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Mercedes Benz Smythe European Inc. San Jose Worst Customer Experience with Hidden Laws San Jose, California
November 19, 2011 I go to Smythe along with my college student brother to trade in my 2009 leased BMW for a new 2012 C230 Lease, and thats when the nightmare starts. I get greeted by Mr. Omar who is the sales person who will show me the car and talk about the deal. As usual, I try to get a good deal on the lease and Mr. Omar explain the options for us. I asked him to try with a certain price to see if this works for them and he replies: "Let me talk to my manager and see what he says".
Mr. Omar comes back after few minutes with the Sales Manager who literally says:"Guys, come'on this is a great deal, I really cant go lower than this, I will lose money, I do not give a F***** if you guys buy the car or not, but this is the best I can do for you". And he walks away.
My brother and I stood in AWE and were wondering if we were in the wrong place. At that moment, I was about to call off the deal, but held it in because I knew how excited my brother were to get the car, plus you are at Mercedes Benz dealership which supposedly has the best cars with the best customer experience ever.
Now Mr. Omar goes to run my credit. I fill in the information for me and my brother. I can see him from the window with 5 other guys in the office talking. He comes back and says: "Your credit score is not the best, but I think we can work it out". We talk about the car we chose, he goes back to the office to speak to the rest of the guys in the office, and come back to tell us "let's go to our finance manager, YOU GOT A DEAL".
Mr. Jim, finance manager, all happy, greets us with a big smile, shakes hands, and you know do the whole acting thing. He starts doing paper works, explains to us our maintenance options for some time and try to convince us to buy these plans. We sign the papers, shakes hands again, "CONGRATULATIONS". We walk out with the Benz, they talk the BMW, and we go home.
My brother drives the car till Nov 29th, 2011 (2 weeks). He gets a phone call on the 29th of November from Mr. Omar in the middle of the day to tell him "Ops, you got to return the car because your credit was not approved". WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???? HOWWWWWWWW? WHEEEEEEEEEEN? I thought we signed the contract and you guys approved us and we shook hands all happy based on that. Mr. Omar replies saying that they were HOPING to get us approved the next few days but bank refused. I try to explain to him that I have never heard of this before. I was like how could this possibly happens? How can you give us a ~$40,000 car, drive it, sign a contract, while our credit is not approved. He replies by saying that I can come to the office and speak to our Sales Manager - same guy with the F* word (read above).
I go to their office the same day. Rude Sales Manager (his name is Seng or something like that) comes (read above about this guy) and we sit in Omar's area. Seng goes: "So it's unfortunate that this happened, but you know it happens alot, so best thing to do now is you give the Benz keys, I give you the BMW's keys, we walk out friends" WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? I say to him "Did this ever happen?" He says:"Yes, alot, more than you can imagine" I answer:"What did you learn from the mistakes you made with the customers?". He answers with all rudeness: "I do not have to explain to you". The guy does not give me a chance to talk to him. I could not stand his rudeness so I asked him to let me talk to his manager.
Mr. PJ, manager, comes in, greets us, very nice guy. Sits with us and he is not aware of the whole situation. I explain to him that I was greeted with the F* word from his Sales Manager, who does not have any idea on to deal with customers. Mr. PJ is shocked and tells me "If someone said that to me I would never buy that car". Good answer. I explain to him that this is very unprofessional from Mercedes to treat a customer like this. To let the customer sign a contract without explaining to him that he is not approved yet and that there is a possibility that he might return the car. He answers by saying that BY LAW, THE CAN DO THAT. To make me happy, he asked the people there to get me back my BMW, wash it, detail it, fill it up with gas, and get it ready for me the next day.
November 30th, I go to the store, pissed off about the whole thing. Mr. Omar takes me to Jim, who greets me in a totally different way than the first time. First thing he does is to ask me to sign the liability release form. I say to him that I need a piece of paper which says that I do not owe you any money after this. Jim looks to me in an angry way flipping his papers and calls PJ. They end up writing that paper and signing it. I then ask for another paper which says that I am giving the car back because my credit is not approved. Again, Jim is angry, flips through his papers, and finally writes the paper.
He then gives me the release form to sign. I tell him, I wont sign unless I get my refund back. We go and he refunds me my $3000. He gives me the form again. I review it and finds mistakes. The put the buyer address as my address and seller's address as theirs, again very unprofessional. He scratches the paper and he says that the computer hasn't been updating the forms. GREAT.
PJ comes back and tells us sorry and please let us know if I can help you. We thank him and we walk out. Now they bring the BMW. The BMW is DIRTY and GAS TANK IS ALMOST EMPTY. I complain to Mr. Omar, he answers "Just bring it later I can fill it out for you". WHAAAAAAAT??? ARE YOU SERIOUS??? But PJ, the manger, PROMISED to clean the car and fill in the tank. I go back inside and shout at the whole "gang", and explain to them that this is the worst experience ever, that I will never buy or lease anything from Mercedes for the rest of my life. I will never recommend it or refer anyone to buy it. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
A good deal
#2Consumer Comment
Thu, December 01, 2011
As usual, I try to get a good deal on the lease'
- Once I stopped laughing on how you wanted to get a good deal on your (f)lease, I read the rest of your report.
First of all you should have walked out the when the salesperson threw out the profanity. But you stayed.
They did what is known as a "Spot Delivery", this is where a dealer lets you take the car but doesn't have the final financing approved. Some dealers use this as a way to get you in the car because they know you will be approved. Less reputable dealers use this by promising you a great deal they know you won't get approved for. But they hope that when you get the "bad news" you like the car so much you will accept the less favorable terms.
The statement that would cause the most concern is that you are claiming that they told you by law they can't tell you that you might not be approved. You should have asked them to show you this law, because it doesn't exist. But what I bet did exist was a clause in your contract that states you may not be approved and if not the dealer has the right to cancel the deal.
But if there was nothing about what happens when the financing is rejected that in the contract you may have actually had a very good case to keep the car at those terms.