Dealer wants ME to pay for $2,000.00 headlight!!!!!!!
11-11-2005, 06:10 AM
#1
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
Dealer wants ME to pay for $2,000.00 headlight!!!!!!!
I am so very pissed this morning.
About 2 months ago, I posted about this I believe, my key would not turn in the ignition. One day, it just would not work, out of nowhere. I had the car towed to the dealer. They ended up replacing several parts. When I picked the car up, I noticed 2 things wrong that were not wrong when the car went in. The rear sunshade was stuck in the up position, and 2 minutes after I left the dealer and put on my headlights, the passenger side warning light came on saying the bulb was out.
I thought, "that's weird," how could the bulb have burnt out? I got out of the car and noticed every few seconds that the bulb was trying to fire up because I could see the flash of light ignite. Finally, it went on after a few minutes. Mind you, I had put the Phillips Ultinon bulbs in about 4-5 months earlier. They were in for a few months, took them out maybe a month earlier because I was going to sell the car. I put the stocks back in. Never once had an issue with the Ultinons, after all, the stock OEM bulbs are also Phillips. Anyways, this problem persisted where it would take 10-15 seconds for the right one to go on for weeks. I finally made a dealer appointment and told them that was working fine when I took it in before, it had not happened once before the car was taken to the dealer for the ignition problem. A few days later, service rep. calls me and says car is done, they replaced a $900 control module for the light. I pick the car up, angry that it had been there in the first place because presumably of something they mucked up before. I turn the lights on the first time I leave the dealer....SAME THING still is happening. I was like WTF, did they not test the bulb before letting the car go!? At this point, my car had been gone for 3-4 days already and it was a weekend. I figured, it's not a huge deal, it's just a light, and I will make another appointment soon. After they replaced this control module, it seemed the problem was worse. Whereas it used to eventually fire up after 10-15 seconds before, it now would not fire up at all. I would have to continually turn the lights on and off....maybe 50 times before I got lucky and they both fired up. Anyways, during this time I put the Ultinons back in. I thought maybe it was the bulbs that were screwy. Nope, same thing was happening, the driver side worked perfect, the passenger did not.
Here is the odd thing...you guys know when you have been driving at night with your lights on, then you turn car off and get out, close door....that the fogs or low beams come on for 30 seconds if you have them programmed that way? Well, when I did that....that passenger low beam would fire right up fine. Everytime. This was with the stocks Xenon or Ultinon.
This is a long post, that is Part 1. LOL.
About 2 months ago, I posted about this I believe, my key would not turn in the ignition. One day, it just would not work, out of nowhere. I had the car towed to the dealer. They ended up replacing several parts. When I picked the car up, I noticed 2 things wrong that were not wrong when the car went in. The rear sunshade was stuck in the up position, and 2 minutes after I left the dealer and put on my headlights, the passenger side warning light came on saying the bulb was out.
I thought, "that's weird," how could the bulb have burnt out? I got out of the car and noticed every few seconds that the bulb was trying to fire up because I could see the flash of light ignite. Finally, it went on after a few minutes. Mind you, I had put the Phillips Ultinon bulbs in about 4-5 months earlier. They were in for a few months, took them out maybe a month earlier because I was going to sell the car. I put the stocks back in. Never once had an issue with the Ultinons, after all, the stock OEM bulbs are also Phillips. Anyways, this problem persisted where it would take 10-15 seconds for the right one to go on for weeks. I finally made a dealer appointment and told them that was working fine when I took it in before, it had not happened once before the car was taken to the dealer for the ignition problem. A few days later, service rep. calls me and says car is done, they replaced a $900 control module for the light. I pick the car up, angry that it had been there in the first place because presumably of something they mucked up before. I turn the lights on the first time I leave the dealer....SAME THING still is happening. I was like WTF, did they not test the bulb before letting the car go!? At this point, my car had been gone for 3-4 days already and it was a weekend. I figured, it's not a huge deal, it's just a light, and I will make another appointment soon. After they replaced this control module, it seemed the problem was worse. Whereas it used to eventually fire up after 10-15 seconds before, it now would not fire up at all. I would have to continually turn the lights on and off....maybe 50 times before I got lucky and they both fired up. Anyways, during this time I put the Ultinons back in. I thought maybe it was the bulbs that were screwy. Nope, same thing was happening, the driver side worked perfect, the passenger did not.
Here is the odd thing...you guys know when you have been driving at night with your lights on, then you turn car off and get out, close door....that the fogs or low beams come on for 30 seconds if you have them programmed that way? Well, when I did that....that passenger low beam would fire right up fine. Everytime. This was with the stocks Xenon or Ultinon.
This is a long post, that is Part 1. LOL.
Last edited by mjr24; 11-11-2005 at 06:50 AM.
11-11-2005, 06:24 AM
#2
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Thread Starter
OK, Part 2.
About 2 weeks after they replaced the control module, I made another appointment because as I said, the problem was not fixed. I bring it in. They end up replacing the whole headlight assembly, which I thought was extreme. Whatever though, it was under Starmark. The new assembly had the stock bulb in it too (that is how they come with a new assembly, the stock Xenon installed). The first time I turn on the lights, works fine. I am like, awesome, finally. This is despite the fact I have 2 different colored Xenons because of the Phillips 6000k in the other low beam. I tell the service rep. not to toss that other bulb, he said it burnt out though, "probably because of the headlight issue." That was odd I thought, what a coincidence that it has been doing this for weeks and the bulb all of a sudden burns out. I didn't believe it. I tested it on the driver low beam and sure enough, bulb worked fine.
Anyways, after a few days, the passenger low beam starts doing the same damn thing again. Like before...it just would not turn on, even if I turned it on and off 50 times. No doubt the problem had gotten worse since the control module was replaced. Again, I am perturbed....the fact that this NEVER DID THIS ONCE until it went to the dealer for the ignition problem. I am perturbed that I need to drive 30 miles to take this damn thing back to the dealer. In any event, again, figure it's just a damn bulb, I will take it in when I have time. How did I drive at night you ask? Well...when the 2 lights turned on after I shut the car off and closed the door....I would hurry up, open the door back up, turn the headlight switch on...and the 2 lights would stay on then when I restarted the car. Every so often the passenger light
would turn back off while the car was starting, but rarely. It made me think something was up that was doing something to the headlight when the car was turned on or running. Definately sounded electrical.
At no point after the headlight assembly was replaced did I put the Ultinon back into the passenger lowbeam because I wanted this sorted first and did not want my bulb to burn out as a result ($220 bulbs). Anyways, I made it a regular thing to do the hurry and open the door, turn the light switch on, etc. to drive at night. 3 nights ago, I did that...and while driving, low beam warning came on. That was odd, that had never happened once both lowbeams were on. I got out and checked...it was not even trying to light up. I figured maybe the bulb burnt out. I get home and check, the damn bulb socket won't come off the red connector. The damn thing had melted a little bit on one side. I was like WTF!? I finally was able to pull the socket from the red connector. Now I am furious.....just furious. I am like "WHAT THE F*CK DID THE DEALER DO TO MY CAR WHEN IT WAS IN THAT FIRST TIME FOR THE IGNITION?!"
OK, there is part 2.
About 2 weeks after they replaced the control module, I made another appointment because as I said, the problem was not fixed. I bring it in. They end up replacing the whole headlight assembly, which I thought was extreme. Whatever though, it was under Starmark. The new assembly had the stock bulb in it too (that is how they come with a new assembly, the stock Xenon installed). The first time I turn on the lights, works fine. I am like, awesome, finally. This is despite the fact I have 2 different colored Xenons because of the Phillips 6000k in the other low beam. I tell the service rep. not to toss that other bulb, he said it burnt out though, "probably because of the headlight issue." That was odd I thought, what a coincidence that it has been doing this for weeks and the bulb all of a sudden burns out. I didn't believe it. I tested it on the driver low beam and sure enough, bulb worked fine.
Anyways, after a few days, the passenger low beam starts doing the same damn thing again. Like before...it just would not turn on, even if I turned it on and off 50 times. No doubt the problem had gotten worse since the control module was replaced. Again, I am perturbed....the fact that this NEVER DID THIS ONCE until it went to the dealer for the ignition problem. I am perturbed that I need to drive 30 miles to take this damn thing back to the dealer. In any event, again, figure it's just a damn bulb, I will take it in when I have time. How did I drive at night you ask? Well...when the 2 lights turned on after I shut the car off and closed the door....I would hurry up, open the door back up, turn the headlight switch on...and the 2 lights would stay on then when I restarted the car. Every so often the passenger light
would turn back off while the car was starting, but rarely. It made me think something was up that was doing something to the headlight when the car was turned on or running. Definately sounded electrical.
At no point after the headlight assembly was replaced did I put the Ultinon back into the passenger lowbeam because I wanted this sorted first and did not want my bulb to burn out as a result ($220 bulbs). Anyways, I made it a regular thing to do the hurry and open the door, turn the light switch on, etc. to drive at night. 3 nights ago, I did that...and while driving, low beam warning came on. That was odd, that had never happened once both lowbeams were on. I got out and checked...it was not even trying to light up. I figured maybe the bulb burnt out. I get home and check, the damn bulb socket won't come off the red connector. The damn thing had melted a little bit on one side. I was like WTF!? I finally was able to pull the socket from the red connector. Now I am furious.....just furious. I am like "WHAT THE F*CK DID THE DEALER DO TO MY CAR WHEN IT WAS IN THAT FIRST TIME FOR THE IGNITION?!"
OK, there is part 2.
11-11-2005, 06:45 AM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
Part 3, the last one.
So I emailed my service lady yesterday angry....saying it has been in 2 times now....and that I am a very busy person and don't have time to keep doing this. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and gave them one last chance to make this right before I took my business for good, elsewhere. She said to bring it in this morning, Thursday. The service rep. had all of the techs, foremans, etc. look at the car....they were pretty dumbfounded. Mind you, I already think whoever was working on my car is incompetent because....
A-The first time they replaced the control module, the damn warning light came on 3 seconds after I left the dealer, making me thing he did not bother to turn the lights on to test after replacing the control module.
B-They told me a bulb that was working was burnt out (yeah, real hard to verify that).
C-This, as I said, not the first time things have gone into that dealer and came out with new things broken (the sunshade). In other words, the track record was poor.
Anyways, today I got a call from my service rep, who says he needs the bulb that was in that burnt socket (I had taken it out for the trash as I figured, what good is it). He says without it, the warranty will not cover this. He then makes reference to the aftermarket bulb, which still was in the driver side lowbeam (AND STILL working fine). He says he cannot in good faith take this to the warranty people because he knew I was using aftermarket bulbs. I was WTF, the one that burnt the socket WAS AN OEM BULB!! I asked...which is it, you said you needed the bulb...now you are saying it will not matter?! His boss called me a few minutes later and changed the story again, said after talking with the MB regional manager, that they need the bulb.
In any event, I held out hope I could find that burnt bulb. Luckily, neither of my parents threw it away (I was at their house when I removed it). I took the bulb in tonight, and they I assume are going to look at this tomorrow. Here is the kicker...they don't know what is damaged on the lowbeam now because the socket is burnt a little. THEY DO NOT SELL THE SOCKET SEPERATE SO THEY SAY I NEED TO BUY A WHOLE NEW ASSEMBLY, $1700 AND AN OTHER 5 HOURS FOR LABOR! This is a $10 plastic socket probably!!! The red one..with the lightning warning symbol sticker.
They tell me the tech remembered some service bulletins about how aftermarket bulbs may change the resistance and screw up something, pretty vague. In other words, they were trying to blame this problem on the bulbs. That argument fails for the simple facts that THERE WAS AN OEM BULB in there now in that lowbeam....and EXPLAIN why in the other one, there has been no problems for 7 months now?!
I am furious. Here is what is boils down to....they ****ed my car up months ago when they did something with that ignition. They now want to release themselves from liability because I used an aftermarket bulb at one point, despite the fact it has no relevance to this situation. The service rep. kept giving me this "see it from our point of view." OK, see it from mine, I take my $75k car into you guys and have given you LOTS of business. I bring my car in and half the time something comes out broken that was not before. You guys continually fail to fix these problems. You screwed my low beam up months ago....and are trying to tell me it is a coincidence that this just happened in the 5 days it was at the dealer for the ignition problem. You are trying to tell me it is a coincidence that the rear sunshade stopped working at the same time (all electrical issues). You are trying to tell me it is a coincidence that when the car was brought in for the ignition problem, the fogs had been programmed to come on after the car turned off....and when it came out, the low beams had been reprogrammed to come on when the car shut off. In other words, they screwed with the lights during that service thing. I bet they did something electrically that caused that sunshade and low beam to mess up while fixing the ignition, which also was an electrical issue.
The service rep. said he had his best tech guy on the job when they replaced the control module and then again the assembly. The service rep. said if he (tech) saw my email from early this morning (one I sent to my service lady explaining this situation), he would be quite offended. Really? He is that good, huh? Must be, considering he does not know what constitutes a light bulb being burnt out or working. Yeah, makes me think he is real good. Yeah, he must be real good that he replaced a $900 part that did not fix the problem so he had to replace the whole headlight assembly. If he would have been offended from my email, he is damn lucky I wasn't able to speak with him in person.
I am very frustrated....frustrated that they screwed this beautiful car up. Frustrated I am being treated like this. Depsite the errors they made in the past, I always went back to them because they were courteous. Frustrated that you cannot order a ****ing $10 socket...so thus you need to whole ****ing assembly? That is downright fraud.
So I do not know what is going to happen today. I really have no clue. I gave them the bulb, it really should be a warranty issue, they really should be responsible and cover it. The rep. says Mercedes is going to think it's odd that the same side light and assembly was not working and needed to be replaced 2 times in a matter of 2-3 weeks and may not cover it. Yeah, no ****, it is pretty goddamned odd, isn't it? So maybe they should retrace their steps and find out what they ****ed up when the car was in for the ignition.
If they do not pay for this, which they very well may not, am I going to contact a lawyer (even though I am in law school)? No, I will not. I own an automotive company though based in Chicago and in Canada, and have lots of friends who all drive high end Mercedes, including many who have bought from this dealer. I not only will never do business with them again, but most of those people also likely will not...I bet that loss in sales, service, etc. will outweigh the lowbeam pretty damn quickly, times 50.
So I emailed my service lady yesterday angry....saying it has been in 2 times now....and that I am a very busy person and don't have time to keep doing this. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and gave them one last chance to make this right before I took my business for good, elsewhere. She said to bring it in this morning, Thursday. The service rep. had all of the techs, foremans, etc. look at the car....they were pretty dumbfounded. Mind you, I already think whoever was working on my car is incompetent because....
A-The first time they replaced the control module, the damn warning light came on 3 seconds after I left the dealer, making me thing he did not bother to turn the lights on to test after replacing the control module.
B-They told me a bulb that was working was burnt out (yeah, real hard to verify that).
C-This, as I said, not the first time things have gone into that dealer and came out with new things broken (the sunshade). In other words, the track record was poor.
Anyways, today I got a call from my service rep, who says he needs the bulb that was in that burnt socket (I had taken it out for the trash as I figured, what good is it). He says without it, the warranty will not cover this. He then makes reference to the aftermarket bulb, which still was in the driver side lowbeam (AND STILL working fine). He says he cannot in good faith take this to the warranty people because he knew I was using aftermarket bulbs. I was WTF, the one that burnt the socket WAS AN OEM BULB!! I asked...which is it, you said you needed the bulb...now you are saying it will not matter?! His boss called me a few minutes later and changed the story again, said after talking with the MB regional manager, that they need the bulb.
In any event, I held out hope I could find that burnt bulb. Luckily, neither of my parents threw it away (I was at their house when I removed it). I took the bulb in tonight, and they I assume are going to look at this tomorrow. Here is the kicker...they don't know what is damaged on the lowbeam now because the socket is burnt a little. THEY DO NOT SELL THE SOCKET SEPERATE SO THEY SAY I NEED TO BUY A WHOLE NEW ASSEMBLY, $1700 AND AN OTHER 5 HOURS FOR LABOR! This is a $10 plastic socket probably!!! The red one..with the lightning warning symbol sticker.
They tell me the tech remembered some service bulletins about how aftermarket bulbs may change the resistance and screw up something, pretty vague. In other words, they were trying to blame this problem on the bulbs. That argument fails for the simple facts that THERE WAS AN OEM BULB in there now in that lowbeam....and EXPLAIN why in the other one, there has been no problems for 7 months now?!
I am furious. Here is what is boils down to....they ****ed my car up months ago when they did something with that ignition. They now want to release themselves from liability because I used an aftermarket bulb at one point, despite the fact it has no relevance to this situation. The service rep. kept giving me this "see it from our point of view." OK, see it from mine, I take my $75k car into you guys and have given you LOTS of business. I bring my car in and half the time something comes out broken that was not before. You guys continually fail to fix these problems. You screwed my low beam up months ago....and are trying to tell me it is a coincidence that this just happened in the 5 days it was at the dealer for the ignition problem. You are trying to tell me it is a coincidence that the rear sunshade stopped working at the same time (all electrical issues). You are trying to tell me it is a coincidence that when the car was brought in for the ignition problem, the fogs had been programmed to come on after the car turned off....and when it came out, the low beams had been reprogrammed to come on when the car shut off. In other words, they screwed with the lights during that service thing. I bet they did something electrically that caused that sunshade and low beam to mess up while fixing the ignition, which also was an electrical issue.
The service rep. said he had his best tech guy on the job when they replaced the control module and then again the assembly. The service rep. said if he (tech) saw my email from early this morning (one I sent to my service lady explaining this situation), he would be quite offended. Really? He is that good, huh? Must be, considering he does not know what constitutes a light bulb being burnt out or working. Yeah, makes me think he is real good. Yeah, he must be real good that he replaced a $900 part that did not fix the problem so he had to replace the whole headlight assembly. If he would have been offended from my email, he is damn lucky I wasn't able to speak with him in person.
I am very frustrated....frustrated that they screwed this beautiful car up. Frustrated I am being treated like this. Depsite the errors they made in the past, I always went back to them because they were courteous. Frustrated that you cannot order a ****ing $10 socket...so thus you need to whole ****ing assembly? That is downright fraud.
So I do not know what is going to happen today. I really have no clue. I gave them the bulb, it really should be a warranty issue, they really should be responsible and cover it. The rep. says Mercedes is going to think it's odd that the same side light and assembly was not working and needed to be replaced 2 times in a matter of 2-3 weeks and may not cover it. Yeah, no ****, it is pretty goddamned odd, isn't it? So maybe they should retrace their steps and find out what they ****ed up when the car was in for the ignition.
If they do not pay for this, which they very well may not, am I going to contact a lawyer (even though I am in law school)? No, I will not. I own an automotive company though based in Chicago and in Canada, and have lots of friends who all drive high end Mercedes, including many who have bought from this dealer. I not only will never do business with them again, but most of those people also likely will not...I bet that loss in sales, service, etc. will outweigh the lowbeam pretty damn quickly, times 50.
Last edited by mjr24; 11-11-2005 at 07:03 AM.
11-18-2005, 05:28 PM
#4
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mjr24...
if you do not wish to hire an attorney and you are in law school, then consider approaching one of your commerical litigation instructors with all of the facts, be they beneficial, detrimental, or neutral to your claim, and request assistance to develop a theory and pen a strategy. then, file suit yourself.
if your claim fails to meet the burden, then you have lost little more than filing fees. if you are meritorious, then you have a satisfying victory in all respects. simultaneously, you get to poison their market irrespective of your claim.
disregarding the outcome, that would be excellent practical experience.
please post your decisions and actions.
david
if your claim fails to meet the burden, then you have lost little more than filing fees. if you are meritorious, then you have a satisfying victory in all respects. simultaneously, you get to poison their market irrespective of your claim.
disregarding the outcome, that would be excellent practical experience.
please post your decisions and actions.
david
11-19-2005, 02:34 PM
#6
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
This is Knauz in Lake Bluff, IL.
I picked my car up Thursday. They revoked my Starmark warranty. I bought this car from a Bentley dealer originally. When I called Mercedes corporate about this last week to file a complaint, they asked where I bought the car from and I told them. No one said anything then. Then on Tuesday, the service manager at the dealer calls and said he was notified by Mercedes they canceled my Starmark the day after I called Mercedes because the car was bought outside the Mercedes dealer chain and I was not supposed to have it in the first place. Apparently, for 2 years, they were under the impression I bought the car from a private owner.
So, with revoking the warranty, the dealer said there hands were tied with doing anything with the light (how convenient) because it was not a warranty issue anymore. Needless to say, I am selling the car and won't be back with Mercedes for a long time. I gave that dealer alot of money in service, they should have paid for the light themselves because they broke it in effect. In whatever case, they will lose that $2k right back alone from the service I give them and alot more too. That was a stupid financial decision on their part.
I picked my car up Thursday. They revoked my Starmark warranty. I bought this car from a Bentley dealer originally. When I called Mercedes corporate about this last week to file a complaint, they asked where I bought the car from and I told them. No one said anything then. Then on Tuesday, the service manager at the dealer calls and said he was notified by Mercedes they canceled my Starmark the day after I called Mercedes because the car was bought outside the Mercedes dealer chain and I was not supposed to have it in the first place. Apparently, for 2 years, they were under the impression I bought the car from a private owner.
So, with revoking the warranty, the dealer said there hands were tied with doing anything with the light (how convenient) because it was not a warranty issue anymore. Needless to say, I am selling the car and won't be back with Mercedes for a long time. I gave that dealer alot of money in service, they should have paid for the light themselves because they broke it in effect. In whatever case, they will lose that $2k right back alone from the service I give them and alot more too. That was a stupid financial decision on their part.
