One month and 780 miles with my C350...
02-13-2012, 05:29 AM
#27
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2008 mercedes-benz c300 4matic sport
For those who are interested, I picked up my car from the shop on Friday, so it's update time.
My car was in the shop for 24 days. They replaced almost everything rear of the rear window. Total cost: $8,400. Sadly, the saga is not over.
While they did a decent enough job with the large repairs, I found a number of small imperfections that I would like the shop to fix (scratches on my rear lights, glue on the rear window, and some poor finish work on the body panel near the left rear wheel well). As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I'm a big time perfectionist, so I am trying to balance my sometimes unreasonable desires with reality, but I don't think I should have to put up with that kind of damage on a new car.
I am, however, upset by one aspect of my interaction with this shop (Phillip's Collision Center in Virginia Beach). I spent 45 minutes checking all of the repairs that they made before taking my car. I noted some of the small imperfections and agreed to return my car to fix them. When I got home, however, I noticed that my front license plate bracket was crooked. I bent down to adjust it, and saw this:
The shop removed my front plate (or at least attempted to) by rotating it around the tow hitch. Anyone with a Gominigo bracket knows you can't do that because the screws will dig into the front bumper. The photograph doesn't really do the damage justice. Those are not scratches; the screws gauged through the finish and into the plastic. Sigh.
I can understand mistakes, but that they let me drive away without telling me about the damage is infuriating. At least one person had to have known about it when he removed (or attempted to remove) the front plate. I am going to confront the shop tomorrow. I'll report back when I get the manager's response. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide how I want to handle the situation. I'm not sure I feel comfortable returning my car to the same shop.
Stay tuned for more! With any luck, I may yet get to drive the car I bought 3 months ago for more than a few weeks without something else going wrong.
My car was in the shop for 24 days. They replaced almost everything rear of the rear window. Total cost: $8,400. Sadly, the saga is not over.
While they did a decent enough job with the large repairs, I found a number of small imperfections that I would like the shop to fix (scratches on my rear lights, glue on the rear window, and some poor finish work on the body panel near the left rear wheel well). As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I'm a big time perfectionist, so I am trying to balance my sometimes unreasonable desires with reality, but I don't think I should have to put up with that kind of damage on a new car.
I am, however, upset by one aspect of my interaction with this shop (Phillip's Collision Center in Virginia Beach). I spent 45 minutes checking all of the repairs that they made before taking my car. I noted some of the small imperfections and agreed to return my car to fix them. When I got home, however, I noticed that my front license plate bracket was crooked. I bent down to adjust it, and saw this:
The shop removed my front plate (or at least attempted to) by rotating it around the tow hitch. Anyone with a Gominigo bracket knows you can't do that because the screws will dig into the front bumper. The photograph doesn't really do the damage justice. Those are not scratches; the screws gauged through the finish and into the plastic. Sigh.
I can understand mistakes, but that they let me drive away without telling me about the damage is infuriating. At least one person had to have known about it when he removed (or attempted to remove) the front plate. I am going to confront the shop tomorrow. I'll report back when I get the manager's response. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide how I want to handle the situation. I'm not sure I feel comfortable returning my car to the same shop.
Stay tuned for more! With any luck, I may yet get to drive the car I bought 3 months ago for more than a few weeks without something else going wrong.
02-13-2012, 09:33 AM
#29
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2012 C350 Sedan
That's the question I've been asking myself all weekend. I'm guessing the shop either removed the bracket to be safe (I'm sure they don't want anything extruding from the vehicle that can catch clothing, tools, etc.), or someone accidentally hit it while walking by, just enough to rotate it into the bodywork. I spoke to the manager, and he seemed genuinely surprised that someone in his shop messed with the front license plate, so I can believe that it was an accident. However, it would take a lot of force to rotate the bracket, so who knows? 
02-13-2012, 01:08 PM
#31
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2012 C350 Sedan
No, it's the factory spoiler for the 2012 C350. Based on some conversations I've had with other 2012 owners, the factory spoiler is different on the C250s/300s and C350s.
02-14-2012, 11:23 PM
#32
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2020 CLA 250 4Matic Black
The shop removed my front plate (or at least attempted to) by rotating it around the tow hitch. Anyone with a Gominigo bracket knows you can't do that because the screws will dig into the front bumper. The photograph doesn't really do the damage justice. Those are not scratches; the screws gauged through the finish and into the plastic. Sigh.
I can understand mistakes, but that they let me drive away without telling me about the damage is infuriating. At least one person had to have known about it when he removed (or attempted to remove) the front plate. I am going to confront the shop tomorrow. I'll report back when I get the manager's response. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide how I want to handle the situation. I'm not sure I feel comfortable returning my car to the same shop.
Stay tuned for more! With any luck, I may yet get to drive the car I bought 3 months ago for more than a few weeks without something else going wrong.
[/quote]After $8,400 you would think that they would do an outstanding job. Here in Toronto the MB Dealer can arrange for a certified repair company to come by and give you a detailed estimate, and I do mean detailed every part # is listed based on the damage they can see. There is no obligation and its a free service. I am told the dealers use 3rd party repair guys to do any damage done to leases or mechanic caused dings.
Its a shame that your new ride got damaged like this but the repair price seems high looking at the photos.
02-15-2012, 08:01 AM
#33
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The shop is a Mercedes certified repair shop. I obtained multiple detailed estimates, and they were all nearly the same. Also, I may not have mentioned it before, but I am not paying for any of the repairs. It is all covered by the third-party insurance company. The insurance company negotiated the price, so I'm sure it is within the ballpark of reasonable quotes.
