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Has anyone heard of this before: car got released from Baltimore processing last Friday and is nowhere to be found now. The salesman made some calls and said it was inexplicably being sent to California (where he is located) and yet nobody knows where it is. I just want my car at this point.
Mine was "lost in transport" for a few days because of bad weather. Arrived at Baltimore VPC and was headed to Colorado. Nobody knew where it was for the better part of a week. Hang in there, hopefully you will get it soon.
I officially received my vehicle on Monday but had it delivered straight to the PPF shop for a full PPF and tint job so I still haven't gotten to drive it yet. Hopefully you get yours before I get mine!
First they paint your car the wrong color on Euro Delivery then you order a second car that is supposed to be delivered on the east coast and they are sending it to the west coast. If you are on the east coast and they are sending the car to the west coast dealer, the dealer screwed up! The dealer (on Euro Delivery) is suppose to make absolutely sure that the car is delivered to the non selling dealer (ie the delivering dealer). When this does not happen it is typically the fault of the selling dealer since they are in control of the situation. I seem to remember you ordered your Euro Delivery from Herbert at MB of Escondido. What does he say about this? Or if I recall he may not work at that dealer anymore. Sounds like someone at that dealership dropped the ball big time—AND two screw ups with the wrong paint color and now your second car is going to the west coast instead of the east coast. If you want answers (if you do not have the contact info of MB Euro Delivery people in Atlanta) I can provide you the contact info of MBUSA European Delivery department—send me a private message if you want the e-mail address. The Euro Delivery people are excellent folks to work with. I followed my ‘19 S63 Euro Delivery process very closely. I was always involved in the communications between the selling dealer and the MBUSA Euro Delivery Dept to make sure nothing went wrong.
Originally Posted by 24Hours
Has anyone heard of this before: car got released from Baltimore processing last Friday and is nowhere to be found now. The salesman made some calls and said it was inexplicably being sent to California (where he is located) and yet nobody knows where it is. I just want my car at this point.
The MB of Escondido dealership has gone through an ownership transition and apparently (I haven't been back there for a couple months) has had a lot of staff transitions.
Sorry to hear that you're going through this mess. One huge clusterF to be sure.
First they paint your car the wrong color on Euro Delivery then you order a second car that is supposed to be delivered on the east coast and they are sending it to the west coast. If you are on the east coast and they are sending the car to the west coast dealer, the dealer screwed up! The dealer (on Euro Delivery) is suppose to make absolutely sure that the car is delivered to the non selling dealer (ie the delivering dealer). When this does not happen it is typically the fault of the selling dealer since they are in control of the situation. I seem to remember you ordered your Euro Delivery from Herbert at MB of Escondido. What does he say about this? Or if I recall he may not work at that dealer anymore. Sounds like someone at that dealership dropped the ball big time—AND two screw ups with the wrong paint color and now your second car is going to the west coast instead of the east coast. If you want answers (if you do not have the contact info of MB Euro Delivery people in Atlanta) I can provide you the contact info of MBUSA European Delivery department—send me a private message if you want the e-mail address. The Euro Delivery people are excellent folks to work with. I followed my ‘19 S63 Euro Delivery process very closely. I was always involved in the communications between the selling dealer and the MBUSA Euro Delivery Dept to make sure nothing went wrong.
I was thinking the same thing: the dealer screwed up somehow. Lazy or inattentive, the salesman didn't have the paperwork locked-up as people in shipping don't just ship places at their discretion. I sent and IM as I'd love to have a person to help me at MB. I called the MBUSA folks and they said the entire process and ability to track the car is only in the hands of the dealer. And as with the paint screw-up, Herbert is blaming "other people" and now not very responsive for me.
Goes to show: the devil is in the details (on paperwork).
What happens between leaving the VPC and arriving at a dealer is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. I live in a small town with an official population of 1750 people, one of them drives for a company that transports to 2-3 Mercedes dealerships west of here, he parks the truck behind a Subway in town and sometimes it just sits for 2-3+ days. In my experience, when your car shows up its just as big a surprise to the dealership as it is to you. They just order a car and it shows up "whenever".
What happens between leaving the VPC and arriving at a dealer is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. I live in a small town with an official population of 1750 people, one of them drives for a company that transports to 2-3 Mercedes dealerships west of here, he parks the truck behind a Subway in town and sometimes it just sits for 2-3+ days. In my experience, when your car shows up its just as big a surprise to the dealership as it is to you. They just order a car and it shows up "whenever".
This certainly is true in your case but this really depends on where one is located and the frequency of deliveries to the receiving dealer. Here is Pittsburgh the Baltimore VPC is only a few hours from here. I have ordered many MBs over the years and know that if my car leaves the VPC in Baltimore it arrives in Pittsburgh the same day. With that said back in 2000 I purchased a 2001 S500 from a Denver, Colorado delivership to be delivered to my office in the Pittsburgh area. That car went “missing” for almost a month. I was told “confidentially” by the Denver dealer that it was possible the guy frequented Texas brothels some times and maybe my car was in Texas at the time—One can’t make this stuff up! So it really depends on where one is located and the frequency of deliveries to particular dealers.
My clearer point was that everyone expects UPS/Fedex levels of logistical tracking for cars but we're not there yet. I've seen cars make a 400 mile trip in a day from the VPC while my wagon took 5 days to travel 150 miles...you just never know.
My clearer point was that everyone expects UPS/Fedex levels of logistical tracking for cars but we're not there yet. I've seen cars make a 400 mile trip in a day from the VPC while my wagon took 5 days to travel 150 miles...you just never know.
Yes, and what is startling is that MB doesn't activate the vehicle tracking. It's easier yet to just put a cellular-based GPS in the vehicles as they travel. Then recycle the devices into the next group. Seems foolishly simple.
Well, my car is now en route to California! And thanks to MTrauman, I was able to get a responsive person to confirm the snafu and to elevate the matter to "rush deliver" for me. Not sure what rush delivery from CA is, other than another truck (probably not covered) across the country for no less than three days of possible rock chips and BS on the paint. Just lovely. All while the car should have 10mi on it when I finally see it.
And MB should take note on how foolishly one of its employees just cost it another $2-4k in shipping costs. As a single incident, it is meaningless, but if this happens more frequently, the costs can add-up quickly. Perhaps I should market a vehicle transport device. Just need some contacts and this story to help sell the devices.
When someone posts a Factory Delivery Help thread, I hope my issues get included. Well, after a nearly 3-week round trip of Baltimore/Cali/Baltimore, the car has landed at the dealer. But despite my daily calls to my salesman in CA, or daily calls to the Greenwich dealer, nobody called me when the car arrived at the dealer. I stopped in on Saturday and behold... my car in the AMG showroom! What's worse, is they wouldn't give me my car. Sales manager at Greenwich couldn't be bothered to get the paperwork arranged and the selling dealer is playing stupid... so the car sits at the Greenwich dealership and I have no accountability from anyone.
Anyone who does FD should only buy through their local dealer. I guess that is the lesson to this little mess. (... and yes, I tried, but the Greenwich salesman who sold me my '14 E63 wagon did nothing to get me FD despite my repeated requests).
Sorry you had so many problems. In contrast, my experience went smoothly and the car was purchased through a California delearband delivered post ED to Euro motorcars in Germantown - so two German deliveries I guess :-). Shahul and Steve were both great and engaged in making sure the car was received and ready when I arrived to collect it.
in contrast, your experience seemed a comedy of errors, like A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.
Sounds like the sale of Escondido Mercedes and huge staff transition was a significant contributor.
When someone posts a Factory Delivery Help thread, I hope my issues get included. Well, after a nearly 3-week round trip of Baltimore/Cali/Baltimore, the car has landed at the dealer. But despite my daily calls to my salesman in CA, or daily calls to the Greenwich dealer, nobody called me when the car arrived at the dealer. I stopped in on Saturday and behold... my car in the AMG showroom! What's worse, is they wouldn't give me my car. Sales manager at Greenwich couldn't be bothered to get the paperwork arranged and the selling dealer is playing stupid... so the car sits at the Greenwich dealership and I have no accountability from anyone.
Anyone who does FD should only buy through their local dealer. I guess that is the lesson to this little mess. (... and yes, I tried, but the Greenwich salesman who sold me my '14 E63 wagon did nothing to get me FD despite my repeated requests).
That's a pretty shocking turn of events to say the least! Another dealership for the blacklist.
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