[S350L-E240]

When you walk into a Mercedes-Benz dealership you expect someone to greet you well? hospitality? Nice communication? Good staff? Nice and well done showroom now that BMW and AUDI have truly set benchmarks for car showrooms in India, Umm.. Well for a brand new dealership that Mercedes-Benz setup in Ahmedabad after terminating another guy it's a case of going from one bad block to worst.

A little background I am from a family who think of cars and Mercedes-Benz is all that comes up, while there is great respect for BMW and AUDI and every other good car maker our preference for luxury is only associated with Mercedes-Benz ofcourse as a daily driver, but after owning 2 E classes and a S class which gave me nightmares so bad I think years ago I quit this board while I left the brand considering they were going through a horrible patch of unreliable cars. And then they had a dealer whose owner himself was a great guy but for some reason I have no idea about but they could never fix the cars and nor could the people that would fly down from Pune.

But then in recent times with the new S class and other models the cars are getting better and more in line with the competition and at certain areas above the competition and then recently having a short drive in the new E, we thought it was time to get back and well I make a call to the new dealer hoping Mercedes India must have appointed someone real nice after shutting down the older guy, but thoughts is where it remains, A lady answers my call and her skills at communication were average at the best and I ask about the new E and when will they have the specs and by when could I order? She requests a meeting and will tell me all about it's specs and I could already book a car. The meeting was initially to take place at my office but then I thought i'll take a look at the new showroom so I went to meet her and first disappointment is the location, it's on a lonely spot where only crows exist and any visibility for the brand is close to zero as of now unless the target audience is truck drivers and construction workers as they are the only ones who really pass by that area as of now and it should take another few years before that side of the city even picks up. Anyways next up the building itself is a disaster, it was originally meant for Kobelco (excuse my spelling) construction equipment and is finished in a nasty color of aluminium which I wonder if the architect committed for designing. Anyways I walk in and I realize how bad the showroom is with just some nice furniture towards the back which still add's absolutely no charm to this brand.

Still ignoring all this finally I meet the person who I'm suppose to meet who absolutely has no idea of the car and shows me an international brochure and I'm like well can I know what the Indian spec car will have? And she says sir all of this and after a little irritation I asked her if I could speak to her manager who was just sitting in his corner office and without naming him is one of the most incompetent person in this industry (he was in the honda showroom earlier, Infact this dealership belongs to the honda dealer). I suppose he was least bothered and she comes back and irritates me with some more answers which I wasn't asking for and being an impatient guy that I am, I just walked out!

And suddenly while going back home I was left wondering what was Mercedes-Benz India thinking? I mean I maybe complaining a lot but shouldn't a brand like this have better quality checks not just on the product but also the dealers, esp if you fire someone and then appoint new dealers shouldn't you do it by really raising the bar? I mean think of it, not that I needed it but that lady didn't bother ask me to sit, or drink water, nor was the manager concerned about a customer on the floor? Is this attitude because they know ultimately the car will sell due to the brand name? Or is customer satisfaction really taking a back step for Mercedes India? And I dread to think if before sales is so bad, what happens after sales? I called Mercedes-Benz India yesterday on this matter and I get a simple nice reply which they always have had,"Sir, We will take a look in this matter".

Well some other time perhaps...!

[aadix]

back with a bang i see, welcome back s350

[V-16]

Thats not what you would expect from a premium car company. Sad but true to an extent.

Visited the Tata Jaguar/Landrover showroom at Worli the other day and even though i announced that i was only there to have a look at the 5 litre supercharged XF, there were a couple of people right behind me answering every question eagerly and patiently. That would be training.

Right Opposite is the Navnit Motors RR showroom from where i was spotted (its easy to get recognized with a turban from a sea of people) and requested by the director to have a cup of tea with him (hes a good friend and i believe i have been a good customer). I was surprised when i hopped opposite the road and he remarked in jest ,"Even we sell Rangers and Landys, what made you go there?".

Thats what customer service is all about. I find that feel missing even in the Bombay Merc showroom. They feel they are doing you a favour if they attend to you, especially if they feel you are not a potential buyer. I suspect its the air of arrogance.

[fiery enzyme]

Wow! The Chennai dealer ship is run by Sundaram. The experience is really good, I would say worthy of a Mercedes showroom. Infact I would say they are so proud of their Mercedes showroom that they act snobby at their Honda dealership Lol.

P.S: I'm not even close to owning a Merc. Just been along with friends.

[GTO]

The three-pointed star brings a Benz lover back, eh? Great to have you onboard S350!

Originally Posted by S350L-E240

Nice and well done showroom now that BMW and AUDI have truly set benchmarks for car showrooms in India, Umm.. Well for a brand new dealership that Mercedes-Benz setup in Ahmedabad after terminating another guy it's a case of going from one bad block to worst.

Merc was rattled out of their sleep by BMW & Audi's fancy showrooms. Great locations, huge glass area and all that jazz. Compare that to Mercedes India which has traditionally serviced customers from their home / office and never really asked their dealerships to invest in 5 star properties in prime location.

All that has changed. In fact, a mumbai dealership who wasn't willing to adhere to the fresh new requirements has shut down Related thread.

Sad to hear that the new dealership in Ahmedabad is not up to the standard. A lack of hospitality doesn't cut it, especially in the land of Gujarati's, a community that values hospitality very highly.

Most car brands are in a fix over new dealerships. No entrepreneur is willing to invest in dealerships anymore (high investment, cut-throat competition, slim margins and lots of headache). The ones that do don't have the money. Why do you think Skoda still entertains its rogue dealers? The only way out for them is to invest in dealerships themselves.

Mercedes-Benz ofcourse as a daily driver, but after owning 2 E classes and a S class which gave me nightmares so bad

Tell me about it, the quality is simply not there.

Seeing how you love German cars, it's probably a good time to test some BMWs & Audis. Driven the 530d or A4 3.2 FSI lately?

[S350L-E240]

Addix, GTO, Thanks for the welcome, it sure feels good to see old names and some that remember my name! GTO got to give it you for how well this place is still kept it feels like it was yesterday when I last posted on issues related to the E / S!

Coming back on topic, I agree GTO few people would be willing to invest so much in a dealership infact at one point I thought of it too and got into advanced talks with BMW when they were looking for a dealership but I just could not see how will I make money with so much investment considering real estate itself is a huge blow to the investment. But I think once you are in it why dont these dealers or rather the company take care on how to train their staff? or ensure the manager is not just cuddled on his chair in the corner office while knowing his staff is unable to answer a customer? Most of all I think the problem lies in the fact that I mentioned no matter how these guys behave a lot of people just buy these cars for the brand value and are not concerned with how the brand is sold and taken care of. And while it's hard to find new dealers I absolutely have no idea then why changed when the other person is even worst then the previous guy? I also think Mercedes-Benz India needs to get a lot more active not just in terms of advertising but also in terms of how they load their cars and 1up the competition rather then follow them later on. I truly believe with the way the brand is handled in this country it's going to be seriously difficult for them to get to the #1 spot unless they seriously wake up.

And about the quality GTO, I think Mercedes-Benz under Dr.Z is really making a great turnaround. I know the W212 might not appeal in terms of how it looks but just sit in one and I swear with the right loading the car will put to shame some cars above it's category. I hope this continues in long term reliability too but for that if the S class is anything to go by then I think Mercedes-Benz has come long way off from it's downgrading that happened in 1990's.

And about the BMW 530D, Honestly I am thinking of it once the new F10 arrives.

[Yeldo]

Shocked to hear all these abut Mercedes dealerships, but from my limited experience in dealing with three Mercedes dealerships, I am yet to find any major irritant. Rajasree (Kochi), Sundaram (Coimbatore) and Trans (Chennai) have met my expectations by and large. The sales departments at Sundaram and Trans were really good. The Kochi people should put on some more effort. Service experience with all the three has been nothing sort of excellent. I wonder what happened to Mercedes outlets in Ahmedabad and other places!

Or is it my lack of experience with BMW or Audi people that keep my expectation levels rather low?

[S350L-E240]

Just an update to the previous review,

A lot has changed, infact the sales manager who I spoke negative of has been sacked and in his place is one of the oldest and nicest people in Ahmedabad in terms of Luxury cars, his name is Mr.Brijen Joshi and he also has a nicer team with him in terms of Mr. Pankaj and Mr.Dipen all of them can give you a five star car buying experience.

Sadly, the owners and service is still an issue reason being their Honda attitude, and ofcourse the way they rip on their brand new cars on the highway is absolutely not called for considering these cars need to run in well. But still getting Mr.Brijen is a step in the right direction and Mr.Pankaj etc. all are making a good team.

Positives:

+ Sales Manager and staff.
+ Finance manager.
+ Managed by very financially strong group.

Negatives:

- Some of their senior staff live in a dream world where they refuse to believe F10 beats W212 in sales.
- Service and handling of cars.
- Backed by a company which is going through a lot of confused moments and do not really help you for any query, a G-Class query was un answered for weeks which made them lose a sale to rival brand.

Regards,

[Nitrous Power]

We just bought Merc C class from the said dealer and our experience was very good. We live 75 kms from Ahemdabad and they sent the Test drive car all the way to our door step. The test drive was also long enough (matter of fact, we test drove it from Anand to Baroda on NE - 1 and back which is around 60 kms round trip in addition to city test drive). No fuss about long test drive or distance that they had to come to our place. The car was also delivered a week before the promised date. The only negative point is, they were not ready to accept that Beemer's HPS is much more responsive than Merc's EPS stating Merc's EPS is lighter and thus better than Beemer.

But, overall very positive experience.

[kkkkkaran]

I just read up a case on cardekho, where a c class purchased from benchmark in march this year, run 16k kms, has already had brake shoe wear out and premature tire bursts on even surfaces. Benchmark claims rough usage of the car and is not giving any replacement under warranty. If this is true, im highly dissappointed at the standards of benchmark cars! Name of the owner is Kishor Rathod