I just bought a 2000 Mercedes E430 from the local MB Dealer. This car was a Star marked car with the additional one year warrenty from MB and i bought the 100,000 mile MB warrenty also. My question is about the lack of service after buying a 40,000$ car. When i picked it up the interior was dirty and looked like it had not been cleaned. They did clean it up but it should have already been done. It has an electronic smart key and they only had one and it took two weeks to get another. Do you know what a PAIN it is for two people to use one key. Had to drop it off to replace the windshield which had a small crack in it and they give me a 99 blazer to drive, not my idea of a good loaner when you just bought a MB. To top that off the loaner was not at the new car dealership but over at the used car dealership and they had to drive me over to get it. So we get their and i get the keys and my salesman takes off to the other dealership, well when i start the POS the low fuel light is on and the gas guage is under the last red mark. I go inside the used car place and tell the guy inside that i was givin this car and its out of gas, he asks me who my salesman is and to go see him and walked on by. basicly a big FU. I had my 4 year old with me and now i have to worry about running out of gas. I just drove it to the local station and put gas in it myself instead of wasting any more of my time. Well they wanted me to drop it off on mon evening so they could work on it first thing tues morn. needless to say it was not ready untill thursday. The car manual was not in the car and that also had to be shiped from another dealer and that took two weeks also. When i get the car back they did not clean the windshield and it was such a mess that I could hardly see.
So what do you think? is this par for Mercedes or just normal for any dealer. I guess i expected more from buying an expensive luxury car, just for all the small stuff to be taken care of. Guess I will know for next time.

If this was a Mercedes dealer, you might try sending a nasty-gram to Mercedes themselves. In Germany, customer service is paramount, and I doubt they'd be pleased about this dealer's poor service.

This is a mercedes dealer. I might just do that

ditto what Zardoz sez.. MB/DB/CB (or what ever they are now) should be interested in your experince.

Car salesmen = pond scum
I paid $35.00 for an air filter for my older Mercedes a few years ago and had to wait a week for them to order it.  Keys.....Don't get me started about Benz and keys.

I've got to get it serviced soon and I dread it.

Almost all car salesman I've encountered act as if you're lucky to even set foot on their lot, let alone test drive a car.

No no no. This is not "disgraceful" from a Mercedes Dealer. [b]THIS IS WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THEM STINGER[/b]

I live near St. Louis, and a well known dealer, in fact the LARGEST dealer of luxury cars gave my family the treatment awhile back. My mom and dad leased a 190E 2.3, new, in 1988 for a five year term. Right when we drove off the lot, it died out at a stop light. Just plain died out. Now, had that been on the highway, it would have not been pretty. To make a long story short, we had to go back at least 5-6 times to have those monkeys work on it. Finally, my dad had a lawyer friend of his write a nice letter telling this dealership that we would sue them for a large sum of cash for handing us a lemon. Finally, the fixed it, but I swear the engine never sounded the same until we got rid of that damned car in October of 1992 for an Audi 90 CS (which I wish we still had; it was an excellent car).

Anyway, I go to Wash U in St. Louis (just graduated, on my way to Wash U Med School). Since it is Wash U, I have a lot of extremely rich friends with luxury car experiences. My friend from Houston for instance, swore by his statement that "You will not get a reliable Mercedes Benz for less than $60,000". Why did he say this? Well, personal experience in his family. Every E-class they had was a lemon, and the dealers never fixed it. However, they have gone through two S-classes and two SL class cars (all over $75,000 each) without any problems. Service they noted was more "superb" so to speak. Mercedes tends to take care of the car owners that buy the biggest and best.

Then, my other friend currently owns a Mercedes CLK 430 coupe. BOY DOES THAT THING ROCK. He bought it for $62,500 in cash. I swear to the lord, that I thought I was going to fly back out of my seat when he hit the accelerator jumping from 0-60 MPH! Regardless, he took this car last winter to the same "ST. LOUIS'S LARGEST LUXURY DEALER" as mentioned prior. His Pirellis were worn out after 6,000 miles, so he wanted to put snow tires on them for the winter. These same ass clown monkeys took the P-Zeros off and [b]THREW THEM INTO HIS TRUNK WITH THE SEATS DOWN[/b]. My friend was so distraught, he almost put his hands around the manager's neck. Why they though that he wanted to keep worn out P-Zeros I will never know. Regardless, these clowns paid for the damages done, including denting some sort of rear seat cushioning/paneling or what not. They had to order the damn part from Germany, and it took 2 weeks to get via air mail. If he had to pay for it himself (which thankfully he did not), it would have ended up costing him something like $3,000 to repair the damage from the tires to his interior and the interior of the trunk.

Anyway, I hope you get the picture. My friends told me MB's are nice too look at, but buyer beware, unless you plan on getting a S-class of course. Look into BMW or Audi if you want some better service. BMW really has improved their quality the last few years, and eventhough I think the 7 series is a knock off of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, their cars plain rock.

themao [chainsawkill]

Next time, buy a Cadillac.

Try a BMW next time.  I had surprisingly good luck when I had one.  I thought I would be treated like crap.  They were always decent.

I've had very similar experiences with the local dealers of Mercedes as well as the BMW and Land Rover dealers. Found a nice trade off, bought a few Porsches and now the Porsche dealer has sent a mechanic to Land Rover school to fix mine! He's a real peach.

Lexus and Volvo probably have the best dealers. My bro bought a used Volvo from a private party, and the local dealer treated him like a king, as if he had bought the car from them.

Yep, Mercedes has rather lousy customer service. It has even been reported in certain automotive journals that track such things.
I went with Lexus and could not be happier.

Well at least they have consistant service at all MB dealerships. I feel much better now!

Next time buy new.

Luxery cars, Guns and Money. My Kind Of People [:D]
CAPITALIST

I recieved this in my email from [email protected] but they did not leave their ar15 name if they have one. Why would one not just post this in the forum?

First E-mail:
Oh yeah, that dealership probably treats you like that because they see another crybaby coming. They must laugh at crybabies like you at their salesman's meetings.

Second E-mail:
You whinny fuck. First of all you bought a throw away Mercedes. A $40,000 car is no luxury car you MORON! My used 3000GTVR4 was over $40,000 and it was used. Get a grip you spoiled fuck.
You posted this stupid ass fuckin story to brag that you bought a Mercedes. And it's their cheap one to boot!
Just a fuckin spoiled brat.
I'm still laughing..........Now I've seen it all.


First off I did not buy the car for bragging rights. I believe it to be one of the safest and best built cars out. Not to mention it has the V8 to make it sporty. As far as being their cheapest car I believe you are incorrect as the C class is below the E. I also bought the car used so the actual sticker price would be around 55,000 i believe. So you bought a 40,000+ Mitsu?? what ever floats your boat but i will not go around talking shit about you just because of it.

Anyone know who this is?

Stinger

1990 Jeep Wrangler. That's all I have to say. Don't have to worry about crappy service because i do most of it myself thanx to ease of servicing(none of that fancy jap crap).

But I think a new F250 is in the picture somewhere  . . .

Thanks Aimless

I dont let people get to me, I just think its funny the new catagory I have been placed into because of a car.

Stinger

Hey Stinger, ask ELLIEBRAD how the valve seals on his Mitsu are........

Benz has been taking a beating over their products and service. I would send a letter to bothe the US and German office detailing your problems. Might just for fun add a print out of some of the other comments from this board. May also be woth checking for a MB newsgroup and reading any posts in there.

What a punk Stinger. I'd knock that guy to the ground telling you that you're a "spoiled fuck". I hate people that are jealous or angry at others for having a lot of money or fancy items. These are the same people that whine and vote for socialists so they can get more Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Damn communists. I'd put them all in a soccer field in Chile and let Pinochet take care of them. [50]

themao [chainsawkill]

Themao,

Tell us how you really feel!!

Eh? No, I really would like to put that guy out in a soccer field and have Pinochet dust him. I'm sick of socialists.

themao [chainsawkill]

Well, I guess the other option would for me to be his "mao" for a full month. I'd reeducate him. [stick]

themao [chainsawkill]

ok themao, have it your way. Take him

Stinger
I hope I can help a little. I have worked for a MBZ for over ten years now. I agree that the car shouldn't be dirty, but I admit that it has happened at our dealership as well. This problem usually starts down in detail, the saleman rushes them and they don't do a good job. This isn't an excuse but just telling you the reason.

As far as getting MBZ loaner cars, people need to understand that keeping enough MBZ loaner cars on hand is impossible, it just isn't cost effective.
Buyers need to understand that just because you buy a $50K doesn't mean dealers are making allot of cash. Margins at MSRP are down to around 7%. That is if you pay full price. Yes MBZ makes a lot of money manufacturing cars, but dealers are on slim margins. The only reason to sell cars is so you can service them. The sales department rarely pays the bills at a dealership.

Things like missing manuals and keys are to be expected if you buy an used car, normal the dealer won't order them until the car sells, that way if the car doesn't sell and it is sent to auction they haven't inested another $250 in keys, floormats, manuals or whatever. Electonic smart keys are expensive and take time to order, longer than any other part for security reasons. Benz keys are a nightmare, now that Benz merged with Chrysler getting parts is even more of a problem.

This car you bought clearly wasn't ready for resale, but they wanted you to take it home becuase once you drive it off the lot the deal is done, rather than have you wait until the later in the week and risk you changing your mind. Agian, not and excuse, but and explanation of how things work. Even if you had signed the contracts, but hadn't taken the car home, you could have backed out of the deal anytime during the week.

So did oyu get crappy service? Yes
Is it normal? Yeah, probably happens more often than you think.

Don't waste your time writing MB Germany, the Germans don't car about thier American counter- parts that much. "We Germans build MBZ for Germans, das Chrysler t'ing was a bad idea zo begin wit."

Your best bet is writing to MB North America, but I doubt you'll get much of a response other than "take it up with your dealer."

Another thing to bear in mind is that people are keeping cars for shorter periods of time, so they are getting cheaper. Build quality has suffered at MBZ, BMW and Porsche. Audi and Jag were such crap pre-1995 that they had to get better simply because there is nowhere to go but up when your on the bottom. I have have sold all these makes simulataneously.

The days of having your ass kissed are over, simply because with the advent of leasing, Joe Average can afford to drive a Benz or BMW. Just like GM or Ford, the name of the game is to sell as many units as possible to customers over and over. Qaunity over quality. Selling well built cars with great customer service is not profitable. That is why almost all the major highlines are owned by larger corporations.

The car industry is becoming much like the software business, instead of selling a product that work 100% of the time as described, they sell you a product that works 75% as described and tell you to buy the next version if your not happy with the current model.


I know car salesman are pond scum, trust me I have worked with some shady cats. But if you guys sat on the other side of the table you wounldn't believe some of the customers you have to put up with as an honest salesman.

Geez Caesar25, car [i]buyers[/i] cheap, dishonest and demanding?  I can't believe that!  I'm shocked![:O][:D]

Thanks Caesar25,

That was a very well put post. I know all those things you said, guess i wanted more out of my experience. Thanks

Stinger