BigMike62

I bought a 2011 E550 Cabriolet on 10/15 from MBPB which is also an Auto Nation dealer. The dealer was decent to deal with and they covered an issue that I experienced driving it home to Atlanta. They collected Georgia Sales Tax, Tag, and Title fees as well. They said if I was picking up the car and not shipping it, they had to collect sales tax. No big deal as I've done fly n drives both ways.

After 5 weeks I asked them for a status on the tag and title as my temporary tag expired. They said that it could take 8 weeks and they would send me another temporary tag. They never sent the tag and after another two weeks, I emailed them about it. No response. I tried to call and they never had a receptionist that answered the phone. I finally selected the option for Sales and the guy that answered told me I had to speak to the Finance Manager. He connected me and it went a voicemail. I left a voicemail but called back and asked if they could get the Finance Manager on the phone instead of voicemail and he said that he was with a customer and he would hand him a message to call me back. No call, ever!

Now I'm pissed but wait another week and no tag or title. So I called GA DMV and asked if they had the VIN in their system for title and tag processing and they said NO. I tried calling the dealership and they just won't provide me someone to talk to. Now I'm really pissed. I called Auto Nation customer service and they said they would look into and have someone call me. No call. I called MB customer service and that was the biggest waste of time as all they did was leave the dealer a message to call me. I'm in shock at this point that a MB dealer is allowed to provide such ****ty customer service.

Fast forward to 12/23. I called GA DMV again and they still have no record of the vehicle in their system. I called the dealership and couldn't get anyone on the phone to talk to about it. Finance, salesman, manager, nobody. I called Auto Nation and explained everything to a very empathetic customer service agent that promised someone would call me back that day. No call then or ever.

Yesterday, I sent the dealership GM, Sales Manager, and my salesman an email and asked them again to contact me as I do not have legal access to the car I bought from them since the temp tag expired and the DMV still has no record of it. The state of GA requires that sales tax be paid within 30 days of collecting it or penalties begin. I asked if it was sent to the right place which is Fulton County Georgia and not Cobb or Cherokee DMV (my city spans all three), or, sent it to Florida DMV by mistake. Lastly I told them that if I did not hear from anyone at the dealership by Jan 4th, I have no other option but to obtain legal assistance.

After reading online reviews, it seems they ghost other customers when they call for help. The stupid thing is that I'm not asking for anything I didn't already pay them for in advance. I hope that I don't have to contact an attorney down there but I'll do it if needed. The CFO of the company I work for lives in Ft. Lauderdale and is also a car and Mercedes guy. I plan to check with him to see if he knows anyone.

Thanks for listening to me rant. Any other suggestions?

cfmistry

Sadly, I believe it is time for you to contact an attorney. At this point you are paying for an asset you do not have access to.

Mr. Toad

I had a very (unpleasantly) surprising experience with Auto Nation a well.

BigMike62

I left the Sales Manager a voicemail this morning which I doubt did much good. I'm going to start researching attorneys in the area.

cfmistry

I re-read your post and it really gets my blood boiling. I’m angry and I don’t even know you!

I would call the dealership, ask to speak to the finance manager by name. If they ask who is calling, say the name of a local law firm. I bet you will get that call back.

places

Aggressive attorney ASAP. Insist on monetary compensation for time. They will react.

BigMike62

I texted the salesman and he responded. He said his GM told him they are looking into it so I guess the GM got my email. They are sending me another temporary tag. It still doesn't excuse their horrible customer service.

My guess is they sent it to the wrong place or it's been lost. I'm going to push them to send me the tax and fees along with the title and I'll take care of it in an hour at DMV. I will have little patience and have already made inquiries for an attorney down there.

OnlyGerman

Yup, no reason for them to be ignoring your request for the new temp tag. Poor service from a Mercedes dealer. Kind of service I would expect from a buy here pay here.

Acta_Non_Verba

OP I sympathize with your situation. It puts you in a predicament without question. You probably are out of options and a legal approach might be your only option. I might suggest one other though, and it might not work. But if you contacted your state AG explaining the situation they could possibly help since the out of state dealer is required by mutual state agreements to collect at the point of sale. Maybe seek their advice. Since the dealer is collecting your state's license fees the state AG might have reach here and it would cost you nothing

Lately there is lots of advice I see about suing dealers, for this or that. On another thread someone is disappointed about a surprise ADM added at the time of pickup, others for service, etc. On another car site in which I participate we have the fortunate (Unfortunate) insight from a retired car dealer owner who is an active member. He is every bit a big pr*ck as many of us perceive dealers to be. And, he is helpful in the sense that it validates those notions many of have about dealers in general.

Right now there is an active thread going on about surprise ADM and, of course, there is a bevy of members theorizing about how they would handle such matters. The retired owner is on the other side, of course and he reveals how they think inside dealers. Without giving it up, I thought I'd copy/paste one of his responses regarding law suits. It can be helpful to some of us amateur internet lawyers that think you can simply take them to court and make their lives miserable. Here is his reply from a very long thread over 60 responses.

Quote
My perspective comes from having spent a good deal of time on committees actually overseeing the creation of Buyers Orders. It comes from spending tens of thousands of dollars on legal reviews of my operations. It comes from spending thousands of dollars yearly on association fees local, State, and National to keep up to date on current laws. It comes from spending countless hours reviewing legal parameters and actual cases in industry.seminars. It also comes from being a car dealer with multiple points and being sued once a week in a good week.

I have said multiple times on this forum it only makes good sense to follow the contract and have it signed by an authorized representative of the dealership. The salesmen have nothing to lose in the long term and everything to gain (a sale). Their signature or word means little as it not their eventual responsibility. As far as lawyers, I have been sued by many on their own behalf. Since I always thought they were simply trying to intimidate me, we made them pay. There is only so long even the most dedicated think it is worthwhile to give their time away free. Quote

Most of us do not have the luxury of time or money to "get even" when we're angry and feel like we've been done wrongly. In practically all cases, the dealer already has an attorney on retainer, so handling a legal inquiry for the dealer is just part of every day business. Not so much, in most cases, on the other side.

Just sharing some additional thoughts.

BigMike62

Thanks for all of the insights everyone!H

I finally got my tag today. I contacted the Chief Investment Officer of the company I work for because he lives in Fort Lauderdale and he's also a car guy (and MB owner). He talked to his brother who is a retired attorney down there and gave us an email address of someone very high up at AutoNation Corporate. He told me to send my email again to the GM and Sales Manager but add this guy to it. A week later, I have my tag.

My "get even" with MBPB will be to just spread the word about my experience.

makiii

I was going to mention to you the web site DealerRated - but I see that you have already posted a review. Good for you, unfortunately it will mean very little to the dealer, what matters to them is the CSI - Customer Service Index - it affects them Financially see below. I believe JD Powers runs CSI here the states, if so, perhaps you could direct your comments to them. Even on DealerRater MBPB scores pretty low at 3.7, You do have a few Dealers within 50 miles that are rated 4.9 so I'd service the car there. 50 miles might be a lot for you, but my closest dear is 66 miles away, or I have a couple within the 97-to-126-mile range. Good luck, sorry you ran into the situation.

1. Mercedes-Benz of Pompano, 3.7Stars 256 Reviews

Pompano Beach, FL | 1.4 miles away "The potential bonus checks for a decent-sized dealership can range from several hundred thousand to over a million dollars.

These bonus programs can be complex, including targets for sales of both new cars and factory-certified pre-owned vehicles, investments in store upgrades, customer retention percentages, employee training programs, Internet marketing effectiveness, etc. But they are almost always tied to a separate CSI/SSI element, which can be either a carrot or a stick.

• Dealers with higher CSI/SSI scores are rewarded more handsomely than those with lower ratings (the carrot).
• And those with scores below some threshold level may receive minimal cash bonuses or none at all, regardless of their sales performance (the stick)."

BigMike62

I bought the car there but live outside of Atlanta, GA. I did a fly and drive. It's a good thing I don't live there because I'm afraid of what I would have done if I had gone into the dealership..

makiii

BigMike62,
yes, you mentioned in the 1st thread that you flew and drove, sorry I didn't pick that up. I to flew and drove home, it is somewhat unsettling flying to a dealer to buy sizeable depreciating asset sight unseen. Fortunately for me the Dealer, Mercedes of Buffalo was the polar opposite, my flight was delayed 5 hours they keep the dealership open for me and when I reached out to them a couple of weeks ago, they were terrific. and oh, by the way you drove at least 130 miles more than I did. Good luck hope it all works out

BigMike62

I had a good experience up until I asked about the tag. They paid for a new accelerator pedal and thermostat. Flew down, car was (almost) ready, and I was out there in 3 hours. I have no idea what happens with their tag processing, but I think they float the sales tax and don't pay it for 2-3 months. Take the sales tax they collect on a monthly basis and it is a lot of money. Again, no idea but something isn't right, especially when I paid an Electronic Filing Fee of $150. But for a national car dealership (AutoNation), they don't have their **** together. I paid $1489 tax when it should have been $1580 (according to GA DMV) and they had to pay about a $200 penalty.

Paxfobiscum

From what I understand, some dealers use third party "tag acquisition" companies to handle the responsibility of getting tags for the customer. At least that is what happened in my case. I bought my GLS new from a Seattle dealership and paid for everything for them to handle (taxes, registration, tags, and shipping to NYC). All these matters were handled by the Finance Manager and his office. The invoice actually itemized each individual cost so I knew what I was paying for. When the vehicle finally arrived in NYC, there were only dealer plates attached. Under NY law, a vehicle with dealer plates is allowed due to the assumption that the vehicle is being registered and no tags are available. After a couple of weeks, I called the dealer to ask about the status of my tags. They told me that they have not heard from the third party contractor. I called NY DMV and they said that they have no records of the vehicle registration being filed with them. Fearing that I was driving an unregistered vehicle that would complicate any insurance claims in case I got into an accident, I did all the paperwork myself and filed the registration.

The Seattle dealer, specifically a nice lady that worked for the finance manager, sent me all the dealer paperwork, which I submitted to NYS DMV. I got my temporary paper tag, and after two weeks got the permanent one. I never heard from the third party contractor, and MB Seattle refunded me for the registration and tag fees.

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