Beware this Dealer!
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Joined: Oct 2004
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'05 SLK55, Obsidian, black/red, light and premium pkg., COMAND with nav, airscarf, Sirius
Beware this Dealer!
Mr. Ray Catena
Ray Catena Mercedes Benz
910 US Route 1
Edison, NJ 08817
Dear Mr. Catena,
I’ve purchased a number of Mercedes vehicles in the past, and I’ve always been impressed with the professionalism of the sales staff at every other Mercedes dealer I’ve ever done business with. My experience with your sales staff has been at the opposite end of the spectrum. I’m truly sorry that I ever walked into your showroom.
This past November I ordered a new Mercedes SLK55 from your salesperson Alex Shaparin. Although there are two other Mercedes dealerships more convenient for me, Alex assured me that the car would be delivered earlier than what the other dealers were quoting. He informed me that your dealership was the second largest volume dealership in the country, that you were being allocated two of these cars per month, and that if I ordered the car that day, I would have the second “production slot” for January, and to expect the car to be delivered in early March.
Although I did change the color of the car twice after ordering it, both times Alex assured me that it was not a problem and that the delivery date would not be delayed due to the change.
In early January I asked Alex to confirm that the car was scheduled to be produced by the end of the month, and Alex left me a message back that “there was no news” on the car. As I’m familiar with Mercedes’ Netstar system, I knew that if this was correct, the car was not even close to being produced. I asked him to look into this further, and I received a call from a Sales Manager, Mark Aparian. Mark told me that there were two orders in front of mine that were scheduled for January production, and could not offer me any explanation of why my order was not one of the two scheduled.. He did tell me that he would call Mercedes Benz USA the next day and attempt to get my order scheduled for production before the end of the month, and that he would call me the next day with the results of that phone call. Mark never called me back.
Two weeks later, on February 2nd, I called Mark again to find out what had happened. He told me that the car would be produced that week, that it would be delivered the first week of March at the latest, and he told me he was surprised that Alex had not called with that news. As I told my wife after that phone call, “I’ll believe it when I see it”. Well, my suspicions were correct.
Today I called Alex for an update on the schedule as I wanted to insure that I would have the $71,000 balance due upon delivery available when the car arrived. Alex told me that he would talk to the “Inventory Control person” and call me back (I’m extremely surprised that Alex can’t access this type of data from the Netstar system from his desk…salespeople at other Mercedes dealerships have this ability). Several hours later Alex called me back, and to my amazement he had no information about when the car would be delivered. He told me the Netstar system was showing a code “A4” for the order, and that A4 indicates the car is scheduled for production, but not produced. Alex could offer me no insight into what had happened, nor could he even tell me when the car is scheduled for production.
I tried to call Mark for an explanation and was put on hold for several minutes. Alex finally picked up the line and told me that Mark would call me back in 10 minutes. As of this evening, no one called me back.
One certainly has to wonder if Alex was told to tell me about a phantom January production date simply to entice me into placing the order for the car, and if Mark told me the car was being produced just to blow me off. If I ever do receive the car, should I expect the same level of incompetence from your Service Department? I’m a long, long way from recommending Ray Catena Mercedes Benz to any friends or business acquaintances.
Very truly,
Philip Oney
Ray Catena Mercedes Benz
910 US Route 1
Edison, NJ 08817
Dear Mr. Catena,
I’ve purchased a number of Mercedes vehicles in the past, and I’ve always been impressed with the professionalism of the sales staff at every other Mercedes dealer I’ve ever done business with. My experience with your sales staff has been at the opposite end of the spectrum. I’m truly sorry that I ever walked into your showroom.
This past November I ordered a new Mercedes SLK55 from your salesperson Alex Shaparin. Although there are two other Mercedes dealerships more convenient for me, Alex assured me that the car would be delivered earlier than what the other dealers were quoting. He informed me that your dealership was the second largest volume dealership in the country, that you were being allocated two of these cars per month, and that if I ordered the car that day, I would have the second “production slot” for January, and to expect the car to be delivered in early March.
Although I did change the color of the car twice after ordering it, both times Alex assured me that it was not a problem and that the delivery date would not be delayed due to the change.
In early January I asked Alex to confirm that the car was scheduled to be produced by the end of the month, and Alex left me a message back that “there was no news” on the car. As I’m familiar with Mercedes’ Netstar system, I knew that if this was correct, the car was not even close to being produced. I asked him to look into this further, and I received a call from a Sales Manager, Mark Aparian. Mark told me that there were two orders in front of mine that were scheduled for January production, and could not offer me any explanation of why my order was not one of the two scheduled.. He did tell me that he would call Mercedes Benz USA the next day and attempt to get my order scheduled for production before the end of the month, and that he would call me the next day with the results of that phone call. Mark never called me back.
Two weeks later, on February 2nd, I called Mark again to find out what had happened. He told me that the car would be produced that week, that it would be delivered the first week of March at the latest, and he told me he was surprised that Alex had not called with that news. As I told my wife after that phone call, “I’ll believe it when I see it”. Well, my suspicions were correct.
Today I called Alex for an update on the schedule as I wanted to insure that I would have the $71,000 balance due upon delivery available when the car arrived. Alex told me that he would talk to the “Inventory Control person” and call me back (I’m extremely surprised that Alex can’t access this type of data from the Netstar system from his desk…salespeople at other Mercedes dealerships have this ability). Several hours later Alex called me back, and to my amazement he had no information about when the car would be delivered. He told me the Netstar system was showing a code “A4” for the order, and that A4 indicates the car is scheduled for production, but not produced. Alex could offer me no insight into what had happened, nor could he even tell me when the car is scheduled for production.
I tried to call Mark for an explanation and was put on hold for several minutes. Alex finally picked up the line and told me that Mark would call me back in 10 minutes. As of this evening, no one called me back.
One certainly has to wonder if Alex was told to tell me about a phantom January production date simply to entice me into placing the order for the car, and if Mark told me the car was being produced just to blow me off. If I ever do receive the car, should I expect the same level of incompetence from your Service Department? I’m a long, long way from recommending Ray Catena Mercedes Benz to any friends or business acquaintances.
Very truly,
Philip Oney
