mbuskuhl

I'm sure they will call (Park Place), like they always do and find out how things went. I'd rather post on here. My experience with Park Place BodyWerks, the paint and body work side of the Park Place dealerships... quality wise - thumbs down. For those not familiar with Park Place dealerships, they sell the following vehicles: Bentley, Maybach, Mercedes, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Maserati, Volvo, Lexus, Jaguar and Land Rover. Nice lineup they have, all paint and body on these are done through Park Place BodyWerks.

I do have high expectations but would assume the majority of MB owners also do. This was a dent and some scratches job, nothing structural. They got $2500 from the insurance company to do the repair. Here's the story on why it was in the shop https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w211/163985-damn-co-worker-can-t-drive.html

They had the car 11 days, not bad, not fast, but acceptable. The advisor was good, a little quick to rush me out of there today but otherwise not bad. They convinced the insurance company to get me a new door as I requested. I started inspecting the car when they brought it out to me, wouldn't we all. It was 20 minutes before closing time and I felt like he was rushing me to get about my way. While he was standing there, I pointed out the following:

1. Rear bumper does not sit flush with rear qtr panel near fenderwell
2. Overspray on trunk real bad, feels like fine sandpaper. You can hear the difference when you put your hand over it. I contend overspray otherplaces on the car as I could feel small bumps when I rubbed my hand over areas near the repair. The advisor agreed with the trunk but denied other areas.
3. "Dry" is the term he used on the door jam where the door catch is. You can easily see the car was painted and looks like the clear coat has tiny air bubbles in it.
4. Contaminants (dust, etc.) in door and rear qtr panel paint
5. Strong paint smell, I know it will go away but I have drive with the windows down for now.

That is what I saw in my quick inspection. Of course he said, not a problem, bring the car back and we will take car of all of that. He even said bring it back in a month and they'd wax it. So, they have tenatively agreed to make it right.

Two things wrong here: 1. The repair should be done correct the first time. I should not have to inspect and point out the flaws to get it done right. I work a lot and am busy - now I have to find time to take the car back. 2. The last time Park Place BodyWorks told me something, they later denied ever saying it. I had been quoted $30 in person to paint a small part, when I went to pick up the part they charged me $100 and denied every saying $30. The manager did not return my VM or email.

So, that's my experience. Maybe this review will help someone in the future or someone with another experience can add to it. Time to file a diminished value claim soon, hopefully Nationwide pays up.

mbuskuhl

Interesting....no replies on this thread but somehow my post it made it back to the dealer. The car was back there today to have the problems fixed. I just called to check on status and in my conversation with the advisor, he mentioned he had a copy of the letter I sent to Mercedes . I never sent a letter to MBUSA or the dealer, never sent a letter anywhere. I only posted on this forum to share my experience and I admitted to that. He said that must be the letter he had as he had seen my list of issues I posted. Understandably they are upset for me posting, they did not say this outright but I could sense that.

Service side good, thanks to my SA and mechanic - those guys are great. Paint and body side, I'll post my results when this is all done. I still contend it should be done right the first time.

edit:spelling

hellolarry

Well done. I applaud you expressing your dissatisfaction. Hopefully they will be motivated enough to do a good job this time.

ATS

If they do fix the problem, please post here that they did this. It is great that they responded to a post in here.

barrafp

Agreed. I hope they and other shop owners are reading more on this thread and the rest of the forum regarding complaints of body shops. They need to learn that MB owners expect perfection and that is why we own MBs'. We do not want some half-*** job done on our vehicles and we will look at every detail and imperfections left on our cars.

Barry45RPM

And if the situation is resolved nicely, you should ask a moderator to change the Title of your thread. because a clarifacation as the last post on the thread won't do anything to help them if the tread title says they are NG.

mbuskuhl

I'm in a rental car until Tuesday, compliments of the body shop. The car went to them on Thursday (yesterday), they didn't know what I was talking about when I referred to contaminants in the paint. I had a meeting with them this AM, I never even saw my car but right away my advisor said they had an internal meeting on the car and they agreed their was a problem with the paint job, that it had "popped". Basically, if you looked at the paint in the light you could see what look like pin size holes. They are re-painting the door and qtr panel again, should be ready Tuesday. I am not sure why Thursday they didn't see any problems but rather made it sound like I had too high of expectations and then on Friday they agreed to problems and said they would fix. Either they really do agree or are going with the customer is always right, in any case hopefully it will come out right this time. I applaud them for agreeing to fix my concerns. My point is where was the quality control when the car left the first time? My advisor agreed, he didn't know.

I am still curious how this post got back to them, there wasn't hundreds of views. Where is that person?

I would like to reiterate this post is only about my experience with MB BodyWerks and should NOT be confused with Park Place MB Service Dept. The service department is awesome, my SA and tech are both great. Everyone there really goes above and beyond. I will follow up with my review about BodyWerks when I get my car back.

barrafp

That's great to hear. It may be a good idea that they do see these threads and that it points a finger on someone. I hope to never ever see a body shop for my MB because it just would not be the same after getting it back, even if they do a great job. I'm sure they are reading these posts right now as we type/read. Right????

JimPurdy

mbuskuhl,

It sounds like Park Place hasn't changed in 7 years. I had an experience with them that sounds a lot like yours replacing a fender, etc. on a C280. They were slow, lots of overspray, scratches where there weren't any before, dirt in the clearcoat, even the wrong ID on the trunklid. I refused the car the first 2 times and then took the car to Stated Value at Hicks Airport for the diminished value evaluation. I sent the report to the other driver's insurance company for the diminished value claim and a copy to Park Place so they would know what a poor job they did. It is sad that they are a great dealership for sales and service but poor for bodywork.

Jim

BenzVince

wow, I am like that, when it comes down body work, I would be very nit picking at every detail making sure it was done correctly before I take back my car. You have every reason to be that way. It's not just a Mercedes it every car you have to be. I take a lot pride into my own vechicle.

starbrite

More than likely that someone from MBUSA is checking out these forums on a regular basis and then, depending on the post, contacting the dealer/body shop.

mbuskuhl

Well, I'm glad this all over (almost at least!). I got the car back today, just getting the car back put me in a good mood.

BodyWerks fixed the problems 100% to my satisfaction. They did the job right this time and were overly friendly and compensating for the original go around. They paid for the loaner, detailed the car inside and out and even offered to bring it to my office today and take the loaner back. I didn't take them up on that but did let them detail it. My advisor was extremely nice and had the attitude of whatever you want we will do. That's not what I needed, but it was a nice gesture. I just wanted the car fixed right.

As an added twist to this whole deal, I stopped by last night to check on the car as it was supposed to be ready Tuesday. Of all cars this could happen to, apparently they accidentally scratched the tint and had to send the car out to the tint shop on Wednesday to get changed. Furthermore, the door pin had been misplaced and I don't have the OEM plastic ones. I have the aluminum ones from www.formymercedes.com. I didn't have a problem with either of these things, mistakes happen, not a big deal and they are reimbursing me for a new set of door pins I just ordered.

So, how did they find out? I don't think it was MBUSA as we might wish they actually monitored this forum and took our input. I asked my advisor how he heard, he mentioned it came from service. Apparently somebody saw it on here, mentioned it to somebody at service and that ended up at BodyWerks. I'll leave it at that. Big deal? No. One department was making sure the other department knew what was going on. It should have been relayed to BodyWerks.

And to reiterate, my issue/problem/complaint the entire time was the car was not repaired correctly the first time. It was released to me in unsatisfactory condition. Was that because they didn't quality control it before it left or was it because my expectation level was higher than other customers? I don't know and it is irrelevant now. Bottom line is the car is fixed correct now. With that note, I have PM'd a mod to remove "thumbs down" from the thread title and leave it as simply "Review: Park Place Bodywerks".

Time to get started on the diminished value claim

Barry45RPM

Excellent, mature, and fair to all concerned.

Kar don

Glad to see the corrected the problem. i also corrected the thread title for ya.

SushDawg

I have a different SA at Park Place now. With my previous SA, I needed to get a small nick by the fuel filler fixed, as well as some minor stone chips air brushed out. - something I agreed to pay for. When I got the car back - the car was dirty and there was over-spray on the trunk and various parts of the car. The SA tried to tell me it was dirt and apologized for not washing. He did not want to admit that it was over spray, and was rubbing it with his hand. Rather than them screw it up more - I took it home that PM, washed - clayed it and detailed the car my self.

Also, with the previous SA I did have my truck area scuffed up, and a scratch on the black glass area on the door during a service appt. They tried buffing it out but its still there.

With the new SA and tech - I've been lucky, they seem to be doing a much better job, but Park Place has made a mess in my car as well in th past.