Complaint Review: Keyes Mercedes Benz of Van Nuys CA. - Los Angeles California

     On or around August of 2012 I started shopping online for a Mercedes Benz Dealership to purchase a newer model Mercedes. At the time I owned a 2000 Mercedes S430 that was still in very good condition with a trade-in value listed in Kelly Blue Book as $7,565. At the time I still owed approximately $12,600 on it and wanted to see what options were available to me to upgrade in a newer model. I was not seeking a brand new 2012 just a newer model like a 2007 – 2010.

     When I called around I stressed the fact that I still owed quite a bit on my previous loan and was looking for a Dealer that offered cash back and bonus incentives to help new customers pay off their present car loans. Several Dealerships in the Los Angeles area responded with similar offers, but KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS CALIFORNIA salesperson Mr. PATRICK LAU really won me over stating that they had bonuses and cash back incentives that would completely pay off my old car loan and get me into a new 2013 if I wanted it! 

     Based on Mr. Lau’s word that they offered bonuses and cash back incentives that would pay off my old car loan completely, I chose his dealership to do business with. When I arrived, I bought all the info pertaining to my previous loan and told the salesperson, Mr. Lau that I was looking for a car payment close to what I previously had, which at the time was $445.  I told him my absolute max was $500.  Mr. Lau said they could do that and asked how much I was putting down.  I told him my credit was in the high 700’s and that I really didn’t want to put down more than $2000.  He gave me a grim expression and said it would be difficult to get me the $450 - $500 monthly payment with that small down-payment.   I didn’t want to play games with him and told him that if it was impossible, I would return at a later date when they were more willing to offer what I was looking for.

     Mr. Lau stopped me from leaving and said let him go speak with his manager. After being gone for about 5 minutes he returned stating, “we are going to pay off your previous loan which shows you owe about $12,600 still. That’s a large debt and with only $2000 down it would be very difficult to get you that $450-$500 monthly payment you want” he said.  Can you put down a little more to help us pay down your previous loan, he asked?”  I told him I really didn’t want to put down any more than $2000.  I again, told him, that it was okay if he couldn’t get me the deal I was seeking that I would just return at a later date.  Again, Mr. Lau stopped me from leaving and left to speak with his manager again.

     He returned and said could I possibly put down another $2000 and he could possibly get me the $500 monthly payments I wanted and pay off my existing loan.  I pondered his offer for awhile not really wanting to put down $4000.  Mr. Lau saw my uneasiness and stated again, that no other Dealer would offer to pay off my previous loan like they were and get me such a low monthly payment for a brand new 2013 Mercedes Benz.  He said, “just help us out here with a little more down to help us pay off your present car loan so we can get you into a brand new Mercedes. After pondering his offer hard, I reluctantly agreed, okay $4000 down I said.  A big smile came across Mr. Lau’s face and he said “Great!” where are your car keys to your old Benz?” I pulled them from my tote bag and he took them from my hand and placed them on the desk next to him and said, “Paid!”  Meaning my old loan was now paid off. 

     I was pleased and felt everything would be alright now and that I would soon be in my new Mercedes with monthly payments I could afford.  Mr. Lau left momentarily to speak with his manger again and then returned with a big smile on his face and said, “Are you ready to go pick out your new Benz?”  I said yes, with excitement. He took me on a tour of the facility and showed me several 2013 models. I assumed he was going to sell me a new 2012, but he only showed me new 2013 models that had recently arrived at their facility. He asked what model I was interested in and I told him I was seeking the E Series which is their mid-size Model.  The Mercedes Benz E350.

     After showing me several E350 models, I made my selection and we returned to his office to do the paperwork. He left his office momentarily to speak with his manager about the price of the car I had selected.  I was confident that everything would be fine, because he had assured me that my agreement to pay $4000 down would be sufficient to get me in the new Mercedes of my choice.  The sticker sales price on the Mercedes E350 was approximately $48,500. While Mr. Lau was away speaking with his Manager, I noticed another smaller, sportier car outside their facility window on display. It was a Mercedes C350 Coupe.  I really liked it and noticed that the sales sticker price on its window was only $ 39,995. A lot cheaper than the E350 I had previously selected.  I returned to Mr. Lau’s office and when he returned he had that grim, disappointed expression on his face again.

     Mr. Lau said, “I went over the numbers with my manager and with only $4000 down for E350 you’re looking at payments of $850 a months for a 3 year lease!!!!  I was absolutely blown away when he told me that.  There was no way I could afford such a payment! And I wasn’t looking for a lease; I was looking for a purchase. How could a lease payment be so high I thought?  I told Mr. Lau that I could not afford that, and that I would just return at a later date.

     I then asked him for my car keys. He told me he had already given them to his maintenance people. I noticed when I looked out the front window that my car was no longer where I had parked it.  A stunt no doubt done to prevent me from leaving.  Mr. Lau then said, “ if you’re willing to put down another $2000 we could possible get you payments close to $600 - $650 on the E350 model.”  I blunted out, “another $2000 down, you want $6000 dollars from me now!”   He saw my anger and shock and said, “Keep in mind we are going to pay off your old loan, which is considerably high.  We just need you to do your part here and help out”.

     Again I pondered long, looking around for my car, hoping I would see it so that I could leave, because now I was feeling pressured into something I didn’t feel comfortable with. But my car was nowhere in sight.  Originally I didn’t want to put down more than $2000 and here an two hours later I was looking at $6000 down!   I then remembered the much smaller, sportier car I had seen outside their display window for $10,000 less!  I said, “What if we went with that car?” I pointed to it.  Mr. Lau raised up in his seat and said, “What the white C350?”  I said yes, “It’s much cheaper and I like it more than the E350. “Can we go with that car instead to get me the $450-500 payments I want?” 

     Mr. Lau replied, “that car is already spoken for, another buyer is coming in today to purchase it, so it’s not available.” Of course I didn’t believe him and said well I’m just going to have to come back because I can’t afford $850 payments. I stood up to signal to Mr. Lau that I was leaving and he quickly stood up and said, “let me speak with my Manager to see if we can offer you the C350.  He told me to sit back down and wait for his return.  While he was gone I got up and started looking out the window for the maintenance department, trying to locate my old vehicle, I could not see it anywhere. It was as if my car had vanished off Keyes Mercedes Benz grounds! 

     Shortly after, Mr. Lau returned with a smile on his face and said, “Okay, my Manager said we can sale you the car and if you put down another $2000 your monthly payments would be about $680.” Again I was blown away that he was still asking me for another $2000 down.  I asked Mr. Lau why I have to put down another $2000 for a car that’s $10,000 cheaper.”  He stated that I needed to pay the additional $2000 to help them (PAY OFF MY OLD CAR LOAN).   Again, Mr. Lau was referencing that they were going to pay off my old loan, swipe my debt slate clean with my present loan company. 

     Again, I pondered hard, not really wanting this deal because even $680 was still over the $500 maximum payment I had told him I wanted.  Again, Mr. Lau reiterated that this was a good deal and that they were (PAYING OFF YOUR OLD LOAN).   I figured if they were giving me large cash bonuses and cash back incentives, I guess I should do my part to help pay off some of my remaining loan. So after 3 plus hours of serious back and forth haggling, I caved in and agreed to $6000 down with monthly payments of $680 for the 2013 C350 Coupe.   An even bigger grin came across Mr. Lau’s face as he knew he had succeeded in conning me into a deal that was nowhere near what he had previously promised me over the phone to get me to come to his Dealership.   

     He then requested that I wait in their waiting room area until my financial paper work was completed.  I felt horrible about how things had gone down, but thought at least my prior loan would be paid off, keeping my credit intact and I would have a new Mercedes to drive.  So I tried to settle my emotions while waiting on the paperwork to be finalized.  After approximately 90 minutes, I was summoned into their finance office and introduced to their finance officer.  He sat me in a chair before his desk and placed a completed contract before that consisted of several loose documents. He quickly started going through them, explaining briefly what each doc was before instructing me to initial and sign in certain places on them. Though it took the finance officer nearly two hours to prepare my contract, it only took him 15 minutes max to go over it with me and have me sign them before we were done. So what could I have possibly read, seen or understood about my contract in 15 minutes?  Exactly, nothing!  But I assumed everything would be in the contract that Mr. Lau had (VERBALLY PROMISED) right?

     But there was one more final shock waiting for me at the finagling and signing of my contract. Right at the conclusion of the signing, I asked the financial officer for clarity, “what is my monthly payment amount?”  He quickly flipped back through the contract and said, “$770 dollars!”  I said what??? “What happened to the $680 Mr. Lau had told me it would be?”  He replied, the payment amount Mr. Lau quoted you was just a close estimate it did not include monthly taxes. Of course I was again, blown away by Mr. Lau slick deception and cunningness to entrap me in a loan payment close to what he had originally quoted me, the $800 - $850.  I realized at that moments I was only a few bucks shy of giving them the $800 Mr. Lau had quoted me for a much higher priced car. I knew I had been robbed, hoodwinked and whatever else you want to call it, but the one thing I held happiness over was the fact that my prior car loan had been paid in full as Mr. Lau and Keys Mercedes Benz Manager had promised, right?

     Well approximately 7 months after driving my new C350 Coupe, I started having leg and knee pains due to the fact that the C350 Coupe did not allow me to extend the driver’s seat back far enough to stretch out my knees in a relaxed manner. So I had begun to develop pain in both my legs while driving for long distances in the C350.  I realized I would need the much longer E350 model to allow ample room for leg extension during long driving periods. So I concluded that I would return the car to Keyes Mercedes Benz of Van Nuys to swap out for the larger, pricier model. I figured I was already close to the $800 monthly payments Mr. Lau had quoted me for the E350 so I might as well ride in comfort and pay the few extra dollars I thought.  And since I had only put 4,660 miles on the C350, I didn’t think it would be a problem, the car was still practically new! Either way, Mercedes Benz would still have my business and I would have a more comfortable car to drive.  A win, win for all I thought.

     I dug up my contract to see what the penalty would be for breaking your lease earlier, since I would have to do so to get into another lease with Keyes Mercedes Benz of Van Nuys CA.  I had leased cars before and knew there was a penalty fee associated with early lease termination.  These fees are normally $1200 – $2000.  Well you can imagine how shocked I was to discover that mine with Keyes Mercedes Benz of Van Nuys CA was a whopping $9,000! Yep, that’s right $9000!!!  I continued reading to determine where this huge $9,000 fee came from!  And there it was, Mr. Patrick Lau and Keyes Mercedes Benz of Van Nuys CA had only paid me $4200 for my trade-in that at the time was listed in Kelly Blue Book to be worth $7565. They simply subtracted the $4200 they gave me for my trade-in from the total $12,600 debt I still owed on my prior car loan. Then they placed the remaining $9000 debt on the back end of my new lease loan! 

     I was totally shocked to learn that Mr. Lau had totally lied to me when he promised that Keyes Mercedes Benz of Van Nuys CA would pay off my old loan. In fact, I discovered that Keyes Mercedes of Van Nuys CA had not given me any Cash Back Incentives or Bonuses either as Mr. Patrick Lau had verbally promised they would!  They had simply taken my $6000 down payment and pocketed it, because none of it had gone toward paying off my old car loan.  The whole contract with Keyes Mercedes Benz of Van Nuys CA and Mr. Patrick Lau had been a (FRAUD AND SHAKE DOWN)!  A complete crime in itself!  When I contacted Keys Mercedes of Van Nuys about what they had done to me, I got the run around with everyone there and was passed from person to person getting nowhere! Every time I asked to speak to Mr. Patrick Lau the salesman who had sold me the car they told me that he was no longer working there. How convenient right?

     After a month of getting nowhere with phone calls to Keyes Mercedes Benz of Van Nuys managers, I phoned MERCEDES BENZ OF USA or MBUSA headquarters to inform them of what had been done to me. I was instructed to go to their Website to fill out a complaint and that someone would contact me within 72 hours after reviewing my complaint. I did as requested and someone did contact me within the 72 hours. The gentleman I spoke with assured me that they would look further into my complaint to make things right, and told me that what had happened to me is not the way MBUSA conducts business. I then expressed to him that I was not trying to get out of my contract, that I still wanted to purchase an even pricier auto to keep my business with Mercedes Benz, but that I could not do so in the dishonest manner I had been dealt with. He assured me that things would be worked out fairly to keep my business.

     After two months of haggling back and forth with MBUSA and KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS mangers, I realized that I was dealing with a TWO HEADED SNAKE attached to the same body. In other words, both MBUSA and KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS CA were one of the same and neither was willing to make a mends for what had been done to me.  I informed them that if nothing was done to rectify the misdeed done to me that I would have no choice but to return the car to their facility. One of KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS CA managers phoned me a day later after receiving my threat to return the car. He stated, “that I had excellent credit and that I shouldn’t back out the lease agreement and mess it up just because I didn’t agree with the terms of my contract.”  He tried harder at convincing me to stay in my prior dishonest contract then trying to work out a fair deal that would benefit us both.

     All I asked was that KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS CA honors the verbal agreement their salesperson MR. PATRICK LAU had made to me. I then asked him what had happen to the $6000 I had put down for my purchase. I was not surprised that he couldn’t give me any real concrete specifics as to where my huge deposit had gone.  But I knew where it had gone, into Mr. Patrick Lau’s and this manager’s pockets because none of it went toward paying off my prior auto loan as Mr. Lau stated it would!  But as I mentioned, they refused to work with in any way to make a mends to keep my business and thus I had no choice but to return the car to their facility even though I knew it would ruin my good credit and name.  Understand that I did not break my lease and ruin my credit to spite MBUSA and KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS CA. I did it base on the principle that I cannot do good faith business with people who do not operate in good faith and honesty.

     Now, nearly a year later, MBUSA and KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS CA has sold (their) $9,000 debt to a Debt Collector Attorney, listed as THE LAW OFFICES OF NELSON & KENNARD - ROBERT SCOTT KENNARD who are trying to extort me not for $9000, but for a whopping $13,800 on behalf of a company called DAIMLER TRUST. This is a company I have never heard of nor knew I was doing business with!

     I know this posting is long, but I wanted to give all potential victims an inside view of how KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS CA AND ALL OF KEYES OF VAN NUYS dealerships operates!  My situation with KEYES MERCEDES BENZ DEALERSHIP is not an isolated incident. As you will no doubt see other similar postings of people who where dealt with dishonestly by other KEYES Dealerships!  BE WARNED; avoid all KEYES DEALERSHIPS!  And if you do decided to risk the gamble, be sure to get all (VERBAL PROMISES) from their salespersons in (WRITING)! And be sure to read all your documents entirely before signing any of them!  Question anything that is not fair or as promised to you and if they refuse to honor it, walk out of their facility as quickly as humanly possible! BECASUSE THESE PEOPLES ARE CROOKS and SNAKES!  From their dealerships, financial services, complaint department, maintenance and repair departments all the way up to their Corporate Owners!  THEY ARE ALL CORRUPTED and operate on crooked, dishonest principles!  CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED; AVOID KEYES MERCEDES BENZ OF VAN NUYS CA, all KEYES DEALERSHIPS and all MERCEDES BENZ Facilities and Online Stores!!!!