Customer service is NOT practiced at Mercedes Benz of Pleasanton or Mercedes-Benz USA. The practice is misrepresentation of options, Bait & Switch and no Customer Service. After spending a fortune on my first luxury car, I expected quality service and all the options I was led to believe existed. The options I bought, but did not receive when the car was delivered, were in writing in two distinct formats.
First they showed me the option packages by name only. Then showed me the option details in their new car pamphlet. The Entertainment Package w / Navigation read clearly in black & white, includes 6-CD changer. When the car was delivered, only a single cd changer was installed. When I inquired they said, "oh, must have changed the options slightly for the 2006 model, but now you have Sirius Satellite (which I have to pay monthly for) and integrated iPod through the auxillary unit of the system. Simply plug the iPod cable into the connection in the glove compartment. I was shown the connection, but said it was a round connector and the iPod uses a horizontal bar connector. With that MB Pleasanton sales associate said he'd look into it and advise.
A week later, after 2 calls from me, I was told I'd have to buy the cable to integrate the two but the cable has not been invented yet. (Yeah, that's right, not invented yet). So I contacted the General Sales Manager and he too looked into it and came back a week later, again after two calls for a followup from me, and advised, "yes, that's true; the cable is not available yet".
A month later I brought the vehicle in for maintenance due to electrical problems and a dead battery. Went to the parts dept and asked about the cable. I was told, there's no cable. You need to buy a docking cradle and pay us $500 to install it. With that I went to talk to the General Sales Manager, who was on vacation. I had already discussed several other misleading and misrepresented issues with him previously and with the Assistant Sales Manager.
So I found the Assist. SM and talked about what they would do about the cradle & install. He stated that my request was certainly reasonable and shouldn't be an issue, especially with all the problems I've already experienced. However, he said he had to discuss it with the General Sales Mgr (also one of the owners) and would get back to me in 3 days. Over week goes bye and I called to find out what they decided and I was informed, "we will not do a thing for you as a result of the poor sales survey you submitted about us to our national office."
I then contacted the MB USA (lack of) Customer Service dept. And the Survey dept and advised of the retaliation, and requested they do something. After 1-1/2 months, 5 people (22 phone calls from me) and being ignored, I was told they would not do a thing and they have no control or say in local dealerships as they are all independently owned and operated, regardless of the retaliation being a direct result of their national office survey. Without anything in 'writing' that the dealership would honor the options bought, it was not their business.
So, Buyer BEWARE. STAY AWAY FROM Mercedes Benz period and especially MB of Pleasanton. Buy Luxury Vehicles from Lexus, Lincoln, BMW, Cadillac, etc. Who will honor and respect their customers and their sales claims. Both written and verbal.
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