92300E

A month ago I was T-boned into my passenger door ('92 W124) while in a traffic circle. The other driver was at fault and I subsequently brought the car to a body shop (Madison Auto Body in Madison, CT) that the other driver's insurance (Progessive) recommended as a preferred body shop. It took the shop 2 weeks to fix my car and when I finally picked her up last night, everything was screwed up.
First off, my "new" passenger door is so warped that it leaks rain through the top and water enters though the door sill in the bottom when I hit a puddle. Also, none of the door lock anymore when I put the key into the driver, passenger, or trunk locks, so I manually have to push down the buttons in the doors. This means that the alarm does not work, either. Then, all my interior light switch between not working to flickering like chasing christmas lights and my windows don't open anymore when I push the window buttons in the center. Also, my antenna for the radio does not work. Next, the guys never put my door speaker back in as I found it under my passenger seat this morning. When I shut the passenger door, I hear a clanking in the door like a few lose screws.
To add to all this, when they put the door cladding back on the inside, they pulled the "leather" off the door, so I have the blister look all around my now cracked speaker cover int he door. On the outside, my door looks like it has not been closed properly and the "new" door is wavy looking in the paint when compared to the smooth look of the other three dingless doors. The white paint does not match all the other doors either as this one has a distinct cream look.
I have not been able to contact the Progressive insurance company over the weekend, so I am at a loss of what to do. When I confronted the body shop owner about the warped door yesterday, he said to me exactly "Well, you should be happy that you even got a new door. This car is 16 years old and they don't make anything for these cars."
I am very disappointed and don't know where to start in getting my car repaired. With all the electrical stuff that is wrong, I am afraid to drive the car as I am afraid that the airbags may either not work at all or go off randomly when I am driving.
I don't want this guy at Madison Auto Body to ever go near my car again and I want to bring the car to an autorized Mercedes dealer to have it fixed (Carriage House of New London maybe?).
Has anyone else had anything like this happen to them here? What should I do? Should I go take this up with the insurance company as they recommended this shop to me? Should I go confront the body shop owner?
Any help will really be appreciated.

Thanks a lot for helping,
Leo

Rio Z Lander

yes this has happened to my car it was t -boned in a 90mph crash
and my friends car he as a 1973 nova. the car that hit us had Progressive to they refused to do any thing right with us untell we slaped a lawsuit on them
the body shop they had us take it to was crap you need to call the main office of the place that did the work to your car and talk to them about the work and how un happy you are with it.my friends car was painted and they did it wrong they did not tape up the windows right and paint got in the seals and made them crack.

Rio Z Lander

call Progressive tell them to fix your car or you will see them in court. that shop sounds like a back ally **** house. go to the closest city hall tell them about what has happened and they should tell you the right people to talk to. that way you can report them for not doing there jobs right. they will force them to do it right or shut them down shops like that **** me off


stuff like this is just not right when a shop dose body work on a car it should be right every time.and if not they should fix there work tell it is right. this is some thing for the government to handle. putting cars back out on the road that do not work run drive or are not safe to drive is illegal.buy law they have to fix the car tell it is correct. if you ask me i would go to court and bring this up. with them or talk to a lawyer.

shdoug

Don't make parts for this car = Bull****. I crashed mine on the front left and they got all the parts directly from Germany. The repair job looked amazing. No problems whatsoever, except I had to re-aim the headlights. Apparently they could not figure it out, or had the car sitting on an incline when they did it. You just happened to run into a shoddy body shop. Take lots of pictures and videos of stuff not working. Document everything. You will most likely end up in court if that jerk you spoke to has any weight at the shop. Telling a customer they are lucky they got anything because they don't make parts is a weak cop out. Heck, a good body shop could make the parts if they had to.

Rio Z Lander

yeah sorry i flew off the handle. this just pissed me off i hate when people do not do there jobs right. and this only happens with car repairs. i mean think they do the job but not right and will not do it again to fix there mess ups. what if that car drove off and a wheel fell off. there at fault but don't care WTF

92300E

Thanks for the quick replies, guys. The guy who said I was lucky to even find parts for the car is actually the owner of the shop. That part makes me very hesitant to go back to him, especially now that the electrical problems came into play. I will definitely make his life harder by reporting him for his terrrible work. However, in the meantime I want to get my car fixed properly by a mercedes dealer who can get the parts directly without making my life any harder by creating bigger problems than I started with. I will take a bunch of very detailed pictures tomorrow morning so that I can document what exactly the guy messed up. I took several detailed pictures of the accident damage before the car went into the shop for the "repairs." This will hopefully be good enough to prove his wrong doings.
--Leo

Rio Z Lander

yes well this stuff happens it is just best to take the time and build your case. look around for parts off the net

AMGfan

Sorry to hear about your problems...I hate to see shoddy work go unpunished, though. Are there any consequences to the crappy work that the repair shop? Are they going to be "black balled" by Progressive? You should sic one of those TV consumer reporters at them...I just hate to see that happen to anyone else.

The cycle of crap work needs to stop...

neanderthal

document everything. take detailed pics. write the body shop a complaint about the shoddy workmanship. make copies. contact thier insurance and tell them its unacceptable. most importantly, take it up with YOUR insurance company to get them to do the job right. definitely go through your insurance. thats what you pay them for.

YNVDIZW124

This was the second time my car has been hit...it's been crashed three time...

The third time my dads truck and my car was hit by a hit and run driver so i had to deal with two insurance companies. I got some experiance dealing with these people and i got what i wanted because they knew they couldn't d!ck me around..

1. Take lots and lots of pictures of all the damage.

2. Get an estimate from two or more body shops for the improperly done repairs.

3. Request from your insurance company the pictures they took of your car when you got it insured. (this helps show how your car looked before)

4. Send a letter to the body shop with copies of the estimates and pictures by REGISTERED MAIL.

5. Call progressive and fax them or mail them the same information.

If they want to deny everything follow the next step..

6. Take them to small claims court. They will try to review the repairs and stall as much as possible but the fastest way to get your money is to take them to court. Don't be scared it's pretty easy...but it takes 30 days...

One insurance company wanted to be slick and denied my claim but I already had filed a suit in small claims court. Once i won my case they sent me a check right way.

Rio Z Lander

im going to look around for photos of my car after the crash it was in

jfa686

as a shop owner myself I feel your pain. Progressive dictates your repair and with one thing in mind..saving $$$$. they feed that shop, so the shop listens and obeys. You have every right to take it strait to the MB dealership if you are not the one at fault. More than likely it's not the door that is warped, it's the A or B pillar still out of specs. as far as the locks go I'm sure the replacement door is the culprtit and it sounds like a paint butt shoot w/out the proper blending of adjacent panels...all and all it's a shaddy repair...progressive will have to pay twice and probabley more $$$ now that they have really screwed your car up. note all loss of pay from time off work, note deminished value, note ruined carpet, note ruined interior door panel, rental car etc. you have been the one hit by THEIR insured. your car can be brought back to pre-accident condition, it just takes a shop not controlled by an insurance company to do so. it sounds like small claims court might be the only answer. and let this be a lesson to ALL..it is ILLEGAL for an insurance company to steer you period. stand up for yourself and your car and take it to a reputable shop!!! not an insurance companies