A Letter to MB
04-21-2004, 09:28 AM
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2009 GT-R
A Letter to MB
I sent the following letter a little over a month in a half ago to 3 different areas in MB. A few weeks a go I got a letter from MBUSA saying essentially that they could not help me, and that this is the local dealers' problem. Today 4/20/04 I got a call back from my dealer saying that they will cut me a check for 1 month's payments on my C32. The check should take 2 weeks to get to me after I fax over a statement showing how much a month's payment is. Hopefully none of you will ever have to go through this kind of mess.
About 5 weeks back, my C32 came up with another TeleAid malfunction, asking me to visit the TeleAid workshop again (2 weeks prior I had the same problem along with an SRS light which was fixed with a module swap taking about 3 days.) I have been taking my car to Park Place Mid-Cities in Bedford, TX where I bought it.
After about 5 days of Park Place swapping out modules in the TeleAid chain, they were still not able to solve the problem, so they decided that it must be due to the window tinting on the back window. I was told that by having my windows tinted that I voided my warranty, and therefore would have to pay $631 for a new window, and possibly another $125/hr. labor for installation. Please keep in mind that when I bought the C32, new, part of deal was tinting the windows along with the installation of the new grill, replacement of the hood ornament, and installation of the chrome rings around the headlights. So, I was slightly shocked when I was told window tinting voided my warranty when my salesman at Park Place was the one that put it on before I accepted delivery of the car. I live in Texas where summers are miserably hot, and I don’t know anyone that does not have their windows tinted. My service advisor said that it’s possible when the tint was applied that some of the water they use to apply the tint got into the headliner and fried the electronics/wiring in the headliner which caused TeleAid to malfunction. This sounded preposterous, since I’ve had the car for nearly 5 months, and TeleAid has worked without a problem until a few weeks ago. If Mercedes-Benz does not want you to tint your windows, then they need to start offering smoked glass, or something else comparable as an option, or at least let you know that tinting windows voids their warranty before you buy the car, and not offer to put it on. After a long conversation with the service advisor, and even further conversation with the shop foreman, Park Place decided to “take a peek” under the headliner without removing the back window to see how things looked before doing anything else. A few days later, I got a call back saying everything looked o.k. and that the window/wiring under the headliner was fine, but they still don’t know what the problem is, and don’t know when they’ll be able to fix it. At this point, I was trying to decide how I could just get rid of this car and was wishing I had never bought it because if this is how a minor problem is handled, then how many months would it take to fix something major.
Right now, I only have a little over 4,000 miles on this car, and I am having shop time like a 400,000-mile-car. What future should I expect to see with this car? Is this typical for an AMG, C-Class car? Why should I ever buy another Mercedes-Benz?
Finally, into day 12, I get a call saying, “We found the problem . . . your car should be ready by the end of the day, but we need to verify. . .” On day 13, I picked up the car. The problem was said to be a corroded pin in the wiring harness going to one of the TeleAid modules causing TeleAid to put up a malfunction in the MFD. Seems like this should have been found in Step 1 of their diagnose the problem procedure. Even first year electronics students would know to first check all their connectors before just swapping out parts. Needless to say, I am very disappointed with Park Place; I expect more when I pay $60k for a car. Even with all the maintenance and quality problems that I’ve had with American cars, I have never had one in the shop for 13 days for anything, including times in the body shop when I was hit in a collision!
After finally receiving my car, I noticed a couple of days later that during one of the many modules swaps, Park Place decided that the instrument cluster was bad and replaced it with a standard C-Class instrument cluster. You would think that the technician working on my car would have realized that what he took out of the car does not look like what he’s putting in it. When I asked my service advisor why they did not put my original cluster back in when they found the wiring harness problem, he then began to tell me that my cluster was also a problem, and they will have to order a new AMG cluster for my car and. . . . At this point, I am on my 3rd trip to Park Place in less than 8 weeks, to fix a problem that is now solely due to their incompetence.
My car has now spent nearly 20 days in the shop in the last 8 weeks for a problem, that seems, should have been fairly simple to resolve. All the service paperwork I have received has been very cryptic. I still do not believe that I really know exactly what was done in those nearly 20 days Place Place had my car. I am enclosing copies of the paperwork that I have received to date (I still have not received any from my 3rd trip out there to replace the instrument cluster.)
From information I have heard and read, I think I should be credited for payments for all the time I did not have my car. I made payments for those nearly 20 days, and I would like Park Place to pick them up since they had the car for that period of time. If this is something that they can not do, then I should get something comparable for: my time running back and forth to Park Place Mid-Cities, mileage to and from Park Place Mid Cities (40 miles round trip per trip times 3 trips = 120 miles), and the many days of frustration without my car.
Also, I noticed that every time I brought my car in for this problem, Park Place put miles on my car. They have driven my car for 10+ miles for no reason. Why are they out driving around in my car? I have not had any type of problem that requires them to drive it more than to the shop from the service drive. The only crazy answer I received from my service advisor was that Mercedes–Benz requires them to go out and drive every car they work on.
Something that I also expect from anyone that works on my car for more than a day is a personal greeting and explanation of everything that was done to my car when I arrive to pick it up. I obviously had more done than an oil change or scheduled maintenance. Instead, I was pushed off to the poor cashier that knows nothing more than how to release my car to me and hand me my paperwork. All three times, my service advisor was nowhere to be found.
My last question/suggestion would be to put a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Fort Worth, TX. Fort Worth, TX has a population of over half a million. Why must we have to drive out of the city to find a Mercedes-Benz dealership? Driving 40+ miles round-trip every time I have a problem is very aggravating. The Mercedes-Benz dealerships should be in the major cities, not in some little town on the outskirts. Both Dallas and Plano have their own Mercedes-Benz dealerships, why not Fort Worth?
I would very much appreciate a response to this letter, please contact me.
About 5 weeks back, my C32 came up with another TeleAid malfunction, asking me to visit the TeleAid workshop again (2 weeks prior I had the same problem along with an SRS light which was fixed with a module swap taking about 3 days.) I have been taking my car to Park Place Mid-Cities in Bedford, TX where I bought it.
After about 5 days of Park Place swapping out modules in the TeleAid chain, they were still not able to solve the problem, so they decided that it must be due to the window tinting on the back window. I was told that by having my windows tinted that I voided my warranty, and therefore would have to pay $631 for a new window, and possibly another $125/hr. labor for installation. Please keep in mind that when I bought the C32, new, part of deal was tinting the windows along with the installation of the new grill, replacement of the hood ornament, and installation of the chrome rings around the headlights. So, I was slightly shocked when I was told window tinting voided my warranty when my salesman at Park Place was the one that put it on before I accepted delivery of the car. I live in Texas where summers are miserably hot, and I don’t know anyone that does not have their windows tinted. My service advisor said that it’s possible when the tint was applied that some of the water they use to apply the tint got into the headliner and fried the electronics/wiring in the headliner which caused TeleAid to malfunction. This sounded preposterous, since I’ve had the car for nearly 5 months, and TeleAid has worked without a problem until a few weeks ago. If Mercedes-Benz does not want you to tint your windows, then they need to start offering smoked glass, or something else comparable as an option, or at least let you know that tinting windows voids their warranty before you buy the car, and not offer to put it on. After a long conversation with the service advisor, and even further conversation with the shop foreman, Park Place decided to “take a peek” under the headliner without removing the back window to see how things looked before doing anything else. A few days later, I got a call back saying everything looked o.k. and that the window/wiring under the headliner was fine, but they still don’t know what the problem is, and don’t know when they’ll be able to fix it. At this point, I was trying to decide how I could just get rid of this car and was wishing I had never bought it because if this is how a minor problem is handled, then how many months would it take to fix something major.
Right now, I only have a little over 4,000 miles on this car, and I am having shop time like a 400,000-mile-car. What future should I expect to see with this car? Is this typical for an AMG, C-Class car? Why should I ever buy another Mercedes-Benz?
Finally, into day 12, I get a call saying, “We found the problem . . . your car should be ready by the end of the day, but we need to verify. . .” On day 13, I picked up the car. The problem was said to be a corroded pin in the wiring harness going to one of the TeleAid modules causing TeleAid to put up a malfunction in the MFD. Seems like this should have been found in Step 1 of their diagnose the problem procedure. Even first year electronics students would know to first check all their connectors before just swapping out parts. Needless to say, I am very disappointed with Park Place; I expect more when I pay $60k for a car. Even with all the maintenance and quality problems that I’ve had with American cars, I have never had one in the shop for 13 days for anything, including times in the body shop when I was hit in a collision!
After finally receiving my car, I noticed a couple of days later that during one of the many modules swaps, Park Place decided that the instrument cluster was bad and replaced it with a standard C-Class instrument cluster. You would think that the technician working on my car would have realized that what he took out of the car does not look like what he’s putting in it. When I asked my service advisor why they did not put my original cluster back in when they found the wiring harness problem, he then began to tell me that my cluster was also a problem, and they will have to order a new AMG cluster for my car and. . . . At this point, I am on my 3rd trip to Park Place in less than 8 weeks, to fix a problem that is now solely due to their incompetence.
My car has now spent nearly 20 days in the shop in the last 8 weeks for a problem, that seems, should have been fairly simple to resolve. All the service paperwork I have received has been very cryptic. I still do not believe that I really know exactly what was done in those nearly 20 days Place Place had my car. I am enclosing copies of the paperwork that I have received to date (I still have not received any from my 3rd trip out there to replace the instrument cluster.)
From information I have heard and read, I think I should be credited for payments for all the time I did not have my car. I made payments for those nearly 20 days, and I would like Park Place to pick them up since they had the car for that period of time. If this is something that they can not do, then I should get something comparable for: my time running back and forth to Park Place Mid-Cities, mileage to and from Park Place Mid Cities (40 miles round trip per trip times 3 trips = 120 miles), and the many days of frustration without my car.
Also, I noticed that every time I brought my car in for this problem, Park Place put miles on my car. They have driven my car for 10+ miles for no reason. Why are they out driving around in my car? I have not had any type of problem that requires them to drive it more than to the shop from the service drive. The only crazy answer I received from my service advisor was that Mercedes–Benz requires them to go out and drive every car they work on.
Something that I also expect from anyone that works on my car for more than a day is a personal greeting and explanation of everything that was done to my car when I arrive to pick it up. I obviously had more done than an oil change or scheduled maintenance. Instead, I was pushed off to the poor cashier that knows nothing more than how to release my car to me and hand me my paperwork. All three times, my service advisor was nowhere to be found.
My last question/suggestion would be to put a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Fort Worth, TX. Fort Worth, TX has a population of over half a million. Why must we have to drive out of the city to find a Mercedes-Benz dealership? Driving 40+ miles round-trip every time I have a problem is very aggravating. The Mercedes-Benz dealerships should be in the major cities, not in some little town on the outskirts. Both Dallas and Plano have their own Mercedes-Benz dealerships, why not Fort Worth?
I would very much appreciate a response to this letter, please contact me.
04-21-2004, 01:27 PM
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C32
You should probably begin consulting a lawyer or procedure to proceed with a lemon lawsuit. However, it's very state dependent. For example, in California if the same problem cannot be fixed after the third visit the card *can be* rendered a lemon.
Do a search on the C-class forum and you will find links to MB-complaint related sites.
However, I must stress that if you are buying the car for dependability and reliability, you are over your head. There's a reason why MB and other European makes lag far behind the Japanese competitors in the last several years. Of course, there are many owners who had no problems with their cars
Do a search on the C-class forum and you will find links to MB-complaint related sites.
However, I must stress that if you are buying the car for dependability and reliability, you are over your head. There's a reason why MB and other European makes lag far behind the Japanese competitors in the last several years. Of course, there are many owners who had no problems with their cars
04-21-2004, 03:14 PM
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After all this, I think that it was probably more dealer incompetence than anything else. I feel really torn about it all. The car drives really great, but after this experience, it will be hard to want to ever buy another MB. I was originally considering buying an E55 in the next 3 years or so, but now I'm thinking Maserati, Porche, or Lotus. I don’t think any of them would quite have the plush feel of the AMG though. Also, I am very hesitant about doing any mods like the rest of you since I have had these problems. It was hard enough getting the dealership to fix a factory car. At least there are other dealerships in DFW to try. I think I’ll give the one in Plano a shot (50+ miles from my house) when my first maintenance comes due at 10k miles.
04-21-2004, 04:21 PM
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Make sure you also have a second car if you are going to get anything from those brands. I've read that the Porsche dealership experience is much better than MB's, but then again, it varies depending on if there's only one Porsche dealer in the DFW area. At least it will make your headaches less painful.
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04-22-2004, 12:31 AM
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Before I sold my Porsche for this C32, I had significantly better service. Mercedes gave me back my car dirty when I picked it up. Even the Honda dealerships I experienced in the past washed and vacuumed for services as minor as an oil change.
04-22-2004, 10:05 PM
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Originally posted by VancouverC32
Before I sold my Porsche for this C32, I had significantly better service. Mercedes gave me back my car dirty when I picked it up. Even the Honda dealerships I experienced in the past washed and vacuumed for services as minor as an oil change.
Before I sold my Porsche for this C32, I had significantly better service. Mercedes gave me back my car dirty when I picked it up. Even the Honda dealerships I experienced in the past washed and vacuumed for services as minor as an oil change.
cause at my MB. we can go in for a cup of tea and the guy would come up to us and ask if we wanted our car washed for free.
