acr2001

I bought my C at Sovereign in Brooklyn NY and get it serviced there as they are the closest dealership to home.
I think those of you in NY will appreciate the heads up. DO NOT EVER trust them to service your vehicle. I took my car to them three times under warranty since it was purchased over a year ago as a CPO. The first time they scratched my bumper. The second time they made a small tear in the leather. If you ask for anything specific like doing version coding or checking for software updates they come up with an excuse every time about how it cannot or could not be done. If you don't tell them not to wash your car they do a horrible job washing it with sponges that must be full of rocks. On my first visit for service one of their wonderful employees used his finger to write a message on the dirt left behind on my windshield after they "cleaned" it.

At this point you're probably thinking I've done something to incite the hatred of this dealership - NOTHING we have bought 2 cars from them and referred a friend who also bought a car. Never complained or had any issue with them in the past.

Finally, giving them one last chance I took my car to them for some warranty work a few weeks ago. Today I checked under the hood because I'm planning a trip and wanted to make sure everything looked ok.

The photos should speak for themselves. The coolant tank actually overflowed (there was dried up coolant all around it, but I didn't take a picture before I cleaned it up). They filled *all* fluids except for the oil up to the top of the container, way past the MAX lines. The last photo shows how much fluid had to be removed to get everything down to max. Power steering fluid and brake fluid are combined in the bottle on the left. I never asked for them to top off or look at any fluids, but apparently they did this for me as a "favor".

AVOID THIS DEALER LIKE THE PLAGUE. I haven't had a single visit without major problems. The same is true when we take our other MB to them, but if I get into that this post will be too long for anyone to read. The local Kia dealer will probably provide much better service.

Glyn (or anyone else with his level of knowledge) if you're reading this, can you please post as to the damage this could have caused. It looks like none of my seals are leaking other than the coolant overflowing, so I guess I caught it soon enough. The car probably went about 150 miles like this.

mleskovar

Too much brake fluid or coolant shouldn't cause problems but could make a mess (as you already found out). Excessive PS fluid could damage seals. If you're not leaking PS fluid or having heavy steering problems you probably got it out in time. What bozos. I bet they hired someone just to do top-offs and they don't know what they're doing. Never top off brake fluid.

BlackLiquorish8

good looks btw

you should try silver star in long island city, or mb of manhattan

moonrkr23

that s f***ed i d write the BBB file a complaint and talk to the owner they may not be aware of what s going on

Jack_2001C240

Thanks for the heads up about Sovereign. For 8 years I have only serviced my C240 at Helms Brothers in Flushing , Queens because it is close to where I live. I haven't had any major issues with them other than they are outrageously expensive. I pass by Sovereign in Brooklyn every day driving through the Belt Parkway commuting to Staten Island.

acr2001

Good to hear. I'm putting new brake pads on tomorrow - I'll take a better look for power steering fluid leaks. Going to have to remove even more brake fluid before I can compress the calipers tomorrow.

I complained to them in the past when they scratched the bumper after they called me asking how my service was. I told them that I touched the scratch up myself (they do horrible paint work without properly prepping the body and it peels off a year or two later as I learned when they touched up my rear bumper before selling the car to me - they did not disclose that it had been painted.) after hearing that I fixed their mistake the person on the phone actually got an attitude with me as if he was angry that I did not bring the vehicle back to them to fix. They are useless. We had a bad heated seat in our E class. They snapped plastic parts off of the seat while fixing, and just reinstalled them without the clips. They popped off on the first bump. I've asked them on 4 different occasions to enable the alarm chirp on my car, they have no idea how. I provided them with directions, they still refuse saying they don't know how. I asked them to version code my car when I installed the phone system - they charged me over $100 for an hours labor, but admitted that the minimum charge is 30 minutes. Apparently it takes them an hour to plug a laptop in under the dash and click through about 3 menus.

I already called them, but only the sales department was open. I have to call them back on Monday to complain to the service department manager. Considering the quality of their service *every* time I have been there, I really doubt she cares.

I can go on and on with this - whenever we get a loaner car from them it is DISGUSTING, absolutely filthy. Atleast half of them are THOUSANDS of miles past due for service A or B. The last one had damaged tires (bubbling) that appeared to be ready to blow out on the highway. We had to get one of the loaner cars towed back to them at one point because it sounded like it was going to explode. These are 2007 C classes that they use for loaners - they don't maintain them.

Oh, and they made sure not to top off my washer fluid!! The only tank that's ok to fill to the top!
I'm just glad they didn't try to "top off" the oil

mleskovar

That's why it shouldn't be topped off! Some like to loosen the bleed valve and drain some of the old fluid instead of forcing it back into the reservoir. Makes it easier to compress the calipers....but I just use a C clamp and the old pad and it's easier than messing with the valve and keeping the reservoir from going dry and sucking air.

WaveyKat

Sovereign Motor Cars suck nuts! i took my car there one time never again!!! the SA sucks, Service sucks and a whole bunch of Anus works in the parts department!

jagass

Does it mean you can put brake fluid as many as you can?...Nice pics...

W203E35

Anyone from SoCal don't ever take it to W.I. Simonson of Santa Monica. Thats where I took it once and those guys are idiots. Same scenario they BS about everything, keep you waiting big time. The best place in SoCal that I took was Mercedes Keys (van nuys). Rusnak is horrible also. They all have their noses up like they are some hotshots.

andrusha

Go to Lakeview in LI they will take care of you.

S4toML

man thats just wrong!!!

I go to Prestige MB in Paramus. First class service and service manager!