Mercedes-Benz of Ft. Lauderdale

Nice Salesman, Bad Dealership Our salesman, Anthony Montaldo, gets 5 stars. Mercedes-Benz of Fort Lauderdale gets 1 star for the following reasons: 1) We were buying from out of Our salesman, Anthony Montaldo, gets 5 stars. Mercedes-Benz of Fort Lauderdale gets 1 star for the following reasons: 1) We were buying from out of state. We called M.B. of Fort Lauderdale and spoke with a female salesperson. We set up an appointment day and time with her to test drive the car (Lexus RX400h). My wife and I flew in, and drove to the dealership. The salesperson had the day off and was not there. No one else knew we were coming. The car was filthy, not ready to test drive. No big deal. Anthony jumped in and helped. (But -1 for the dealership.) 2) We were told again and again the car had passed a multi-point inspection (131-point?). I asked at least 3 times to see the inspection paperwork. I was told multiple times they would get it right away. Never got it. Again, not a huge deal (but -2 for the dealership). 3) We are from Wisconsin so I asked if winterizing the car could be thrown in for no charge since we were paying full price. (The dealership has a 'no negotiate' policy on their prices.) The salesman told me he would check with the maintenance department and get right back to me. It was never mentioned again. (-3) 4) The finance rate. We dealt with the first salesperson by phone and email in the week before we came. We told her we wanted a longer loan term and (of course) a low interest rate. She told us that she "talked to the finance department" and they would give us 1.9% financing for 60 months because of our good credit (despite the car being 10 years old.) NOTE: We could have gotten 4-5% from other sources, but went with the 1.9. So we didn't line up the other financing. Big mistake. We got there and decided to buy the car. The man from finance said the rate would be about 8%. What? We told him the other salesperson told us 1.9%. He said no one gets that low of a rate and he didn't know what she was talking about. He said he could get us a 72 month term but at 8%. We liked the car so we said 'ok'. When signing the final paperwork with him he said the rate was higher because of the longer term on a 10-year old car. If the term was less than 6 years the rate could be lower. We liked the longer term so we took the 8% bitter pill. Then he said if we paid $800 we could get the rate lowered to 6%. So we did. So in the end we paid $800 to get an interest rate higher than we could have gotten from our own bank. Thanks a lot Mercedes-Benz of Fort Lauderdale. 6 weeks after we got home my wife called the finance company, they told her the term of the loan is for 4 YEARS (not the 6 years we paid extra for.) Thanks Mercedes-Benz of Fort Lauderdale! (-4). 5) The final price. The second salesman assured us that our 'final price out the door' would be a) The price of the car; b) Florida sales tax; c) Dealership fee; and d) Whatever Florida charges to title and license it 'with nothing added on by the dealer'. Signing the final paperwork we paid a, b, c, the extra $800 (yay) and then the title and license fee. One charge was $98.75 for "Tag Agency Fee/Elec Filing". Seems reasonable. But we were also charged $500 for "Reg/Tag/Title Fees. That seems like a very high and very round number to be just Florida fees passed on to us with nothing extra added on. I looked all over the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles website and Wisconsin's and did not see any combination of fees that came anywhere near to $500. AND: We told them multiple times we already had WI plates. They assured us they were not requesting new WI plates. They did. Wisconsin mailed us new plates. We called to ask why. They said 'that dealership messed up the paperwork. They owe you $75'. (-5) I emailed once, 4 days, no answer. I emailed twice, 1 week, no answer. I texted the salesman. He responded 'Call the General Manager'. Thanks! My wife emailed the finance dept asking for a refund of the $75, 10 days and running and no answer. Worst case scen: Misled for high fees. Best case scen: Widespread incompetence. Either way cannot recommend dealership. More

Bait and switch ir utter incompetence After a web inquiry an "internet sales manager", Jeffrey Jerome contacted me, i confirmed more than once if they really had the car on the lot as i ha After a web inquiry an "internet sales manager", Jeffrey Jerome contacted me, i confirmed more than once if they really had the car on the lot as i had wasted a lot of time before. He assured me they did and introduced me to a salesperson Amanda "Nikki" Chinners who took over from there. I quickly agreed to their price and informed up front i was going to pay cash and would be happy to wait for the check to clear before picking up the car (i.e. Zero risk to them) They then started to demand a credit application requesting three months of bank statements, my address, social security number, bank account numbers, how much i was paying in mortgage and etc. i pointed out again this is sensitive information and i was not applying for credit but they insisted it was to show I wasn't going to "export" the car. Sounded like it wasn't the true reason but ok, i sent them everything. They asked to see another bank account. Although annoyed by the unreasonable request, i did send it to them. All of this took some time from my very busy day. In the end Nikki congratulated me saying the sale had been approved. I spent more time quoting an insurance policy and gave my wife the news. I asked Nikki what the next step was and that i would be awaiting her instructions... ...and got no reply! An hour or so later some other guy, Martin Ross, who also calls himself the "internet sales manager" tells me that in fact the car was NOT available! Mr Jerome was of course not interested in explaining anything. I'd question if this was just utter incompetence or a con (they found out the car is gone minutes after getting all my personal info?) but unfortunately my best guess is it was either a classic bait and switch or plain old discrimination. I'd add that it seems Nikki wasn't personally at fault in this mess. I will write to the factory to lodge a formal complaint but my advice is unless you are willing to overpay for credit or a lease don't go to these guys. More

Had a great experience . Had a great experience having my car serviced and a loaner provided. Peter Montaldo was my service coordinator, he was ready when I arrived and the lo Had a great experience having my car serviced and a loaner provided. Peter Montaldo was my service coordinator, he was ready when I arrived and the loaner car was easy and he had my car waiting for me when it was completed. In and out in less then 10 minutes. Awesome!! More

Totally dishonest practices Purchased a car they had listed on the internet. All pictures of the rear of the car were in the shade, turns out that the car was two different color Purchased a car they had listed on the internet. All pictures of the rear of the car were in the shade, turns out that the car was two different colors and when I picked the car up, not expecting the car to have two different colors, I didn't notice until I got home. The car was presented to me always with the rear of the car in the shade and you couldn't see the color difference until it was in the light. I live in Orlando, a 3 hour drive and it was dark when I got home. Called the next day and they totally denied knowing about it. I talked to the person who traded it in and was told that they beat her up on the price of the trade over it. Now they won't do anything about it and expect me to pay for the tailgate to be sprayed the same color. They absolutely LIED to my face in telling me they didn't know. I think a lawsuit is in order here and being my brother is my attorney, this will cost me nothing and MB of FL a lot of grief, all because they didn't want to do it right!!! Very deceitful and dishonest practice, I should have read these reviews first. They sold my loan to the bank for more money than I signed on the contact and they are going to have to pay the difference not me. I would never buy a vehicle from this dishonest store again. 4th Benz, love the brand but the store is managed terribly. Buyer beware!!! More

a mistake that risked my life 3 weeks ago i had my car serviced here for the first time , they checked the tires and recommended an alignment to be done but the tires are ok and it 3 weeks ago i had my car serviced here for the first time , they checked the tires and recommended an alignment to be done but the tires are ok and its safe to drive the car , yesterday my front tire blow up on the 95 at 1 am, thank god i am ok and nothing happened to me or the car , so i go to the dealer thinking that they will fix their mistake that put my life into danger by saying its safe to drive the car, but no ... they do acknowledge their mistake by neglecting this danger that put my life into danger .. very disappointed by this kind of service from Mercedes and wont recommend this dealer to anyone i know and will defiantly send an email complaining to Mercedes Benz USA too More

Rip off A few months ago we got 3 cars at Mercedes Benz, Fort Lauderdale within 2 weeks. We worked with David Hodges on all 3 cars. At first you think that A few months ago we got 3 cars at Mercedes Benz, Fort Lauderdale within 2 weeks. We worked with David Hodges on all 3 cars. At first you think that the experience will be great, especially when David tells you that he will make sure that everything will go smoothly and represents your interest as the customer. When I came in for the 3rd car which was the new S-Coupe, David Hodges promised me AMG rims for the E-class, the first of the 3 cars, as a thank you for all of the business, if the deal with the S-Coupe went through. We signed the papers for the S that day and closed the deal. That was the beginning of the run-around for the promised rims. For several months I received excuses from David Hodges, either that he was sick, in a sales meeting, the right people were not in the body shop, etc….you name it. This has now gone on for several months of excuses and no rims. I finally asked if this was ever happening or if he simply lied to my face, and no response. What a rip-off!!! Pretty much criminal. In addition they messed up the notary process with the paperwork for one of the other cars being signed out of state. The company that they use was unprofessional, hired private people that did the job as a side-job, and do not have anything to do or understand what is supposed to be Mercedes-Benz service. When I received a follow-up email from the manager on my experience, I wrote back explaining the issues with the notary and giving David Hodges praise, since at this point I was still under the impression that I was receiving the promised rims. Despite my explanation of the issues with the notary company and the additional problems that this caused, I never heard back from the manager. Why ask for customer satisfactory feedback if they are not addressed. Finally, they had a promotion, that the dealership would pay $500 towards your first car payment. For weeks I had to call and leave messages with the financial department of the dealership never receiving a response. When talking to Mercedes financial, they said that this has been a common problem with the dealership but that the dealership are the ones that have to take care of this. Unless you want to get RIPPED OFF!!!! Get dealership experience follow-up that no one really cares about, or get a second full-time job trying to get the dealership to full-fill their end of the deal, I recommend using any of the other Mercedes Benz dealerships. RIP-OFF!!! More

Worst customer service ever I gave my mercedes E350 for servicing, I tild them all issues the car has after two days I got call from them says car is ready for pickup and when I I gave my mercedes E350 for servicing, I tild them all issues the car has after two days I got call from them says car is ready for pickup and when I reach there my car looks like how I gave it to them even after service. They did not clean tha car or wash it and when I drove the car issue with my btakes still exists. I tried to call the service agent Pattiricia Rabuffo she is not picking up calls not replaying to voice mails and even worse thing is theor managers also not responding to calls and finally my car is F***up. Avoid thos service center and Patti Rabuffo is a disgrace to Mercedes. More

Classic rip off techniques This dealership gave me the worst service using all the classic tricks to sell you cars that you don't want, keep you waiting for hours, quoting you m This dealership gave me the worst service using all the classic tricks to sell you cars that you don't want, keep you waiting for hours, quoting you misleading finance options tying you into contracts that are expensive and detrimental to your financial well being. Read the small print, shop away! Don't go there, look for other dealership with high ratings. This doesn't reflect well on Autonation. More

Changing the way it's done! When I came through the door I was Greeted by Jack Fitzgerald the G.S.M. with a kind hello & a hand shake he told me not to worry he was going to make When I came through the door I was Greeted by Jack Fitzgerald the G.S.M. with a kind hello & a hand shake he told me not to worry he was going to make sure I got Taken care of. He put me with Ali my salesman his understanding and honesty far transcended any I have ever experienced ever in a car dealership before. Tarek was next at bat, He was my finance person he made it all very easy to understand and didn't make me feel like i needed a shower after I left his office. Thanks Mr. Fitzgerald for all you did for me to get the Benz I wanted. I would never buy anywhere else ever! More

Wow! So easy to buy from Would have preferred to buy locally (St Petersburg), but they would not even come close to the deal Ft Lauderdale offered us on our new 2015 Mercedes. Would have preferred to buy locally (St Petersburg), but they would not even come close to the deal Ft Lauderdale offered us on our new 2015 Mercedes. In fact it was suggested by the other dealer that the car probably didn't exist, the deal wasn't real, etc. Well I have to say that purchasing our new Mercedes in Ft Lauderdale was one of the easiest transactions ever. Came to an agreement on the phone, they sent me a deal sheet, we made the 3.5 hour drive down and picked it up with absolutely no monkey business...one of the smoothest, easiest auto transactions ever. I will happily recommend them to anyone. More