[RockIt]

Been wanting to test drive a Mercedes C350 coupe for a while now as there are some very good personal contract hire deals on them at the moment. Initially went to a localish dealership as I happened to be passing and my first impression of Mercedes was very favourable. Helpful sales guy, not pushy, even offered to bring a car to my house to see if a keyboard would fit in the boot easily. He acknowledged that the 350 was not a common sight and rang me a couple of days after to tell me that he couldn't locate one in their group, but would arrange for Mercedes UK to send one up for me to test. That was the last I heard.

As I was tied up with other business for a while I didn't follow this up, but decided to call into my local Merc dealer the other week. The sales executive I spoke with was unbelievably hopeless and showed zero interest in actually helping a prospective customer. He told me he'd never seen a 350 and after some prompting to check the group stock basically told me he couldn't help. I asked him if he wanted to sell a car and left.

Figuring I had nothing to lose I emailed Mercedes UK and asked them if this was how they expected their potential customers to be treated. A week later I received a response, telling me they'd escalated things to senior customer service level, due to lack of communication from the dealerships that I had named! Within minutes I then got two emails from the Dealer Principals at these dealerships, promising to arrange a test drive for me! I chose to use just one initially and include the emails below, with the sales executive's name and personal details removed. The rest of the text is as I received them!

Sorry its late getting back to you today Mr S**** I will try to get a test drive asap for you but in your email you have put C350 cdi Saloon

But ****** has put E350 coupe could you let me know which vehicle it is thank you

Kind Regards

(I didn't mention saloon OR diesel when I emailed the Dealer Principal!


Thanks for getting in touch. The car I wish to test drive is a C350 coupe! I understand that they are a rarity but anything you can do to accomodate is appreciated.

Regards

Hi S**** have checked all over our group we don’t have a c350 coupe at all iam very sorry to say

(WTF??? Not even a Mr! )


Thanks for getting back to me.

Is there any possibility of getting a car from Mercedes UK? This is something that was suggested as a possibility at another Mercedes dealership. It seems ridiculous that Mercedes manufacture a V6 petrol but it isn't available to test drive! If not then I will have to reconsider as I can't imagine committing to a vehicle that I can't actually drive beforehand.

Thank you


Hi Mr S**** sorry I have not heard of this before



And that's it! No genuine attempt to help and not even the courtesy of addressing me as Mr in one email! I wonder if Mercedes UK know how their franchises operate? I am genuinely astonished at the total lack of interest and customer service. What's particulary irritating is that I like the coupe and they are coming in at the right money, but this has seriously put me off Mercedes at the minute.

[The_Bear_Yid]

What you're seeing is what car salesmen are like when you're of no interest to them.

They can't get the car you want, they won't make a sale, they don't give a shit about you.

[RagingKileak]

As discussed mate I had a similar experience in Leeds and promptly took my £27000 to Barons BMW Farnbrough instead.

That was my 335d, which without I'd never have joined this forum, so perhaps it was meant to be?

To go back on topic though, that is shocking. I would forward that communication on to Merc UK as I can see them hitting the roof if they have any sense.

Matt

[zltm089]

Facking hell.....

Gav, ur being nice again .....


fuckin name and shame those fcukers!...i wud have put their bloody names in thread aswell...

and which dealerships?...


are you "mates" with the guy that messaged you?...sounds like he knows you well and all your family by his txts/ emails....

[zltm089]

reminds me of stephen james bmw dealership in london.....called up to find out if they would discount a nice 335i that i saw on their website....the rude salesman, said "what?!!!...u want a 335i for less than £21k? ....good luck with that mate...."

i can now tell him (again)......fcuk you very much... i got my 335i for less than £21k ....good luck with selling cars you tw*t...

Sorry Off topic....but had to vent that anger....its been 3/4 yrs now...i still remember that phone call.... :-)

[The_Bear_Yid]

Originally Posted by zltm089

reminds me of stephen james bmw dealership in london.....called up to find out if they would discount a nice 335i that i saw on their website....the rude salesman, said "what?!!!...u want a 335i for less than £21k? ....good luck with that mate...."

i can now tell him (again)......fcuk you very much... i got my 335i for less than £21k ....good luck with selling cars you tw*t...

Sorry Off topic....but had to vent that anger....its been 3/4 yrs now...i still remember that phone call.... :-)

Which one was that, Enfield?

I think most dealers are unlikely to offer discounts over the phone straight away tbh.

[The_Bear_Yid]

Also, whilst we're talking about dealer contact, after I test drove an Alfa 159 a while ago, I was sent a few texts by a dealer and one ended "let me know pls".

I didn't buy the car lol.

[DavS1]

Off topic, but..after seeing numerous (newish) Merc's in a bodyshop local to me in to get 'rust' issues sorted, I wouldn't touch one with your's!

[zltm089]

Originally Posted by The_Bear_Yid

Which one was that, Enfield?

I think most dealers are unlikely to offer discounts over the phone straight away tbh.

no it was the one in south east london...bromley or somehere close ...can't really remember...

[The_Bear_Yid]

Originally Posted by zltm089

no it was the one in south east london...bromley or somehere close ...can't really remember...

Blackheath then.

[zltm089]

yes!...Blackheath! lol....

[Dr Dave]

Very badly written emails, almost child-like!!

[1sh@Crystalwhite]

That's one thing I've noticed with car salesmen... They have this false sense of entitlement.
And any instance of being "one-up", they'll do it, as if they laboured and made the car for you...
Companies could save money and sack half of them... I'd rather do my bidding online!

[mowflow]

Those emails remind me of the automated responses you get from conversation bots in that the last reply doesn't seem to follow the conversation at all.

Your experience isn't unique. I was looking to PCP a car recently and went round nearly every manufacturer and nearly all of them were like that. Most of them acted like I'd just asked to take their wife up the tradesman entrance when I asked for a test drive. Led me to the conclusion that a shocking number of people buy cars without driving them first.

[rogerxp]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

Very badly written emails, almost child-like!!

Sounds like our friend at Big Motoring World

[225_AB]

Sometimes it works in your favour. having had an a4 and a TT i went to Amersham Audi to test drive an A5. Salesman said he would get the model I was interested in to the dealership from another of their dealerships and that he would phone me. He never did, I popped into Sytner High Wycombe where the used car dept looked after me very well and I walked out a few days later with a 330D. Now I have a 640D so that salesman not calling me back opened my eyes to BMW!

[RockIt]

Originally Posted by mowflow

Those emails remind me of the automated responses you get from conversation bots in that the last reply doesn't seem to follow the conversation at all.

Your experience isn't unique. I was looking to PCP a car recently and went round nearly every manufacturer and nearly all of them were like that. Most of them acted like I'd just asked to take their wife up the tradesman entrance when I asked for a test drive. Led me to the conclusion that a shocking number of people buy cars without driving them first.

Exactly how I was treated. It's shocking that such an expensive purchase is treated so casually. As for the standard of email response... quite tempted to forward them to his Dealer Principal and Merc UK as Matt suggested. I'd be seriously annoyed if a member of our staff communicated in such a careless and ignorant way and they'd be told so in a pretty vigorous manner!

[mgarvey]

Whilst it in no way excuses crappy dealer service, I've also been researching the C-class, also because of the leasing rates, and there is a bit of a back-story behind the c350 and dealer attitudes towards it.

The petrol C350 is a rare beast, and apparently few have been sold and dealers don't have them in stock. As a result, MBUK have discontinued them in MY13 production...

...well actually they still sell the C350 coupe, and you can get a C350CDI saloon or estate, but not coupe (and you can't get a C350CDI coupe). Communication with dealers seems to have been poor, and they don't seem very well informed, so there is a misconception that all C350's have been discontinued.

As an aside, leasing rates on MB's are really good right now. You can get a C-class for about £300 per month, and even top-spec C350 CDI models can be had for around £400.

I went to my local dealer and the best they could come up with was £390 a month for a C180 Exec SE with a massive deposit. They called back afterwards and asked if I was interested, and I told them what I could get from leasing companies for the same money. They said they'd look into it and call me back, but they haven't.

In fairness, they were good with the test drive. I wasn't sure what model I wanted so they offered to take me out in three of them back-to-back. Unfortunately I was between work meetings and didn't have time, but it was a nice offer.

Apparently now is a good time to buy, sales for the quarter (in general) have been slow so some decent discounts may be possible at month end.

[quattrogmbh]

My experience with Mercedes...
Never, Ever Buy One. They depreciate like a stock market crash.

And the reason..... The cheap leasing deals :-)

Nobody wants a used Merc.

[RockIt]

I would never consider buying the C350 petrol. But contract hire was a good option and wouldn't affect me financially in the future.

[mowflow]

Originally Posted by quattrogmbh

My experience with Mercedes...
Never, Ever Buy One. They depreciate like a stock market crash.

And the reason..... The cheap leasing deals :-)

Nobody wants a used Merc.

You could say that about any car these days. Some drop massively in value while the others are unsellable after a number of years.

Originally Posted by RockIt

Exactly how I was treated. It's shocking that such an expensive purchase is treated so casually. As for the standard of email response... quite tempted to forward them to his Dealer Principal and Merc UK as Matt suggested. I'd be seriously annoyed if a member of our staff communicated in such a careless and ignorant way and they'd be told so in a pretty vigorous manner!

Go directly to the source. I caused 3 dealerships some major problems by contacting the manufacturers directly to point out how poorly their brand was being represented by unmotivated, unhelpful and unprofessional sales people. The dealer principals of said dealerships did everything they could to resolve the issues. However, the poor initial service was enough to make me feel that dealing with any of them would be a huge mistake incase I had warranty issues in the future. I did however, go and test drive their cars just for the hell of it.

I went round nearly ever manufacturer from Alfa to VW. I found Honda to be the best. Visited 2 dealerships and both were extremely helpful, knowledgable (about cars in general), offered and arranged test drives on the spot, followed up with calls and always done their best to better any deal out their. The so called prestige brands could learn a thing or two from them.

[scooba0010]

I would say every modern run of the mill car will lose money

I just sold my Mercedes C Class estate 250 diesel 59 plate with 12,000miles

It listed at £34490 I paid £30500 sold it after 33 months for £17000. it lost around 400 per month