I had a bad experience with Atlanta Classic Cars Service in Atlanta today. I took my 2008 E320 Bluetec in for 'B' service and to address the sunroof recall today. My sunroof passed their test. However, after leaving the dealership, I drove almost 40 miles on my way home. I live about a two hour drive north of the dealership. I heard a beep and looked at my instrument panel. I had a low oil message displayed. I pulled into a gas station and checked the oil. The oil level was barely touching the bottom of the dip stick. I couldn't see any evidence of leakage. I called the dealership on my phone and let the phone ring for over a minute and no one answered. I hung up and tried again a few minutes later. Someone answered and after I explained my issue, I was disconnected. I called a third time and got put on hold for about 5 minutes until I could talk to someone besides the operator. I don't think they believed me. I was told that my service tech was their most experience and that he never made mistakes. I turned around and headed back to the dealership. I stopped twice more to check the oil level in case I had a leak. The oil level hadn't changed meaning they had not filled the engine with the correct amount of oil. Pulling into the dealership service area, I had a hard time getting attention. Finally, someone took my car back into the service bay. After about 30 minutes they brought my car back up. The guy was complaining that my car took more oil than what Mercedes documentation said it should. They said they had to put a total of 9 quarts in my engine. Well, that's exactly the amount of oil my owners manual says it should take including the filter. They argued and told me that all 2008 E320 cars only held 8.5 quarts and that is what they had put in my car. With my oil level barely touching the bottom of the dipstick, I suspect that they didn't even put 8.5 quarts in, but something less. I told them that my manual said the capacity of the Bluetec diesel held 9 quarts with the oil filter. They told me that my owners manual must have a misprint. I also couldn't believe their mechanic didn't check the oil level in the engine after adding oil. The guy said they never did that because they were very accurate in adding oil. They also told me that every E320 Bluetec that came in there got only 8.5 quarts of oil. Amazingly, they have been underfilling every E320 Bluetec that comes in for service if this was true. I was also disappointed that no one apologized for their mistake. They almost acted like it was my fault. Needless to say, I'm going to spread the word about Atlanta Classic Cars, one of the largest Mercedes dealerships in the Atlanta area. I'm also going to lodge a complaint with Mercedes Benz Corporate Customer Service. All of this after paying $443.51 for the 'B' service. My cars and I have been treated better by shade tree mechanics than this outfit.

 

Other than the recall, this right here is why most folks on this board do their own service. Not that this excuses the dealer, but I'm just say'n.

Edited to add: You have a dipstick? Nice.

 

ROFL let me get this straight. You discovered your car was low on oil and instead of stopping at the nearest gas station to immediately add a quart of oil, you decided to drive 40 minutes back to the dealer still LOW ON OIL? Are you for real?

 

I used Atlanta Classic Cars when I owned my 2005 W203, but only for warranty claims. They were decent.

I've since owned 2 W204s, a W211, and now a W212 and I have never been back to that dealership. I used RBM of Atlanta main location (sounds like RBM North might be closer for you) and they have always been top notch.

Try RBM.

 

Do it yourself! I stopped long ago donating to stealership and Indy' shops kids college funds. Read your manual for scheduled maintenance, and outsource (online shops) the parts. Oil, filter, etc. Only when it's something major that i would ever take it to either, besides you will enjoy the time with your ride. Just my humble opinion.
R
2MERKS

 

I can't believe you are for real! Apparently, you can't read. If you go back to my original post you will see that once the message for low oil came on, I immediately pulled into a gas station and checked the oil. I also checked to see if there was any evidence of leaks, which there were no leaks evident. I then stopped again, repeatedly, on the way back to the dealer. Also, you will notice that I said the oil level was barely touching the bottom of the dipstick. If you've ever seen the dipstick on this engine you will notice that the normal operating range for oil goes almost to the bottom of the dipstick, which means that although the oil was barely touching the dipstick, it was technically still in the operating range. Also, the dealer told me to drive back.

 

But you never bothered to add any oil yourself. That's the point. Instead you chose to drive 40 minutes, waste a bunch more time at the dealer, then drive another 40 minutes back. You literally wasted an extra 1/2 a day and gallons of fuel over 1 quart of oil because you're so damn entitled. Don't you have anything better to do with your time?

You had a shltty dealer experience, congratulations welcome to the club. Go write a negative review on Yelp or FB like a normal person. But wasting all that time and fuel because you the special snowflake was entitled to 1 more quart of oil... unbelievable. I bet if the engine grenanded while YOU knowingly ran it low on oil, you would be blaming the dealer right now.

You are the poster child for everything wrong with this country.
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I guess every forum has someone like you. I feel sorry for you.

 

OMG how dare they! Don't they know how important and special you are? You should really bring this up with your therapist next week.

 

Super tough crowd here. To be fair, it's probably not that easy to find an MB 229.51/229.52 oil. Most gas stations probably won't carry it. I think Walmart has Mobil 1 ESP 0w30, but just like 0w40, it might not be in stock.

Being down half a quart isn't that big a deal though, probably a phone call would be enough.

 

^^^^^THIS.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, to each their own. I am not taking any sides, but do agree with tjts. It would have been a lot smarter and less time consuming to just add that little bit of oil and head on home. Call the dealer the next day and inform them accordingly. AND, NEVER go back to this dealer.

Find a good trustworthy Indy, establish a relationship and you should never have any issues like this again.

 

this. Happened recently to my Allroad...have Audicare from PO so why not have the dealer take care of it so it’s on the car fax etc..

get the Audi back home and I check their work over - 1.2qt overfilled and coolant low (they did warranty work). I just fixed the issue myself, emailed the service guy to say oil was overfilled and coolant was low and never went back for the following years AudiCare.

unless you’re unemployed and $10 is the difference of eating or not, who has the time to blow extra hours at the dealer for a quart of oil?

it’s the quintessential “Karen” moment in this thread.

 

It actually took almost a quart to bring it up to the correct level on the dipstick, which is 9 quarts capacity, so they didn't even put 8.5 quarts in like they said. My main issue with the dealer was that they didn't believe me when I telephoned them. They told me their best Tech worked on the car and he never made mistakes. I was really pissed at them and wanted to prove them wrong. I'm retired, so the time wasn't an issue.

 

Im jealous. Best of luck.

 

This is the best advice. I've experienced too many botched oil changes, brake jobs, etc ad nauseum...Approach service to your car as you should your medical care...understand as completely as possible what's going on, take care of it yourself if possible, get several opinions on complicated procedures, ask questions and fseek out those who provide credible answers.