Andrew C.
Yelp
15 MONTHS & NOTHING DONE
I arrived at Mercedes Benz of Buckhead for a service appointment during the week of 5 July 2021, requesting they take a look into the cause of suspension instability and corresponding error message. Between then and today, 29 September 2022, here's what the Mercedes Benz of Buckhead service department have managed to accomplish:
- Ignore my calls, texts, and emails requesting an update - it would often take weeks before hearing back from my Service Advisor (SA), who was the first of three that I've since been assigned due to attrition, though the only updates were excuses as to why they hadn't been able to get to my car yet
- Let me pick up the car after six weeks so I could have the emissions tested before the tag expired - at that time, it was obvious that the car had not been touched - I had the emissions tested and brought the car back a few minutes later, and back into the abyss it went
- Call me once every 3-4 months asking if they could replace the loaner car (I had four of them over the course of the last 15 months), without being able to provide me with any updates on the status of my car
- After not contacting me for months, they sent me a $7,466 invoice for the work they had completed...without first sending me a quote or asking me to approve any repairs (at this point I called my attorney, who advised that I was under no obligation to pay for unauthorized work, but I should try to work with them as the cost and hassle to pursue legally wouldn't be worth it, so I called the service manager, Brian Washington, to review the invoice)
- MBOB were so kind as to adjust the invoice by removing parts where they had mistakenly doubled the qty's needed, and removed all but the suspension work for which I had brought the car in - new balance due was $3,034.81
- Service Advisor (SA) #2 called to inform me that all repairs were complete, the car had been test driven and was functioning as designed, and we scheduled an appointment for me to pick it up on 7 June 2022
- At that appointment, the SA and Brian Washington looked me straight in the eye and assured me the car was good to go, thanked me for working with them on the premature invoice, and took my payment for $3,034.81
- After checking with his team on 8-9 June 2022, Mr. Washington was unable to find any evidence that any service work had actually been completed, after I informed him that the car was still showing the same suspension error message and exhibiting the exact same driving behavior
- Mr. Washington requested I bring the car back in for them to take another look, which I did on 10 June 2022 - at that appointment, he test drove the car with me in it and admitted that it was in fact not fixed, and was exhibiting the same symptoms as described when I originally brought it in - he then assured me that they would re-diagnose the issue and that someone would be in touch soon to review what they find (they still have my $3k payment)
- Just over two months later, Mr. Washington calls to inform me that they are unsure what the exact problem is and suggests that I take the car to a body shop (consequently, a customer has 60 days to dispute a credit card charge - thankfully I had already been in touch with AMEX since the day after the charge was made, and they were more than happy to dispute the charge when I hadn't heard anything back in over six weeks - my account was credited within a few days) - it was only after AMEX contacted MBOB regarding the dispute that Mr. Washington contacted me and requested that I call him directly to let him know when I can come in to again pick up my car, which I did, leaving him a voicemail stating that any time for the remainder of the week was fine with me and to let me know what time to be there...spoiler alert: he never called back
- 28 September 2022, SA #3 called to inform me that the car was ready to be picked up, and asked if I could come in before 3pm the following day, to which I replied I'll be there before 1pm
- 29 September 2022 (today), it takes four different service department staff members 45 minutes to locate my car, which they bring up to the service bay unwashed, with an empty gas tank (only 2 mile range remaining), and with close to 200 miles having been put on the car since I dropped it off last year
Without question, this is the most incompetent, dishonest, and poorly run organization, from the bottom to the top, I've ever encountered in a professional sense. No ownership. No communication. No integrity. No consideration. And no chance I'll ever do business with this dealership again.
In the strongest sense possible, I would urge anyone needing Mercedes service to look elsewhere.