A Florida man who works for NASA was recently embroiled in a dispute regarding a defective AMG. "It was the most bizarre experience I have ever had in my 30+ years of buying Mercedes-Benz" commented Duane Redding, a long time MB owner. "Mercedes-Benz offered to re-purchase my vehicle due to severe mechanical issues confirmed by their own engineering teams. After following their directions to the letter, they backed out after I had incurred an additional $7k in attorney fees to comply with their records request. "

The problems apparently all started in 2023 when Mr. Redding contacted the Mercedes-Benz customer care center. After months of delays, MB finally contacted him and asked to re-purchase the vehicle. No offer to repair, no offer for compensation - they went the RAV route right out of the gate. Redding had by then purchased another vehicle. The problem was that the lien holder was stuck in a loop due to Redding's home state being an e-Title issuer. In other words, they don't issue titles on paper, so getting a copy is a nightmare. To make matters worse, MB told Redding that this was "his issue" and that he had to deal with it.

Fast forward almost six months and after numerous calls, letters, and even some pleading, Redding had a copy of the requested title. Things went smoothly from there out, right? Wrong - this is where MB really played the low card. A middle-manager named Jonathan Fleischman – Manager of Customer Retention decided to withdraw the offer for really no reason. "When I questioned why, he simply said that they had done it as a good faith gesture and had basically decided not to do it now. I received several cookie-cutter emails from him which were even worse than the blow off he gave this situation. I afforded him every opportunity to resolve it - and he chose not to. At the end of day, I told him that I would probably buy another Benz, but since then I have since reconsidered." said Redding

Redding sought council to advise him as to the best way to proceed. "Apparently, Mercedes-Benz has a people problem. It's a shame that a company with this history treats its long-time clients this way. BMW treats us much better - so don't look for me to be pulling up in another MB anytime soon" remarked Redding when we reached him at his office in Houston, Texas.