Once again my dealer upsets me with a service issue.
We've now had multiple cars (GLC and 2 GLS) that have had things go awry with this dealer's stupid service department.

I had the original frustration with my roof buzzing that the service department tried to repair and fix and just kept causing more damage to the interior of my car with every attempt to resolve.
It was bad enough that we just swapped cars even though it had been resolved. Our under 5k miles interior looked like a used car with over 100k plus miles on it.

Now just before a vacation trip to Florida, I go in for a quick Service B and the idiots curb my beautiful AMG wheel. I told them nothing short of replacement would likely make me happy given I'm super particular about my wheels and the car has 19k miles on it.
They did the quick buff and sent me photos which I could immediately spot the damage and told them that it was not acceptable. Now it's apparently off to the body shop for a more extensive repair. I know wheel shops can do amazing work to bring wheels back but it will have to be pristine for me to accept. Especially given the grooved machined surface on the metallic part of these wheels.

Normally this dealer, mainly the sales group is great to work with but I'm continually disappointed with my service department and how they treat (abuse?) my car. My local Toyota dealer provides better care than my Mercedes service department.

Anyone had any experience with curb rashed wheels and a dealer or dealer committed damage in general?
Photo for reference. Also it's hard for them to deny the damage as they video all their cars on intake and the car was parked next to a yellow curb which matched the paint on the rim. It was washed prior to the damage as well and all the tires look clean except for this one.
So it was obviously the valet group that did the damage when they parked it in the spot.

Thanks

 

I usually take videos and pictures of the vehicle with the walk around with the dealership in the background before dropping off just to prevent stuff like this and the dealership doesn't take responsibility. Hopefully you can get a satisfactory resolution. Try leaving a Google Review

 

Sorry for the Run-on sentence, when it comes to wheel curbs, it is contracted out (the work) and they hire the cheapest company to do the job. Not universal but most of the case.

 

Oh sorry about that. I like to take photos before the appt.

 

So far the dealer is behaving responsibly. I will admit that they always do their best to resolve issues that arise but it's just a shame that these things happen in the first place.
They just sent updated photos with higher resolution and it appears that I can't see anything from the photos. I will reserve judgment until I see it in person later this afternoon.

I'm pretty sure they contracted the issue out for repair to a wheel shop. Fingers crossed that I'm happy with it. Otherwise they will be supplying me with a new wheel.

As far as the service department goes I think they are just overwhelmed. They are one of two dealers on the North side of the very large southern city I live near.
They really have outgrown the space they are in years ago. Thankfully they are expanding and building a new satellite location closer to me and hopefully that will result in a better customer experience.
Updates to follow.

 

Sorry to hear about your wheel and the unprofessional service department. If you have a moment, check out my story.
https://mbworld.org/forums/g-class-w...-48v-fail.html

 

I have not had issues, but if this kept happening to me, I would take the car elsewhere. The reality is that restoring a wheel will never look like the original. I've given up on trying to restore wheels, especially expensive wheels. One of the issue is that these wheels have a clear coat and the repair shop generally can't match it. It's obvious in person as the gloss and texture will be off, or the color isn't quite the same.

I had one instance where a dealership damaged my car. It was my previous Audi dealership. The service manager was German and he was not gonna let it go unless the repair was perfect. I speak German, so we knew each other from before and he was extremely apologetic that this happened to my RS5. Luckily, it was the front fender and I had PPF on it, so it actually barely damaged the paint. As far as I remember the body shop was able to buff it out, and then put fresh PPF on it. It didn't even show up on the CARFAX, so it effectively never happened.

 

Do I feel like responding? Do I feel like responding? Oh don't do it....but...I can't ignore the red button all alone in the room that says "do not touch".....

Let's see:
My 2014 E350 / Purchased CPO in 2017 with 20k miles (lease return)

• Came with two bent rims.
• Two stripped bolts on the transmission pan (never did learn why they needed to open the pan in general).
• Two weeks in the shop to fix a bent rim (MB Tysons Corner), only to be told it was fixed when it had never been touched. I called my warranty company on that one to report the scam.
• Rear deck lip spoiler along the trunk was coming up on the edges, needed some new tape. Same dealer said they had to order a brand new one instead and paint it. Pretty sure that never happened. When car returned to me, the trunk was scratched up to hell and back.
• Hit a pothole in Indiana, golf balled the tire, made it to the dealership for a replacement tire. Drove back to DC, had a noise, turned out they put on a previously returned defective tire.
• Quoted $4,500 to replace the cam magnets on the front of the engine that were leaking oil (common). Indi laughed. $500 job.
• Had an alignment job that somehow bent the dust plate on the rear wheel into the brand spankin' new rotor and destroyed it within a few miles of leaving the dealership.

My current GLS (bought new in 2020)

• Driver's window made horrible squeaking noise. Took them 4 days, said it was fixed and ready for pick up. Drove to get it, only to find dirty tools in the back seat along with a few pieces of the door trim not installed. To this day, it still squeaks.
• Seat bottoms split multiple times in front seats. After second repair, told no more and to wait for reissued seat covers from MB. Took 18 months. When they said it was ready to be repaired, it took so long that I went through 3 loaners, one of which (new GLC) left me stranded after it went into techno meltdown. They eventually just put me in a BMW instead.
  • When we got it back, a nice dent along the driver's door from where they clearly swung the door open and hit something.
  • I had to backtrack their work on the passenger seat cover, they missed two clips and it looked like crap. I fixed that myself.
  • While under warranty, I took it in for the transmission hiccups when slowing down. Said they could not duplicate it, despite duplicating it with me in the car during the test drive multiple times. I told them I could bring the damn in on fire, and they'd say it was operating as intended.
• I have received multiple calls from their service department on the need to bring it in for a recall. Each time I tell them not a chance in hell. I'd rather have one potential problem instead of two definite new ones created by you.

Mom's 2018 GLA (bought CPO in 2021).

• Back to the Tyson's Corner MB dealership for this one, even though I warned my dad against dealing with them. But was the only one on the east coast in her color. Bought it when in DC visiting, drove it back to FL.
• Advertised with Navigation. But after purchase, was told we had to buy an SD card to make the navigation unit work for $799. Told them to "f'off". Bought one on Amazon for $40 (it's a Garmin unit system) and has worked flawlessly ever since. Told them they were practicing bait n' switch on that one.
• They tried to sneak in a $1,200 "coating" at the last second on the purchase. My dad told them to stuff it and to remove it. They pressed hard, until I said I was going to call a family friend in the Virginia Attorney General's office to file an official complaint. The dealership is a Roger Penske dealership. Parent's are from Indiana. Everyone in Indiana knows each other from decades back. They dropped it. They tried all sorts of stuff.
• They even made a retired Colonel at 80 years old, walk all the way to the back of the dealership (I mean, all the damn way back) to pick up the car after the sale. As we walked, there was the $1,200 "coating" guy with a Walmart buffer and a bottle of turtle wax just grinding the unbridled hell out of some poor saps car.
• I suspect a visit from ICE to the dealerships would not go over well, and I'll just leave it at that.

I'm 52 years old. I'm on my 20th vehicle currently (Bronco). I'm no different than you guys. Owned many different brands, with MB being the most expensive. Without question, without debate, just pure fact - I have never in my life seen such poor customer service, scam tactics, and utter incompetence than at the MB dealerships I've had the displeasure of dealing with. I've had the VW dealership actually do work on my previous E350 before (because I trust them, have serviced several of my VW's). I absolutely despise a MB dealerships, so much so that it has affected my desire to own another Mercedes Benz vehicle in general. If I do, it'll be an old one, a bit of a project car / toy for my indi to handle. Pre-Chrysler days type of old.

 

Wow you guys make me feel better about my issues! They seem like minor annoyances in hindsight compared to your horror stories.

I picked the car up yesterday afternoon. I was rather amazed that they were able to repair it to my satisfaction.
It's smooth and has the groves in it like it's supposed to. Clearcoat over it as well. I literally was down on my knees in the service pickup area trying to spot something, anything really.
From any normal distance I couldn't see anything. At 6 inches to 1 foot, I could sort of see a flattened tangent edge but honestly I was struggling to see that. It was really hard to tell anything.
Wife has the car today but maybe if I have time I'll upload some before after photos later.

BTW I've driven NC Hwy 211 A LOT between Bolton and Southport. Haven't been that way in many years but I used to have that road nearly memorized when my folks had a house on the Long Beach end of Oak Island.
It seemed like the longest road ever sometimes, but maybe that was the anticipation of finally getting to the beach.

 

Customer care at German car dealer service departments, on average, is bad. There is however wide variation, in other words no standardization in customer experience. The agency problem rears its ugly head again.

An MB dealer and Porsche dealer scuffed and scratched my engine cover on two different cars.

Porsche dealer creased my driver’s leather seat bottom. It won’t uncrease itself.

2 small wheel scuffs/rashes appeared that I don’t recall doing myself. While it is possible a family member did these, it is equally possible the dealer porter did them at a recent service visit.

These examples are not severe enough and my time and peace are too valuable to care. So I don’t care. Retail car dealers are generally scummy enterprises. It’s the nature of the beast.


Best customer care I have experienced is at 2 different Honda dealers; vehicle in question was an 8 year old CR-V.

 

It is possible they just threw the cover on the floor.

 

My best customer experience has been at my local Toyota dealership. That was during my minivan days. The Sienna with the V-6 is still the best all around vehicle I've ever owned. Hated to see it go.
Big wide service bays and entry/exit area. Fast service and great communication. Bright waiting area with free Chick-Fil-A food, coffee and drinks.

 

you are my new favorite on here!! Only one to know what my name means, which I’ve had for about 30 years since my days in Wilmington making movies in my 20’s.

dealerships all vary, and all brands have their winners and losers. I’m sure there are several great MB dealership service centers as well. My area is sooo swamped with MB vehicles that the dealerships struggle to keep up. But nonetheless, when you charge what they do for basic service, you’d expect better care be taken….

 

By and large I have been very satisfied with the MB dealers here I have used for service. They're both Euro Motorcars, Bethesda and Germantown. I shopped in Tysons Corner and found the people there not particularly interested in anything other than selling a car...lets put it that way. Vs the folks at Euro in Germantown where I bought both my S560 and S580 really were interested in finding me what I wanted and working a deal for me for both cars that I couldn't touch within $100+ per month for a lease anywhere else. Service at both has also been good.

 

As with every business, it comes down to if the ownership cares about customer service. These days a lot of dealerships are owned by larger corporations who own all kinds of dealerships. Some of them haven't figured out yet, that a luxury car dealership needs to be run differently. That's not to say customer service is crappy at more economic brands. I get great service at the VW dealership whenever I bring in my wife's car for service. They don't offer free loaners like the premium brands, but their Uber vouchers get me home and back for free.

In case of both my previous Audi dealership and my current Mercedes dealership I have built relationships with them. At the Audi dealership I worked with the GM on my European delivery and he recognized and greeted me every time I walked in. I also had a relationship with the service manager. He was German, so we conducted business in German. Whenever there was an issue they went to battle for me with Audi corporate. Got me many goodwill repairs worth thousands and as I said above, when they did accidently damage my car at one point, they were moving heaven and earth to make it right. I have similar relationships at my current MB dealership. For example, I don't have to tell my SA anymore that I don't want the car washed and that they are not supposed to mess with my tire pressures and the service director knows me and greets me every time he sees me. Admittedly, it does seem to help if you own something more special than a C300. They do step up the game when you roll up in an AMG. My SA actually told me one time that it's the C63 and the GT customers that care about their cars the most, so they handle them with extra care. They are generally more car enthusiasts than the family dad rolling up in an E, GLE or GLS. The latter have kids, so the cars have seen abuse from within.