mscott58

First post and sorry for the long story, but need some advice as I unfortunately find myself in a bad situation.

Sent my 2011 GL450 with only ~17K miles (we're city people and don't drive very far) in for brake service. We live about 35 miles from the dealer and they came and picked up our GL and leave us a loaner (GLK). Got a call from my service rep after the driver got back to the dealership. They tell me that yes it needs the brakes serviced (figured this out because the warning message was on and that's why I made the appointment!) and also that we'd need new tires (guessed we were close on this as well) so no surprises on either of these. However, from here is where it gets weird.

The SR then tells me that the driver noticed the GL was pulling to the left and that the ESP light was on, so they looked at the wheels and saw the front left wheel was not only way out of alignment, but that the 19" 5-spoke alloy wheel itself was damaged. The tire was okay, but the wheel was actually bent, but not at the bead edge or on the side, but tweaked on the hub. What!?! Don't know how that happened, but with all the potholes where I live I guess something might have happened somewhere along the way. I tell the SR that I guess it's a good thing we purchased the optional wheel protection plan when we bought the car so that the wheel would be covered. But they say it's not covered because the tire was still holding air. What!?!

So they do the brake service, order the tires and the new wheel, and I "discuss" with my sales rep what is covered with the wheel protection plan and the difference between the contract fine print the SR pointed out and what the sales rep said was covered when selling the GL to us. He says he'll take care of us on the wheel (good sales guy).

So next day I get an update that they put the wheel on and that it didn't correct the alignment issues, and that when they looked closer they saw that there was much more damage under the car. After a whole bunch of back and forth and almost a week later here's what had to be replaced: (with part numbers)
1. 5 spoke wheel (6-6-47-4219)
2. Transverse control arm (164-330-34-07)
3. Steering knuckle (164-330-23-20-39)
4. Support (164-330-00-58)
5. Combination bolt (001-990-94-00)
6. Engine support (273-223-22-04)
They ended up having to take apart a good part of the car to fix everything as they kept finding more damage (even all the way to an engine mount!) and couldn't get the car into proper alignment until all of this was replaced. The SR told me I should call my insurance company since the damage was so extensive. Not a good sign and I'm not a happy camper. I can only imagine what it cost to replace all the above parts and all the labor it involved, especially since they had to test the alignment about half a dozen times.

So I call the Service Manager and reiterate to him that there was nothing wrong with the car (other than the worn brakes and tires) when it left our house, including no ESP warning light. Somehow, mysteriously, the GL has major, major damage by the time it gets to the dealership. He promises to investigate.

Get a call the next day saying that they downloaded the computer log from the GL (smart move - wish I'd thought of that) and the first time the ESP light came on (thus showing the inability of the GL to track properly and indicating the time of the damage) was ~20 miles away from the dealership, and remember I live ~35 miles away. Doh! Busted.

The SM apologizes a number of times and promises to fix the car at their expense, that his driver appears to have lied to them about what happened and that there was some type of accident while the driver was bringing our GL back to the dealership. I thank him for finding the cause (real weight off of my shoulders), tell him I would fully expect them to fix the damage they caused and that I would look to him and the dealership leadership to find a way to handle this and make it up to us.

Another few days pass as they had to finish all the repairs and we get our car back today. I look at the bill and while they didn't charge us for the repairs caused by the drivers accident, there's nothing else they have appeared to have done. Absolutely no recognition of their mistake other than getting the car back to an operating condition similar to where it was before they damaged it.

So I'm pissed. Big time. Yes, they fixed the damage (at least as far as I know) but they also missed an opportunity to make things right, and the longer this goes on the more upset I'm getting. Why am I still pissed? Even though the car is "fixed" it's resell value just went way down, another case of the dreaded "diminished value".

And to top if off all of this damage and repair detail is going to show up on my CarFax (MB reports its services to the minute detail on CarFax) and I seriously doubt if MB would allow this GL to be a CPO now if I wanted to trade it in.

So I ask the MBWorld community for advice on a few things:
1) What approach to take from here? Call the SM again? Escalate to the GM? Go straight to MB Corporate?
2) What should I ask for? Compensation for the diminished value? A guaranteed trade for the future? A similar GL450 CPO in trade now? A new GL450 altogether?
3) Would you also be so upset?

I'm not looking to do anything to shame the dealership (hence I don't say who it is here) but I do feel that something significantly more should be done to right this wrong. Essentially a MB employee (the driver) tried to defraud me by telling the SR that the car was that way when we gave it to them, even having the SR put on our invoice "Client states brake and ESP inop warning light is on" when the ESP light was not on until his accident on the way back to the dealership.

Sorry again for the super-long post but had to get this off of my chest and get some advice from my fellow MB drivers. Thanks in advance and take care

mercedes4ever

1. I would be putting in writing to the Dealer Principle your concerns, outlining the fact that if you do not get a suitable resolution within 7 [seven] days, you will be seeking legal advice.

2. "Absolutely no recognition of their mistake other than getting the car back to an operating condition similar to where it was before they damaged it".
...this is a calculated move by them to avoid implication & legal action by yourself IE they will try and deny, deny, deny it ever happened.
Do not hesitate to involve a Lawyer if your written response gets unfavorable action.

3. As it was an "accident", I would be involving your Insurance Company as they can act on your be-halve.

On a lighter note, I reckon you have claimed the record for longest storylol.

Best of luck with it all. I would hope they have sacked the "boy" they sent to collect your car, the little f#@k was clearly hooning.

mercedes4ever

PS I am a Lawyer BTW.

I am a lawyer, but I am not your lawyer (unless you have been in my office and signed a contract). The above communication is not intended as legal advice, and no attorney client relationship results. Please consult your own attorney for legal advice.

mscott58

No worries. I thank you for you advice, but I will of course not take it as real legal advice. Have plenty of friends/clients/family members that are lawyers if it comes to that. Thanks again!

mercedes4ever

alx

I wouldn't bother. Your concern about diminished value is largely non- existent in your case.

If the truck does not drive as before- beat up on them until it does. Other than that...

My 2 professional cents

mscott58

Alx - Wanted to know more about your point that diminished value does not apply here. Can you please provide more details? Value your input! Thanks

Fourdiesel

You don't say what state (or country) you are in. Some states allow/require diminished value and some do not allow any consideration of it. That's where a lawyer can be of some service.

alx

If I have you profiled correctly you will be trading the truck in when the time comes. Nobody cares about level of repairs at trade in. They care about accidents.

Also keep in mind that only the repairing dealer has info on what was done. The dealer network has only outline of the service and that is usually what goes in Carfax and Autocheck.

Lastly the dealer could have played dumb and there is no atty on earth that could prove their driver caused the damage. So cut them some slack and enjoy the finer things in life.

mscott58

Alx - An accident of some type caused the need for repairs, the whole left front wheel assembly didn't just mysteriously get all bent out of shape. And the CarFax I have on my GL from before this incident shows every last detail of all my services to date, down to replacing a wiper blade, so I don't know how the replacement of the entire left front wheel assembly, all the way up to even the engine mount, won't show up.

And the representatives of the dealer (driver and SR) did try to play dump and the driver even tried to cover it up, putting in the paper work that the light was on and the steering was massively out of alignment when he got it from us. The only way we found out what happened was by my pushing many times and actively pushing this up the line to upper management to investigate it in depth.

Finally we did prove the driver caused the damage due to the on-board computer records. And why should I cut them slack? They messed up majorly and in my opinion have not handled this with the level of professionalism and customer service that I would expect from MB. Chevy or Ford, maybe, but not MB.

alx

Ok.

I think you missed the point. Nevermind.

Edit: Actually let me explain

The dealer broke something and they fixed it at no cost to you. You are zero dollars out of pocket because of their malpractice.

Once the time comes to trade in if you are offered less money than you think you should be offered you should ask why. And when you are told "because of the extensive repairs on file" you should ask how much it dings the value? And when they tell you xxxx you go back to your dealer and legalize that loss (ie expect to make you whole). You are an atty- you know the drill - you can't really win in court if there is no monetary loss involved in such cases.

And here I am to tell you that at trade in nobody will care about that repair. And in the rare occasion when somebody might ask about it if you are selling privately I can assure you that a wheel, suspension and engine bushing repair will not matter much either.

mscott58

Alx - Thanks for the edit and the additional information, I understand your point better now.

And I'm not an atty, I just play one on TV. (Ha!)

Thanks again

JediJD

It sounds like plenty of attorneys and experts have already put in their opinions and I generally agree. However, as a former judge I would add that your negotiations might go a bit more smoothly if you had an objective goal. For instance, I might call a private adjuster service to assess the situation and give me a written appraisal -today- of what the difference in value would be for my now repaired vs. undamaged car. Then, depending on the significance, I can adjust my expectations accordingly. Also, the dealer now has something tangible to target, instead of a generally trying to season a crap sandwich that is getting smellier by the day.

mscott58

JediJD - Sage advice. Thanks for your input!