IdriveFast

BTW my suspension is stock now

So I took my car in for service today. My suspension has been making obnoxious noises when I get in/out of the car and when I go over speed bumps, so I wanted to take it in for it to get checked out.

I called the dealership in the mourning and spoke ot service advisor Jag. I told him about my problem and asked if it would be ok to bring the car in for today and he said that it would be ok. I asked him if I could recieve a loaner, seeing how my car was still under warantee, and he said that we could work it out.

So i drive about 20 miles to the dealership and arrive at about 10:00am. I chose to drive the 20 miles instead of going to a closer dealership because House Of Import was were I got my car. When I arrive, after about a 20min wait (which was ok because I did not make an appointment) I finally spoke to Jag.

From the beginning he gave me this vibe that felt like he did not really believe my car had a problem. No surprise there, Im always talking with service advisors that think my problems are all imaginary...so whatever. We went into his office and I asked him if I could get a loaner and he said that looking at the problems I described he did not think the service time would exceed 3 hrs, which was apparently a requirement to recieve a loaner, so he told me that I was not supposed to recieve a loaner underwarentee, but he would give me a loaner anyways, for ONE DAY ONLY. So im like ok i sign, get the loaner and leave at 11:00am.

At 3:00pm I call and ask if any progress has been made on my car. Jag then told me that it has not even recieved any attention yet, but he would get somebody on it either late today or early morning tomorrow. I then asked him about my loaner and we came to the conclusion that since I was not "supposed" to recieve a loaner, I might end up having to pay for the loaner for 1 day.

Ok....here are my problems with this:

1. When I got my car in august 2003 as an 03 model, the service advisors would ALWAYS give me loaners and never give me a problem about it. They were always very nice about it and never once brought up the 3hr service requirement issue. Which leads me to believe that this requirement was added later on. Since it was added after I purchased the car, I do not believe I should be subjected to it.

2. Why did this jacka*s tell me it was ok for me to bring in my car and that he could work out a loaner for me when he couldnt???

3. Ok he gives me a free day but he wont even work on it until tomorrow?!?! So im essentially wasting my "free" day when they arent even working on the freakin car!!! Why didnt this guy just tell me to bring in the car tomorrow. Then, assuming I would still get 1 free day with a loaner, I wouldnt have to pay for the loaner at all.

4. I brought my car to House Of Imports for this problem before but they could not fix it. So i brought my car to Newport Mercedes, and they did an excellent job of fixing it and provided me with a loaner. But this time I do not live near Newport anymore so I decided to goto House Of Imports, which is closer to me than Newport and is also where I got my car. Why is Newport providing better service to me than the Dealership where I bought my car!??!? Is House Of Imports really this incompetent!?!?

Here is what I am going to do.....Tomorrow I will pick up my car. If I my service time does not exceed 3 hours and/or they do not fix anything because they do not think anything is wrong(which is essentially telling me everything thats pissing me off about my car is normal) I am gonna throw the biggest b1tch they've ever seen!!!


edit: Im gonna call again and 5:00pm and see what this guy says. Maybe Ill throw my b1tch over the phone.

nlpamg

that sucks to hear.

I know who you're talking about, and he was never my advisor there, but all the times I've interacted with him he gave me all the usual bull**** and promises.

I actually had decent service from HOI, but they were SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDY... VERY SHADY and questionable dealership.

Ricky, if you're reading this, lets start up a new sticky. Dealerships NOT to go to and Service Advisors that are bad...

I can list off a few in So. Cal alone...

NoC

I think House of imports is part of the POWER/ Autonation group now. Bigger they get.. the worst service you get!

Vader13

Fletcher JMB licks ny ******* every time I go in..............

KRob3

The MB service center in Rocklin (Sacramento area) is awesome. My car is washed inside and out and ready at the promised time, everytime. I always get a loaner when my car is expected to take a half day or so. Excellent customer service and very professional staff.

SiLvaC32

i went to The House once, and my service adviser was Jag, he helped me out a ton!! i have had a great experience with him. =)

JamE55

I've dealt with House Of Imports for service and have had no problems. They were actually blown away when they saw what's under the hood!

Vadim @ evosport

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Jag and House of Imports. Unfortunately, it's hard for any company to please all their customers all the time.

As counterpoint to your unpleasant experience, we have sent many customers to Jag at HOI because he has been so responsive and effective in getting cars in to their shop in a timely manner, getting the best techs working on them, getting them completed in a timely manner, and getting as much as possible covered by MB warranty.

We have at least a dozen C32 and E55 customers who now swear by Jag - not at him! So, again, sorry to hear about your problems; maybe you both were having a bad day?

If we can in any informal way help mediate and/or resolve your problem, give us a call.

IdriveFast

well its unfortunate that so many people here hold jag in such high regard. because i really wanted yell my head off tomorrow if he didnt fix the problems and/or i have to pay for the freakin loaner (which i feel is soooo wrong it makes me want to stab somebody). but ill keep it civil tomorrow and politely express my dissatisfaction. but hopefully i wont have to because they fixed it.

if they fix it, ill gladly pay the fee. i have no problem with that. but if they dont fix a GADDAMN thing and still expect me to pay.....

MarcusF

Being an ex-wrench, I may have this all wrong, but isn’t there some unwritten rule about not complaining about the poor quality of the shoddy workmanship until AFTER the owner gets the car back. I mean, if the mechanic at HOI has absolutely no chance of fixing the car, you may want to consider driving back to Newport and letting them do the work. I know . . . . . I know . . . . . . this is based on what the service writer said/wrote/acted, and you don’t have a good feeling about this. But take it from an ex-mechanic, there’s only one person who knows less about a car than the owner – the serviced writer. We used to say there’s a reason certain service writers aren’t mechanics – and it isn’t because his/her/it’s overwhelming knowledge of all things mechanical is better served in the cage, err, their office. You wouldn’t believe the scribbling we used to see on work orders. An experienced wrench ignores the hieroglyphics, fixes the car, and spends the afternoon laughing at the service writer. Hopefully your car gets fixed to your satisfaction. Being fair, many service writers are very good at diagnosing problems AND there’s a good reason why head wrenches don’t deal with customers. Good wrenches have been known to be somewhat less than patient.


Lastly, if you haven’t picked up your car yet, you may want to hold off blasting the service department ON A PUBLIC FORUM. I have no idea what MB wrenches do to the vehicles of “problem owners”, but I can tell you a mechanic has something in common with a waiter at a restaurant – he’s the last guy alone with something you care about - and he may read forums in his spare time.

RawAMGpower

Ewwwuuuhh! So that's why my steering wheel was sticky when I picked my car up the other day. Maybe I won't call the mechanic a f***ing moron next time. :p

blkc230k

i never really like House of import. first off, they wont give us a good deal at the begnning. and then one day i got a nail near by house of import. so i decied to go in to have them fix a flat, and took the people about 2 hrs+ to get it done, caliber motors is the way to go(the one i go on a regular baisis)! i heard laguna nugel one is nice too! had a friend just purchase a car from flecter jone, the service was nice there too!

FrankW

service at HOI is good and bad for me...sometimes they are smart enough to fix the thing and sometimes they are complete morons. My service advisor is alright tho.

The loaner excuse they gave you is BS. You are entitled to the loaner until they finish all the work and then you have till second day noon to return the loaner car. If they call you saying that the car is finished and can't find any problem, you can tell them to check it again by a different tech. The last time I went in to check on the suspension squeaks they said they couldn't find the problem even after test drive, and I just called the service advisor and tell them to check it again and they found out it was from the sway bar bushings.

btw, just go in and tell them you want to talk to FRED POTTER the service dept manager. Make complains to him and he'll take care of it.


p.s. I also take the car to Rusnak sometimes which is closer from work.

m3_eater

The service department at my local dealership (Mercedes-Benz of Novi) is so indifferent that it smacks of insult. I have to wonder if they are just accustomed to owners who not only don't know a damn thing, but are so rich that they don't even care to know. I was treated like I brought them a beat up rusty 1985 Escort, not a well-maintained top of the line AMG car. The short version of a really long story is that they tried to get me to pay for a $6000.00 repair when my car needed only an $800.00 one. I said "Give me my car back." Oh - and by the way: since when did ANY shop charge you for diagnostic, EVEN IF YOU HAVE THE REPAIR DONE THERE? That alone made me want to take the car elsewhere. A $280 fee with no incentive to stay? The service tech actually tried to tell me that "The whole industry does that now." as if I had not had cars repaired nationally for my entire adult life and NEVER encountered that.

In contrast, another local shop (Auto Europe in Birmingham) was not only responsive, but the service techs and writers there were really fantastic. They knew exactly the problem, shared MB service bulletins with me, and of course completed quality service on my C32. Oh - and the diagnostic fee was applied to the repair done in their shop, just like everybody else but MB.

I intend NEVER to return to any MB dealership ever for service, unless it is a warranty or recall. They clearly have their heads up their as---.

doubleU211

gosh..i feel for ya..we should all boycott mercedes! just kidding..some of these service advisors need to get off their high horse and start kissing OUR as*es because without us, they wouldn't have a damn job!

psk145

I've had good and bad service at Laguna Niguel. They used an air gun to take off my HRE's 2 days after I got them and screwed up the paint around the lugs. They blew me off saying they could have someone repair it, but thats all they could do. Besides that, the service is pretty good. Always get a loaner no questions asked.

doubleU211

We got the E55 from Laguna and at first, I was sketchy about having to transport the car alllll the way to Washington..but after the dilemma with Rasmussen..Laguna is my hero!

StapleGun

What a friggin' excellent point!!! and precisely WHY I don't take my car to a $tealer$hip and work on my own cars...it's all about that vested interest thing.

IdriveFast

Well I spoke to Jag again today. Everything should turn out great now!

He told me they fixed my suspension noises, my heated seats problem, my driver seat squeaking, and maybe something else i forgot.

But in anycase, I most likely will NOT have to pay for the loaner. Which saves both of us alot of drama. I have not recieved my car yet because they did not have the parts in stock required to fixed my heated seats, but I should have my car back tomorrow or monday.

I hope everything goes smoothly and everything that I was told was fixed on my car really was fixed completely and that I wasnt just given some temporary solution.

SiLvaC32

see! told ya Jag is a good guy!!

beemaze

You mean in Arcadia? I go there too, but they don't always know what they're doing.... PM me if you want more info.

IdriveFast

you have PM

nlpamg

I don't know where to go now. Southbay Mercedes is the absolute WORST!

But, here's my story with HOI. My SA (Steve, who is no longer at HOI) told me I need new tires. I told him I'll shop around and let him know. He gave me a quote and said that if I buy all 4 from him he'll give me a free alignment. So I said sure even though his price was $300 more than Tirerack's. (This was YEARS back with my w202 btw.) We agreed on a price and tire (the same tire that came with my car from the factory.) It was the Pirelli P6000, and he said he had ordered them. When I picked up my car, they put on Pirelli P600's. I complained and they said it was the "updated version" and that they didn't make the P6000. So, it was a good thing I had the Tirerack printout and list of prices. The P6000's were around $30 more per tire than the P600's and they had better performance. So I complained and they finally after a week changed and gave me the P6000's. If I didn't have my research and had my stuff, they would have gotten away with it.

During one of my other services, they told me I needed to change something (I forgot) and that it would cost $400. I didn't really care and told them sure.

I got suspicious when they said that my control arm bushings were worn and that it was "metal-to-metal" already and that it would last only a few more miles and that I needed it fixed to the tune of $900.

So, I took it to an independent shop for an oil change and had them look at it, and they said that although it's common on w202's, mine were STILL GOOD and would last me another 10k miles at least.

Marcus, I understand where you're coming from, but the thing is, if they get a "problem" client and **** them off, don't you think that problem client (who is most likely pretty sophisticated) will take other actions to redress it? When SB Mercedes damaged my car, I called up corporate, their GM, the service manager, was ready to file a claim with consumer affairs and had written a 3 page letter stating all the parties (that I was aware of) involved and was ready to file suit if they did not fix it to my satisfaction. A waiter at a restaurant is one thing, but the dealer could have a serious lawsuit on their hands...

Moral, some of the SA's need to stop being ****heads and listen to their clients, the porters need to stop being shmucks and damaging cars, and whoever is doing the "diagnosis" should be honest.

My 2 cents. I'd like to have a stick on this forum to list down dealerships AND names for that purpose.

glomar83

i've had good experiences with caliber. i think i got a very good deal on the car and the only service visit i had was smooth. i replaced a fog light and had a loaner for a day and a half, no hassle. i originally went to fletcher jones because i work like 2 minutes away. they had me rent a VW passat and then called me the next day to tell me they didn't even have the light and it would take weeks to order one from germany. when i originally started looking to buy a c55, i went to fletcher and the sales people wouldn't even up me. they weren't busy at all and i had to walk up to them and ask for assistance. the guy just said, "i think there is a c55 over there, it should be open."

Nickerz

Hey, I used to live in Rocklin! I'm amazed how much it's grown each time I go up there. I have to say the service in Fresno, CA is really good. I get a call from the dealership every two months or so and asked, "how's the Silver Bullet" runnin'? I just got a survey for the time I brought my car in and then a phone call from one of the service techs just checking to see if I got the survey. They are really concerned with customer service! That's the way it should be

Nick

PS Anyone see that commercial by that delivery company (DHL I think) about what happened to good customer service? Funny and soooo true!