fasttommyv

Another satisfied benzworks customer. Serge built my cls55 into a complete monster. His repair prices are very fair and he stands by his work! Because of serge my 55 is cheaper to maintain than my old Audi a4 at the dealer! He has bailed me out with expensive repairs more than a few times. When I had some intake manifold gasket problems, he diagnosed it, and even coordinated to have the car towed to the dealer and got a modded car covered under the mb CPO warranty! Name another shop that would go that far for a customer and send away profit like that? Saved me a few thousand in repair costs!

My 2 cents. Keep it up serge and thanks for all the help in the past

Tom

babyboigsxr

Not questioning HPV12's credibility whatsoever. I don't know the owner nor his car that well. I'm just surprised about what has happened to his car in relation to BenzWorks. I'm really sorry to hear. I've actually seen the car in person many times before.

With all due respect... not taking sides or anything, but I would like to freely state my opinion/experiences without any sort of bias to either parties.

I've known Serge since I've had my first Benz a little over 6 years ago. Since day one, he has always taken care of my car. His prices, quality, cleanliness, creativity, and knowledge is far superior to most shops and dealers that I've been to. I too am very meticulous about my car. For those on here who know me, I keep my car(s) very well maintained inside out. Though at first, I only owned a W208 CLK320, it was one of the cleanest ones you'll see (literally). It may not have been powerfully modded, but I did enough to it (with Serge's help) to make it a very unique CLK.

In the past there were times when things weren't going my way at all and I've probably brought my car to him almost on a monthly basis. Something new would have to be replaced (such as a part that needed maintenance/repairs that hasn't been touched in the past due to the age of the car). He knew my financial situation and hardships, and he was always there for me. He always had my back and advised me with what needed to be repaired/replaced and what items can wait. He's always honest with his suggestions to save me the trouble.

I know the BenzWorks crew fairly well and they've always worked on my car(s) with care. I've actually learned my lesson taking my car to other shops. I've had "similar" experiences to HPV12 when I brought my car to other "Mercedes Benz specialists" (not going to bring up shop names out of respect. This also includes MB dealers). I would bring in my car in with a specific issue to be repaired, and though that problem was fixed, I left with a new problem. I was one truly unhappy and very unsatisfied customer. That's one of the many reasons I stuck with Serge as my main go-to guy. He's even fixed the problems that other shops have created. Throughout all his shop re-locations, I made sure that he would be the one to work on my car. There was a time when my car crapped out on the freeway at night (past his shop hours), and I gave Serge a call (before even thinking of calling AAA towing) and asked if he might know what may have caused my car to shut-off. Based on my description, he walked me through some of the possibilities. Though we both couldn't figure it out over the phone, he even called me hours later asking if I was okay and if I made it home safely. If one were to take a moment to think about it, he's not just "a mechanic", he's also a person that genuinely cares.

Again... I'm truly sorry to read about the situation about HPV12, I hope things turn out well at the end. Though there are details that many don't know between both parties, I personally think that Serge would do what he can to help resolve things. That's just my opinion from my experiences.

novae500

OP, i just hope you didnt make payments all with cash. If you used your credit card, you can dispute whatever $$$ amount you want and have the cc company get the vendor's side. I've done this a few times for auto repair where i didnt get what was promised, car interior got trashed, and dragged out for more than a week past the deadline promised. Did you take pics of the car before drop off, during, and after getting it back? That will help with your side if the cc company asks for it.
Hope you find a shop that can sort out the new/old problems with the car.

TTM, ACG, EC DC, and now this one.

moosejaw

Anyone got a set of cliffnotes
or i can just read when i get home tonight

Nightflyer

Good for the OP to voice his opinion. I also had a friend take his mercedes over and the impression he got was one that they were more after his money. Without even digging into the actual problem he was quoted some thousands of dollars. I mean if that's how we do business, i'd certainly stay away from a shop with that kind of attitude.

AMG E Power

Andressa whats this about again lol

rockthemullet

I laughed

I'm glad the bickering and childish antics started to lessen in this thread. I'd like to hear from Benzworks

firstbenzforme

What can you do?
With builds as the OPs.. there are lots of things that can go wrong and when they do, they can be very expensive to remedy. And obviously no one wants to be on the receiving end of that. I don't blame OP for hating on Serge from his position. And likewise i can't fault Serge much for distancing himself from the build. No winners in this.

Personally, those guys helped me immensely. They always took care of my car and me beyond mere satisfaction. Lots of praise i could heap upon them but ill just say Serge took my calls and texts and responded to help me fix minor issues myself...and also talked me through a breakdown in south dakota on a cross country drive and helped have the correct parts sourced so i could get back on the road quickly.

Knowing him personally, i can totally imagine Serge giving you attitude. But i can absolutely not imagine him trying to rip anyone off and leave you with a broken car.

Sorry it didn't work out for you. Happy to let you vent it here. But don't get all bent when people respond. Everyone's opinion matters equally here (which is very little!)

Denroll

Check out Elliot Rodger all up in here. You might want to go get those mommy issues taken care of before you go shooting up some sorority girls.

C_DirtyTwo

lol






too soon man.....

Rareamg

Have to agree with Mikey, hope you guys can work it out.

Staff@WORLD

As a shop, I look at these situations as unfortunate. I have been doing this a long time so I have learned a lot of hard earned lessons over the years when it comes to situations like this. I started working with Japanese cars back in 1990 when people laughed at me for wanting to start a business modding Japanese cars. I did very well in that business but their were times when I would take a project on that was over my head and it didn't turn out in any way like I expected. It's a terrible situation when you don't meet your customers expectations. As you learn from your mistakes you try and avoid these situations moving forward. I do not think that a business exists in the whole world that does not want to meet the customers expectations.

As for building a car like the one that's discussed here, I probably would not get involved. It would be very difficult for me as a shop owner to make money doing a build like this. How many hours can you possibly bill to do this job. The only company I know that has success doing these projects is Brabus, and they have a huge workforce with close ties to Mercedes to get these jobs done. They also charge close to $500,000.00 if not more for these builds.

Now with that being said there is even a bigger lesson that I learned over the years and that is about taking on another shops big job. A car like this comes in your shop and you are looking at someones work for the first time. You have no clue about what was really done to get the car to where it is now. I know this car sat around for a long time while it was getting built as they were trying to figure out problems they were having. When you are looking at someone else's project and trying to track down problems you start looking at the basics first. No you can throw all the Mercedes service manuals out because it they won't help you much with a build like this. Every sensor and wiring issue has to individually be tracked down. You will find brackets missing that you think should be there, you will find all types of things done with someone else's work that you feel should be done differently. It's a frustrating process to say the least.

I have been to Benz-Werks and have seen the car there. I was surprised because I thought someone built one out here but he told me that the car was purchased from back East. I am not saying I know the car well at all but I am from long Island and do remember the car. I told Serge he was crazy for taking on that job because I know, from my past experience, how hard those jobs can be and how badly they can bite you in the ***. I have received many calls from customers that have had jobs started and wanted to bring the car into my shop to finish them but I simply turn those jobs down because they often take longer to finish than the whole job would have been in the first place.

I am confident that Serge is not trying to get over on you in any way whatsoever, and I am also confident that everything Serge did to your car was done because he saw something wrong with it. That is the problem with these jobs, one shop will be satisfied in the way something was done and another shop will look at the same part and have many issues with it.

Serge has been a big help to me out here as I go to him for advice and help quite a bit. I wish that I could have returned the favor by spending more time convincing him not to get involved with that job. I would have turned it down because I feel that their is a very high likelihood that I would be in the same position as Serge is right now. This business is hard enough as it is sometimes, getting involved in another persons big project is just a big mess waiting to happen. I am sure that any shop owner or mechanic with enough years under their belt will agree with me.

Good luck with your car and I hate to read when situations come to a head like this and end up in a place like this.

Mjno87

The only problem I have with Benz-Werks is that they are located too damn far away from me... (about an hr drive) But Serge and Nick are the only ones I trust when it comes to issues or maintenance with my car. Fc*k that drive though.

Redw20855amg

They need a binocular emoji for this one, as a shop owner myself and knowing nothing but what i just read "world" could not have said it better

Style_Front

Had a bad experience at benzworks here too, I could never take my car back there or refer any one.

Which is interesting, the reviews from those that have had a good experience are like REALLY good. I got time raped there, car sat for months, got very little done, I brought Serge basic work that wasn't very interesting which is why I think it took forever. I dunno, my experience was bad.