Was he banned? If so why? Profile says banned. I wanted his opinion on deal. Moderators?

 

I beleive he was banned for advertising commericaly without being an offical MBWorld advertiser.

 

Bummer - always fet he was well balanced and not too pushy- Sure had some good info from time to time....Real bummer. Sure he was warned properly though....

 

I asked him about it when I picked up my car from him last Friday. He said he offered someone a better deal than what he was getting (via pm), and the person turned him in....sounds kind of lame to me considering the amount of *** language that goes on the forum, that is much worse in my opinion.

**EDITED - TEXT REMOVED**

 

From what I understand the ban had nothing to do with a PM, however, public posts that again were commercially motivated. I should note that it appears he was warned repeatedly about commercial posts before the ban took place.

 

I would really like to see some of the posts that he made that got him banned on this forum. I've been following the forum for over 1 yr now, and can't recall seeing any post from him that was commercial more than "contact me and I can help you out". I agree that if he was trying to undercut other dealers on the public forum that would be crossing the line, but I've never seen that. I purchased my car from him, and he has been straight with me, no issues.

Also, my opinion is that the number of informative posts from MarcusBenz, including, but not limited to, posts of cars hot in the dealerships, information about pricing and dealers, etc., completely outweigh anything "negative" he may have done on the forum. For example, if we wanted a pic of a car (I think MarcusBenz was the first to post of pic of the new Granite Grey color), he would post it..keep in mind that means he takes time out of his selling of cars to click pics for forums members and posts them..

I would urge other forum members that feel the same way to post on this thread, maybe the moderators will feel it is appropriate to re-instate him to the boards.

 

i see what your saying, but i think rules are rules. i know he posted a lot of good info and all, but he used this site as an ad for himself and his dealer. i think some of his profit should go towards the site.....like cme4benz does, as well as all of the others...

 

Allow him back on. Ask for a fee to compensate for commercial. Strongly admonish and fine for forum commercial but apply it to all evenly.

Have seen lots of posts that advertise parts is that the same thing ?

He brings a lot to the forum, but should pay if it is a prospecting tool. I have no issue with what he did- it was tasteful, not frequent and certainly not instrusive.

If he was warned and ignored the warning then so be it. I never felt he was over doing it.

 

I applaud CME4BENZ for paying to advertise on the site, kudos to him and helping to keep the forum up. But CME4BENZ gets real advertising for his money. He get's banners up on each page, he gets to post specific inventory he has on hand (like "I have 4Matics in stock, etc") including the pricing of the cars. I can't remember MarcusBenz posting pricing of specific cars, etc., and specifically looking for business on the forum which is what CME4BENZ does and has the right to do because he pays.

Also, I think if the forum is going to start banning people for "commercial use", it really needs to think this policy through properly. For example, if the argument is that this takes away business from paying advertiser's like CME4BENZ, then how can the forum allow the recent threads like "look for a dealer in So Cal"? What difference does it make who does the post with dealer name, salesperson name and number, they are all commercial in nature and are potentially 1 sale less for paying advertisers.

Finally, if the forum is going to uphold the non-commercial use policy, then the forum should not allow negative commercial posting either...by this I mean all the negative dealer feedback that is posted (like "Axis of Evil", my dealer scr**ed me, etc.). How can we morally allow this, when we don't allow the dealer to post something like "I've got N number of happy customers from this forum, so please still buy from me...". Does not seem fair to the dealer that he can't defend himself.

Let's face it, many of us start on this forum looking to find out what kind of deals are available in our area. What kind of "unbiased" forum are we if we only allow the paying members a voice for these people seeking unbiased answers.

Just my thoughts on this issue, my ideal solution would be that if you pay, you can get a banner and can advertise your inventory and prices, otherwise anything else can be posted. No one could post against another (i.e. "I can get you a better deal") in the public forum (okay in pm) and of course, no abusive posts.

 

I too have gained valuable knowledge from MarcusBenz. I was surprised to hear he had been banned from the forum. He gave me key pricing info, which I then took to my local dealer and got him to match.

In the end, I found out my local dealer (Autobahn Motors) was just screwing around, and holding onto my deposit but never placing my order as they wanted to place higher profit orders first. They had my deposit for two months, and kept giving me thr runaround. I finally asked for my deposit back just the other week.

In the meantime, MarcusBenz had actually placed an order with my exact options, in the event that my order with my local dealer went sour, which it did. I'm scheduled to pickup my new E500 in a couple of weeks from him. Outstanding service.

I also would like to see him allowed back on board. Just my $.02.

Kevin

 

he was told to be a sponsor several times, I in fact warned him one of the times. He said he was going to fill the ad packet and pay the site, but he continued to post advertisements for himself therefore the ban. Allowing him back in the community? That is up to the admin and us to decide.

 

MarcusBenz, like any other member of MBWorld, agreed to our Terms of Use when registering to post here. This site is offered to the public as a free service to share information and resources in effort to help the Mercedes community.

This site does not run itself. It takes time, money, effort, and more time, money and effort. Why should people profit off these expenses, that the administration must incur to keep MBWorld alive, without helping in this effort? The truth of the matter is, we at MBWorld are extremely busy, and spend a lot of our hard earned money to keep MBWorld up and running. We have not asked a dime from any of our members, but I find it more than acceptable to expect people profiting financially off this site to contribute to it.

I can not think of a quarter where the advertising revenues from our current sponsors has allowed us to break even, yet we are still here. When a vendor comes to the site, directly solicits sales on repeated occasions, and profits exponentially off of these solicitations, should we allow it? We'd be forced to shut down in a month.

The fact that we have a Mercedes dealer as a sponsor, CME4BNZ, who openly acknowledges this policy, and respectfully contributes to the site, is only more reason to support this policy. Why should others profit at his expense? Why should others profit at our expense?

MarcusBenz was aware of the policy, and it was no surprise when he became banned. Our advertising fee is minuscule in comparison to the money that can be, and in this case was already (with 3 occasions already reported in this thread alone!), made by selling cars on our site.

We welcome MarcusBenz back as much as any of you, however there are rules that have been broken continuously which must first be addressed. I have been in talks with him regarding sponsoring the site, and we anticipate him being a contributing member to MBWorld shortly.

Thanks,

MBWorld Admin

 

I agree with Ben and the rest of the MBWorld staff. Without MBWorld, I'd have 5 hours of free time each day! We should encourage Marcusbnz and other vendors to sponsor and help keep this board alive. Especially if the rate is not very expensive, as Ben posted.

 

Since he was made aware of the rules, the impending ban and the required corrective action I agree he was booted with cause.

These sites are expenive and the fact we get it for free should not cloud the issues around commercial use. I would gladly pay some access charge to this site, as it has proven so valuable to me. I have saved literally thousands on purchace of my car and a lot of angst over mfg issues.

If MarcusBenz wishes to access the site and solicite then he should be free to do so (WITHIN GUIDELINES)after his check clears. I have to pay for my advertising too. And this is only fair
to those who pay now as mentioned.

As members, we should consider patronizing these paying folks first because they do support us. What goers around comes around.

I realize the fine line between offering good advice with some insider information was a boon to many of us, but that fine line must be honored or this forum becomes a spam waste bin.

Mark

 

Dear all,

I feel the same way with the administrator, and I feel that he should advertise with the forum.

Administrator !! Please email me the details of advertising a banner within the forum.

I would work on the advertising details for marcusbenz with you if you would let him back in.

Thank you,
Sincerely,

Andrew Lian
Marketing Director
House of Imports
714-562-1161 direct
lian_buenapark@mbretailer.com
liana@autonation.com

 

Andrew,

Thank you for approaching us with your willingness to contribute to MBWorld.org. I will contact you privately from here.

Thanks,

Ben

 

Damm ! I sorta feel like my posting the thread did some good perhaps ! Hope this works out for all.

 

Agree marksatex

MarcusBenz helped me a great deal and yes I ended up being one of his customers. I was not aware of the conflict going on but glad I was able to use his services.

Also glad to see his Marketing Director give direct support. They will benefit as well as us having a really enthusiastic member to keep us up to date on things.

Welcome back MarcuBenz...whenever it occurs