something like that....are you sure you didn't take it anywhere else after the service??"

My reaction in my mind to his comments was...Is this guy serious? I explained to him that my car is new and its was the first time I'd brought it in for service since my purchase. I also explained to him that I had not taken it anywhere else. He explains to me about how their techs would never do such a thing, explaining that they have so many cars with staggered setups, so they always check. I asked him to please switch them back. He sits down and prints out the paper work and say..."Theres no charge this time to put them back". Are you kidding! He was making it sound like he was doing me a favor by not charging me! At the end, I didn't receive any apologies for their mistake, but only defensive and rude comments.

From reading on this forum, it seems like many people have had problems in the past with Fletcher Jones. I wanted to start a thread to see what everyones view are about this franchise. Please post your experiences and thoughts. Thanks!




As far as the Las Vegas Mercedes market goes, a new Mercedes dealer has now opened in Henderson. The Mercedes Benz of Henderson. I'm sad to report that I went their yesterday and they told me it is owned by the Fletcher Jones Franchise. From the experience, I was dissappointed with the service manager I met with. I asked for a simple reset of the maintenance odometer and he refused to do it and fed me excuse after excuse on why it could not be done. I had to take matters into my own hands and go into the diagnostics menu and reset it. On the plus side, the parts department people where very nice and helpful.

cjh.

I voted yes only because of the amount of complaints on this forum about them.

That is some horrible service you got. Aren't there any other MB dealers in Vegas?

justthinking

The only way to get any decent service from Fletcher Jones is if you actually know someone work there..
I too have gave up on them since my friend David left FJ last yr...both FJ of Fremont and FJ of New Port Beach sucks IMO..

C300Sport

Didn't vote but, when he made his "no charge this time" comment, you should have either:

1) Asked for the service manager, general manager or owner.
2) Punched him in the mouth.

Anything other than that and it seems like you will just keep getting the same old crap from him...

vegas500E

I brought my car in to FJ MB for a service for the first time after moving to Vegas and I was really turned off with the way I was treated...a dramatically different experience with the MB dealer is used to go to in Allentown, PA. FJ called me to tell me my car was ready and when I arrived, I had to wait an hour! Then they said they couldn't find the car. I don't go there anymore!

benzlvr2500

I guess Fletcher Jones is a dissapointment everywhere. In Newport Beach the sales department needs to go learn how to sell cars...always rude, arrogant, and had that "I'm better than you" aura around them. They need to get their heads outta their asses. The service dept. otoh was great

capt_paul

I purchased my 2005 C230 new in summer of 2004. My service advisor at the time was Mark Adams (he is no longer there). I wound up with a very good service advisor, JP Ready. They will go out of their way for me and did get some things fixed with my car a few months past warranty.

I did have a big beef with another service advisor when my normal SA was on vacation. He screwed me over on a repair on the AC that was not even broken. Still pissed with that.

If you are a preferred customer, you can get your car washed any day except for Fridays, instead of the Saturday only thing.

Fletcher Jones has exclusive rights in Nevada to sell Mercedes Benz. He also has many other dealerships around th country, not just MB. I have known the Fletcher Jones name since the 1980s when his dad ran the show.

After his dad died, Fletcher Jr moved to Newport Beach, California from Las Vegas. The new outlet in Henderson is very clean, and I was treated well, and I was given a brief tour of their facility.

Overall, I give the dealership a thumbs up.

redfever

I just wanted to say that I think the dealer is just over busy thats why sometimes the service is not good but my advisor in vegas was j p readdy but I am sorry to say he passed away last week from cancer. I am still going to try the one in henderson though

chokaay

Honestly, I would say "Yes" and "No". IMO, it really depends on who you get at FJ... or any other MB dealer for that matter! Here in SoCal, I've contacted and visited a good number of dealerships when purchasing my vehicles (Laguna Niguel, Anaheim, Long Beach, South Bay, Buena Park, and of course Fletcher Jones). I'd say that at ALL of them, there were both "good" and "bad" salesmen, service advisors, etc.

On the whole, I would say my experiences with FJ was just OK. My early experiences (beginning 1993) REALLY SUCKED and I boycotted FJ for 15 years until 2008 when my friend referred me to Brian & James. I was really lucky to be recommended to such a good "team". Brian was an awesome salesman who answered all my questions (and made the effort to find out the answers if he didn't know them), and was very patient with me during this process (took care of me for over a year, since early 2008 until May 2009, before I made my purchase). James was an awesome general manager who would be very straight forward at what he could and couldn't do (sometimes TOO straight forward IMO, but all "closers" seem to be that way). However, he did it in a very diplomatic way and didn't make you feel TOO bad/guilty if a deal couldn't be reached (unlike some others who will try and guilt-trip you into buying a Mercedes). We had a few deals fall through because we couldn't agree on a price, but ultimately found one we could make a deal on.

The Finance Department at FJ (as well as any other dealership) was another story, however, and I did NOT have a pleasant experience dealing with them. They tried to push every single over-priced service and accessory my way, and continued even after I told them to stop. It only got better, after I threatened to walk out of the deal if they pushed just ONE MORE THING that I didn't need... after that the finance person began to "behave".

Honestly, if it wasn't for Brian & James (and my friend for referring me to them), I would have purchased my Mercedes from another dealership. But in the end I purchased my vehicles from FJ mainly because of Brian and James... but also because they are close to my house, they have the largest selection of vehicles so there's more chance they'll have the configuration you want (especially on the 2009 E350's... which aren't being produced anymore), and because of their complimentary airport shuttle service (for "preferred" customers... which means you bought your car from them).

Take it from me... if your sales person, service advisor, or whoever you're dealing with sucks, DON'T be afraid to ask for another one! Remember that they're supposed to be ASKING for your business... NOT the other way around!

joebenz

yeah, their sales is horrible. i went there for 2 different cars. The C and ML. both times it was so bad and both cars ended up being purchased elsewhere. Haven't used them for service though. I've always taken to House of Imports.

mb_horseshoe

Newport Beach FJ terrible.

Try MB Laguna Niguel - they're the #2 MB dealer in the nation and their service, so far, has been very good.

FrankW

gave them a shot when car shopping last year for the 350. long story short, they wasted our day wanting to play the "sales game". walked out and never went back.

best sales experience has always been House of Imports for me and my family and friends.

best service is from Penske...at least for me.

chokaay

I thought South Bay was #2... did they get overtaken within the last year?

As far as Laguna Niguel goes, their sales is more comfortable to deal with IMO, but as far as pricing goes, they are too high. They're unable to match pricing that other dealers gave me... prices that even FJ was willing to match!

chokaay

Yeah, I've noticed at FJ they like playing games (perhaps a little more so than other MB dealerships around here). That's why my friend advised me to call EVERY DEALERSHIP in SoCal (as well as visit the closest ones) and get all the prices you can. Then take the lowest price that is within your budget, go to FJ, and if they match/beat it, then there's a deal. If not, then you know to walk and buy it at the place that offered you the lowest price within your budget (and you MUST be prepared to really walk off the lot). Saves a lot of time and headache negotiating prices.

One thing that REALLY annoys me is FJ's push to receive all "10's" on their surveys (I mean, other dealerships do this as well... but FJ seems to bring it to a whole new level!) They receive some sort of compensation or credit from MB for perfect surveys, as well as their dealership.

However, I've learned to use this to my advantage at FJ (and elsewhere) and always MAKE them work for the "10's" I give them (ie: "Oh, the parktronic sensor on the left side is off-center by 0.05mm, can you take care of that?", "Oh, can you enable the Automatic Tilt Feature in the Passenger Mirror?", "Oh, I want to buy some wheel locks from the Parts Department, what discount can you get me on those?", "I want LoJack on my vehicle, but I'm not going to pay more than $___... tell Finance to sell it to me for that price."). If they want perfect 10's from me, they're going to work for it...

FrankW

a good dealer/good sales will do those things for you.

reason I went to HOI is because our previous sales actually wasn't a sales at all. he was actually the fleet manager. whom we had bought 4 cars from excluding the ppl we recommend to him. now the sales he took care of back then is now one of the manager at HOI, so we just talk to the manager directly. a very honest guy.

chokaay

Inside contacts is always a plus!

AMGTTV8

there is no incentive for perfect surveys - it is a requirement.

Mercedes-Benz corporate does not accept anything less than a 10 in any area on the survey's that we are given as customers - be that in service or sales.

fj isnt pushing it just because, theyre doing it because it's a necessity.

FrankW

nope.

the sales or service person gets a bonus every time when they get a perfect survey from the customer from their own dealership or the top.

chokaay

Correct... and from what I've been told, that bonus is fairly significant. (Which makes me wonder, do they get penalized if they get 0's... hmmmmmmmm... )

W203E35

Anyone with horrible experience with W.I. Simonson in Santa Monica, CA?

That's where I got my car and took it in for service and they are all idiots there. I now take it to KEYS in Van Nuys they are OK I haven't had a problem but like most people said they treat people they know better. I got a w204 C for a rent a car but some chick who knew the guy and gave him a hug got a GLK. The sad part is this chick was ugly as hell, to be honest you couldnt see her face because her "Air Bags" were so huge.

But what I hate about dealers is you take it in for a problem and the problem is intermittent and they say we have to see it untill we can touch the car.

When I took my car in for my tranny "Hard Shift" when I come to a stop (once in a while it happens) the Tech said that they can't do anything and it might be from my rims (19") because its doing more cycles.

Basically trying to scare me into saying "ohh ok I better take the car and leave before they pin it on me".

I hate the dealers overall they are all there to get you. I wonder if you get an extnded warranty through a 3rd party maybe they wont be like that because they are not the ones lossing money?

AMGTTV8

really? do you have documentable proof of this?

i can assure you that this is not the policy at my two stores...

FrankW

you answered your own question. the "policy" of your local dealerships doesn't concern our local dealerships.

perhaps if your local dealership doesn't give out loaners or complimentary car washes you are going to want a written prove that ours does too? lmao.

just so you know the surveys also ends up in MB headquarter's hand on evaluating the progress of each dealership. at the end it affects how MB headquarter comes to support each dealership. There are lots of MB dealerships around the nation, but only fractions has the ability to sell Maybachs. A direct result of these surveys. Just the other day I was at Penske service dept where there were MB headquarter rep walking around the service building inspecting.

AMGTTV8

i never said it did - corporate does not give any dealer any incentive on a CSI by CSI case...

no. sorry to hear your *** is falling off.

really? i think you should reword that to reflect the fact that all dealers in the country were presented with an opportunity to have the Maybach franchise - reality is, only a fraction were stupid enough to pay the $1.25 million franchise fee.

certainly not.

cool - every dealer has an MB headquarter rep walking around the service building more than 4 times a year...guess what? they also go to the sales department.

FrankW

thanks for stating the obvious. mr. obvious.

norcal5

I purchased my W204 from FJ Fremont over a year ago and have taken my car in for 2 service appointments (1k checkup & service A). I have no compliants with my sales or service experiences.