⭐️ 1 Star - Severe Safety Hazard & Shocking Treatment of - Rodney.ashburn
⭐️ 1 Star - Severe Safety Hazard & Shocking Treatment of a Disabled Veteran
Avoid the service department at Mercedes-Benz of Winston-Salem at all costs. I brought my brand-new 2026 GLE 350 here after it suffered a terrifying total electrical lockout at highway speeds, stranding my family in a highly dangerous situation.
Instead of tracking down a definitive root cause for a life-threatening failure, this shop used a dangerous "delete and ignore" approach. Their own invoice admits vehicle communications only "randomly flickered back to life" when wiggling the physical wiring and pulling connectors.
When I demanded written assurance that the car was safe for my 8-hour drive home to Georgia, Service Manager Marie Spencer and Advisor Brian McGowan explicitly stated in writing that they "cannot guarantee the condition or performance of any vehicles" and "cannot guarantee anything with the car." They also flat-out refused to release my raw electronic diagnostic logs, hiding the true fault codes from me.
Because I exercised my consumer rights and refused to accept delivery of a multi-system network failure that the dealer wouldn't stand behind, they engaged in retaliatory practices. They weaponized North Carolina private property statutes, declared my fully current, $0.00-balance vehicle "abandoned," and had it towed off to a private impound lot by a third-party wrecker to try and force me into accepting a dangerous lemon.
This is the appalling way they treat disabled veterans. After honorably serving my country, I was left stranded hundreds of miles from home, fighting a predatory dealership that lacks the integrity to stand behind its own vehicle, its repairs, or its customers. They discard veterans the moment a dangerous factory defect becomes inconvenient for their bottom line. Look elsewhere for service.
Response Update to the Owner:
That is not what occurred. I explicitly stated that all future communications had to be conducted strictly in writing via text message or email to maintain an unedited record face. I placed a complete block on unrecorded, after-hours phone calls not on text messages or emails.
Your own Service Manager, Marie Spencer, is the one who actively terminated our text communication channel on August 4 at 5:45 PM. See the newly appended screenshot proving she manually opted my device out of your system. Marie Spencer explicitly directed me in writing to deal solely with the Mercedes Customer Care Center if I chose not to collect the vehicle.
Furthermore, your dealership physically towed my vehicle off-site on August 14—three full days BEFORE the 14-day Lemon Law notice window completed its run with Mercedes-Benz USA corporate. Corporate headquarters signed for that certified mail notice on August 3, meaning their repair and cure window ran through August 17. Your franchise unilaterally removed the asset and triggered a commercial storage lien while the clock was actively running.
You claim to be a top-rated dealership that provides "peace of mind," but your own service logs document an unknown root cause, a refusal to release diagnostic history, a manual text lockout, and the covert removal of my car while a Georgia lemon law dispute was still active.
As I explicitly stated to MBUSA administration in writing on August 10: "All further correspondence regarding these closing parameters must remain strictly in writing to my email. We will not take your uncoordinated phone calls."
You towed the vehicle while MBUSA was still review the case. The case is still open. How can you claim a vehicle abandoned when the case that your Service Manager told me to open by contacting Mercedes-Benz customer care is still open?
Respectfully submitted,
Rodney Ashburn
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