The staff was nice at first until I confronted them about the problems and lies they covered about car I bought from them. I bought a 2005 SL500 from them last year (Jul 2008) and live out of state. I so desperately wanted to report these issues immediately but wanted to give a fair evaluation after taking a period of time to give everyone the benefit of doubt.
The car came as scheduled. Upon the delivery inspection, I found dents that they did not tell me about and they denied it saying that it was the 3rd party transportation company *they* hired bc their exit inspection showed nothing. There were three apparent dents: (1) on top of the hood which is noticable when you carefully look at the hood bc it's a white car (2) underneath the license plate (3) by gas gage. These dents could not have ALL been done by the transportation company. I couldn't get them to do anything about that bc it was a final sale and I already paid CASH in full for the car. Frustrated, I took my car for my first test drive. It rained on the day of the delivery so I had to use my windshield wipers. THEY DIDN'T TURN ON!!!!
I called 1.800.MERCEDES and they told me I had to take it into the shop. I did and called OC to complain, again. They reluctantly agreed to pay for the windshield wiper repair after the Benz dealership told them what was wrong: the grommets that are supposed to be put in to attach wipers to windshield were not even there, obviously not attached. That is when I found out that the windshield had just recently been replaced. My OC sales rep said she didn't know that it got replaced and said that they must have replaced it during the time they got the car from the original owner bc they may have accidentally damaged it somehow. VERY STRANGE answer. They then offered to pay me $150 for all 3 dents which is ridiculously low bc I cant even get one fixed for that. I had no choice but to agree bc I had no more recourse and was done with them.
Six months later, I take my car in for a warranty repair and asked the Benz dealer to also look at my radio which seems to not be working sufficiently (static on regular AM/PM stations). The Benz dealership's finding were that the radio antennas were not attached to the windshield and the only way to resolve this is to replace the *entire* windshield. This is UNBELIEVABLE.
A year has passed now since I've owned this vehicle. Last month, my car gave out on the interstate. To find, the alternator failed and was not being charged. Fortunately, I bought an extended warranty and this was covered but the starter battery was not. Another out of pocket expense.
All in all, I would *HIGHLY* recommend you be careful with this company and not buy from them unless they are the only dealership left in this country.
Btw – I even got the car checked out by a local Benz dealership that OC recommended. Don’t be tricked; they know the dealers/service people very well.
Cons: Lies, Lies, Lies...
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