Mercedes-Benz Dealerships to Stay Away From
Virginia:
Mercedes Benz of Alexandria - I was dealing with a Sales Associate who told me to 'go away' and buy a BMW if I wanted a 'good deal'. Obviously, they don't train their sales associates to treat potential customers properly. STAY AWAY!
Ray Catena of Union - Sales manager wouldn't budge on price of an e63 sedan i was looking at. Price was $8K more than another car at another local dealer. The car Catena had had 12K more miles, same MY. Said that he has no motivation to sell the car that it will get sold. This was in Sept 2011, as of a few weeks ago, they still had it.
Prestige Mercedes - Called the dealer to see if he had a c63 coupe available for a test drive. He said yes, but it would take a significant deposit for me to take it out.
For my story (just for entertainment- no need to name any dealership)... so I'm a mid 30 Asian guy who looks mid 25 (like most Asian lol) . I walked in the dealership with my work cargo van wanting to look at the car in the showroom & hoping to test drive it. So they told me they had to prepare the car before I test drive it & they would call me in a week...
A week later, no call & the car I was interested in buying was still in the showroom. So I gave the dealership another chance by going in & getting an update. The salesman asked me what kind of car I'm driving, I told him this cargo van & does it matter if I took the bus here... lol !! Well, I ended up buying 2 Benz from their competitors cuz the first dealer didnt take me seriously.
The most funny part is that after they found out my family bought 2 cars from their competitor (1 of their previous client told them about my story)... they called me to ask if I was still interested to test drive the car in the showroom.. lol
Park Place of Grapevine : Walked in and spotted a C63 coupe that caught my eye. Car was locked(in the show room, seriously?). I asked to look inside. After doing my inspection I inquired about getting some lease and purchase numbers to which I was given a hesitant "Sure, I guess". The sales rep, Corey Bedford, then locked the car and wandered off - I left at that point. Locking the car I was interested in, in the showroom, told me all I needed to know about their seriousness.
Park Place of Fort Worth : Went across town to look at another C63 coupe here. Staff was friendly, prompt, and took me seriously. Ended up placing an order with them. A few weeks in to it I told them I was interested in the European Delivery Program. They drug their feet getting back to me and I could tell they weren't too keen on informing or helping with the EDP. Told me I would have to pay the MSRP for the EDP because it was a "AMG". Knew that was a bold face lie so I cancelled. Still awaiting the return of my security deposit to arrive.
Needless to say, what should've been a pleasant purchasing experience has been a royal pain in the ***. Finally placed my EDP order through Herbert Haemmer with Escondido MB in California, with ~9% off MSRP. Very kind gentleman who has been prompt and candid in the process thus far.
Cliff Notes : Stay away from Park Place dealers in DFW. I've had nothing but crap experiences at their MB, BMW, and Porsche dealerships.
To start off, this is the only dealer I took my C63 to for all scheduled maintenance. I've had her for almost 3 years and have done 6 services at this dealer, even after the MB of Escondido opened, being 20 minutes closer. I thought loyalty meant something when doing business. Apparently not. After my last service, I noticed a rougher idle. I could feel the engine shaking more than usual. At first I thought it was just my imagination, and ignored it. The next day it was still doing the same thing, and was running 10 degrees hotter than usual. I jumped online and did a little bit of research to find out that these were common symptoms of having too much oil in the engine. I checked the engine oil levels, and sure enough, the oil was a solid inch above the max fill line on the dipstick. I was in disbelief that this could be possible at a dealership. I figured that's why I paid the dealer service prices as opposed to taking her to a cheaper generic garage. Immediately I drove an hour back to the dealer to see what they would do. I showed the service advisor the engine oil levels so there could be no discredit to my story. Even though it wasn't his fault, he was very apologetic and upset that a loyal customer received this kind of service. He notifies Dave Cram, the service manager. Dave comes out with a level of concern that didn't seem genuine. He tells me that he would like to run several diagnostics on my vehicle to ensure that the problem is isolated, but since his shop foreman had left for the day, he wants to keep my car and give me a loaner. I explained to him that there has to be about a quart too much oil in my engine that's causing the sluggish response, rough idle, and hotter running temperatures. I say there's no need for you to keep my car, just siphon the extra oil out. In a condescending nature, he tells me that he was a mechanic for 20 years, and that many things can cause the issues my car has. I guess the engine oil dipstick wasn't evidence enough that oil was the problem. He agrees to just let one of the mechs take a look. 30 minutes later, the mech pulls up to the service waiting lounge in my car, gets out, hands me the keys, and tells me she's good to go. So I ask the obvious question. He replies with "I had to take about an entire quart of extra oil out of the engine. I don't know how that happened. Sorry". How does a MB certified mechanic not know how to do a proper oil change? I never heard or saw Dave Cram after I received my car back. No one offered any type of compensation for a problem that they caused. It's quite an amazing customer loyalty reward program they have there. I wish they would've been honest from the beginning. How about something along the lines of "how about we charge you $380 for an oil change, but call it something fancy, like a Service B? Then we'll screw that up, inconvenience you even further, tell you we don't how the hell we screwed up the most basic of services, and send you on your way".
Virginia:
Mercedes Benz of Alexandria - I was dealing with a Sales Associate who told me to 'go away' and buy a BMW if I wanted a 'good deal'. Obviously, they don't train their sales associates to treat potential customers properly. STAY AWAY!
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Mercedes Benz Barrie - Worst Sales Service!
Put my deposit on 2012 in March, Picked colour and options in May. Car was set to arrive for beginning of September and I had no VIN by middle of August! Sales agent tells me they can't give me that information right now (I thought they were planing on selling my car to someone else). I demanded my VIN and eventually they gave it to me after my sales agent had to meet multiple times with the sales manager. I stocked the dealer every night until my car showed up. I got no call that it was on the lot so again I showed up and demanded my car. They told me the car (specced out just like how I ordered) wasn't my car. Good thing I had my VIN and a picture of the VIN off the car on the lot. Idiots. The sales manager Russ was rattled and I ended up getting screamed at by the Dealer Manager for being in the Garage with the car. I tell the Dealer Manager if we could go have this conversation in his office where I explain my side of the story. I get the car the next day after the PDI is completed. I still don't know why they refused to give me the car right away or tell me that car wasn't mine, but they lost 2 new mercedes sales (CLS 63 and M350) and plenty more in the future because of it. They were the most pathetic excuse for a car sales team, and no one should ever waste their time with them.
Despite the poor sales, their service department is great!
Last edited by VaclavSV; Mar 14, 2012 at 09:42 AM.
For my story (just for entertainment- no need to name any dealership)... so I'm a mid 30 Asian guy who looks mid 25 (like most Asian lol) . I walked in the dealership with my work cargo van wanting to look at the car in the showroom & hoping to test drive it. So they told me they had to prepare the car before I test drive it & they would call me in a week...
A week later, no call & the car I was interested in buying was still in the showroom. So I gave the dealership another chance by going in & getting an update. The salesman asked me what kind of car I'm driving, I told him this cargo van & does it matter if I took the bus here... lol !! Well, I ended up buying 2 Benz from their competitors cuz the first dealer didnt take me seriously.
The most funny part is that after they found out my family bought 2 cars from their competitor (1 of their previous client told them about my story)... they called me to ask if I was still interested to test drive the car in the showroom.. lol
Worst service advisors out of any Mercedes dealership i have ever been to. The lady behind the desk who sells apparel there is really nice and very helpful though.
When the c63 coupe first came out, they wanted $90k for it, one week later i went to MB Huntington and they wanted 75k for one that was fully loaded
Last edited by kbahl21; Mar 14, 2012 at 12:53 PM.
MB Arlington- took my E55 to them for leaky valve cover gaskets under warranty. Get call that car is done. Get there and oops the PS was gushing oil when car started up. Bad gasket. I think bad install and it was seated properly. 8 months later PS leaking again. Covered under 12mo/12,000 mile warranty.
MB Chantilly-broke off my rear spoiler when they were washing the car. Hmm it just went through a hurricane at 60mph winds a few months before and held up fine.
Pretty much get all my work done by me or Benz Elite in Alexandria off Eisenhower Ave
Worst service advisors out of any Mercedes dealership i have ever been to. The lady behind the desk who sells apparel there is really nice and very helpful though.
When the c63 coupe first came out, they wanted $90k for it, one week later i went to MB Huntington and they wanted 75k for one that was fully loaded
Wow thats funny, I had just the opposite experience! The sales manager at Rallye was phenomenal and knew every detail about my E class, plus he was extremely respectful. However when I visted MB huntington the salesman was very rude to my wife and didnt think anything of her questions/concerns despite the fact that this would be HER E class! I have my E serviced at Huntington but because of the way the treated my wife, I will never buy a car from them
Worst service advisors out of any Mercedes dealership i have ever been to. The lady behind the desk who sells apparel there is really nice and very helpful though.
When the c63 coupe first came out, they wanted $90k for it, one week later i went to MB Huntington and they wanted 75k for one that was fully loaded
Ray Catena of Union - Sales manager wouldn't budge on price of an e63 sedan i was looking at. Price was $8K more than another car at another local dealer. The car Catena had had 12K more miles, same MY. Said that he has no motivation to sell the car that it will get sold. This was in Sept 2011, as of a few weeks ago, they still had it.
Prestige Mercedes - Called the dealer to see if he had a c63 coupe available for a test drive. He said yes, but it would take a significant deposit for me to take it out.
I usually deal with Ray Catena Edison so can't comment on Union...YET
Alex Rodriguez in Leauge City has always taken care of my car and they seem to go the extra mile when you come in for service. I would highly recommed them if you need service in or around Houston. I drive all the way from Spring to have them do repairs on my car.




