2012 merc amg

Took my Wagon in for it's 10K mile service. I've edited this post, I think I may have been too Critical as I was upset yesterday and never a good idea to post when upset. Just a word of warning to anyone buying a car anywhere make darn sure you are getting a factory warrantee if that's what you want vs the dealerships own corporate warrantee. With the dealerships own warrantees most do not use OEM parts so you don't really know what your getting.

Mbracer26

I had a dealer once forget to close the oil cap, while going up hill on the freeway car started smoking, turned into a huge mess. Things happen, techs forget. But since they installed a non oem oil filter id call them out on it as the prepaid warranty, if its the Mercedes one and not the dealers own 3 year warranty is valid at any Mercedes dealer and you are entitled to original Mercedes parts.

2012 merc amg

https://www.pgfilters.com/product-pa...50/Oil-Filter/ Here are the Oil Filters Autonation is using. I believe these are made in China. Autonation is one of largest auto dealership networks in the USA, everyone should be aware they are using non OEM parts, it even says so on my invoice. No wonder there business is going down the tubes, their sales are way off from what I was reading tonight. This whole experience has made me even more nervous of new car dealerships than I ever have been. They do also stock OEM parts but at a premium price. I think I'm going to insist they do an oil change tomorrow using a OEM oil filter in my Mercedes and that they do it in the service bay which has the window so I can watch them change the oil. Even if I have to use the number 2 service on my pre paid maintenance because at this point I'd feel a lot more comfortable with a independent mercedes shop working on my car using OEM only parts. Sad you can't even trust a Mercedes dealer anymore.

rustybear3

If I were you, I think I would insist that they give you the balance of your pre paid maintenance back. It sounds as if they misrepresented it as an official Mercedes maintenance plan. I'd definitely change dealers as well. I think I would also report this dealership to Mercedes in that they are using non OEM parts as well. Really a disturbing revelation!

2012 merc amg

It sure is disturbing. Here is the proof they are using non OEM parts. They list the part number for the oil filter as part PPG9904EX followed by a AP. If you look on the left side of the page you will see that anything with a designation of AP after it is a non OEM part, they make it pretty clear in the left hand column. Very disturbing considering this is a new Mercedes and this does not apply to just this dealer but all Auto Nation car dealers and there are a lot of them spread throughout the country, unfortunately there is none up near RI where I live summers so if I wanted to get my car serviced under the pre paid maintainence I would not be able to because this plan is only available at AutoNation dealers the service writer made clear. I really think I'm gonna go independent from now on for my maintainence after this experience. I assumed though this pre paid plan was valid at any Mercedes dealer when I bought the pre paid maintenance plan and it was a Mercedes plan, unreal. Then to boot I'm pretty sure they are not even doing a lot of the services. When I had my AMG I had the Differential oil changed in that car at this place, at least I thought I did. I watched the technician doing the job and I had the feeling he was not really doing the job but faking it. It was from a distance I was watching but it just did not look right at all and like I said I was in the car service business nearly 20 years. This was the reason I later had the differential oil changed at a later date at another mercedes dealership.

JTK44

Just my $.02:

When I leased my 2016 E350 and my present 2019 E450 I bought the prepaid maintenance from Mercedes Benz. The cost was put into my lease and residualized. For service I went to my local Mercedes Benz dealer - I bought from a different dealer. When my local dealer put my VIN in his computer the prepaid service came up.

Service was done with all genuine Mercedes parts. Everything was 100% - no complaints.

Suggest you go to another Mercedes dealer and have them put you VIN in their computer and see if the pre paid service comes up. If it does, then you know you have it and can go back and demand genuine Mercedes parts - which is what you paid for.

If the VIN does not bring up Mercedes pre paid service, I would ask for my money back. If the dealer refuses I would contact Mercedes Benz USA.

Finally, have you looked over the contract for the pre paid service? Does it say it is with Mercedes Benz or with AutoNation?

2012 merc amg

I will look into both those things. According to the service advisor there at AutoNation he said it was only good either there or other auto nation dealers. I’m pretty sure I got duped. Same thing happened with my Cabrio bought at Sonic in ft Myers with the tire and wheel warrantee. I thought it was mb. It’s aftermarket.

haibieb

Yet, in the MB DOG, it lists the Maintenance option….most buyers believe that it is a MB product sale. I found out about this issue, when MB repurchased our 2018 E400 Convertible. They did not reimburse for the Tire package nor the Maintenance program. I did get about 90% of my Tire cost back from our dealer in about a week, but not the Prepaid Maintenance package. On our 2019 CLS 450, i only have the Tire package. Unfortunately, dealers sometimes do not tell you everything about your lease or purchase even after reading the fine print. Sorry that you have gone through your issues. Lessons Learned. And by the way, when we went shopping for our 2019 MB's at an Auto Nation dealership here in South Florida we did not find them that great when it came to pricing and negotiations.

2012 merc amg

I felt I got a great price on the car, 80k sticker that I got for 70K, but I guess they are making their money in other ways, next time I'll probably be making the trip to Tampa if I ever buy another Mercedes. The company Mercedes cannot be too happy about this sort of thing, it does not make them look good. I don't think AutoNation is going to make it. I would not even be surprised if Mercedes pulls their license to sell their cars and refuses to deal with them.

petee1997

If I were you, I would do like the OP said and get a refund for the unused portion of your prepaid maintenance. In the future you should deal with another MB dealer.

rustybear3

I would avoid AutoNation dealerships like the plague. IMO they rebrand their cars to fit under their umbrella, thereby setting their own rules regarding how they service their cars, sell them, and use their own maintenance agreements to save money and use cheap non OEM parts. Car dealerships have signed off on this bs, because all they care about is selling their cars.

Poor Merc's experience is a case in point.

mrmotoguzzi00

hhmm, I was there 2 weeks ago, bought the ml63 there and got a pre-paid program... just checked my receipt and its Mercedes-Benz 278 180 00 09, Engine Oil Filter wonder what happened ? they did 2 tires as well, got rid of the pirelli and went continental, balance is perfect.... I use Chris the AMG tech and Jason Lewis the service rep... always treat us good...

ua549

I totally agree. There are several AutoNation dealers near me, but no reputable ones!

threeMBs

I service (warranty only and brakes, I do other/"regular" maintenance myself) my cars exclusively at MB of Sarasota (though do not always buy there) for well over a decade. Never an issue. Only MB OEM parts. Top notch service. Yes they're an Autonation dealer, but first of all they're MB authorized dealer. In Miami/Ft.Lauderdale area, I think 8 out of 10 MB dealers are Autonation. Something in the above story does not make sense.

thefisch

Well if you're going to Tampa, the MB dealer in Wesley Chapel is Autonation. The one on Dale Mabry is not Autonation. I've gotten work done at both and had a similar experience. All part numbers are MB.

If you call the MB dealer on Dale Mabry (not Autonation) they should be able to look up your VIN to see if you have the MB prepaid service. Just in case the service advisor at your dealership was BSing you to keep the service business within the company. If it turns out to be an Autonation only PPM and you can't get a prorate refund, then maybe they can honor your request to use OEM parts until you're through the prepaid services.

2012 merc amg

Ok got it all squared away today. Yes it is Jason Lewis the service writer. He handled things really well today and then sent me to the finance manager to get the warranty squared away. They will do another oil change on the car using the OEM Mercedes filter and fix the wheel balance issue and trade the Autonation 3 year maintainence plan which uses the aftermarket parts for the Mercedes 3 year maintainence plan. I guess all this was the combination of the perfect storm that came down on me. They must have been really busy yesterday when the car was serviced and the setting on the road force balance machine were wrong or something? I'll find out the Verdict in the next couple of days, maybe tomorrow. Anything over 60 on the highway the steering wheel is dancing around and teeth are chattering. I really do believe the car got pulled around without doing the oil change and sent to the car wash. The oil is still dirty. Jason was very apologetic about the whole thing and handled it perfectly. I really do like the people at this dealership and will continue to go there. I use to bring my s550 to them and both my e63 amgs. I never really had a problem until this time. I dunno how I ended up getting the Autonation warrantee. I just hope this is not a trend as I do like the people there and would hate to see them loose their jobs if AutoNation does not make it. I may try to edit my original post when I get home. I hate to be so harsh on this dealer as they have done me right a lot of the time in the past and this was just a set of bad things happening all at once.

Courthaven

That sucks that you have to specify OEM parts. I was just checking this post because I got a courtesy 6 month maintenance done at an Autonation dealer and now I noticed that my windshield wipers are streaking my window. I believe they replaces them and probably with their own product.

2012 merc amg

Under the Mercedes genuine prepaid service plans they always replaced the wipers. Under the AutoNation plan which I thought was the Mercedes plan they don't touch the wiper blades.

Courthaven

This post saved me. I remember reading it ages ago and now the time is here for me to do my first service on my E300. I called the 3 dealerships in my area and sure enough the Autonation dealer doesn't use OEM parts unless you request them. That's not cool. Thanks for exposing this though.

C280 Sport

Autonation is awful! I am sorry to hear about that with MB Sarasota as they have been great to me. I only use the dealer for warranty work but once the warranty is done its off to my local shop.

2012 merc amg

I feel bad that I did this post as all in all I have had pretty good luck with Sarasota MB and Jason there is the best service guy I’ve ever dealt with and mistakes do happen no matter where you go. They made it up to me after with great service but this thread goes to show you really have to stay on top of things especially if you keep the vehicle long term. It’s generally always the nit pickers that get over 200k miles out of a vehicle because they are the ones who make sure everything is done right. Had i not noticed the oil I woulda gone 20k miles on the original oil. I’ve gotta make an appointment with Sarasota to get some things done on my Cabriolet. The steering wheel shaker is not working and the rear air diffuser is making funky noises. I’d hade for that thing to get jammed in the up position.

BeachBunny

MB of Tampa on Dale Mabry is Asbury...who doesn't stand behind their work, nor do they give a rip about their customers. I bought a custom-order, brand-new E350 from them which turned out to be an absolute lemon. They were useless in helping me with it. Worse, there were multiple times where they lied about work performed (work wasn't actually performed even though they said it was), damaged the car, even acknowledged that they damaged the car, but weren't willing to fully repair the damage.

I was put in touch with MB of Bonita Springs who has been absolutely on-top of everything, despite me not buying my car from them. Top-notch people there in both sales & service. AND I've since bought multiple cars from them because of it.

2012 merc amg

I’ve heard good things about Bonita. The dealer I bought my certified 2017 S class from last week was crown in Tampa near Clearwater. Very good experience. They can save you a lot as they are a very high volume dealership. I can’t really speak much about their service dept as I only dealt with them on the cars prep. But what o saw they looked good. And again as far as Sarasota I mainly only had the one above bad experience with their service. Every other time they were fine and the service writer Jason there is the best in the business. He goes above and beyond. I did have a bad sales experience there. I bought my wagon from them and that deal was just ok. They kind of undercut some on my trade in. But then the same salesman I was talking to about getting a Cabriolet and one day when I called about the availability they transferred me through to him and he said what the F are you doing calling me at home. I guess they transferred me to his home phone on his day off. That does not make a good impression. Needless to say that guy is now gone. Anyhow. Can’t say enough about Moe at Crown. Young guy around 30 I’d say but I’ll bet he will be the manager there at some point. He’s a real go getter. Very honest guy too. Got a good feeling with that place.