Comments on: Mercedes Benz does not care about its customers

By: Toby

Toby — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:41:07 +0000

Well, I own a 280se, live in South Africa and things have got soooo bad with mercedes here that I have setup a blog to detail the chaos and confusion that they have caused.

It is truly sad that a company that makes such great cars simply do not care about their customers. I think that this is the danger of success.

My story is too long to relate here so visit the site. You can also join the facebook group if you feel very energetic. Fight Against Bad Service. Lets do something about this!

By: mike

mike — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:55:49 +0000

I purchased a C320 4 years ago. it really sucks. engine starts shaking and makes big noise. No crash, no speeding, but the parts are getting loose now that can hear when I drive. Won’t buy benz any more

By: mike

mike — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:55:37 +0000

I purchased a C320 5 years ago. it really sucks. engine starts shaking and makes big noise. No crash, no speeding, but the parts are getting loose now that can hear when I drive. Won’t buy benz any more

By: Richard E. Savoy

Richard E. Savoy — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:03:34 +0000

We were loyal Mercedes customers, having bought 7 diesels from 1976 through 1996 (240D-350SDL). When the ‘91 SDL engine began using a quart of oil in 500 miles, we inquired and were told that, unknown to us, but known quite well to MB USA (then MBNA), there was a very serious design defect in the 603.971 6 cylinder engine. We assumed we’d get help from MBNA, but were told, with a smirk, that we were “out of warranty”. We were thanked for the opportunity to allow MBNA to confirm its corporate position. The local MBNA representative told me that, were he to help us, “it could get around”. Can you imagine MBNA saying that in the 1970’s or 80’s? Ah, but they were a very different company then.

We will never buy another Mercedes. Mercedes decision, made in 1993 or so, to become mass producers of plastic junk, has been carried into full force and effect. Have you seen or driven the chintzy E350? Their cars are truly homely now and seem made by high school kids from a kit.

I’ve seen it written that Mercedes’ new cars are eye candy for the nouveau riche who don’t know any better. Good luck to them.

Mercedes’ decision to toss its name into the gutter does not detract from the splendor and elegance of the company it once was nor from the handsomeness of the cars they once built. The sad fate of Mercedes Benz reminds me of that of Titanic. In its day, each was one of the greatest things in the world. But each made a big mistake, fell, and neither ever got up again. Glorious though Mercedes and Titanic once were, you would not want to be with either of them today.

Richard E. Savoy

Salem, MA.

By: ??????? ??????

??????? ?????? — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 05:55:13 +0000

Very entertaining issue. I haven’t heard of this one. It will be necessary to visit you on a thicket!
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By: Agreed

Agreed — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:12:17 +0000

Francois…
I hear your pain. I just experienced an unbelievable incident at Mercedes where I purchased a $130,000 car, and have had nothing but major service problems for the last 2 years with the car, including having been a victim of fraud by a now fired manager at the Mercedes dealership itself.
It is truly unbelievable how incompetent and dishonest the company is. The icing on the cake was when I watched the new manager who replaced the fired manager lie through his teeth to me (not without a slick sly smile on his face) merely yesterday when I picked up my car from service after it literally shut down on the highway, nearly causing me to smash into the concrete meridian in the middle of the highway upon the power steering and battery shutting off.
Oddly, it’s the manager who committed fraud with my warranty (a whole other story) that more gets my goat. I only figured it all out when no service records existed at all on my car after 2.5 years of me having it diligently serviced on time by their dealership. Freakily, an interim manager finally spilled the whole scam to me after I pressed him.
Do you think the new manager at Mercedes will even acknowledge this? No. He just gets a creepy grin on his face when I confront him about it tells me it NEVER happened.
I’m selling my car and saying goodbye to Mercedes forever. Word of mouth will prevent many sales, although they’re clearly too short-sited to even realize that. Life’s too short to continue to glamorize their incredible egos by driving one of their cars.
I’d rather walk or take the bus.

By: RC

RC — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 08:43:09 +0000

While its unfortunate that your car met an early demise why is it Mercedes fault? This is a used car with over 100K on it and well outside of its warranty. Cars are machines and machines break. The 3.2L engine that your car has is a VERY popular engine so perhaps you might look on the used market for another engine? While Ill be the first to admit that Mercedes Quality has suffered somewhat over the years the quality of ALL vehicles have gone down as well.

Your essentially blackmailing Mercedes to do your bidding or else your going to “tell all your friends” about your bad experience. Its a shame that your friends won’t be honest and tell you how unreasonable it is to expect Mercedes to honor a warranty on a car that is well outside of their responsibility.

Let me give you a polite word of advice. Mercedes DOES comp out certain issues with their car. Perhaps you could reapproach the problem POLITELY and back it up with your service documentation. If you politely meet in person with your local rep and explain to him that your essentially stuck at this point and would really like to believe that Mercedes makes a high quality product they might be more inclined to help you. Unless you can cross your T’s and dot all your I’s on your service records its unlikely your going to get 100% help on this. This site does not help your cause at all. Legally they don’t have to do anything for you at all and if you make a pest of yourself your going to make them not want to help you.

I wish you the best of luck with your car. Contrary to your experience I have 3 Mercedes cars one with over 380,000 miles on it on its original Engine and Transmission. The key to owning one of these cars is to learn everything you can about it and get involved with its service program. These are not cars that you can drive and not know what’s going on under the hood. If that’s the kind of experience you want/need then perhaps you would be more happy with a Honda or a Lexus. Both of those makes require zero customer involvement with the service process and will run for a long time even if not serviced correctly.

By: The Workshop MB

The Workshop MB — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 16:01:14 +0000

http://betterbenzservice.blogspot.com

By: Tish Grier

Tish Grier — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:56:45 +0000

This tale of terrible stuff just gets more and more bizaare as it goes. Equating a car to a human being is weird. Cars don’t really get “sick” quite the same way, or for the same reasons that people do…and the premature death of a car is often avoidable. Good thing you kept all the service receipts. I know most dealerships have service records in their databases, but the way things appear to be going here, I wouldn’t be surprised if all of a sudden those records magically disappeared.

By: Maria Palma

Maria Palma — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:07:07 +0000

It’s a shock to me that a supposed “prestigous” car maker doesn’t take pride in helping a customer. It’s a basic fundamental in customer service, something this company doesn’t care to understand.

P.S. My boyfriend worked at Mercedes - he said that their cars aren’t any good. The brand is just overrated. Pretty sad…