Did anyone else ever get a Mercedes Lemon? Last August I bought a 99 E55 AMG (their flagship E class model) with only 18K miles on it and its been a total nightmere. Right from the start the vehicle had issues. About 60% of the time it would not start at all on the first try. And the CD player would work then read no CD attached then work again. There was also a strange rattling noise coming from the headliner by the driver side upper B pillar every time you drove over bumps. (Which still is not resolved to this day) I found soon the transmission would not downshift to a passing gear on the highway, and if it did, it would stay in the high RPM range for awhile before shifting back to a higher gear. On several occasions while driving the car with the transmission set to "D" or drive, when I stepped hard on the throttle I found the car to be in neutral and the RPM’s ran up excessive before I could back down the pedal (thank goodness for a rev limiter), but the car did not move. Shortly after the transmission re-engaged. The car has gone back into the dealer for these issues with little success. They finally completely changed the CD player to a new one only to find the same problem back 1 month later (just re-occurring less often). One day the car completely died and would not start but roadside assistance did replace the battery and it did run at that point. The dealer put a new kick down switch in the transmission which solved the down shifting but it still will stay in a lower gear on the highway and not up shift like it should. I’ve also had a large variety of small issues with this car. The BAS system and ABS system will read malfunction on the dashboard then shortly correct itself. It also constantly displays "Lamp Defective" notices on the dash then as soon as I shut down the key and restart the car it resets itself and is fine for a few hours. The dealer has replaced light bulbs and it still has this issue. On occasion, the power windows will not rollup. But the biggest issue is they cannot seem to fix the rattle in the sun roof, which is the most annoying noise to drive with everyday. And worst of all, while I was driving one evening, the braking system on the vehicle completely failed and the only way I could stop the car was using the emergency brake. That could have resulted in a very serious accident. My car to this day has only 26K miles on it and should not have any of these issues. I have tried to get Mercedes Benz customer service (North America) to take the car back, for its still under warrantee, but they have done nothing but try to rip me off with a pathetic trade in price which is $14K less than retail.

I would never buy Mercedes Benz again. They cannot fix my car and will not stand behind there product and simply try to rip me off. They are not the quality they once had and In my opinion its over priced snob appeal.

 

Sorry about these defects. I've seen worse. Get to know the MB service manager. Make a list of defects and take car to your MB dealer and ask them to fix it under the warranty.

If dealer fails 3 times to fix the same defect, you can notify MB that you have a lemon and the dealer will have one more opportunity to fix it.

Check out LEMON law for your state of Connecticut:

http://cartalk.cars.com/Got-A-Car/Le...nnecticut.html

Good luck!!

 

Oh godsh....such a nightmare! I was too very frustrated w/ the MB lemon car issue. However, MB finally offered to buy back my SLK at the original sale price after many attempts of repair. Of course they first offered to get the car back at its retail price. We went through numerous negotiations, and I even "threaten" them to go to court w/ a lawyer if I have to. While all this was going on, I told them that my CLK430 is on order. I don't know if that palyed any influences on their decisions.

Personally, I really like their service and attitude when resolving the "buy-back" issue. I love and will continue buying benz. However, I would probably not want to buy another "hard-top" convertable from MB.

Hope your problem can be resloved soon. Ask your dealer that you want to your "Regional Service Manager". They are the MBUSA representatives and the ONLY people who can resolve this matter or decide the final price at buy-back, not your dealer.

 

I was dealing with the North American Regional Customer service manager. At first he was making some kind of arrangement to buy back the the car. Then he started looking for excuses not to. Finally he said the best he could do was dealer trade in, $42K for an E55 with 24K miles on it. Guess they didn't rip me off enough with their $70K vehicle that does not work.

Look where JD power rated Mercedes Benz... They keep falling lower and lower. I had a Lexus before this. Never had any repair issues and if I ever complained at the dealer they made sure I was satisfied at the end. Now lexus does not have a super performance car like the E55. But given the 2 situations, I am terribly sorry I didn't buy a GS 430 sedan. I am actually finding there are ALOT of unhappy Mercedes Benz customers. Alot of people did write me when they read my postings on other sites. Its one thing when you buy a $16K Chevy that has problems and another when you buy a $50 -80K Benz that has problems. If you pay through the nose for a manufacturer that claims very high quality, you expect that high quality. I am sorry but with Mercedes benz, YOU DON'T GET IT!

I am buying WWW.MercedesBenzRippedMEOFF.com. Site will be constructed in a month or 2 for people to post their complaints.

 

if you have tried the normal way to talk to them and they are not being helpful.. then you don't ahve any choice other than to get a lawyer and go that route.....

 

Just curious, how did it get 18K miles on it when you bought it? Could this have had some problems with a previous owner??

 

You have all the rights to get mad and angry at MB. I can understand the pain and frustrations that you are going thru right now. Hope your problem can be resolved happily like mine.

Like you said, if MB doesn't improve or perhaps have an uniformed buy-back policy, there will be more angry customers.

Best Luck to you!

 

I am pretty sure you are experienceing these problems because of the previous owner. Why did he get rid of the car after only 18000 miles. Not even the worst cars have all the problems you are describing. Sounds like the car has been abused and in an accident. To many problems throughout the whole car and they are not related to each other. Run a Carfax on the vehicle and see what they find on its history. Sorry, but my family and I have 3 Benz's right now and have owned a total of 8. Even the worst one's we have had, have never been like that.