Goodbye Mercedes
Discussion
I have never posted before but thought someone at Mercedes might take note.
I have been a loyal Mercedes driver for over 25 years, I have enjoyed owning & driving the cars just recently selling my GTs & my C43. I have been trying to replace the C43 for about a year contacting various dealers around the country. I have found the sales departments of all Mercedes dealerships to behave with an arrogance that has always surprised me but was willing to put up with so as to drive the car I wanted.
Mercedes customer service is appalling, they have not responded to emails when problems have arisen.
Mercedes service departments have, on the other hand, always been pleasant to deal with at whatever dealership I have been to.
The bottom line is that Audi have given me £5k more for my C43 & can deliver a car to my spec within 3 months. The sales team were friendly, they lent me cars throughout the ranges so I could find the car that suits, that being the RS4. The sales experience at Audi is a country mile away from that at Mercedes.
I am sad not to be having the Mercedes I wanted but Im sure the Audi experience will be just as good, its certainly started well.
Mercedes need to treat there customers with more respect & look after them, unfortunately the only way left to show my disappointment was to switch manufacturers. I'm sure I will not be the only one.
I have been a loyal Mercedes driver for over 25 years, I have enjoyed owning & driving the cars just recently selling my GTs & my C43. I have been trying to replace the C43 for about a year contacting various dealers around the country. I have found the sales departments of all Mercedes dealerships to behave with an arrogance that has always surprised me but was willing to put up with so as to drive the car I wanted.
Mercedes customer service is appalling, they have not responded to emails when problems have arisen.
Mercedes service departments have, on the other hand, always been pleasant to deal with at whatever dealership I have been to.
The bottom line is that Audi have given me £5k more for my C43 & can deliver a car to my spec within 3 months. The sales team were friendly, they lent me cars throughout the ranges so I could find the car that suits, that being the RS4. The sales experience at Audi is a country mile away from that at Mercedes.
I am sad not to be having the Mercedes I wanted but Im sure the Audi experience will be just as good, its certainly started well.
Mercedes need to treat there customers with more respect & look after them, unfortunately the only way left to show my disappointment was to switch manufacturers. I'm sure I will not be the only one.
Yours is certainly not a unique experience, and not confined to one brand either because there is good and bad dealerships out there.
I am on my second Mercedes from the same dealer and have no complaints at all about the service I have received. After my second purchase in November last year I received an email from a person at the dealership who introduced themselves as my point of contact should any need arise.
My experience of sales across all brands is that they are your "best friend" right up until the deal is done then they suddenly become much less interested. Just to be fair there is always exceptions to this.
It is shame how you have been treated, but I'm sure you will be delighted with your RS4.
I am on my second Mercedes from the same dealer and have no complaints at all about the service I have received. After my second purchase in November last year I received an email from a person at the dealership who introduced themselves as my point of contact should any need arise.
My experience of sales across all brands is that they are your "best friend" right up until the deal is done then they suddenly become much less interested. Just to be fair there is always exceptions to this.
It is shame how you have been treated, but I'm sure you will be delighted with your RS4.
Welcome to PH!. I have to say I only been to a Merc shop once to collect a part and the service wasn't good. I did pull up in a bmw tho, so only to be expected. Having said that, the chap in the carpark was Very helpful with guiding me out from some tightly parked expensive cars, thanks fella.
Eta, the bmw was my brothers!:-)
Eta, the bmw was my brothers!:-)
mini0030 said:
I have never posted before but thought someone at Mercedes might take note.
I have been a loyal Mercedes driver for over 25 years, I have enjoyed owning & driving the cars just recently selling my GTs & my C43. I have been trying to replace the C43 for about a year contacting various dealers around the country. I have found the sales departments of all Mercedes dealerships to behave with an arrogance that has always surprised me but was willing to put up with so as to drive the car I wanted.
Mercedes customer service is appalling, they have not responded to emails when problems have arisen.
Mercedes service departments have, on the other hand, always been pleasant to deal with at whatever dealership I have been to.
The bottom line is that Audi have given me £5k more for my C43 & can deliver a car to my spec within 3 months. The sales team were friendly, they lent me cars throughout the ranges so I could find the car that suits, that being the RS4. The sales experience at Audi is a country mile away from that at Mercedes.
I am sad not to be having the Mercedes I wanted but Im sure the Audi experience will be just as good, its certainly started well.
Mercedes need to treat there customers with more respect & look after them, unfortunately the only way left to show my disappointment was to switch manufacturers. I'm sure I will not be the only one.
So you're upset because Mercedes are so popular there's a waiting list for their cars? All the big manufacturers have huge waiting lists at the moment, I'm suprised Audi is only 3 months, have they dropped off in popularity that much?I have been a loyal Mercedes driver for over 25 years, I have enjoyed owning & driving the cars just recently selling my GTs & my C43. I have been trying to replace the C43 for about a year contacting various dealers around the country. I have found the sales departments of all Mercedes dealerships to behave with an arrogance that has always surprised me but was willing to put up with so as to drive the car I wanted.
Mercedes customer service is appalling, they have not responded to emails when problems have arisen.
Mercedes service departments have, on the other hand, always been pleasant to deal with at whatever dealership I have been to.
The bottom line is that Audi have given me £5k more for my C43 & can deliver a car to my spec within 3 months. The sales team were friendly, they lent me cars throughout the ranges so I could find the car that suits, that being the RS4. The sales experience at Audi is a country mile away from that at Mercedes.
I am sad not to be having the Mercedes I wanted but Im sure the Audi experience will be just as good, its certainly started well.
Mercedes need to treat there customers with more respect & look after them, unfortunately the only way left to show my disappointment was to switch manufacturers. I'm sure I will not be the only one.
having been with many of the premium brands and not so premium brands I agree with the OP - I have found them to be the worst in service and sales.
Sales in particular have a culture that they have unparralelled intelligence when its the complete opposite.
Like others have said you will get bad experiences across all brands but I have found the others to be more accomodating in fixing errors or can vary dealer to dealer. Ive been to 4 merc dealers from different groups and all reeked of the same culture.
Enjoy your new car OP
Thanks
Sales in particular have a culture that they have unparralelled intelligence when its the complete opposite.
Like others have said you will get bad experiences across all brands but I have found the others to be more accomodating in fixing errors or can vary dealer to dealer. Ive been to 4 merc dealers from different groups and all reeked of the same culture.
Enjoy your new car OP
Thanks
Chamon_Lee said:
having been with many of the premium brands and not so premium brands I agree with the OP - I have found them to be the worst in service and sales.
Sales in particular have a culture that they have unparralelled intelligence when its the complete opposite.
Like others have said you will get bad experiences across all brands but I have found the others to be more accomodating in fixing errors or can vary dealer to dealer. Ive been to 4 merc dealers from different groups and all reeked of the same culture.
Enjoy your new car OP
Thanks
They'll be back in 6 months saying how bad the Audi service is, just wait hahSales in particular have a culture that they have unparralelled intelligence when its the complete opposite.
Like others have said you will get bad experiences across all brands but I have found the others to be more accomodating in fixing errors or can vary dealer to dealer. Ive been to 4 merc dealers from different groups and all reeked of the same culture.
Enjoy your new car OP
Thanks
Hmmmm I have only dealt with Audi once when looking some years ago at an RS5, I was driving an Golf R32 at the time, salesmen couldn't care less about the car I wanted more about what he had on the forecourt at the time.
He said he'd find out how long it would take to order an RS5, give me the quote and trade in on mine, days later he calls with the quote on the car on the forecourt not the RS5 and a trade in on my 3 series BMW.
Never did buy that Audi.
Went back several years later the wife was interested in a Q5, had to wait for a salesman, eventually the receptionist said X is free now, X being the previous salesman, we politely declined and left.
He said he'd find out how long it would take to order an RS5, give me the quote and trade in on mine, days later he calls with the quote on the car on the forecourt not the RS5 and a trade in on my 3 series BMW.
Never did buy that Audi.
Went back several years later the wife was interested in a Q5, had to wait for a salesman, eventually the receptionist said X is free now, X being the previous salesman, we politely declined and left.
I walked away from the so called three German premium brands due to the same thing the OP highlights. Although all my cars with them have been company cars, we purchased them just like many private buyers.
I found Audi to be the best but couldn't split Mercedes and BMW, and my experiences were not with one dealership with each brand either.
Funnily my last experience was with Mercedes Manchester, the dealership that used to be outside the Etihad stadium, I noticed recently that it has since closed.
I found Audi to be the best but couldn't split Mercedes and BMW, and my experiences were not with one dealership with each brand either.
Funnily my last experience was with Mercedes Manchester, the dealership that used to be outside the Etihad stadium, I noticed recently that it has since closed.
BlimeyCharlie said:
Not looked for a while...but the Facebook and Twitter pages of Mercedes UK were eye-opening regarding experiences of 'customers'.
Usual generic 'contact us via PM (private message) and we'll look into it' stuff...
Toyota and Lexus show the way...
I would certainly agree with Lexus and the way they are able to keep customers happy from all aspects, car sales, parts, servicing etc.Usual generic 'contact us via PM (private message) and we'll look into it' stuff...
Toyota and Lexus show the way...
Lots of different moving parts here;
The delay would annoy me but Merc aren’t the only manufacturer with long lead times, for obvious reasons.
The attitude of the sales team is always neither here nor there to me. Once I’ve placed the order I’ll probably never see them again. Whether they are a joy to be around or absolute s
ts.
The service team on the other hand are v. important and these, at least, seem to have satisfied the Op.
The response of Merc customer services is disappointing.
The delay would annoy me but Merc aren’t the only manufacturer with long lead times, for obvious reasons.
The attitude of the sales team is always neither here nor there to me. Once I’ve placed the order I’ll probably never see them again. Whether they are a joy to be around or absolute s
ts.The service team on the other hand are v. important and these, at least, seem to have satisfied the Op.
The response of Merc customer services is disappointing.
BiggaJ said:
I would certainly agree with Lexus and the way they are able to keep customers happy from all aspects, car sales, parts, servicing etc.
My BIL has had a fair bit of messing around by the dealer on his RX-H - seems to have had a number of niggling faults and needed to go back to the dealer (and it's not a trivial journey) multiple times. It's also way less economical than he was led to believe (even 'realistic' figures) - he had 520d Touring before and the Lexus is using 2x the amount of fuel. It's his journey profile that's wrong - but that should have been checked. Even in an ideal use case it'd still struggle to be "similar to the BMW".My Mercees experience is of buying a 5mth old car from waht was then Mercedes Direct - great to deal with and probably one of the best deals I've ever done on a car. Used my local dealer for servicing and they were OK, but increasingly became 'distant' as could only talk to them via a call-centre. I always thought it was odd that when visiting the dealership, if I had a wander around the showroom no salesperson ever approached - indeed the only time one ever spoke to me was to tell me off for parking in the wrong place.
On one occassion I saw a guy dropping off a 3yr old car for first MOT - he asked for the brochure for the new model. The service advisor walked him over to the stand and literally reached in front of the sales manager to pass him the brochure, which he glanced at and popped in his bag. OK, one approach is not to be pushy, but I was gobsmacked that there wasn't even a gentle 'would you like to discuss changing your car?' type of question.
mini0030 said:
Mercedes service departments have, on the other hand, always been pleasant to deal with at whatever dealership I have been to.
Count yourself very lucky on that at least. I have tried all the local dealers in almost a 100 mile radius and every single one of them treats you like you stepped in something on the way into the garage.V10 SPM said:
mini0030 said:
Mercedes service departments have, on the other hand, always been pleasant to deal with at whatever dealership I have been to.
Count yourself very lucky on that at least. I have tried all the local dealers in almost a 100 mile radius and every single one of them treats you like you stepped in something on the way into the garage.My first and last Mercedes has gone back.
Dealers were equally appalling, rude and plain obnoxious. Warranty issue was refused. Some issues (panel gaps, rattles) were never fixed. Requested software updates were repeatedly ignored (gearbox update). Car was broken at 1st service and took ages to fix, with no apology. Customer services were rude and ineffectual.
V10 SPM said:
mini0030 said:
Mercedes service departments have, on the other hand, always been pleasant to deal with at whatever dealership I have been to.
Count yourself very lucky on that at least. I have tried all the local dealers in almost a 100 mile radius and every single one of them treats you like you stepped in something on the way into the garage.Had they been anything less I wouldn't have bought a second car from them.
I think people's reaction to their dealer depends on how they are with costs.
On one of the Merc forums there was a member saying how marvellous his dealer is for reminding him every year than the a/c need servicing - he knows nothing about cars and always forgets to ask. He thinks £1200 for a service on his S Class is a bargain - they even wash the car! And only £50 for a courtesy car too!!
On one of the Merc forums there was a member saying how marvellous his dealer is for reminding him every year than the a/c need servicing - he knows nothing about cars and always forgets to ask. He thinks £1200 for a service on his S Class is a bargain - they even wash the car! And only £50 for a courtesy car too!!
My local MB were excellent when we bought mrs DG's SLC, we went along to one of their 'loyalty days' and the meeter/greeter/bimbo couldn't have been more disinterested. No salesman had time for a quick chat (it was a quiet day so there were people available) the whole experience has ensured that Chelmsford merc won't see us again
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