Mercedes-Benz of San Jose

I received a notice in the mail from Mercedes saying there was a recall on the sunroof on my car. The letter said I should make an appointment to get the sunroof replaced as the glass might separate at highway speeds. It also offered a “visa gift card” to entice me to get this done. I looked up recalls for my model on the MB site, and there was indeed a recall. I called the dealership and spoke with a service person, Chris H. I explained that I thought it odd that Mercedes would volunteer to replace the sunroof. He assured me MB would, it was a factory recall. I made an appointment. When I went to the website to check on my appointment the day before, I noticed that the website or Chris had pre-populated the “requested service” with their “20 point vehicle inspection” which I don’t want. I have a Mercedes approved mechanic I’ve used for 10 years who I trust who does all the maintenance and my car is up to date. It has no messages in the dash. I’ve had all the wearing parts maintained, drive belts, airshocks, etc. So I cancelled this “20 point inspection” and I was starting to get suspicious. It seemed to me MB was hoping to go on a fishing expedition for repairs they could do. As we all know the dealership does a poor job and grossly overcharges, using only the most inexperienced employees. The dealership's goal isn’t to maintain your car, it is to make money by employing the most inexperienced and therefore the cheapest “mechanics” while charging way over market because “that is what the book says.” I prefer mechanics who can make it in the real world. I unchecked the “”20 point inspection”. When I arrived, Chris told me I would have to wait 4 hours just to look at the vehicle. He couldn’t guarantee it would be done that day despite having an appointment. So I rescheduled for another day. I asked a lot of pointed questions, expressed my skepticism, and Chris told me the sunroof would be replaced, no charge, MB factory recall. I made it 100% clear this seems unlike the dealership. I told him my car was up to date on maintenance with my independent Mercedes approved mechanic and told Chris to stop checking the “20 point inspection.” When that next appointmnt day rolled around, a few days before - again I checked the appointment on the website to confirm so I would waste any more time. Again I saw that the 20 Point inspection was checked. I unchecked it. On the morning of the appointment, I showed up, waited for them to check me in. Chris got in the car and checked the sunroof to make sure it worked, obvi they won’t replace a sunroof that doesn’t work, factory recall or not, they will want to charge you for that. But my sunroof works. The sunroof motor isn’t the reason for the recall – it is the adhesive on the glass plate. Chris took a long time testing it every which way and seemed disappointed it worked. I then confirmed with him that it would be replaced, he assured me it would. I took the receipt, and went to the lobby to try and catch up on email. When I sat down, I looked at the receipt, and noticed the “20 point inspection” was again checked. I was starting to see the scam. An hour later, I received a text from Chris saying my car was out of alignment, needed new brakes and the tires were balding. This is completely untrue, in fact, the tires are less than a year old, have lots of tread, are not wearing uneven. They were rotated a few months ago – when the brakes were done. And the car was aligned when the new tires went on. This diagnosis was an obvious fabrication. I was starting to think I’ve been lied to, despite every effort of mine to avoid this waste of time. Still, since Chris had assured me many, many times, in response to my direct questions, that the sunroof would be replaced as offered by MB. I simply told Chris the brakes and tires were fine, relatively new and they don’t need to be replaced. Within five minutes, Chris found me in the lobby and presented the receipt and told me my car was done. This seemed rather quick for a sunroof replacement. I asked him if they used adhesive that needs to cure. He said, “we didn’t replace the sunroof”. I asked him why – after MB insisted I come in to fix the “recall” and after he told me multiple times it would be replaced because the glass could separate at highway speeds. He told it to me to my face less than an hour ago when he was done playing with it to make sure it worked. Now, after I refused his brakes / tires alignment offer - he said the sunroof worked so it didn’t need to be replaced. I realized I had been scammed again by Mercedes. Chris and MB were merely looking to do expensive unneeded repairs and was happy to waste my time to try and pad their pockets with their dishonesty. I even showed him the MB letter that said he would give me a visa gift card and he took it and threw it in the trash. TLDR: this Mercedes dealership lied about a recall to trick me into coming in so they could try and find expensive repairs. When they could not find any, they mislead me that my tires and brakes needs to be replaced and the alignment was off. They didn’t have time to do an alignment test, and the tires look great. When I refused these unneeded services, they reneged on the factory recall. This is why people hate the Mercedes dealerships and the people who work there. Mercedes are good cars but the people who work at the dealerships in the US are [non-permissible content removed]. They are generally incompetent and not to be trusted.