Mercedes-Benz Fort Lauderdale & David Hodges Dont trust, Rip off on rims and poor dealership service. Fort Lauderdale Florida

….At this point I had written to Mercedes Corporate and AutoNation, with both responding appropriately. I was assigned a customer service rep. from corporate that documented everything and I also submitted the correspondence between myself and the sales associate that was trying to rip me off proving the facts of the deal. I was contacted by the GM who reluctantly agreed to resolve the situation by giving me the rims that I was promised to restore my faith in Mercedes Benz of Fort Lauderdale. All was as good as can be until that point. I was told to take my car to Mercedes Benz of Fort Lauderdale to get the rims. Since it was right before the holidays and I was going out of town, I asked to make an appointment for after I returned and for whenever it was convenient for them. I was dealing with the manager and he said January 5th at 10AM would be perfect, which gave them over a week to make any preparations.

I drove from Delray arriving at 9.35AM. The manager was not there, and no one knew what I was there for. Eventually they contacted the manager and figured out that my request and “appointment” were legitimate. I was shown an example of what kind of rim was supposed to be put on my car, which did not match the ones that I was sent, and certainly not the ones that I had originally been promised. I asked how long it would take for the manager to finish the meeting that he was at and for the wheels to be exchanged. I was told 1-2 hours at the most. Obviously I want to see the exact wheels that are going on my car prior especially since there seemed to be so many options of cars to pull them from and the person helping us was saying random things. The manager was supposed to return at 10.30AM so I stuck around until then. He was not back, so I took a loaner car out awaiting a call or message.

I received nothing. I returned to Mercedes at 12.30 to see my car still sitting around (as expected since we did not agree on wheels yet or I had heard from anyone). I was told that well, I was given a loaner so that I can run errands. My question is, why ask the manager to make an appointment that is convenient for them, so that when I show up nothing I prepared and no one knows what I’m talking about? (if things were prepared then he would not even have to be there and it would be irrelevant if he is called into a meeting. Or he could simply get someone else up to speed on the situation that could handle things in his place. I’m told that it would take a max of 2 hours, the car is there for 3 and the work has not even started and everything is still pending?

I kill a good part of the day in an area that is almost an hour from were I live to be told that after wasting the time that no one knows what is going on yet so I can drive home and come back the next day? I still don’t know what wheels I’m getting and honestly I am extremely uncomfortable leaving my car with the dealership for that long considering that they were originally trying to rip me off. Seeing the car sales person that tried to rip me off did not help the situation either. I am not sure why if I make an appointment (based on the dealerships/managers convenience a week ahead of time) I can not show up, look at the wheels and agree on them, sit in the waiting lounge for 1-3 hours (whatever it takes, though swapping wheels should not take more than 2 hours) and leave with what I was promised.

Up to now this has been nothing but issues. The issues with the first payment the dealership was supposed to make, the notary issue, the wheels they were trying to rip me off on, the customer service follow up (for the dealership experience) that I never received a reply to, now another day wasted simply on trying to get things straightened out. I still have not received any sort of resolution or as much as a courtesy update contact. So this attempt of a resolution or “restoring my faith in Mercedes Benz Fort Lauderdale (according to the GM)” has now added another layer of issues. Considering what has transpired I was hoping for an exceptional experience if that is their goal as I was told. Instead this is more time wasted and more unprofessionalism and making me even more uncomfortable with what is being done. I had my friend and car concierge with me that deals in nothing but high-end cars, witnessing everything, and his thoughts are that he has never experienced (a dog and pony show like this) and that he would certainly not take a client to Mercedes Benz of Fort Lauderdale, if Mercedes at all and not rather Bentley or a superior brand.

Looking forward to wasting more time in attempting to resolve this matter. At this point I am most certainly not comfortable leaving the dealership with my car. I have wasted so much time by now, the general attitude is as if they are doing me a favor. I am not sure what kind of an establishment is being run there, but it is anything but what the Mercedes Benz brand stands for as far as I know. I asked to get my keys back and left with my car having accomplished nothing but a wasted day and additional frustration. This is like a twilight zone! Today was supposed to restore my faith in Mercedes-Benz of Fort Lauderdale?