The issue started with the serpentine belt coming off while driving on the freeway (I never heard of this happening to Mercedes before). Prior to that the vehicle had a weird noise coming off the engine. I thought the belt was dry or something. I towed the car to the Rusnak Mercedes in Arcadia, Ca. The fixed the belt and tensioner, though the original quote stated that my alternator and water pump were damaged, after I questioned all these with original quote of $3000+. After questioning why the alternator and pump are damaged and how did that happen, the advisor changed later on and said the technician found those to be ok and I was hoping the bill to be at least half based on his estimate and those not being included. My car was fixed and I picked it up late Friday after work.
I immediately noticed the car wasn't done right, as the noise was still there, and I called the shop. Since it was end of the day, I called again the next day and mentioned my concern. I wasn't called back on Monday, so on Tuesday I took the car in and hoping something was to be done. The technician came and he suggested that the car was ok and nothing will happen to it. He also suggested that to overcome the noise I buy a fluid from PepBoys or any other store that I can add to my gas tank and it will clear the valves. I asked him why should I do that after I spend $2000 on the vehicle. I took their words and left with my car. It didn't last a week, my vehicle was disabled again on the freeway and I needed a tow. this time it was major as it wouldn't start and a thick smoke was coming off the exhaust, and the engine was rattling and making very loud noise. I called the Merc customer service and roadside, I towed the vehicle back to them. I then requested to talk to the manager as this seemed to be a major blow to my vehicle and was concerned. He assured me to they will handle it after testing it. He later on called me with 'bad news' that my vehicle suffered a 'major engine failure' and hence I will need a new one. The quote of which was $11,000 to fix it. I told them that is ridiculous and I can't or wont spend such.
I told them I'm holding them responsible as it doesn't make sense how that happened. He stated that ' a piston came off' which caused a failure. I asked him how is that possible, after they spend a week with my car and my car wasn't fixed right.


Any suggestions on how to go by this?