August 2013: After 10 years of driving my MB E320, I figured it was time to trade in for a new model with all the upgraded technology, performance, and safety advances. I could have chosen to visit several dealerships, but I chose MB of Delray. My salesperson, Mr. Joseph Taylor, spent a significant amount of time with me, on two occasions, answering my questions, accompanying me on test drives, and negotiating the final price. I can honestly say that he and the team were the most transparent as any I have ever had, and we consummated the deal a few weeks ago. The only negative part of the whole experience was the 15 minutes I spent with the "no personality" cashier writing the final check, out in the open showroom. She showed no interest in the transaction at all! Update no. 1: When I purchased the car, I wanted to add a MB sunshield. I, in fact, asked for it a half dozen times during the negotiations, verbally, and via e-mail. I wanted to make sure that upon delivery of the car I had the sunshield, especially since it was August! I was completely ignored! No one even addressed the sunshield - it seems all they were interested in in collecting their check and selling me thousands of dollars of extra "options," like an extra "Dent Policy." Finally, after months of asking, I confronted the salesperson about it - his answer: "Oh, just go over to the Parts Department and you can buy one if you like!" Seriously!!!! Update no. 2: 8 months after the purchase, the following April, I found a nasty dent in my front bumper one day at a local parking lot. I called MBDelray to schedule a repair and make sure the "Dent Policy" the dealership sold me for $400 at the time of purchase covered the repair. What a shock when I found out that the policy is practically worthless - it only covers dents to metal parts where no paint has chipped! This repair, I was told, would be out of my pocket - cost $1000 to repair a small 1/2 inch dent!!!!! At the time of purchase, I was also told that whenever I brought the car into Service - as long as I made an appoitnment - I could request a loaner car. Another misrepresentation it seems!!!! It turns out you only can get a loaner for scheduled maintenance, not body work!!!!! You can imagine how disappointed I was to go through this experience. I couldn't see spending $1000 to repair a 1/2 inch scrape on the bumper, so I opted for a "free" touch up paint job. The scrape ended up covered with new paint, but the rough-edged hole was still plainly visible. Seriously? Update no. 3: The above after-purchase experiences, combined with the anecdotal information from a close friend of mine who is a local celebrity, who wanted to buy a car there and then walked away after being treated rudely at this dealership, has convinced me that this is not necessarily a customer-friendly dealership - at least for me - and that they may engage in predatory sales tactics that diminish the ownership experience. I still remember the four-hour ordeal when I came to pick up the car - a team of three "Finance" people kept hammering away at extra options they insisted I should buy, in addition to the Pre-Paid Maintenance and MBrace packages that I had intended to purchase.
Morton Levitt
Apr 23, 2014
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