"In any case, it shouldn't be this hard. I shouldn't have to make the effort. I shouldn't have to prove anything to them. I shouldn't have to feel like a second class citizen. I don't feel that Mercedes products are so superior to the alternatives that I need to deal with this kind of treatment. The gap is closing rapidly. When every major magazine review I've read places the A8 above the S-class, it's obvious that they can't provide a better product so it's time for the Mercedes dealers to loose the arrogance and provide better service than their competition."


No it shouldn't be, and if the owner of the dealership read this I'm certain he'd be horrified. You need to make a copy of this thread and send it to him/her. I'm also in a business that requires selling and sometimes people's attitudes get in the way of good sense. Please spell out what happened to you to them and I'm sure they'll take steps to correct it. If they don't, well then maybe they DESERVE to go out of business.

 

When I was 24, I was treated like sh*t at the closest hill billy mb dealer.... the sales manager was uneducated and obviously an incompetent moron who made derogatory remarks. I left afterwards, called a dealer 2 hours away and asked to speak to the sales manager. Turned out to be a great gentleman who listened to me when I explained to him what I wanted and how much I wanted to pay for it. We sent a few offers back and forth via fax and soon settled on a good deal. Since he didn't have the car on the lot, he had to track it down in transport and managed to trade cars with the dealer who had ordered that specific car. He did all this without a signature and never meeting me, just speaking to me over the phone. He kept the car for me for almost 2 weeks before I got a chance to make the 2 hour drive and finalize everything. There are good dealers out there....... just have to search long and hard. It isn't only MB dealers either.... toyota, ford, etc....

I honestly wouldn't even give a damn if I were you. It's your money, thus it's your power. You spend it how you please and obviously there will be someone else very happy that you spent it with them.

 

Of all dealerships a Honda dealership was like that with me. Waited around for a half hour and nobody helped me. I wanted the S2000 that night and was ready to cut them a check. Got sick of waiting and decided to head over to the MB dealership instead. Well what do you know? They were having an unadvertised lease special on the C55. The end.

Moral of the story: spend money at a place where they show you respect and show effort towards earning it.

 

His problem seems to be with the sales crew. I mentioned an Internet purchase and a broker. Other than "going to the dealership with your dad" as you mentioned in post 20, what suggestions do you have for the guy?

 

Wow, good point.

 

I bought my first MB SL55 from the auction, therefore I avoided the bad experience, but my first service advisor was as bad as they come. He was later fired or quit, and my new person was awesome, but he resigned.

However, when I went to get my 55 serviced, a SL65 was at the dealership, and was the first one that I saw. I went over and looked at the car with my wife and a salesman walked over a stated "You have never driven anything like this in your life." I told him that I owned a SL55, and that I was going to buy my wife an SL65 in a few months. He looked at me as if I was making a joke from the movie boys in the hood, and repeated himself.

I smiled at him, knowing what his perception of me was. Needless to say a month later I bought the same SL65. That same salesman watched me through a glass window as my wife and I finalized the transaction with Tom Clinton, a nice guy from the Bronx. The other workers at MB were not all that friendly or professional.
A week later my wife drove the 65 to the Braman dealership in West Palm, which also sell the Bentley line. Another salesman told the manager that my wife had a interest in the GT. The salesperson said that only two salespeople were allowed to sale the Bentley's and went inside to get the manager/salesperson. The manager refused to come out and even greet my wife.
So again, I am probably going to buy the GT in January, however I refused to buy it at the same dealership. The only thing I hope is that the same dealership that scorned my wife, enjoy servicing my GT. Don't get mad, find someone who is worthy of your time, and hit the other guys in the pocket, and remind them that they work for MB not own it.

P.S. My sister in law bought a CLS 55 a month after I bought the 65 from the same nice salesperson. I bet that rude arrogant salesman is pounding his head against the wall for being stupid.

 

It's sad to hear the classic age discrimination still resides in MB dealerships. I could care less whether the buyer is still sucking breast milk. As long as they fork over greens, I will sell them a car.

 

Discrimination period is still completely apparent. Whether you are young, old, well dressed or in a tee, any color of the world you can get ignored.

I happen to know that the #1 selling Porsche dealer is over on the East Coast of FL. I forget which one but no matter who you are, you are greeted at the door with open arms and full attn. This is why so many people come back to buy and why they are number one in sales every year.

I think it's great that Mercedes dealers view themselves as so much superior but in reality, you could go down the road and find a better salesman at Toyota and a more reliable product. I think Mercedes should also start looking at replacing not only the parts of their automobiles, but also the parts of their company.... the salesmen.

It is a truly sad world when you are paying money for a car and can't get the time of day of the salesman to get what you want. I just look at many salesman and grin because I know that I could actually sell a car to anyone who had the money, regardless of anything else.

Mercedes is in a selling market, why are they trying to discriminate when the last thing they need is less market share? Ha, we will see who has the last laugh I guess.

 

I recently walked into a Pcar dealer (Hoehn Carlsbad). They had a freaking CGT and more bling than I could handle. I had long shorts, pumas and a bacwards hat. They treated me like a superstar, threw in a CPO (certified by porsche to 100K miles) and took 9K off the car. They installed smoked side markers and GT3 wheel caps that I asked for right in front of me and insisted I did not have to pay extra for them. Then they deatiled the car, and not just a crappy wash, but a pro wax and everything. They let me go NUTS and I mean NUTS in the store. I got 3 free Porsche stainless pocket knifes made in Germany a Black Porsche Pcrest sweater and a chrome Porsche license plate frame. Like 400 Bux at retail. Oh and the car came with Low Jack. I did spend 90K on the GT3, but if I got a SL for 90K they would not do the same for me at a BNZ dealer. Noway.
The fact is spending 50K on a car is not that big a deal anymore and Benz has become a common make at least here in So Cal.Most benz's are German Hondas IMO they are cheap looking plastic ridded buckets,not AMG but you know what I mean.
If you are looking at anything besides an E55 and up don't expect more than a cup of free coffee and paying for all your service.
All this comming from a guy who has a been a loyal BNZ customer. 4 cars in 4 years. I would get another C32 if I had to pick out of the lot. After the depriciation rape they are good deals now.

 

you're gay

 

Hmm all your stories frighten me, in Australia the customer service is great, whenever i go in with my dad they greet us as soon as we walk in the door and they are all very knowledgable about their product (as they bloody well should be), maybe Australia has recognised the new varied demographic of MB buyers out there, also i noted that most of the sales reps are males in their 20's who are keen (but not over keen) to make a sale, but also are attuned to the customers desires ie. logically going through each option without saying 'oh yes this accessory is a must have'. in fact i have found that BMW has the sleezy 'going to pressgang you into a sale' approach.
kudos to MB Australia

 

At least one of the BMW dealerships here in Phoenix isn't so bad...

The way I look at it, their job isn't to sell me anything. This isn't a Ford. They're not going to talk me into the "undercoating," and I'd really expect them to not play the "well how much can you afford a month" game. The sales people should be there to answer my questions, and help me with whatever I decided to do. When a product basically sells itself, the LAST thing the sales people should be doing is swaying customers to spend their money elsewhere.

 

I am glad to hear that Hoen is a good dealer. I am considering stepping up to an E55 and I was considering them

Fred

 

MB HK is pretty in fast pace and speed to market. We only find our money is much slower than what they are offering.
New B200 turbo,R,ML,S are all on order, delivery should be less than eight weeks.

 

Anyone see that commercial by DHL (a delivery company, similar to UPS, FedEx)? They nailed it!

They start off by showing a series of poor customer service scenes (i.e., Airlines, Local Diner etc.) where the customer is ignored and treated like crap. Then they start playing that song, "What the world...needs now...is love...sweet love..." and then they ask, "What ever happened to customer service?"

This commercial says it all! Fortunately there are other companies willing to capitalize on another company's lack of customer appreciation. Thank goodness for competition!

 

That sucks. My dad had the same problem near our house in Freehold, NJ. We went to David Michael back in 98 to buy a benz and the sales people totally ignored him so we went to Ray Catena in Edison NJ and my dad bought his car there and came back to david michael and showed him the s-class he bought and the guys face turned red. It was great

 

Well... I got a response back from Mercedes.


I basically take this as "we're aware we have problems. Sorry. We don't care."

Ask for a manager is an unacceptable answer. If the relationship has degraded that far, I'm sure as hell not buying ANYTHING from that dealer. I bet corporate wonders why they're losing sales to Audi and Lexus and why Mercedes was ranked near the bottom of all of the recent JD Power surveys.

 

Dealers just don't get it. A lot of 20somethings are making a lot of money as the Internet has leveled the playing field.

2 years ago I walked into Fletcher Jones, Newport Beach. I wanted a SL55. I ended up buying a plane instead. You can figure out what happened there. I just turned 26 in September.

I'm in the market again for the SL55 -- hoping that the latest builds have decent quality. I am planning on trying again ..

(and yes, I did show up to the dealership in semi-formal clothing, so it wasn't as if a local 'surfer' dude showed up)

 

Trust me, nothing's changed. You really have to want one to deal with it. If you're not particular about your options and colors, just buy from a broker for invoice + shipping.

 

this is sort of an interesting thread....I had a TOTALLY different experience though....

(granted I am white so I probably didn't inspire any sort of racial discrimination)....I am only 23 yrs old, I probably look like I'm 16 (young face), and I certainly wasn't dressed in a business suit or anything when I first walked into the dealership. In spite of all of the above, a sales rep approached me rather quickly after I started going over the C43 posted out front in the showroom. We started talking, and he seemed 1) very knowledgeable about the car in particular and 2) very interested in trying to sell me the car. The car itself was in *mint* condition, and was stickered in the upper price range for a '99 C43......so it's not like he was trying to find some young kid to pawn the ratty old C-class off to. Anyhow, without even asking him, he asked me if I would like to take it for a drive....which of course I accepted

After the drive I told him I needed to think about it for a couple days.....kind of a lie, but I had to play cool, as if I hadn't been specifically looking for this exact car. Two days later, I got a letter in the mail from the rep, thanking me for looking at the car, and encouraging me to call him if I had any questions. Several days later, I went back up to the dealership, and a different rep (the other guy was on vacation in CA) spent over an hour going over every aspect of the car with me. Again, very knowledgeable, and very interested in answering all of my questions. He brought me out all of the maintenance (CPO) papers, the car's service history (it had been a local car since the original drive-off), CARFAX, and even gave me a run down of the history and specifics of the C43 (even though I had definitely done my homework in advance). I think it was their service that actually convinced me to buy the car right there on the spot (in addition to the fact that the car was literally perfect). They gave me a "token" discount (didn't expect too much), and were very accomodating. To top it all off, they gave me my choice of a few small purchase gifts (nothing too special, but a nice gesture....not sure if this is standard throughout MB). So overall, I drove out of the dealership in the shiny C43 that I had hoped to find, feeling very happy about my overall experience with Mercedes-Benz.

This was a smaller dealership (Portland,OR) but it just goes to show that there are still some guys out there with some class

 

Guys! These guys keep a job as a car salesman because they're weasels and scammers. The sales managers hold their position because they are the biggest a$$h#le in the place -- and if his salesman aren't being weasels and scammers he will threaten and verbally beat it into them to become one, or to work harder at becoming a bigger one. That is the way it works. I've been treated badly all over the country at every make of car that I've ever pursued buying -- fact of life. And I pay cash, know exactly what I want before I go in and let them know that, and I buy high-dollar cars. [all you car salesman out there don't even start 'cause you know exactly what I'm saying here]
I've worked in the business. Over the last 30 years I have known at least 80 people who currently work or have worked in the business. This is the way it is. So, being forewarned, go about your business of checking out and purchasing what you want. Don't be thin-skinned about it. And if they treat you like sh&t, go somewhere else and soldier on.
It's all about the cars -- don't let a jerk at a dealership dissuade you from getting what you want.

 

That's really odd. I've been to a lot of dealers, and I've bought a lot of cars. The Mercedes dealerships in Phoenix are the only place I've ever had a problem, and ever felt like the sales people were being arrogant *****s.

 

Do you act strange when you go in or something? I am only 19 and when ever i walk in i get a sales guy who comes up to me and asks if he can help me. since schumacher moved i have noticed they dont have a large sale staff and takes for ever to get someone. If you feel you are being treated badly at schumacher go to the front desk and ask to speak to michael schumacher and tell him how you feel hes a nice guy and will help you out. Phx motor is where my family gets all its cars since they make the best deals and they a little bit more snotty so thats why we got to schumacher to test drive cars then buy them at Phx. Chandler MB is the worst i used to know one of the GMs so when i went there i would just ask for her and she would show many anything i wanted. so to recap it Test drive the cars at schumacher buy them at Phx and service them at chandler or phx. What part of tempe do you live in and what type of business are you in? and do you have a silver GT that was at a gas station on Eliot and McClintock like 4 days ago?

 

My experience at the local MB dealer was quite positive (and I always go there in jeans, casual shirts, and tennis shoes). However, I can't say that for the local Lexus dealer (Jack Safro's Lexus of Brookfield). Everytime I go there and walk around the lot, no one would attend you. I had to go inside and ask for a salesman if I wanted to check out a car. Ridiculous! That's why my dad bought his rx330 at the other Lexus dealer.

 

Wtf. I was 22, I came in some beat up '94 E320 at Fletcher Jones to test drive (joy ride) an E55 W211 and W220 S55. Now keep in mind the E55 had been out for like a month or two. I had the general manager personally give me the test drives. Took it to 140mph each. Me and my dirty Hindu friend w/ an old *** 190E. Did I have money? Was I dressed nice? Did I have a gangsta car?

Just like Vader13, it all boils down to your demeanor. If you're ghetto, they'll see it. If you're gangsta, like me, they'll bow down.

nuuuukkkkkaaa!!