Carter

my son's C320 went in to get his tail light fixed (broken lens) this morning, so anyway, i went with him to go pick up his car, and i looked at the bill. So the charges were 623.34 dollars. i asked why it was that much and the guy said "oh well we had to order them from Germany" so i thought to myself "if we brought the car in the morning, how could they order a part from germany and have it in their hands by noon?" so i asked to see the parts manager, and he refused to drop the price because C320 tailights are "obsolete per say, and hard to find" so i start yelling and then one of the salesmen come up to me and ask if i have a problem. i said "a problem? 600 DOLLARS FOR A *******G TAILLIGHT!" so they told me to pay the bill and get out. so i ended up paying this bullsh*t charge! Should i seek legal help on this? obviously these jacka**es are lying their *** off.

BrabusCClass

Did you ask for an estimate earlier? Can you list the breakdown in prices. What does it say? I am very curious why 1 taillight is that expensive. I took my taillights off very easily and I would think that 1 taillight should only go for about $300 max. Labor should be at max 1 hour if that. I did it in 15 minutes max 30 min for both taillights and 3rd break light. The 3rd break light is the only thing that is time consuming.

tommy

I think you should seek professional help if you are going to whine about a $600 charge from a dealer when you own 42 properties and a bunch of Benzes.

What you should have done was check out the price beforehand, and ordered it yourself if you can get it cheaper. Didn't you ask for an estimated price for the part before the work was started?

The parts business is like all others, including real estate. If you are dealing with someone who hasn't done their homework, you've got the upper hand.

I'd recommend getting over it and learning a lesson. And if you feel as though it was the dealer overcharging you, don't go back. Adding another lawsuit to the system is just going to be a waste of time for all concerned, and you'll probably just incur more bills.

Carter

first of all, the guy at the dealership told me 325 dollars.....now tell me, wouldnt you get mad if he charged you 300 bucks more???? 300 bucks is a lot, how can i just forget about 300 bucks??? especially when the guys lied to your face in the morning about a 325 dollar tail light, and then it being 600 bucks mysteriously? thats not a matter that can just be forgotten about.....

Flashman

I could not post and this is one I felt strong enough to start another threat to post a reply...
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If you were quoted $325 dollars and the bill was $600, you should have asked a supervisor to clarify and explain the difference, with a detailed breakdown.

However, I personally agree with the dealership asking you to "pay and leave" when you erupted into yelling and swearing. I strongly support any employer that does not stand for such behavior. These people are there to do a job, are professionals, and are entitled to be treated as such. If the final bill did not match the estimate, there's a process to follow for that.

I'm curious how you got so far in the Real Estate business with such weak negotation and arbritration skills. Oh, wait, is this what tenants can expect when they ask you to fix something?

Sorry I sound annoyed, but I work on the other side of the fence and I strongly believe that good customer service comes from good associate treatment. Good associate treatment includes supporting the associates when a customer becomes abusive.

tommy

Ah, the story unfolds.

Yes, then I'd be upset about the overcharge. My apologies.

Well, then I'd suggest a conversation with the general manager, telling him or her about your problem, along with the names of those involved. If you bought all of your Benzes there, then you should be able to get in a conversation with someone up the food chain. And if doesn't work at the local level, I'd say go even higher - someone at MBUSA would love to hear about this little scam.
Of course, if there is a valid reason as to why the price jumped, then I'd accept that, but even then, the GM would probably want to keep you happy somehow. They tend to not like customer complaints coming down on them from corporate.

Carter

you guys are 100% right, i shouldnt of yelled. i did apologize, and asked the man kindly what the breakdown was.... over the phone i asked him and rudley he said "whats the problem? 600 dollars for these tail lights, and it took two men to install that light because it was "different." he hung up on me without an explination why it costed 300 dollars over the agreed price. 300 dollars for labor? anyone can install one but instead it took them "two men" to install it. so the guy hung up on me. is this how a loyal customer should be treated?

MB-BOB

mleskovar says the part is only $250, so a quote of $325 is reasonable, But $623 isn't, so I would be inclined to run it to ground, too. Except I would drive up in the ML430 (leave the S500 at home). Better yet, borrow the neighbor's 323i or dasMafia's Z3...

Sorry, I'm being ignorant. You didn't accumulate your successes by wasting money, so I'm with you.

BrabusCClass

It does not take two men to do your taillights. There is only 8 clips (I just went and counted) that get undone by using a small flathead screwdriver in them to pop it out. Then you use a socket, I think a 10mm and there is 4 bolts to undo. Thats all and it pops out with no problems. You just then unclip it in on the bottom (the connector for the lights). If you like I will time myself and see how long it takes. This takes no skill and not 2 people unless they are both incompetant. If they are then they should not be touching anyones Mercedes anyways.

If I were you Id be pissed and I would show them how could this cost so much. Explain what I said and go see for yourself. You will see the square clips in the center piece on the trunk trim. If you take the panel for the light out you can see how the bolts look like. Actually I only took 2 clips out on each side to do the procedure, the ones on the ends and just pulled the trim to reach the bolt. Very very easy. 30 min job tops for both tail lights.

revstriker

No offense, but isn't this your son's car? How is he handling it?

benzomonterey

Didn't you realize his son is a 17 year old CEO he has no time to do those things. That's what dad is for.

Rick

Mr. Carter,
If you were indeed quoted $325 for the part, asking for a labor estimate would have been appropriate. If none was asked for, grab your ankles and reach for the vaseline. If there is a reasonable dispute for the labor charge (let calmer heads prevail) then take it up with the General Manager. Inform him of the quote (calmly), inform him of the treatment by the sales and parts managers (even MORE calmly) and ask if there's anything that can be done about the labor charges because you believe that one technician should be able to do this job in less than one hour.
Then shut up...let him talk...do not interupt...
LISTEN!
Then after his explanation, you might be able to suggest they refund the difference to your credit card.
If not, you can play the sleazy side and charge back the difference via your credit card company, explaining in writing that the bill is disputed and let them take it to task (you'll probably end up paying it anyway).

The person you should really be angry at is your son...for breaking the light in the first place.

One last suggestion....
just a word of advice...

DECAFF

Richard

Some of your US dealers are real *cowboys*

Im in the UK, That would just *never* happen here.

MB dealers have a system called ASRA that tells them the amount of labour each [common] job should take [and a bunch of microfiches with the same info]. The dealers always use that to charge for a job. Sometimes they make a bit [if they have paid for very skilled staff], sometimes a job takes a bit longer, but they go by the "book".

Ive never heard of cars being registered in the dealers name and then priced above retail price here, but it seems to happen in the USA. The dealers here are good at preventing people selling their places on waiting lists to others

Ive been wondering why US doesnt offer all the options on a pick-and-mix [and designo colors] basis that we have in the Europe on the cars and packages things together - I assumed it was influenced by the lemon laws, but someone senior in MB germany told me its because the US dealers just find it *too* hard to do that as all other manafacturers there do things in packages [or have very few options] - sounds like that may have a ring of truth ..

Any US dealers out there that want to comment ?

Richard

Ok, this annoyed me so much, I phoned up my friendly dealers service guys and asked them to look up on ASRA what the recommended hours were.

On a normal C320 or a C320 estate (maybee you dont get that car there)

"Left rear light unit, Remove and install, replace as required" - 0.5 hours, Right one, the same, Both, 0.7 hours

(Presumably theres about 0.3 hours of prep work to do the job like disconnecting battery and removing trunk trimmings so thats why its only actually 0.2 hours addition to do the second one)

(Those figures are straight from the ASRA system, on the sports-coupe its 0.9 and 1.2hours)

Rick

That's great info, Richard...and thanks.

Somehow I think the entire thread is a crock...
Doing the math a 36 year old (9/65 dob) couldn't possibly have a 21 year old daughter with an SLK(on a dealer showroom floor, no less) and a son affluent enough to drive a C32.(unless of course he's a former Enron CEO from Appalachia and his mother was his wife and his father was his daughter...or somthing like that)

Black230

Well, I agree with the price of $600 + being outrageous for a damn tailight I dont care what kind of car it is.-Bottom line is a piece of plastic (MY famuily has had more expensive cars than Benze's and for something that minute the prices are nowhere near $600 and I'm talking a Ferrari 355). However, One thing is to always call your service advisor. I call my advisor two hours after the car has been taken in for updates, cost, etc.... not just wait till pickup time and spark a fight-see you start a fight and they ignore you. I usually have a bad temper and hate dealers and stupid service advisor talk and bullsh*t however one needs to cover their own a** and call and keep themselves updated by calling the service dept. a few times to ask what is being replaced and why and the cost. Yes though I still agree no matter what kind of car you have that $600 is too much for a tailight, but one thing is for sure dealers will always charge you more for a part or repair so do your homework next time.

MarkL

I've held back on this thread, but I think you've seen the light.

Carter

who said i was born in 65? i was born in 56.... where did you obtain the year 1965? that's outragous, and why would i lie about having kids? not something worth bragging about..... you should ask first instead of making accusations against me. i didnt think there would be this many "non-believers"

awiner

That was the Year of Birth that was entered in your profile which I now see what updated today to 1956.

Carter

yes, i changed it yesterday so that i wouldnt get accusations and comments about me or my kids.

gab

his daughter's SLK on the show floor looks like a SLK32 to me?

Lynn

I agree. It sure looks like the SLK32 grille and bumper.

gab

i think the sport trim of SLK 320 comes in AMG bumper for 2002

Lynn

I just checked the build your own at MBUSA, and the "Sport" package does have AMG lower bodywork and the AMG wheels as shown on the pic of the car in the showroom. I was going by the glint on the front fender, where the "Kompressor" badge is on the SLK32. However, that is the same location as the "Sport" badge on the SLK320 Sport.

jpgroom

I would have just filed a claim and let my insurance claim reps deal with the inflated charges. My company does not take lightly being gouged by repair shops. This is assuming Carter has insurance at a reasonable deductable under the $600 charge.