LovinMercedes

I have been having a few problems with my car. So what is new?

As you know my left door panel came in ruined when I purchased my car. Since I have the black X11 interior which is brand new for 2005 they don't stock that part.

That being the case, every time you order a part that is specific only to the X11 interior it has to be specially made by the manufacturer.

Well, today after the dealer got door panel number 5 which was no good, yes the 5th one, I decided I had enough.

I called the President's office in Montvale several days ago after door panel number 4 came in destroyed as well. The first time I spoke to a very cooperative person that said she would help. Well, she was nice but totally useless.

Yesterday and today I spoke to two different people in the President's office and I can tell you they were the most arrogant obnoxious robotic people I have ever spoken with.

I can tell you under any circumstances, no matter what the options are I am going to have a very tough time giving Mercedes my hard earned money in the future. They are a company that just does not deserve my loyalty no matter how much I think the car is superior to its competition.

I also hired a lawyer today that sued Mercedes many years ago and kicked their *** for big dollars. If they don't get me my door panel and other parts real fast I am going after them big time.

I don't care if I have to spend another $100,000 to prove my point but I can promise you, Mr. Mercedes, I will. Principle is far more important to me than money and if they don't rectify my situation they are going to find out just how much of a pain in the *** I can be.

I totally dislike arrogance, even worse when you have no right to it. Come on, last in customer satisfaction. Oh…that's a surprise.

lorinserbenz

Wow.. I thought my ordeal was bad. By all means Id go after MB if they kept jerking me around too. Why can't they just package the panel so it doesnt arrive damaged?
I saw a parts truck being unloaded and I can see why your panels keep getting damaged. None of the items I saw being unloaded were boxed, most had a brown paper wrapped around them.

pilot20

I can pretty much guarantee that there are lemmings on this board who will make excuses for this type of thing.

I've already come across several of them.

NeilC123

I am totally behind your views - MB is getting worse - fact. I have to say if I was spending on one car the amount some of the people in this strand (SL) are willing to spend i'd certainly be looking elsewhere. After all maybe mercs are okay around upto the £35,000 price range - but if u are going into the £60,000+ price range there are plenty of other care manufacturers out there which are more exclusive and would treat you better.

Scotsman

Totally agree with you Lovin. Just after I'd ordered my SL, found my CLK had rust on both front wheel arches. MB said it was stone chips and wouldn't be covered under warranty. The fact that it was the leading edges didn't seem to deter them from blaming stone chips. After months of arguing and phone calls they eventually agreed to fix it. A few months later the rust came through again. Once again they refused to fix it.
Many times I'd phone, speak to a nice person who'd promise they'd look into it and call me back - well, out of what must have been 50+ calls they called me back once! Threatened cancelling my SL order, legal action, newspapers and God knows what but they didn't bother their ****. You'd escalate it to their managers and you get exactly the same response. Customer care!!!!

Jeez, my blood's even boiling thinking back - it was so bloody frustrating!
Wonder if MB read these forums? You'd think they would but would they do anything?

NeilC123

Scotman: Your words are powerful however they are somewhat undermined by the fact that in the end you have bought a sl500 from them. Until customers start by using their feet and walk away mercedes will simply never learn - i am purposely staying away from high costing mercs until they sort their act out.

Scotsman

Yeah, I know you're right NeilC -but I'm weak!!! I looked around but no other car would do. Would love a DB9 but simply can't afford one and wouldn't just "make-do" with another. I'd just be cutting my nose off to spite my face. Problem is Mb realise this and that there are weaklings like me. :o}

PA55AMG

Where is my can of TROLL BE GONE!

RadSteve

\

After 5 shipments and 5 ruined parts, wouldn't it have been more cost effective for Mercedes to simply have placed the part in a briefcase and hired a courier to take it personally to SF? There ARE daily flights from Frankfurt. At least that way you know it will arrive unbroken (what is actually happening to the parts anyway?) This is really SAAAAD.

Steve

LovinMercedes

I totally understand and this is exactly the problem. Until people stop buying this car, Mercedes will never change. They are too arrogant to do it on their own and why should they? We keep buying their cars.

Just think about it. We are paying top dollar for a car that has finished dead last in terms of reliability.

It's probbably not being weak. I think of it as being selfish and I myself was as selfish as it gets. In fact you are in a sense cutting your nose off to spite your face.

I have just decided that from a principle point of view I can no longer allow them to get away with this and if that means getting a car the next time that doesn't look so pretty or have a hard top, then that is what I am going to do.

Hey, let's face it. Mercedes today is miles behind the Japanese in terms of electronics ,etc. so if you get another car you will probably get a more advanced car and you will certainly get a more reliable car.

Remember the article that said Mercedes was cutting back electronics because they could not produce cars where they worked. That is because they are so incompetent.

Other car manufacturers are adding electronics. Somebody mentioned the G35 Infinity. I was at a friend's house the other day who was buying a G35 and I read the brouchure. I was amazed at the electronics in that car. Miles ahead of our SL's in every aspect.

For now, I am going to make myself feel better about owning this gorgeous piece of **** by making them fix my car or filing a law suit. After that I am done with Mercedes as I will not give them my money for a car that is so unreliable despite how pretty it looks or how great it drives when it works. And yes, how great the hard top is.

My fellow forum members, they will never change until we change. They are just too arrogant and actually don't think they have a real problem. This is because of the idiots like you and I that keep spending top dollar for this car that finished dead last in terms of reliability.

Well, as of yesterday, I am done being an idiot.

I just want everyone to know that I understand this is a personal choice. This is my choice and I would NEVER look poorly on someone that made a different choice. I use the term idiot to make my point but certainly would never suggest any of you are idiots. It is only the term I used to get my point accross.

I am done with the Mercedes bull ****. If they ever want a penny of my money they had better start making a reliable car and I don't see that happening for a long time, if ever. Every indication is that this brand is going to be just another car manufacturer that builds everyday cars. Just look at what the trends are and what new models are coming out. There is no question about this. As an everyday car manufacturer, they suck and are far worse than the alternatives.

As for me, F#CK MERCEDES when it comes to a new car!

LovinMercedes

Exactly my point. The retail on the door panel is about $3000. The cost is $2,100 so effectively they are out over $10,000.

When suggesting they just package the part differently, all they say is that they have no mechanism by which to make that happen. All I can say is how is that possible? No wonder their profits are down 97% this quarter.

These door panels come in actually smashed with parts cracked. Hey, I know personally about a S55 that they are repairing from being stolen and they are on the 3rd or 4th door panel with that car. I saw one come in the other day. The box was ripped and the edge of the panel was all ripped apart. All it needed was a thicker box and some packing material. That was the S55 door panel. It came in from Germany in a 1/8 inch thick box flopping around because the box was oversized and the panel had absolutley nothing around it but a very thin piece of plastic that would be ripped under any circumstance.

BUT...all they can say is "we have no way of getting Germany to do anything differently". This comment is not from the dealer. The dealer has brought this to the attention of the Zone people at Mercedes and this was the head Zone parts manager that was saying this.

Well, we will see what they say after my lawyer gets done with them.

I know this is hard to believe but this is reality for Mercedes everyday with almost every customer. Ever wait forever for a part that hasn't come in yet? Well, maybe it hasn't come in or maybe it has come in 2 or 3 times until they got a good one.

What is so frustrating is how easy some of the solutions can be but they just refuse to address them. After 20 plus years of buying Mercedes and making the friends I have made, I can tell you stories that are worse than this.

RadSteve

This is just too pathetic. How ludicrous. I am actually dreading the arrival of my car now....for I just know there will be something wrong (heaven knows what....there are so MANY possibilities from all the stuff on just this forum), and it'll take weeks/months to fix, and by then something else will have cropped up, I'm sure. Oh well, it'll give me something to b***h about.

BTW, did they break the panel at the dealer when they were doing your upgrades? I don't recall how it all started.

Steve

Steve

SilverSL500

Just leave a trail of cheap rice out of the forum, that should do it.

lorinserbenz

Lovin... I can assure you that the G35 is not miles ahead of MB in electronics, I know I owned one.
I loved my G35 it was fast, reliable and good looking. However the materials used on the interior are REALLY CHEAP, the paint SUCKs and the motor can't deal with major mods.
After owning my G35 for less than a year my front end looked like someone hit it with an ice pick a million times. My car only had 8000 miles on it and was NEVER driven in areas od construction or on the interstate.. Oh and you better pray a bird doesnt take a dump, INSTANT PAINT Etch... and my car had 50 coats of ZAINO.
I got really hooked on mods for the G because most were very cheap.. I added a Vortech Supercharger which made the car a joy to own.. Thats until I did a compression test and found I was losing compression in ALL the cyclinders. The motor in the 350 an G35 is NOTORIOUS for losing compression and having the RODS fail even on cars without TT or superchargers. Just read the my350z forums...
Read the horror stories about how the Brembo brakes need new rotors after 10K miles... and NOT covered under warranty.. Ironic that Infiniti no longer offers them...
Oh and you dont get treated anymore special than at MB in the service dept... I had to ***** for weeks to get $25 trim panel replaced...

You are 100% right , the only way MB will improve its QC is to lose customers. I dont forsee the current situation improving.. Not until one of the Japanese makers releases a car that has better styling than MB does.

tiggerfink

Go here to find more http://mbca.cartama.net/showthread.php?t=5655 http://mbca.cartama.net/index.php?

Those folks just do not understandand or believe that that the SLs have so many problems, because their C series do not have problems.

lorinserbenz

The only area I can say that the Japanese has over MB is Bluetooth...
What else does is there? You can compare Nav systems... each automaker has its strong points and weak points in that area.

QC is an area that MB sucks, I can verify this.. I have said this before... its LABOR.. MB has had serious labor problems. Pissed off employess= s hi tt y cars.

Natalie

Wow, you guys must have awful dealers! Every problem encountered with my Benz's has been well taken care of (bravo MB of Honolulu). From your post I'm sure this is NOT you, but I have met customers at the dealer who expect to be treated like a godess because they owned a benz. If people are truely unhappy they would walk away from Mercedes. We keep buying them because they are special cars. Believe me, if you think MB's have bad service try Ferrari .

JDM

...Actually, my C is grumpy alot. One day its this, next day it's that. It's on it's 3rd set of fuel level senders, trans is screwy (been checked,fix'd,reprogrammed,and of course it's working as desighned....)Trim, trim, trim, paint chips, ... list goes on. 48000 miles, 30 days out of warranty, dealer say's, "mmmmgolly, that happens..sorry bout that.." ( they've spent thousands on this car since it had only 2500 miles or so on it.) Dealership personell changes frequently, like every other visit I make to them, and the new guy's attitude is worse than the last guy...The two sa's that really tried, quit. (one went Back to BMW, I presume) Once i got the car back after a "rattling in the front susp." complaint. It had been puddle jumping and the entire engine bay was soaked with that chocolate milk water. During the repair, they stripped the bolts they'd replaced..Yes, I tried the Other dealer here in oregon. They dont want to inherit the car, recommend that servicing/selling dealer is best place to take it. I had complained about the thrashed engine bay, as I dust it about once a month, and Knew it was trashed by them.(plus I inspect the car after every service) "They didnt do it", was the response.. I dont know what the deal is...when I visit them, I always have a good atitude, not a ****y, "fix my benz", i dont make enough money to act like that. But I did pay alot (as far as Im concerned) for a car that I've always admired. I expect it to break too, but gee, service would be nice, and less frequency, even better. Takes 2-3 trips for each repair! They're an hour away. . Oh well. I'm forced to consider these things next purchase.

JDM

for the record, I have been a Cadillac/GM/Jeep advisor for several years. GM caters to their customers like their the last ones! I could get customers warranty covered repairs as much as 25000 miles out! Jeep/chrysler corp. on the other hand was terrible! They denied customers every chance! And pled ignorant to faulty engineering. Talk about mad customers! Whew! It would be like trying to collect money from visa.

LovinMercedes

My dealer is incredible. They will do anything for you and with a smile. I am very thankful I have them. Had I not had such a great dealer I would never have bought this car. In most cases the dealer takes care of the lack of the interest on corporate Mercedes Benz.

If the parent company cared half as much as the dealer cared, there would never be any problems that couldn't be fixed.

I can tell you the dealer is as much or more frustrated with parent Mercedes Benz because what they are having to go through on my car, they go through on many other cars as well.

I always show up at the dealer with a smile and am thankful for what they do for me. Many other customers are not as tollerable as I am and take it out on the dealer when a part doesn't show up for three weeks and it is not the dealers fault.

JDM

Empthatic dealers make all the difference. I wish my dealer was. true, many customers are very abusive, self important, and maybe this has rubbed off. As an advisor, you can get pretty fed up with customers, and manufacturers. But if you cant do a good job for the customer anyway, there are other careers.

SilverSL500

I'm lucky. My Mercedes dealer also sells Cadillac and GM!! Separate side for GM, but same dealer. I've bought 4 vehicles from them and have yet to have an issue that hasn't been addressed.

JDM

sounds like a good dealer. The advisors are the front line, and typically alot is expected out of the advisors in regards to customer satisfaction, especially at a highline dealership. but some owner/managers let attitudes exist that diminish the image and overall experience at the counter. Manoman, if i had a cadillac customer turn in a disatisfied survey, or call the owner because the oil change took too long, or their car didnt get washed, we'd all get it!

03SilverSL

Lovin' -- I thought you were getting rid of that car

MBZFAN55

Lovin- The transmission valve body for my 2004 S500 7Gtronic (20,000 miles) arrived at my dealer yesterday, damaged and unusable. The part has been reordered and the replacement (for the replacement) should be in tomorrow. The dealer is wonderful and the Service Manager seems to call me every 4 hours, so I am still "ok", but obviously the problems you have been complaining about are universal at Mercedes. I keep hoping that things will get better, but I am beginning to have my doubts.