bigbodybeeenz

MB of San Diego.

Long story short:

I ordered a C63 with them and the wait was 3 months. Guy calls me 3 months later and says the car has arrived. Stoked. I was 2 hours away at this point and drove to the dealer. Once I got there, the car was nowhere to be found. Sales rep goes Oh no problem, it's on the truck should be here any minute. 4 hours later still no car. Turns out the car got "lost" on the way somehow and it didn't end up coming in till 4 days later. Needless to say I was PISSED.

tdotjag

As far as MB goes, stay away from the Mississauga dealership in Ontario, Canada. As mentioned in previous posts, I went in to check out the c63 after going to the gym. 5 separate salesmen looked right at me then walked the other way. I ended up leaving but came back the next week (I work walking distance from the dealership) dressed in a suit and I had every guy in the place ask if I needed assistance. I work in a field where cust service is huge (investment industry). I would never judge people this way and it pays off in more ways than one. It's normally the person who walks in looking like they just rolled out of bed that has the most $$$.

-=Hot|Ice=-

Keep them coming!

shchow

MB Cherry Hill, NJ...
Their attitude is like you're doing THEM a favor. They are the only MB dealership within 30-40 miles. The general consensus in the area is that the owner is an a**hole, and attitudes tend to trickle down to the staff as well.
However, the current state of the economy seems to be the great equalizer.
I stopped in recently to look at the CLS and the salesman was pretty helpful...

jvanbrecht

I have not had a bad experience yet, however I was planning on swinging by MB of Alexandria when my check engine light came on while at work (I work in Springfield).. on the way there it went out (I figured crappy gas), so I went back to the office.. Good to know to Avoid that location.

On the better side, I had an excellent experience, sales and services (well mostly parts), at MB of Annapolis which is near where I live.

Vash

I would say this experience is more indicative of poor sales tactics vs the entire dealership being garbage;

Keyes European, when contacted via email, was hitting me up for a $15k markup on the C63 coupe they had in stock. Wouldn't budge, but said they may consider MSRP if I came in. Also denied that there was any loyalty/conquest at the time.

I'd like to mention that I had a really good experience with MB Encino. The salesman was very helpful, not pushy, and treated me like a VIP customer. I walked in wearing sweats and a ball cap.

Non MB; Miller Nissan had a GTR in the showroom. When I went to check it out, the salesman floating around the showroom told me that only famous athletes and movie stars could buy that car and that I was wasting my time. Dumb ***.

The worst experience I ever had was when I was 19 at Toyota of Northridge. They had a Supra on the lot that was debadged. I went for a test drive and heard the turbo's spooling, but they were asking only $20k for it. I asked the salesman what the "whistling" sound was and he had no clue. I was planning on trading my truck in ('95 Chevy ext. cab, BellTech 5/6 drop C-notch, completed shaved, bow tie breaklight in the tailgate, Fosgate amp w/ JL stealth box under the rear seat, 18" Boyds, I loved that truck). The manager stopped me at the door and offered me a couple grand for my truck. I laughed at that. Then he started yelling at me that I was a stupid punk kid and should stop wasting his salemans time (probably figured it was "daddy's truck"). I came close to dropping that guy, no one has ever insulted me so much. At that point they were literally forcing me off of the lot. My gf's car blew on her way back to San Diego that weekend, I bought her a new car (that I took back when I dumped her).

I was wearing baggy pants, a white "wife beater", and my ball cap was backwards. I propably did look like a "punk".

oswiff

MB Manhattan Service Advisor David James who is an "AMG Specialist" just made my black list. Took car for service last Sat, said I should get it back Monday. Monday he says Tuesday. Tuesday he says Thursday. Today (Thurs) I call at 1 to check in because i haveny heard anything. Another guy picked up said it looked finished in system, he would have David call me back in 20. 2:30 rolls around, no calls. I call back, force the guy who picked up to get ahold of David. David finally picks up, says oh the part didn't come in, the car isn't ready, it's disassembled right now, how about next Tuesday. I say when were you going to tell me this, its now 2:30 and I'm supposed to be picking up in less than 3 hours? Says he didn't know until just now, blames the other department, not his fault, no apology. Blah blah blah.

I chewed him out, chewed out his boss, and filed complaint with corporate office. I'm sure nothing will come of it.

biglee73

MB of Fairfield, CA.

This is a new dealer which opened on Nov 1, 2011 and is also the day I went in to order my C63. I received $300 over invoice with another local dealer that was associated with the Costo auto program and MB of Fairfield would match that price because they are also associated with Costco. Computers weren't hooked up so order was placed the next day. No credit card machines to take my deposit so a week later my deposit was taken.

Communication with my sales advisor and the general sales manager was non existent because it took me 5 weeks to get a December build date that was "concrete" with a February 3rd build date. A month before my Feb 3rd build date, I add the development package. I emailed and texted the general sales manager a week before Feb 3rd to confirm everything was on schedule and in writing he says all is good. A week after Feb 3rd, I had to go to the dealer because emails never get answered, and checked on status which was in production. Next week they actually answered my email and said it is now a April build date.

Out of frustration I had to show up to the dealer again to figure out what was wrong. They pull up my order on Netstar and there was my order. The PO number was correct, but paint, audio, and interior trim was incorrect. They fixed what they could, but now that MB doesn't offer the single disc option, I'm stuck with the 6 disc change and rear view camera in order to get navigation. There is no way in hell I will pay for their mistake if they would've told me the truth and if they would've got the order correct the first time. So now I'm still waiting for my car.

Trying to find out if there were other dealers associated with Costco so I fill out the online form again and only one result came back and it was not Fairfield.

This dealer also uses Yelp, but all the negative reviews that get posted are yanked from their profile. There was one review I actually read before it was pulled where customer A was looking for a car and the sales person told customer A that customer B was already interested in this car and that it wasn't for sale. Customer A returns a few days later and found out that customer B was an employee at the dealer. How shady is that.

The first time they screwed up I have in writing that they will take $2k off at the time of delivery. Now this second time I'm just asking not to pay for the multimedia package. The $2k off at delivery was also from the general sales manager so now I really wonder if he is a man of his own words. Time will tell. The general sales manager knows about the incident and if they don't honor that, time to raise hell over at corporate which I've already called in to.

YYZ-E55

Lots of comments about being treated poorly for being dressed "casually" (to be politically correct). As someone in the industry, I'm curious about how you'd handle the same situation if you were the salesperson.

As enthusiasts, I think we'd all say "I'd treat him/her equally" or "his/her clothing is possibly not an indication of capacity to pay", but after dealing with several of these "casual" buyers and not closing deals (and thus not making any money), do you think you'd reach a point where you'd become jaded and start ignoring those customers too? For every instance where a couple skater dudes buy a pair of Astons, there are dozens of shoppers who have little/no intention to buy (for whatever reason).

Sorry to quasi-hijack; I'm not in sales, but I'm very curious. This will definitely be a bigger issue when Benz starts selling small cars in North America (A-Class, B-Class, etc), which cater to younger buyers.

CoolBDPhenom03

It's funny that sales folks still judge people by appearance. Here in Silicon Valley/the Bay Area, there are so many start-ups and young millionaires, anyone could drop enough cash on a Benz and I would think that they wised up pretty quickly when they realized who they were dealing with.

On an opposite note from BigLee, I went to MB of Walnut Creek to get serviced and they were SUPER professional. They aligned my car with HRE rims perfectly even though they couldn't use the standard MB tools. They also managed to find 2 spare keys no one ever picked up and swapped out both of my cracked fobs in about 30 minutes, otherwise they were totally willing to warranty it out.

On Yelp, they actually have the opposite problem. They're only rated 2.5-stars, but Yelp has a nasty habit of hiding really good reviews and having businesses pay for some kind of "service" that will reveal the filtered review and boost their rating. So if you look carefully, you will find a link that shows page after page of 4- and 5-star ratings that are hidden.

natman316

yeah I totally understand someone might not approach you because of the way you look. cant help it. However if you have no one to take care of, I think its nice to go and talk to them at least.

One time I went to a dealer with my Integra and dressed in shorts and a t shirt...no one came to me either lol.

Roswell

I understand your point, but this is part of their job to take care of the customers no matter their dress code or their intention of buying. It doesn't cost much to the salesman to greet a customer.

Look for example, you can almost compare car dealerships with real estate business. When I'm looking for a house, I want to visit many houses & regardless of my final decision to buy or not, the agents will take a pleasure to show me what they have to offer. Unlike a car salesman, the real estate agent has to give more effort (explain features on the house), time (do open house) & money (advertise at their own cost) to gain their client business... and sometimes gets nothing from their clients.

asuri

I actually liked broadway mercedes, I bought my C63C there, and the dealership was really nice to us, very great experience, but we had a referral to one specific staff, and he was a wonderful guy. His name is Amir IIRC, and he specializes in AMG cars only.

Agent_Oorange

Amir is a great guy and a real professional! He has my BS order.

YYZ-E55

Fair enough, but a real estate agent can show you (and earn a commission on) virtually any house that's for sale, whereas a Benz salesperson can only show you a Benz! If you decide on another brand, the Benz sales consultant is out of the equation.

jvanbrecht

Any salesman who expects you to buy the car they are showing you, and not look at anything else is delusional.

Obviously in the AMG space, the potential customer base is much smaller, and the choice of vehicles in the class is also significantly smaller. That is why the salesman will have to try that much harder to make the sale, regardless of how the person is dressed, or speaks, or the persons mannerisms. Just writing them off because they don't have a particular look are sound is a huge mistake, and will only garner ill will towards that dealer, and potentially, the entire brand.

In the generic car market, it is slightly different as there are many brands, options and price ranges to choose from, and most sales people know that the customer is shopping around. Again, to sell your brand, you have to try that much harder, but I am guessing the profit margins are significantly different between generic cars, and high performance cars. But that is what volume makes up for

shchow

You may have a point if the dealership is crowded with customers and the salesman can pick and choose.
But every time I've been in a MB dealership, it's empty.
So you're suggesting that the salesman ignore that one customer if he is dressed not to your standards?

Roswell

I agree on the fact that if the dealership or salesmanship are busy, it's acceptable. But I think this thread is showing a lot of complaints towards this brand due to the fact some (not all) employees/ salesman or even manager are being either cocky or lazy. And this is not acceptable when u have spent or are ready to spend 80k$ on this car.

JohnnyUte

I'm from the Seattle area and we tend to dress a lot more casually here, however if you're going to show up to a Mercedes dealer dressed as trash, you can't expect to be treated as #1. I know there's a lot of young rich people who can afford these cars and they're not going to dress up, however you do have to look at it from the dealers perspective. I can show you this $70k+ car, but when it comes to a test drive I want to know how serious you are about it. A lot of you have ordered cars so they're yours from the get-go, but what about those who buy them off the lot? How would you like it if someone who had no intention of buying the car and was looking for some fun thrashed your car before you? The mileage may only be 50, but those could have been some hard miles. I'm a young guy and don't always dress up so I know what it's like being on the other end of the "no service" spectrum. That being said, we're not dealing with chump change here and these are higher end cars.

mrobinso

+1

This is a really interesting thread. I have found this phenomenon occurs not only with the employees of high-end automobile dealerships, but pretty much at any high-end retail store. The typical scenario (please forgive stereotyping): mostly individuals who never obtained a college degree work their way up through low-level retail jobs to land a spot at one of the more prestigious retailers (in the auto industry these would be MB, Audi, BMW, Porsche, etc.) where the atmosphere of elitism among personnel is already engrained due to the fact that employees are selling a high-end product and, in spite of having a low social standing overall, on a day-to-day basis deal with customers who can't afford the expensive product they are selling. Somewhere along the line these employees emulate this elitist behavior and begin treating potential customers like trash because in their normal life they can't even afford the product they sell, and this is an opportunity to look down on those who can. As someone else mentioned, this type of behavior is often bred by a poor management culture and lack oversight/involvement from corporate HQ, since at the end of the day these dealerships are franchises (I believe). From the stories I am reading, it would be wise for MB to initiate a "secret shopper" program in which personnel from MB-USA get to experience the type of treatment some of their dealerships dish out to potential customers so that in turn, MB corporate could have insight into this problem. And I'll just emphasize here that this is clearly not solely a problem for MB, but many luxury retailers.

Vash

^An experienced salesman should be tactful in asking "qualifying" questions. "What are you driving now", "Are you from around here" (find out your neighborhood), "Nice, how long have you lived there" (answer is usually "I bought the house in ****"). That would serve them better than ignoring potential buyers.

2012c350

To your point, I was kinda put off when I stopped at a bobby rahal dealership to check out models prior to placing my order. I was wearing an old
Steelers sweatshirt with jeans and a camo hunting jacket. But then I remembered years back when I dressed exactly like that on purpose so that salesmen wouldn't hound me when I just wanted to check out the lot. So you can actually use it to your advantage. Reminds me of YEARS ago on a business trip in Ca. Stopped at an Armani store on Rodeo drive dressed like a young punk, trying on $10K suits and was treated like a king. I guess some areas know that a supposed bum might actually be a millionaire. Funny how it all works out.

CoolBDPhenom03

Very interesting insight. I know that the bank I used to work for years ago had a secret shopper program, so why not car dealerships too? It'll help boost sales and buyer experience.

I agree completely. I realize it's human nature to develop prejudices and biases to help filter sensory information quickly, but there's that versus jumping to conclusions...totally different story.

YYZ-E55

Mystery shopping programs are run on occasion, however, I'm not sure that the mystery shopper is trying to emulate the situation we are discussing here. Perhaps that's a problem, especially considering the more youthful (and much more affordable) MB models that are coming.

I'm guessing most people participating in this thread are under 40 - this is another big element of the potential prejudice, as many of the sales consultants are much older and perhaps not in tune with "young money".

mrobinso, I agree with your points for the most part, which are (in my experience) especially evident in clothing retail. I can assure you that a good salesperson is very well paid, though perhaps not well educated.

Has anyone here ever been mistreated and subsequently brought it up with the general manager of the dealership?

JonMBZ

I am surprised to hear so many people are having issues based on their appearances most dealer employees know you can NEVER judge a customer by their appearance. Some of the richest guys can be the ones that care the least about their appearance. I can say to the comment about the cars being locked makes sense. If you left the cars open the alarms would be going off ALL day. Once you have worked in the dealer you will understand how annoying it gets. Also MB does not use mystery shoppers they do however weigh huge amounts of their expectations based on CSI surveys and JD power. Where I work we have mystery shoppers, but they are contracted by our management to strengthen the employees customer service skills. Mercedes is spending huge amounts of money and paying motivational speakers and holding mandatory classes constantly to strengthen the brand and service. Their goal is to rank higher in their JD scores which they did move up this year again in. Mercedes customers have the highest rate of customer loyalty of any brand and they are trying to make things better. My girlfriend works for lexus and I can vouch that former MB to Lexus customer HATE MB it just goes to show you that the car or service staff must have really screwed up bad to make them switch brands. Also keep in mind that you shouldn't base your opinions on a single reaction you have the choice of choosing whoever you want in sales, every sales person has a different personality so try to find one that is best for you.