Consumer complaint received 2019-04-28
Company: Mercedes Benz Financial Services
State: NJ
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with fees charged

Complaint:
After my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX cars lease reached its end in XX/XX/XXXX, my salesman, XXXX XXXX, from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX ; XXXX, NJ ; XXXX ; ( XXXX ) XXXX ) convinced me to purchase the leased vehicle. His manager, Mr. XXXX, offered a purchase price of {$24000.00} for the car as a Mercedes Benz certified vehicle. 

Afterwards, my salesman and his manager added an additional charge of {$1500.00} to the invoice without my knowledge. Thereby increasing the total to {$25000.00}, which also increased the sales tax and finance charges. 

I had been a customer of this dealership and the salesman for over six years with multiple cars. I had complete trust in them, and when I signed the multitudes of documents to transact the car sale, I did so without review, but with complete trust that everything was in order based upon our price agreement. But after completing the transaction and receiving the car, I discovered that the salesman and his manager added the {$1500.00} charge without it ever being revealed to me, and without my consent. 

All my requests to correct this issue were ignored by the salesman, his manager, and the dealership. My multiple requests for assistance to the Vice-President of Mercedes Benz USA,  were also ignored. I even wrote twice to the CEO in XXXX, whose response was polite, but his office deflected my request to Mercedes Benz USA. After a year of trying to get Mercedes Benz USA to assist, they deflected to the dealership, and told me this issue is closed with their office. 

After many, many requests to the dealership and the salesman for assistance, to which I never received a single response, I physically went to the dealership and spoke to the salesman. The salesman told me he added the charge because the car was Mercedes Benz certified. Prior to telling me this, I was never told that I would have to pay additional money to get the car certified. If I was told, I wouldnt had agreed to the additional cost because it was unnecessary. 

People buy certified cars at a premium from an original manufacturer because there is the expectation that the car is validated to be at a high level of overall dependability, safety and soundness. Moreover, most people who buy certified cars have no direct user experience with the particular car they select to purchase. Since I had already leased the same car for years, I knew the condition of the car. Furthermore, during the entire time of the cars lease, I paid for all scheduled maintenance required which was performed by the dealership. So, I had exact knowledge of the cars condition so certification at a cost was unnecessary. Also, my car was still under warranty. 

The end result is that I was purposely misled so that I would : 1. ) Have to pay more for a certified car, than what the car would have cost as an uncertified car, 2. ) In addition to the higher certified price for the car, I was wrongfully charged without consent an additional {$1500.00} to get the car certified so that the price of the car would be higher. 3. ) I was misled to buy four new tires even though it was completely unnecessary. The sales manager, Mr. XXXX pressured me to purchase new tires even though the tires did not need replacement. Mr. XXXX said that if I didnt replace the tires, he would not certify the car. In hindsight, I suspect this was a requirement so that the car would meet Mercedes Benzs certification specifications. I now understand how I was manipulated, but at the time, I reasoned that the tires werent brand new so I would have to replace them someday anyhow. 

I am requesting your assistance so that the fraudulent charge of {$1500.00} is refunded. As well as all associated additional taxes and finance charges relative to the unauthorized final sales price of the car beyond the agreed upon price of {$24000.00}. 

Please see attached PDF file : " XXXX XXXX - Hidden Charge by Mercedes Benz '' for documents providing chronological details.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation