As I read through all the posts, I notice the people who put orders in have been disappointed once they pick up their cars. Some get the wrong transmissions, some the wrong color, the wrong options etc.

Dealers in a panic try to negotiate with the buyer, in terms of a small price reduction or other ways to move the car. And to my surprise these buyers settle for it. I can't imagine settling for anything less than exactly what I ordered. And I would wait the extra time to get it too. Especially when you're dropping serious money and have the intention of living with this car for a long time.

How can Mercedes, which is supposed to be at the elite of the car class make such heinous mistakes at something that is so simple as fulfilling an order?

Just voicing my opinion on this crime.

 

I was told by someone in MB that its the US dealers that mess up - that figures as I (in the UK) have never heard of a messed up order here. I was told that that was part of the reason less options and choices are available for the US.

I suspect its to do with the fact that everything is ordered by code, and theres a cut off date that is a long time before build [presumably so MB can source the components just in time]

What the UK dealers do, is they get allocated production slots for different vehicles, they then spec the "slot" with a generic set of options that they feel will be easy to sell. When they get a customer they then get the customer's spec and change the spec on the slot. If they miss the deadline they have a day or two to persuade MB to let them update it.
(This happened with my CLK55, customer cancelled, they called me but it was a day past the deadline. MB were happy to update the spec because I ordered everything including a special colour)

I imagine it works the same in the USA, and dealers are either missing the deadlines or just typing in the wrong color codes.

Also, for Europe, the factory fits the phones/cd players etc, and the wiring looms arent installed if not factory fitted. In USA phones/cd/voice-recognition are fitted in the USA - so one would expect the number of misbuilds in Europe to be higher if it was a factory problem, since more options are specified here.

 

My understanding of the system here in the U.S. is pretty much as Richard described. However, I believe the factory actually contacts the dealer several times to remind them that a car will be built along with a rough estimate of a build date. The purpose is to give customers several chances to change their order, but also for the dealer to make sure the order is accurate. That being said, my salesman never bothered to call and make sure I hadn't changed my mind. (I didn't, but that is not the point) When I dropped by the dealership to find out my car's build date, I found out it had already been built and was on the way to the U.S.. Clearly, the salesman should have known the build date in advance, but just had not bothered to check. I believe that my build date changed decades (ten day periods) a few times, and I was very anxious to know when to expect it.

 

It is my understanding that a lot of the problems with C230/C240 orders is that they come with automatic when the owner requested automatic. Rumor is that the MB order system has the automatic as a default (which has a surcharge). It seems that dealers are ordering a C230/C240 and assuming that means it will come manual, unless they specify an optional automatic . Then they are surprised when it arrives automatic.

 

I was one of the victims. I ordered a six speed but received an automatic. I ordered Orion Blue and got Red. See belowjavascript:smilie

Although I was one of the lucky ones. The dealership assumed the mistake and didn't charge me any extra.

Once You've driven a Benz, You Never want to drive anything Less!

Goggles