Markham Mercedes/Service counter: Are you kidding me?

[TekNinja81 3]

I've never left a car dealership feeling like a piece of dirt, until today.

So this afternoon I took a drive up to the Markham Mercedes-Benz dealership looking to book the Smart in for service, as it's nearing 138,000KM and could probably use a checkup.

I was greeted by a friendly gentleman at the front door and he gave me a quick rundown of where things were at the dealership, which was nice as I was potentially looking for a few things while I was there.

And that was about the end of my positive experience.

I walked up to the Service counter and was (awkwardly) greeted by a younger-looking service rep (never caught his name unfortunately), who looked like he was just going to walk away had I not made eye contact. This was strike one. I explained that I was looking to book the car in for service but wanted to check what all it might need (I had briefly checked online but wanted to be sure), and the rep said we could have a look at the service intervals and see what they'd recommend.

We stepped a few feet over to what I guess is an info booth, where another rep seemingly handed off a couple of guys to the Service rep I had been talking to first. He quickly left me behind, speaking with them in I assume Mandarin or Cantonese, without giving me any indication of what was happening or if/when he'd get back to me. Strike TWO.

I figured, "OK, maybe he'll just be a minute" so I stood there waiting. A minute went by. Five. Ten. No "I'll be right back with you", nothing. At this point I was getting quite annoyed, but stepped over to the merchandise section to look at the hats and other items for a minute, hoping this guy would let me know when he was done. I turned back around and they had all walked off somewhere, completely forgetting me. Strike THREE, I'm out.

The guy never at any point made any attempt/indication that he wanted my business whatsoever, nor did any of the various other folks I saw sitting/standing at the nearby Parts counter or other desks who *must* have seen this going on. I walked all the way back out the front door without anyone giving me anything other than a quick glance.

Is this seriously what I should be expecting out of such a high-class looking place?

I left feeling like clearly nobody there cared or wanted my business, and wondering if there's even any point trying the Midtown/other locations. All it would have taken was just a minute of their attention, but I guess they didn't feel it necessary.

Suffice it to say, I'm not happy with my first experience with a proper Mercedes/Smart dealership, and I won't be returning to that one.

Is there anyplace in the Scarborough/Toronto area, perhaps OTHER than a Mercedes dealership that I can go to, who will properly service my car (and me)?

[Shogun 4]

Thats becaouse i do all by myself on all my cars

[smart142 605]

I've heard the Oakville dealer is more smart friendly.

There is also :

Active Green + Ross @ Burlington Mall (777 Guelph Ln) Burlington, Ontario (Not the one on West side of Guelph Ln)

Diagnostic (Scan tool does 90% what STAR can)
Servicing, Alignment, Best Price New Tires.
E-Testing, Brakes, Suspension Etc.
Reluctor Rings Too!
Open 7days a week, Till 8pm Thursdays

Work done by fellow smart owner and member(Bessy aka Andrew)

[Huronlad 186]

Oakville is hit and miss with their work.

[marchanna 115]

Get use to it. Smart owners are a second class citizen at Benz dealers. My dealer was like that too until they found out I had a Benz too, and that I had spent a lot of money there in the past.

[houseofdiesel 9]

A fair amount of the dealers treat people like this, not just smart owners Mercedes owners too. I had to really step on toes and point out some things when I needed dealer service on my smart and R class, it was a good month before they started listening, now they are quick to address me whenever I stop in. A complaint to head office really got them to realize I was serious and not going away. Our local dealership just told me flat out they were not interested in warranty work on my smart, imagine that. At least they were honest!

All most dealerships care about these days is selling new cars, few actually like to repair them or worry about customer service, it is hard enough just to staff the dealerships these days. I have found all parts departments across many brands are just hopeless, no service or interest anymore in helping or getting the correct parts the first time. The good staff services the technicians, the rest stock shelves and deal with clients. I have taken to US based websites for all my parts outside of the smart since it was not sold down there.

I firmly believe they expect you to buy another car instead of fix it or have to deal with ongoing issues, a completely unsustainable ethic.

[TekNinja81 3]

I've heard the Oakville dealer is more smart friendly.

There is also :

Active Green + Ross @ Burlington Mall (777 Guelph Ln) Burlington, Ontario (Not the one on West side of Guelph Ln)

Diagnostic (Scan tool does 90% what STAR can)

Servicing, Alignment, Best Price New Tires.

E-Testing, Brakes, Suspension Etc.

Reluctor Rings Too!

Open 7days a week, Till 8pm Thursdays

Work done by fellow smart owner and member(Bessy aka Andrew)

Someone recommended Bessy/Andrew in another thread, and I would consider going there but it's a fair drive. Would be OK as long as it were a situation where I'd be able to pick up the car within a few hours though -- I'll have to contact him and see about that.

Get use to it. Smart owners are a second class citizen at Benz dealers. My dealer was like that too until they found out I had a Benz too, and that I had spent a lot of money there in the past.

That's pretty discouraging to hear, but somehow I don't find it surprising after the experience I had. I kind of got the impression that if you're not wearing an expensive suit and don't look like you're from the area (I'm half Japanese myself, but I don't look it), that they don't particularly care about/notice you to begin with. Sad, but potentially true.

And houseofdiesel, being told they aren't interested in warranty work... WTF? At what point does the dealership get to decide they're just not "interested" in honouring their warranty terms?! That's just ridiculous. I suppose it's one thing if maybe only certain locations actually do warranty services, but I somehow doubt that... (It is like that for motorcycle dealerships, since each carry different brands... but that's a bit different from taking a Mercedes into a Mercedes dealership!)

Ugh. Well, I've had a response to a Tweet to both MB/MB-Toronto, they'll "investigate further and contact management"... which usually leads nowhere, but I'll give it a few days. lol.

[dmoonen 54]

If you even pull up in a S Class, SLK Class, CLK or even G Class they treat you like dirt. I had to take MB Barrie to court, after that bought a star machine and a hoist and do the work on all my fleet.

Not all dealers are bad but in my opinion Mercedes takes the cake on probably the worst customer service. I'd even put GM ahead of Mercedes in the customer service department sadly.

Edited May 2, 2015 by dmoonen

[TekNinja81 3]

If you even pull up in a S Class, SLK Class, CLK or even G Class they treat you like dirt. I had to take MB Barrie to court, after that bought a star machine and a hoist and do the work on all my fleet.

Not all dealers are bad but in my opinion Mercedes takes the cake on probably the worst customer service. I'd even put GM ahead of Mercedes in the customer service department sadly.

Pretty pathetic if you ask me. My GF and I have had fantastic experiences with a Kia dealership, both of us plan on continuing to give them our business when the opportunity arises... Mercedes? Highly doubt I'll ever deal with them again if I can avoid it, which is sad considering how much I love my Smart!

I had my doubts about purchasing from a smaller/used-car dealership, but I think this experience has proven that it's not always better to go to the big guys.

[falcon_1898 2]

Same terrible experience. Sometimes you just have to make some noise to be heard.

Our car had seized front calipers that fail to return to home position. anytime it's driven, there is a sq ueeling noise.

MB Markham failed to even try to diagnose it on multiple occasions, siting that brakes are wear and tear item not covered by warranty.

First of all, I understand the pads are wear and tear, but seized calipers?

Secondly, I don't care if it's warranty or not, just get the problem fixed! This problem is causing 10+L/100km, a lot of noise while driving, and can be a road hazard.

I ended up taking the car to my TDI mechanic to get fixed.

A pretty dealership is only a facade, the lack of care is what lies underneath. If this is what MB's brand stands for, I'm very disappointed.

[ianjay 6]

Markham is not a corporate store, but I guess it "must" adhere to the same standards. Calipers that are seized are a normal maintenance items and in our salty climate you should expect to get them freed up on a regular basis. Some cars are more prone than others. GM intermediate cars in the 90's used to drop their rear pads on the floor of your garage due to rust seizing them open (rear brakes have less work to do generally).

It was Mercedes-Benz's complete indifference that made me sell our smart. We replaced it with a FIAT 500 and have had 65K quite trouble free miles. Sure there are horror stories with FIAT cars, but ours has been a very good car with little need for anything but fluid changes and tire rotations. Same with out Volt. Same Kms, just fluid changes and tire rotations.

I'm never going back to Mercedes. But you know what? They don't care.

[Leadwing 565]

Same terrible experience. Sometimes you just have to make some noise to be heard.

Our car had seized front calipers that fail to return to home position. anytime it's driven, there is a sq ueeling noise.

MB Markham failed to even try to diagnose it on multiple occasions, siting that brakes are wear and tear item not covered by warranty.

First of all, I understand the pads are wear and tear, but seized calipers?

Secondly, I don't care if it's warranty or not, just get the problem fixed! This problem is causing 10+L/100km, a lot of noise while driving, and can be a road hazard.

I ended up taking the car to my TDI mechanic to get fixed.

A pretty dealership is only a facade, the lack of care is what lies underneath. If this is what MB's brand stands for, I'm very disappointed.

Since you are in the Toronto area, it might be worth the trip for you to scoot down to Burlington and have a chat with Bessy. He works at the Active Green & Ross location there. He knows his 'smart' stuff. It is located here . Good luck

[CANMAN 23]

Not that I am defending Mercedes, the Kingston dealership is very helpful, the parts guy is awesome willing to look for weird parts for some of the mods I have done in the past.

I don't normally use the service since I do all my own work but on the occasion that I have they were good getting the car done close to their estimated time and for the price they quoted beforehand. One of their mechanics is from England and knows everything about smart cars.

I know this doesn't help the person who started this thread due to the distance involved, but not all Mercedes dealers are bad.

Canman

[Huronlad 186]

I've experience everything from acceptable, to incompetent, to bald faced lies from M-B staff. At $110/hr nothing less than good/great is acceptable.

[darren 192]

Markham IS a corporate store.

I've always had great service from M-B Oakville, who are independents.

[Huronlad 186]

I've never been to Markham but Oakville has worked on my smarts. Oakville will never work on one of my smarts ever again, their work is as half-assed as all the other places I have been.

[falcon_1898 2]

ah, Burlington for us is 80+ clicks for us. I'll try the Maple store next time. Heard good things about it from a coworker... but then again, she drives a C, and is quite a looker

[Leadwing 565]

80 clicks is less than an hours drive, so if you have an issue that needs to be addressed, it is still worth the drive.

Oh wait! .... Toronto? .... OK, maybe a 3 hour drive, depending on the time you leave

All kidding aside, Bessy knows his stuff and the hourly shop rates are way below the MB rates. It's an alternative, if everything else doesn't work out. I have driven from the London area to Burlington to have him work on both my smarts. (although 'Uncle Glenn' does most of the work needed on both my smarts, Bessy has equipment that 'Uncle Glenn' doesn't have access to.)

Good Luck.

[robm 1]

I do not have my 2005 smart anymore but I only brought to MB Markham for warrenty work (free parts).  All the work on mine that I could not do (and it was a lot) was done by Andrew Lee in Newmarket.  he is the opposite of the dealership I would say.  very reasonable and he knows all the items that go on all 450s at least.  289 803 0088 --- if he is still in business.