TamZ

The Kodiak has been a neat process. When we got it, it was white. so we sent it in to have the bed made,etc and then had it all painted to match the rest of our fleet of trucks. We have just now about finished everything on it and will be getting ready to put it on the road soon. Here's a picture. My son thinks this is the most awesome truck EVER. LOL


After

Before


The Chevy Duramax my husband treats like his 4th child.

spdracer53

Basically it just means if you make that criteria, in the courts view you have satisifed your burden of proof showing the car is a lemon.

the burden of proof is now on MBUSA to prove that the car isn't a lemon if you ever get to trial.

nynd

Now thats a TRUCK! What is that big bad blue boy used for?

TamZ

It is one of our plumbing trucks. Hauls all the tools, PVC, etc necessary to get the job done

TamZ

Okay, I told my husband about the Topkick. (I had to ask what it was LOL) and now he wants to knwo what you race

mdadgar

- Mark

TamZ

Very Cool!

TamZ

My husband called MBUSA twice today, left messages both times. I called last week and left a message and our case manager simply is NOT CALLING BACK. Very frustrating..

Grrrr....Mercedes, if you are reading this, will you please have our case manager Randy call us back PLEASE. What good is giving us a direct line #, when it seems he doesn't return calls left to that number. The only time I have been able to get through is through the 800 #. What the heck? Sigh...

On a different note, We need to take a bunch of screaming teenagers to Vegas this weekend for National Cheerleading competition. It will be the GL's first "long" trip (about 800 miles total, there and back.) and we are simply crossing our fingers it makes it. Part of me doesn't want to take the vehicle because if the airmatic decides to die on the trip, it's going to be a huge hassle, but the other part of me wants to see if it is capable of long trips. It blow me away than when I re-read this above paragraph, I remind myself that I am speaking of my brand new 2011 Mercedes. If this were my Hummer with 100,000+ miles, I could understand but it is very frustrating to have a new car you're afraid to drive out of town! My in laws have offered up my mother in laws Acura MDX if we need it..

The compressor is running nearly constantly now, at all speeds. It's a constant buzz/humming sound..ugh. If you roll the windows down you can hear it a bit louder, but the wind noise from the window covers it up a bit. I found its REALLY noticeable if you are driving by a wall..I guess it ricochets back off of it LOL

I'll be bringing the car back to the dealer next week after we get back from Las Vegas.

WHAT A PAIN IN THE #$@#@$.

I am trying to record the compressor sound, I am not having good luck because the wind noise from the windshield, even with all the windows up, is just way too loud and seems to override the humming compressor noise. I will work on this. It will be easiest to record at the stop lights, I think but I can't drive and hold the recorder on that side of the car. I need 3 hands.

This is all I got, which is basically just a bunch of wind noise I get to enjoy every day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdmpIxDP8mk
Tam

TamZ

Just got off the phone with my Mercedes Service Department and thankfully, THEY DO return our calls....my car is scheduled to go back in on Tuesday the 1st.

If nothing else, I can't say enough good things about my Service Advisor "Angel" at the dealership. I'm starting to feel bad for the guy...because now, I am getting pissed.

nynd

For your Vegas trip, you may want to just consider pulling the fuse for the airmatic. Not sure if that will leave it sitting in the one position with air charged in the shocks or not. Worth a try - that way it isn't going ballistic running all the time.

spdracer53

nothing against you, but what you suggest doesn't sound like a good plan.

TamZ

I think I would feel better if I just leave everything as it should be. If the car breaks down in the middle of the I-15, Mercedes can send someone out to tow me in. We have actually adjusted our plans to leave an entire day earlier than we need to, just in case the car breaks down. (crazy as that sounds, it's necessary because I can't chance being late/missing this competition..lol)

Since day one of buying this vehicle, the plan was to fix it up, put nice wheels, get rid of the run flats, etc. I ordered my personalized plates and had already been wheel shopping within the first few days. When the engine light went on and then all these problems started...we decided right away we will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to this vehicle. I don't dare touch a thing, in case they say WE caused something to happen.

I've been doing a bit of research on the web (not just this site) and I'm finding things about some type of relay going out that can cause the airmatic pump/compressor to run all the time. I'm going to bring this up. I would think they've checked into this but what the heck, I might as well try to diagnose the damn thing myself. (not sure I can say that word.)

So..it stays as its supposed to be and if it burns up on the side of the road, so be it. If anyone sees me flipping off my car on the I-15, just smile and wave.

TamZ

Holy Moly..and I've found a bunch of information where people's GL's have caught on fire and burned their house down..killed their dogs..my gosh. Google is scary!

Re: Reliability Issues... [mbbq]...FIRE FIRE FIRE

Oct 01, 2009 (7:38 pm)

Replying to: mbbq (Jan 29, 2009 1:34 pm)


My friend's 2008 GL450, 27K miles, caught on fire last Friday 09/27/09. It happend exactly as you described....(The fire started under the passenger seat and fully engulfed the car in less than 5 minutes. First, a funny smell, then some smoke, and then the fire) and it bursted into flames before the fire brigade arrived. Luckily, the car was on the driveway outside the garage only 8 feet away from the house. Amazingly, the house did not get on fire and only incurred minimum damages. Mercedes should recall 2007 and 2008 GL450 models.

MomsBenz

Fires are scary, but a possibility with any car. We got a recall notice on our Ford and Chevy regarding fire from the cruise control on/off switch.

I am crossing my fingers for you on your road trip. Maybe if it breaks down and they tow it to the MB dealership in Vegas they can figure out what's going on, lol!

When my airmatic went out on my '09, it gave me the message "airmatic malfunction". So having to see for myself I hit the button to raise the vehicle and it raised it up. That is were it got stuck! It would not come back down. I was able to drive it (carefully) for the rest of my day. The next morning I came out and it was a low rider, wheels completely tucked up in the wheel wells, that is when it needed to be towed. I don't think it will just leave you on the side of the road.

Keep us posted!! We will send good thoughts that you get to Vegas and back safely!!

LEOSOPHIE

Speaking about potential fires Toyota-Lexus yesterday recalled 1.6 million vehicles for fuel leaks. Total recent recalls are 60 million.

MomsBenz

YIKES!

mdadgar

2007 Chevy/GMC/Cadillac SUVs did this courtesy of the windshield washer fluid heater.

GM's solution was to disable it and give the owner a check for $100.

- Mark

TamZ

Hi Guys,

I know all cars have the capability of catching fire, so I'm sure it's not just a Mercedes issue..lol..but I WAS shocked to read these people's stories about their cars magically catching fire, even just sitting there. (not being driven.) Shocking!

My husband has been calling the adjuster and leaving messages and says he will do so continually. He also called the 800 # and talked to another representative who was able to look up our issue, etc. and he told my husband on this last phone call that he personally will go tell our adjuster to return our call. Interesting, on our adjusters phone message it says he always returns his calls by the end of the day. Hmm... All I know is, I'm glad this is out of my hands now...and my husband is dealing with it. He is NOT happy...and I'm sure the messages he keeps leaving on the adjusters machine are not all that friendly. He is telling me in a nutshell what he is saying and I find myself cringing...But...he's had it. He told them today that we were trying to do this without getting our attorney involved--but I can tell you, my husband does NOT have time for this crap LOL.....(and is not nearly as patient and nice as I am being about it all!!!)

I've actually got a few butterflies in my stomach after getting off the phone with my husband because he is NOT happy....and I don't know what will happen next, if the adjuster calls back....yikes!

So..I am going to go to lunch with a girlfriend and hope for the best. LOL

Tam

TamZ

That honestly, is like the proverbial slap in the face. Shame on them too!

mdadgar

Yep, super embarrassing.

- Mark

TamZ

Of course, I'm none too happy with the way MBUSA is handling my situation either; but I'm willing to withhold my final opinion on their customer service appurtenant to how they decide to handle our personal situation.

Right now, my GM product, as far as reliability, is heads ahead of my new GL. And that makes me sad

TamZ

Well here's a little tidbit about MBUSA's customer service.

The adjuster handling our "buy back" finally called my husband back. My husband asked him why he didn't return my phone call from last week, or his 3 phone he left. He flat out told my husband he never got our messages. So basically, he said he never received all 4 of our messages, even though they were left on his direct lines answering machine. My husband knew he wasn't be honest..but whatever....

He also told my husband "there is no time limit" on how long they have until they approve the buy back. A few of you have said "30 days" to give me an actual answer, but I thought they had 30 days to respond to my request for a buy back, which they have responded, by assigning me this adjuster guy (who can give us absolutely ZERO information, it's ridiculous.) I know they are working on it because they've been in contact with the service dept. at the dealer.

So my husband asked him point blacnk, "So basically you can drag this out as long as you guys want, while we sit here with a broken vehicle..and he basically said yes, that they don't have a time limit?? So my question is, what..are they trying to just wait until my car has 18,000 miles on it, which I think is the mileage cut off for a lemon law? But then another person told me in a PM they go by the mileage of when I first brought it into the shop for the problem that is not being fixed. This will be my 4th or 5th attempt at fixing the airmatic, in addition to all the other things that have gone wrong. It will also qualify for the "in the shop for more than 30 days in an 18 month time period. (for me, only 16 weeks and it will meet the 30 days). I just don't understand the process I guess. What is there to "investigate."

My husband also told them instead of trying to give us the run around on all this, send a technician out to drive the dang thing. It will speak (whine, groan, buzz, hurricane noise) for itself.

He also told them if they were going to jack us around like this much longer, we'd just let an attorney handle it. Again, the adjuster just said, "You should do what you have to do."

And I take back my above post. MBUSA gets a big fat ZERO from me for customer service.

MBUSA, you have REALLY dropped the ball on this entire situation and YOU should be ashamed of yourselves. Absolutely ridiculous!!!!

Off to read the California Lemon law in its entirety again and will be faxing and sending another entire packet via certified mail tomorrow. Ridiculous!!!!

mdadgar

The droid is just telling you what he's been told to tell you.

You need to start working your way up the food chain until you find someone with the authority to make a decision. I'd start by asking the droid for his manager's info and go from there.

- Mark

luv2sleep

As much as I hate dealing with lawyers (I have a few in the family), I think you'd be better off with one. If this happened to me, I'd go straight for their jugular; this is bull***** at its best!!!

MomsBenz

Tammy I am completely disgusted! I can not believe they are treating you so poorly! Yes the time starts the first time it was in the shop, so don't worry about that. I think it is time to turn up the heat on your SA and service manager. They CAN escalate this! I would also call MBUSA customer service and file a complaint against your "Rep" and ask for a new one (maybe one that knows what he is doing). I agree with Mark, you need to climb the chain and find someone who can make these decisions. Hang in there girly!!!