Mercedes-Benz of Walnut Creek

01/20/10

Horrible Sales Experience - BUYERS BEWARE!

by jonasm at Citysearch

After providing the Sales staff with everything they requested and purchasing an insurance policy for the vehicle, I received a call from the Sales Manager, Brian. Brian said that if I did not go through their financing that he could not do the deal. All along I had told them that I had my own financing through Capital One, which they are an approved dealer with. This move to have me use their financing so they could make an extra buck was very unprofessional and something I would have only expected from a shady used car lot. BEWARE!

01/20/09

WORST EXPERIENCE BOTH TIMES!

by Serish at Citysearch

Horrible Horrible Experience! DO NOT get your car serviced from this dealership at all. They tried to add additional charges when I was getting my car serviced due to my rear tire popping when I just bought brand new tires 2 months prior. They said there was an issue w/ the caliper and the backing. A friend of mine is a mechanic and he called them to elaborate a bit more on the situation and the service advisor at Benz was extremely rude when questioned. He started bad mouthing ME to MY friend and stated "she just wants everything for free. I'm doing all this for her, she should cut me a deal." <---are you serious?! My tire is covered by warranty at NO cost, why should I cut him a deal?? They are extremely unethical, I definitely agree w/ the other comment.

Word of advise, DO NOT GO THERE. And if you do, make sure you fully inspect your car prior to turning it over to them !

• Pros: NADA
• Cons: TOO MANY TO STATE

11/26/07

Great Experience

by barbara5272 at Citysearch

I have purchased several vehicles through Stead Motors of Walnut Creek and did deal with Norm in sales for every vehicle he was the best of the best, not pushy, very low keyed and takes care of business. I had gone out to SF Mercedes on Van Ness Ave and it was a terrible experience. Ihighly recommend WC Stead Motors and I would highly recommend Norm Mikaels for sales!!!

• Pros: Customer service and expertise
• Cons: none

10/19/07

Never take your car here for service.

by tms_08 at Citysearch

Stead Auto S*CKS. Don't trust these people and don't ever have yoru car serviced there.

My Story.

I took my car in with electrical problems (intermittent starting, problems with the radio and windshield wipers and non-woriing cruise control). I also told the servcie manager (major pr*ck) that I had a leak somewhere in my cooling system because I was having to refill the coolant every couple of days.

They had the car overnight. When I got it back they said I had no leak and that they had run a diagnostic on the electrical system and the problem was with my battery. They had replaced the battery and gave me a bill for $280.

A few days later the same eletrical problems returned and - of course - I continued to need to refill the coolant. I took it back and bascially got treated like an idiot by the manager. Essentially he told me that they didn't give a sh*t if the quyality of their work sucked and that it would cost me a minimum of another hour of labor for them to "take another look." I passed on the offer.

A week later the radiator blew while my wife was driving the car in Foster City. I had the car towed to the only mechanic I trust, Paul Grech at Allied Engine in San Francisco ($160 for the tow), where he told me that the radiator was leaking, the thermostat was out and that my electrical problems were stemming from dirty battery cables which he cleaned for me at no cost.

When I got the car back from Paul at the end of the same day the bill for a new thermostat, new radiator and labor was less than $700.

Only an idiot would take his car to Stead. Don't be an idiot.

07/19/07

WORST car buying experience of my life!

by versailles79 at Citysearch

They are unethical. The finance manager did not even bother to check financing rates for me and offered me something that was so out of whack (we have a credit score of 800!). My suspicion is that they probably get some sort of kickback from that lender. I pushed back and the asked the finance manager to check a couple of the credit unions and the first credit union they checked (which took them 30 seconds to get on that credit union's website), the rate was 2% lower for a long term. On top of this, the general manager came by and mocked at me by saying that the interest rate doesn't change my monthly payment significantly, at most $7 or $8 a month. To me, it is more of a principle. Why should I pay more for interest when I don't need to?

Additionally, the sales rep (Jim M.) lied to me and said that because they needed to take the car I was buying out to another dealership to fix one item (they couldn't do it themselves), they have to charge me $$ for the item (to include in my purchase price). I agreed because it was reasonable, but when I did take my car back in to get the item fixed, they did it in their own service shop. The sales rep flat out lied.

Anyhow, to sum up, they tried to scam me by offering me a loan which they probably get a kickback from and mocked me when I stood up for myself. Lastly, their sales strategy includes lying.

• Pros: nice venue, good selection of cars
• Cons: unethical, liars, bad customer service