Good evening all - just looking for everyone's opinion...here's my situation. Been servicing my C63 at the same dealership I purchased it from (last 3+ years). Same Service Advisor the entire time and has always been super attentive to all of my cars needs - and has always been a wonderful experience dealing with him and the dealership as a whole. I brought my car in yesterday morning for the A service, new tires, and a couple of minor issues I had been experiencing that I wanted them to investigate. My SA proactively said to not be alarmed if we put 30-40 miles on the car because they will need to drive it to identify cause of minor issues I reported. Of course I had no issue with that at all. Again, they have always taken wonderful care of my car. So I go to pick it up this afternoon - keep in mind it has now been about 36 hours total that they've had my car - and I'm chit chatting with my SA as I always do as we're going through the check out process. I then happen to glance at the miles in/out and it equates to 258 miles. Yes, 258 miles in 36 hours!! I can't believe what my eyes are seeing so ask him if something was recording on my paperwork incorrectly and he says it must have been. So he pulls up the pic of the odometer that he took when I dropped it off (std procedure at this dealership) and then goes out to my car to check the current odometer reading and sure enough it is exactly right - they put 258 miles on it. I notice that he immediately becomes distressed by this and he goes and gets the service manager. They both proceed to apologize - over and over. Never once did they make any excuses. My SA then offers to replace my brake pads for free (was already planning to bring it back in for that service), which has a $1K+ cost. He offered before I could ask and at the time I thought it was very generous. Now fast forward a few hours - this is really beginning to settle in and I'm questioning if the free brake pads is enough compensation for what has occurred. The only reasonable explanation is that one of the technicians (or someone in the service dept that had access to my key) took it home Thursday for an evening full of joy rides. No telling what they did with my car - super aggressive driving, sex with girlfriend, illegal activities, etc. I say some of that obviously half joking, but the reality is I simply don't know what was done with my car for that period of time that someone took it off the dealership premises and drove it an outrageous number of miles.

That all said - and apologies for the lengthy explanation, what do you all think? The more I think of it the more I feel that a $1K brake pad service is simply not enough compensation. I would like to use you guys as a sanity check/sounding board though because maybe I'm being unreasonable.

Please let me know your thoughts and thanks in advance for your time.

Jeremy

 

Similar thread not long ago - yes you've been Bueller'd...

If was myself I'd take it much further than just accepting a free 1k pad job and walking away.

As said in the other thread, this sort of thing happens too often and something should be done about it !

 

Yes, saw the other post. Quite the reaction to his post and was just 100 miles put on his car. I feel my situation is substantially worse than that - no explanation for it at all and 258 miles. You mention you would take it much further. Curious what exactly would you ask for as compensation? I was thinking of asking for an extended warranty, which would be quite timely for me as mine expires in 9 months. Thoughts?

Would appreciate other views as well.

 

Honestly I think free brake pads are good enough. Realistically speaking driving 258 miles doesnt cost one $1k+ so id take those pads and be on my way.

 

I hope you had your dashcam recorded everything, if that technician did joy ride your car then you can take the footage and send it to Mercedes Benz USA headquarter to complain about them until that technician is fired, and also if the $1k brake pad service includes four new OEM brake rotors(which I doubt, cuz they cost around $4k) then it's totally worth for 258 miles, if that's just four new brake pads excluding brake rotors, then it's not enough.

 

Personally I would just leave it be. $1000 of services is not unreasonable compensation, and if there's nothing else wrong with your car, then the damage is just mental + 258 miles of wear.

Also, by accepting the brake job already, it really weakens your negotiation position if you decide to come back and request further amends.

I think there's two lessons to be lurned: first, have a dashcam and second, do not accept an offer that is not to your satisfaction.

 

Since OP didn't fully explain what the other issues were. Perhaps it is within the realm of possibility that's what it took to resolve those issues. Albeit the mileage is high but who knows. Every tech knows there is miles in/out and he or she could easily be caught on an extended joyride. Most likely a tech wouldn't want to jeopardize their job. Maybe with the miles being excessive in regards to the repair. Dealer is trying their best to make it right with a valued customer.

Funny story - I got home one time after a service on my SL63. Was cleaning/detailing it a week or so later. I noticed a gob of melted chocolate on the passenger door speaker - lol. I had to use a toothpick to poke the chocolate out/through the little speaker holes. I surmise the tech had another tech go with him on a test drive or lunch or whatever and had a candy bar with him. Most likely with the top down as it was summer in Vegas.

 

I’m the guy from the other thread. I ended up calling other dealerships and mbusa to set if what my dealer did was kosher. Pretty much got the same reply, for my particular situation (clearing a CEL), so decided to accept it. They did refund my tolls and and even my gas, though.

Yours is certainly more egregious than mine. Sorry to hear.

I think, however, you're pretty much locked in on the compensation. Your negotiating power is kinda spent. That said, all they can say is “no” to any new demands, but Im hard pressed to imagine what you could request. discount on tires, mileage reimbursement, .???

 

Definitely NOT in the realm of possibility. Note in my original post that I said the SA proactively told me it would likely be 30-40 miles of driving to reproduce issue I had flagged (which I thought was quite reasonable). The SA was more upset about the 258 miles than I was at the time this was identified.

Regarding the previous post, I didn’t agree in writing to anything whatsoever. The SA offered free brake pads (not including rotors because I don’t need them) on the spot. I told him I appreciated that but by all means I didn’t sign a release of liability.

The reality is this - someone in the service dept took my car home with them Thursday night without my permission or the dealership’s permission. There is no other way possible they could have put that many miles on my car. That is the equivalent of at least 4-5 hours of driving. That is called theft, which is a felony where I live. While he had my car I have no idea what he did with it, but I have to assume the worst (certainly not going to assume the best). The car itself could have easily been raced, did burnouts, hard launches, etc - all putting excessive wear and tear on my brand new tires, engine, transmission and brakes. Could easily result in issues months down the road. They also could have driven in the toll lane resulting in tickets coming to the me because they take pics of my tag. I could go more extreme because honestly who knows - they could have solicited a prostitute in my car, bought drugs, etc. and my tag was captured if under surveillance. This may sound extreme, but how do I really know what happened that night my car was taken. This exposes me to potentially a tremendous amount of liability. I left my car at dealership with complete trust that it would be treated with the utmost care - similar to when you drop your children off at daycare or school. Now that I’ve had 24 hours to digest what has occurred, I am extremely upset, my trust has been completely violated and a $1K brake job is most certainly not enough.

 

One more thing you may need to check is your wheels, that tech could just swap your wheels with some aftermarket cheap replica and resell your wheels, I assume he knows how to change wheels and tires. Cuz this did happen before...although it’s not MB dealership.

 

Believe me, I sympathize. I wanted to crush skulls when I saw my odo. I know exactly how you're feeling about this, and I didn't mean to diminish those feelings. It’s just hard to dollarize the compensation for this. Like you said, impossible to know what happened for sure and its easy to imagine the worst. By all means, get what you can out of them. Best of luck!

(I would demand they conduct a full inspection of EVERYTHING, and repair/replace anything that looks remotely like excessive wear, scratches, dings, etc..)

 

So question to ask yourself is this - what WOULD make this OK? You can't go back in time and undo the mileage. So given the reality of the situation, what would it take to make you OK with this? Do you want a formal apology, or the immediate termination of the tech that did it if they can find it, or $5,000 in unmarked bills? Until you can determine what you think it would take to make you "whole" again in this situation, it'll be hard to move forward.

Personally, I'd want an apology and some indication that the dealership accepts that this was poor behavior on their part. I'd accept the brake job and a full tank of gas, and make sure it was documented in writing that this happened, just in case something comes up down the road - like you said, speeding tickets etc. But, it wasn't my car, and I'm not you - so what would it take?

 

I think you should say, "thanks but no thanks" to the brake job and insist on a 5/75 ELW warranty. This will give you the piece of mind of another year of warranty coverage on the vehicle. The out of pocket cost to the dealership for the ELW is much less than the retail rate. You continue to use them for service, and you pay for your brake job. They pay to extend your warranty and ease your anxiety about any damage that may or may not have occurred if someone was hooning your ride.

With as much mileage as was accumulated on your car, I would insist on this.

 

LIke the other thread, there is nothing that requires 258 miles of driving for a car in service. The tech took your car home, and drove it everywhere. The dealership was nice enough to offer you new brake pads, I'd take that. But I would also ask them who was the tech, and how they allow customer cars to be abused by their employees?

 

Why not ask for new tires and pads?

Typically when I take my car in I only leave a few gallons of gas so in order to really joy ride it, someone will have to fill up on gas first before driving 100's of miles.

 

Well...after many discussions with the Service Director and ultimately the GM, they gave me what I asked for - one year extension on my warranty and brake pads. Both free of charge of course. Figure that is ~$4K worth of service for my inconvenience. I think that was fair.

Thanks to all for your previous feedback.

Jeremy

 

I know you already posted the resolution, but I wanted to comment on this.

Service writers are not techs. They're not trained as techs, and the reality is it's not unusual for them not to be fully up to speed on what a repair entails. 258 miles certainly seems excessive, but basing your outrage on the SR's estimate is probably not the best idea (nor is it the best idea for him to be quoting the likely mileage unless he knows for sure).

No. You DID give permission for them to drive your car. It's also likely stipulated in the service agreement you signed that they have permission to drive it. As far as "taking it home": did you expect the tech was just going to circle the lot for 258 miles? I understand you are (were) upset, but this is way over the top.

 

nobbyv - not sure what the point of your reply was, especially considering that the dealership obviously agreed with my position otherwise they would NOT have agreed to compensate me as they did. Did you just feel the need to point out that you disagreed with my position? Not sure how this adds any value, but since you did post your comments, I feel obligated to reply:

First comment - I communicate with Service Advisors (SA) not techs. When a SA (most tenured at that dealership) proactively reaches out and says 30-40 miles, then I trust it will be that. If there is a need to exceed that, then I expect that the SA will reach back out for my approval. This is how they have always operated in the past - and I fully appreciate their proactive transparency.

Second comment - the SA, Service Director, and GM all stated to me that the tech did NOT have permission to drive my car home (which he did) and all agreed that the number of miles put on my car was beyond excessive. Each stated to me separately that based on the couple minor mechanical concerns I had reported, they would have been surprised if it even took the 30-40 miles originally noted. Thus why they agreed to compensate me as they did. I wouldn't be surprised if they terminated the tech based on their comments to me. This exposed them to a significant amount of liability - an extra (and unnecessary) ~220 miles could have resulted in a number of things, but worst case could have been a car accident that he caused resulting in them having to purchase a new vehicle for me. I know that could happen any time they drive a customer's car - I'm just saying this increased their exposure further, unnecessarily.