HollaBack

I have been jerked around and around with these people. I heard that Mercedes service is not the best but this is ridiculous! I ordered a car from them, 2004 E500, leased and I live in Pennsylvaina. This is a California dealer. I went with them because I thought I was getting a deal. WORST mistake I have ever made! The car arrived from Germany to the dealer on 6/19/04. Marcus set up my payment and everything on the 6/18/04. A day before it even arrived I had to make down payment and first payment for something that wasn't even in yet. Then I wanted the AMG package wich I gave about three days of thought but took another 2 and a half weeks to complete. Then the car was to be put on a COVERED truck as per my very first talks with MARCUS BENZ and sent over. The car took two weeks to get from California to Pennsylvania. It came in an open trailor, COVERED in bugs rock chips and every other thing that is on the Highway. It had a dead battery upon arrival and took the truckers damn near 3 hours to get off truck. They couldn't even get the trunk open. I was even able to look pass all that. Then I go to get plates and registration and he dosen't even send me the right paperwork! I left two messasges, spoke to him in person, and even wrote down on the form what I needed and he still dosen;t send me the right documents. Now my **** covered car has been sitting here for a week and he tells me that the lease company will send out the document in 24 to 48 hours and it will be in the mail! So it could be another week before I get the document. This is completely unexceptable! I have done everything on my part, sent my money to him next day, paid for bodykit without seeing any picks of the work being done because "didn't want to make him look bad." He's made me look bad for a whole month and I still can't get plates for my car. And I have expressed my cocerns with him and he told me basically tough sh*t.

But when I saw the car didn't come in a covered truck I should have known it was going to be trouble. What can be done. I try to speak with manager but know one cares. Try to talk to Marcus is like pulling teeth. When I first was getting the car he returned every phone call, e-mail right on time. Since he has got his money he has become the invisible man. Any response from him takes many many phone calls and emails. the only time he calls right back is if he thinks I did something wrong, never when he is wrong. But according to him I don't even deserve a discount .

I will repeat this I can't even drive this car becuase of his mistakes. The only mistake I made was getting the car from Marcus Benz . Has anybody went through this much trouble when paying over $60,000 for a car! I've taken off work time and time again to get this done. Lost hours of sleep and drove all over for nothing.

I have made second payment on 7/18/04 and still can't drive the damn thing!

maxdog

Sorry to hear about your situation man. I can sympathize for you. This is what this forum is for. Threads like this will give notice to the world about a particular dealer's business practice or unpractice.

I will remember this thread and alert my friends if they should ever deal with this place.

Hope that things will work out for you. Were your car damaged at all?

MBWorld1

There are 2 sides to every story so I would like to hear what Marcus Benz reply is before I make my judgement.

However, if what you are saying is true, there is no excuse for what happened to you. Hope you get everything resolved.

MarcusBenz

I am not going to go back and forth to defend myself, as enough people on this forum have dealt with me and know that I am a very simple and straight forward person. I assisted HollaBack get his E500 and the process once the car arrives was a bit lenghty as he was uncertain to the extent he wanted to modify the bodykit and exhaust. The reason for setting up the payment so early was so that trucking could be handled and as soon as the car arrived, it would leave. Then it wants to add an E55 front and rear body bumper and full quad exhaust. This does take a bit of time to do correctly as the exhaust required some welding and modifications. Once that was complete the trucking as set up and as soon as the car leaves the dealership it is out of my control. There were some delays due to weather or so the trucking company told me, but at this point we are at their mercy. Also, the COVERED trucking was never mentioned by me or HollaBack, but I guess that will be a case of he said, he said!! As for the paperwork, our DMV liasion handled the initial round of docs., then when he was unable register the car, I took over. Pennsylvania's laws are different as most states when titling and register new car from out of state & they required a section to be notarized that we were unaware of & a power of attorney that can only come from the Lender. I called MBCC directly and got the situation rectified as quickly as I could, but they will not fax to an individual, only to a DMV office or mail directly to the customer. This part, I take full responsiblity in saying that I did not act in a professional manner, but I did everthing I could to get the problem corrected. HollaBack has the right to vent his frustrations on this board as it is a place of Free Speech and communication, but I also have the right to tell the other side of the story as there are alway 2 of those. If I lose business from this thread, so be it, but I personally know that I did the best I could to make a cross country transaction go as smoothly as it possibly could.

akbro93704

I am not going to jump onto anyone's side here,however, I do think that Marcus did the best job he could, as a cross-country transaction is much more complicated(and rarely done,probably) and time consuming than being at the dealer one on one. As for the uncovered trailer, I think the transportation company should have known that a brand new $60,000 Mercedes was going cross country and would inevitably get crap all over it, they could have at least covered the car with something.

PS-Marcus, bet you can't wait for your car to come on the first of the month!!Make sure to post pics once it does

MarcusBenz

Lets not hijack this thread, but I am so excited I cannot see straight! I know the car does not land until the 1st, but I still check the status in Netstar every morning!!

HELL ONA HARLEY

Not going to take sides, but have to wonder why anyone one would purchase a 60K car or any car for that matter so far from home.... Naturally there could be problems and the long distance to the dealer will add to it.... The money saved is surely not worth the headache or potentail headaches... I've read nothing but great dealings from this dealer, but realize that not every purchase goes excactly as planned.... I'm sorry to hear of your problems hollaback and hope you get all them corrected quickly to your satisfaction, but I feel you took a risk and it bit you in the ***... Hopefully you can find a good dealer at home to take care of your car.
Good luck and enjoy your new ride.

jcsprecher

I'm sure that its incredibly frustrating to make payments on a car that you cannot drive (particularly on what sounds like an awesome car) ... so I am not commenting on your post to suggest any different.

However, I had exactly the opposite buying experience with MarcusBenz when shipping a W211 a similar distance to you. He found a car that met my specifications, traded for it and shipped it within a week of my first contact. While Marcus helped me arrange for the trucking, the trucking agreement was ultimately between the trucking firm and me. I spoke with them directly prior to shipping to understand their service and stayed in contact with them during transit. I opted for an open trailer because the car was designed to be used on the highway and was covered by insurance during transit. After its arrival, it went directly to the car wash ... and was perfect. The final paperwork arrived by FedEX before the car arrived, so I had it titled the next day. I will definitely be buying another car from MarcusBenz when I'm ready.

nyca

for a car like that, that price, such a long trip - either arrange your shipping with Horseless Carriage or one of the other specialty vehicle transport companies listed in Hemmings, because I doubt anyone else is really going to do a quality job.

HollaBack

I just wanna drive my car. I've slept 3 hours today and every other day I thought I had the paperwork. But everytime nothing. I'm not telling any body else not to deal with him I'm just telling mey experience since everyone else shared theirs. I love the car that is why I can't wait. It just seems like No one cares over there. It's like Yeah Yeah will get to it. I sent several emails asking what the name of the trucking company was and there number but didn't get an answer until the car was already off.

RJC

Another satisfied MB customer

HollaBack

Lol!! Rjc!!

DaCeptak0n

Why would you pick a car from cross country when you know that there are salespeople like MarcusBenz around our tri-state area of NY/NJ/PA? Why would you go cross country for a $60K+ car? Don't you deem that a little unneccssary and maybe a bit risky? You took the risks and now you must suffer through the consequences. Be it your fault or his fault, you should've had the sense to think, "umm maybe it'll be time consuming and a bit difficult for this transaction." I am surprised salespeople deal cross-country, if I was this consumer or MarcusBenz, I wouldn't have agreed to this transaction of selling him the car yet advise him to contact a dealership in your area preferably so and so (name goes here..haha).

AND YOU KNOW THERE ARE IN OUR AREA bro...Leon Pereldik of Ray Catena Mercedes Benz in Edison NJ, he's mine and a great guy to deal with.

Barry45RPM

I live in Long Island NY & bought in PA. Drove down once (2.5 hours) to evaluate my trade & once to pick up the new car. I don't know if I would have purchased from a dealer too much further away than say, in the South, Washington DC, or, in the North, New Hampshire. I realize this post doesn't help you, but others can see that price concious buyers can make deals out of their neighborhood, but the greater the distance, the bigger the differences in state DMV laws are and the more chance for foul-ups there are with shipping.

Please remember, a great salesman/dealership has to earn its reputation, it is not granted by some "operating authority"...and although a man can have a great reputation, and make 100 flawless deals, the only one that matters to you is YOUR deal. Right now you are having trouble....once you get the car on the road, believe me, your enjoyment of it will erase these trials and tribulations, and you will be happy! I'm sure you got the car you wanted, at the price you wanted to pay.

The tough times are almost over! Good Luck & prepare to enjoy! You are in the very final stages of anticipation & aggravation. Hope this will allow you to feel a bit better.

anthem

I think buying a car outright across many state borders is significantly easier than leasing or cars with liens. That is where the titling/registration headaches arise.

I'd buy a car across the country (and have done so) before. its really not that difficult. But I'm not sure I'd lease or try to buy a car with a lien across the country. . . .

saffrontiger

Barry45RPM, well said my friend. As for MarcusBenz, I had a brief interaction with him once, and I can say it was pleasant. No worries, everything usually works out in the end. Hap py Motoring

topspin4hand

I won't jump on hollaback for looking for a bargain to get his car. If sellers can advertise, so to speak, on this worldwide Forum then buyers should expect the only difference would be the lower price. Maybe this particular buyer should've thought of the risks, but maybe this seller could've looked up the Pa DMV regulations (maybe he did). Regardless, hollaback seems happy w/ the aesthetics of his car (after a wash). That's the bottomline. He didn't not get his car. Hollaback, hopefully your new whip drives like a drea. good things come to those who wait...

BWL

Buying something "sight unseen" will always entail some risks. Given what has been written about this particular situation there were several mitigating factors that made this a more complex transaction. With that said there was a lot of "homework" required to maximize the chances of meeting your expectations. I think some portion of that "homework" is the responsibility of the buyer. If there are gray areas you need to ask questions and clarify.

By the way, I did purchase my vehicle through MarcusBenz and had it shipped out of state. Did everything go perfectly? No, but I accepted the minor hiccups that occured as being part of the overall risk. In my opinion MarcusBenz is an honest up front person to deal with who tries to do right by his customers.

outtadaloop

Sorry to hear about your experience. Its true sometimes what you say about the dealer wooing you while pitching a sale but the honeymoon ends once you've paid your $$$, lets hope this isnt the case with marcusbenz...

MarcusBenz

That is absolutely not the case!! Again, the only reason that I set up the payment a day before the car arrived, was due to me wanting to get the car to him a quickly as possible. Our dealership will not release a car to a customer unless we have the appropriate paperwork in order. After everything was set up and the docs were back, he decides to add equipment & then wants to go with a full blown bumper kit and exhaust mods, which take time! The only portion that I feel I dropped the ball was the registration paperwork. There was one document (Power of Attorney) with was a miscommunication on my part, but that was resolved as quickly as possibly.

Barry45RPM

When my NY registered car was registered for me "by the dealer" located in PA, I must admit I was surprised to see that he had a Power of Atty form for me to sign. We don't use them in NY to register a new car, but I guess he thought it was necessary. You can't know all 48 continental states DMV law.

codex57

Never dealt with Marcus Benz, but the current Mercedes and the previous one were both bought from House of Imports. Both fine experiences. Haven't been in for service yet on the new one and never did on the old one cuz it didn't have free maintenance. It lasted well over 10 years tho. Anyways, the point was that I just wanted to throw in my family's positive buying experience from House of Imports. Don't like hearing negative stuff about their sales staff without defending them since they treat me personally like a valued customer, unlike another local (cough*FletcherJones*cough) dealer.

Hey, buying out of state is always a risk for unexpected problems. If this dude had special modifications, then of course there might be problems (if you've ever modded a car and dealt with bodyshops, you'd know this). But hey, he wanted to avoid his local dealers (which apparently don't like to give the same deals as SoCal dealers) so he's saving some cash for the possible headaches an interstate purchase might entail.

vkaushal

They are the worst. They pissed me off so bad back in 1999 that I ended up going with a BMW.

MarcusBenz

WOW! '99? Now, that is holding a serious grudge!! lol

vkaushal

Yes, they sold me on thing over the internet but when I went to pick up the car some options were missing. I had the emails to prove what they had sold me but the salesman was very arrogant and I decided not to deal with him. Have bought three Benzes in the family since but from Caliber and Rusnak.