Enigma94

Well, it's been a long month, mainly because I haven't been able to drive my car but for 3 days in the last 3 1/2 weeks. It's kind of a long story so bare with me...

I purchased my e63 on April 1st as a CPO vehicle, which was the biggest selling point of the car. To be able to drive the car without worrying about having to foot the bill for the repairs, also so I could be my usual OCD self about every little aspect of the car working properly without having to dive into my Waller to keep my sanity while driving the car. I did extended the CPO warranty for another 2 years as well, for a total of 3 years coverage with unlimited miles.

I drove the car for the first 2 months and loved every minute of it! I was very mindful of things that didn't seem to be right with the car and compiled a lengthy list for when I decided to take the car back into the dealer to have it all fixed. Well, the day before my appointment to take the car in I was exiting the freeway when a mindless idiot in a Prius cab ran over a massive tire strip on the of ramp and threw it right into my front end.... I was livid because it was clear the driver wasn't paying attention or he would of been able to easily avoid running it over. Well it blew out my center grill mesh, destroyed a few clips for the mesh and cracked the lower portion of the bumper in 2 spots. Thank god for a clear bra or the hoods paint would of been destroyed too. I created a thread with pics when it happened if you want to see the damage.

After research I decided a new OEM bumper just wasn't doable at the moment for 1 grand plus paint(guessing around 1500-2,000 when all said and done). So I figured I'd drive it the way it was until I could afford it. I was also going to ask the service advisor the next day if this could be repaired and for a price.

Next day rolls around and I take the car in and go over the list of everything that was wrong with the car:
1.)center ac vents didn't blow nearly as hard as the outside vents(thinking stepper motors out)
2.)valve noise at clod start(I know it's common just wanted them to look at it)
3.)clicking noise from driver front wheel, speed variable so thinking brake related
4.)when reversing after the car sits for a long time and then applying brakes there is a loud thud in the front on both sides.
5.)check engine light came on when on the way to dealer(ambient temp sensor)
6.) pinging noise when accelerating from a coast, only lasts 2-3seconds. Sounds like bad gas. Even though I only use chevron 91 ALWAYS.

My SA also tells me they can fix the bumper cracks and respray the bumper for $500. I'm thinking great, now I won't have to worry about the cracks spreading and 500 is in budget so let's do it. I told him to call be after he talked with the body shop to let me know if it was going to be more to fix it and he assured me it would only be 500, I said great go ahead and do it.

Got a call back 2 (Friday)days later with this info 1.) one of the stepper motors was on the wrong setting. Couldn't replicate number 2, 3 or 6. But said the wheel bearings were replaced as they both showed play in them, which I thought was odd for a 50k car but oh well. Told me the car was going to the body shop and it would take a few days and that he was going out of town and to contact his partner Nate who would be handling everything for him while he was gone.

I don't hear from Nate till the following Thursday at 5:30, says the car is done and I could come get it tomorrow, I asked if I could pic it up that day and he said sure but they closed in 30min. Got down there in time, paid the 500 and went out the check out the car....

I was shocked at how terrible the bumper looked. Me and my friend who came with me were both in awe at how bad the paint job was. Orange peel everywhere, buffing compound all over the car, inside the headlights and bumper lights, and even paint runs at the bottom of the bumper. I immediately go back in and talk to the only guy left in the service area who wrote a email to Nate and kyle(my SA) and advised me to bring it back Monday since Kyle would be back and that they couldn't do anything over the weekend anyway. So I jump in the car, get on the freeway and the check engine light comes on.... First I freak out but then scroll to the Ambient temp and it says 160... Great they didn't even fix that. Try the ac vents, still blow like crap compared to the side vents when not on "auto" mode. And the thumping when reversing and pressing the brakes is still there. At this point I'm pretty upset, they had the car for over a week and they didn't do a damn thing. After looking over the car even more that night I notice a 2" scratch in my fender that wasn't there before I dropped it off and I could see where somebody tried to wipe the compound off and buffed into my clear bra damaging it...

I called back Friday and talked to the service manager, which happened to be the guy that I talked to the night before and he said that it would be taken care of Monday when I bought the car back in. Monday rolls around and Kyle is back and he apologizes about everything and says he was sorry that he wasn't there to check everything to make sure it was done right and that he will talk to his guys about the scratch. He mentioned that if he had his "in house" body shop do the work it would of ran 1500 bucks for a show quality finish but the work still should be way better than what was done to the bumper... Says he'll take care of it all and give me a call. I don't hear anything till Wednesday... He says the body shop didn't plug the ambient temp back in when they put the bumper back on so that was cleared. He told me the center vents are blowing normal and he checked 3 other cars on the lot and it's the same for all 3. He was still looking into the clunking noise but they couldn't seem to replicate it so he advised me to take it out with him when it was done to try and replicate it. He said the car was going back to the body shop and he would be in touch.

He calls me late on Tuesday and lets me know the car should be done Wednesday and out of the body shop. I ask him what was being done about the scratch on my fender and the damaged clear bra and he said he forgot about it and would talk with his guys and get back to me Wednesday. I also ask him to get me a quote for a new center grill and the broken clips. Calls me Wednesday and says he is unsure of what happened with the fender but he's having it resprayed and said he wasn't sure if he could have the fender done in time to get a new clear bra back on it so it would probably be done thursday(the 3rd) but he was going to be gone again and Nate would call me when it was done. The new grill was going to be 220 at wholesale with the clips but he would do it for 195 because I've been so patient.

Got a call Thursday from Nate letting me know the car was done and I could come pic it up. So I go in, drop the loaner car off and pay the 195. I walk out to the car and immediately look at the new grill..... The ****ing clips are still broken. I check the invoice and they definitely charged me for the new clips. Start looking over the paint, the flat areas look great but the flat part of the center grill area is still orange peeled like crazy, along with the parts that stick out over the fog lights... So I'm starting to get pretty mad at this point. I make my way around to the fender and there is a paint defect where it looks like there was an air bubble in the paint and it popped leaving a divet in the paint. I walk in and get Nate, he comes out and inspects everything and agrees it's not up to par. He goes and gets a paint marker and marks all the orange peel spots, the defect and while I'm showing him the defect on the fender I notice a dent right where the clear bra used to be!!! He circles that as well.

I tell him I'm pretty fed up with this **** and that it's insane for me to be coming in and dropping hundreds of dollars to NOT drive my damn car. He says he will get the manager of the outsourced body shop down there Monday and show him the defect and orange peel in person. I tell him I want to talk to the GM but he says they are both gone and won't be back till Monday... So here I am in my third ****ing loaner vehicle and I haven't been able to drive my damn car in almost a month. I'm pretty fed up with them and their terrible outsourced body shop at this point. I'm going down there on Monday to talk to the GM and demand they replace the bumper with a new one, because at this point mine has been resprayed 3 times and 4th coat of paint just won't do. That along with a new OEM fender because whoever pulled the clear bra off the old one dented it. No way am I putting a bumper with 4 coats of paint back on the car or a dented fender because having them both resprayed has already hurt the value of the car as it is. That on top of the fact that all of this has wasted a month of my warranty coverage and my time in having to take off work and drive down there 3 damn times just to see more shotty work is just unacceptable.

Sorry for the wall of text, just had to vent and ask for your opinions on how to proceed if you were in this situation. Depending on what the GM says I may have to get corporate involved...

Cliff notes: the dealer has ****ed up the paint job on my bumper twice and has failed to perform work that was paid for all while having the car for over 3 weeks!!

p30amg08

Wow. First im sorry that happened to you man. I would expect nothing less then speaking with the GM. And working with the GM or SM going forward. No more of these useless SA's What dealer is this? Also, why was the car taken to a third party from a MB dealer??! Wtf?! Does this dealer have a facebook page? Did u take pics of the car each time you went to pick up the car so its documented?

Id give the dealer GM a final chance. And then id blast them on FB and yelp and where ever else reviews are left. And im really hoping u paid with american express because I'd dispute all the charges and mail amex the pics as proof.

Goodluck OP

Enigma94

The dealership is mercedes of chandler. I honestly won't deal with anybody but the SM or the GM on Monday and will be dealing with only the SM or another SA if I decide to keep getting my warranty work done there, which will all depend on how this is handled.

I didn't document the terrible paint work the first time as I didn't think it would be an ongoing issue. I'm usually pretty good about that type of stuff too. I will take pics of the car when I go in Monday before they do anything to the car again. I know most dealerships outsource pait work and body work to shops but they are usually very good shops, specially for higher end dealerships so that wasn't a big deal to me. I'll probably demand that their "in house" shop handle the new bumper and fender though because clearly the other one is employing 8 year olds to paint for them.

The dealership does have a Facebook page, if the GM is unwilling to do what I want I'll threaten to post it all over their page, along with yelp ect. I didn't think of that so good idea! I did pay for it all with my debit card, but I'm not worried about disputing the charges because I won't accept the car back unless it meets OEM standards. If need be I'll get my company's lawyer involved....

Thanks for the encouragement, I just want my damn car back already!!

hyperion667

what a crap story!!!
Hope you get it all sorted out man, it's stories like this that make me
glad I don't have any service done at the dealer

moosejaw

$500 is more than plenty to paint a bumper
$1500 for in house spray????????

Avg bob shop finishing rates is $40/hr
They must be priming it with grey poupon

Enigma94

To be fair, the 500 was for the repair and for the respray but I agree that 500 should of been more than enough for a quality paint job on just a bumper. It seems this shop is costing the dealer more money than they are worth and if I were them I'd make them cover the cost of my new bumper and fender and search for another shop to get their work done.

I'm sure a lot of people who aren't as OCD about their cars wouldn't of thought twice about the last job they did but I look at it as being an obvious sign of a repaint which will diminish the value of the car when I go to sell it, which is just not acceptable. The reason I bought the car was because it had a clean history with all service records and I'm not going to let a terrible paint job reduce the value of my car. Plus it'd drive me bonkers to look at it every day!

SGTzAMG

Sorry about your experience with this, I'm hoping they get it together, and get it back to your standards, keep us posted!

ThroughTheEsses

holy crap man. I've never used Chandler Benz... but if you're looking for an awesome benz mechanic and are willing to drive into phoenix, Bud @ MB Motors is pretty freaking awesome. He does work "right"... is an enthusiast himself and used to be (still is?) the local MB club president. Tell him the guy with the E55 wagon sent you. Everyone I've referred to him have been thrilled. Note he's not "cheap" but he's cheaper than the dealership.

Enigma94

Thanks, always good to have another recommended shop. I usually use dynamic imports or star service but can't have too many. The e63 won't see anything but the dealer due to CPO warranty though.


Update:
Called the GM today and told him what was going on with the car. He reassured me that they will make it right and that this isn't the way they want things to be handled. He was going to get the low down on what's going on with the car and call me back.

The operations manager called me back about an hour later after he talked with both service advisors I was dealing with and had a chance to look at the car. He said that everything would be taken care of and that he personally would be walking the car through each step in the process of getting fixed. Their dent less repair guy was going to see if he could get the dent out of the fender. They'll be replacing all the center grill clips since they painted over them and respraying everything. I also told him to check the repair that was done to the bumper initially to make sure it was done right. He said it would be a couple of days and he would make sure to inspect the work before he called me. If everything looked good at that point we could figure out a way for them to make it up to me. So hopefully I'll be getting a couple free up coming services or I may have them re clear bra the bumper.

So we'll see how they handle things now that management is involved. The OP manager said he really wasn't happy because I'm a new customer and I told him all of this really makes me question weather I want to use them for the remainder of the warranty work on the car, so hopefully that will give him some extra motivate to try and make things right.

novae500

Just let them know that if things are done to your standards, you will be going to social media to praise what a good job was done to your car ( or vice versa terrible job).....Sometimes i wonder if they see an older car like ours in the shop, dont give it the full attention than a car that is less than a couple years old.

Enigma94

I think it was a clear case of let's do the minimum and see if we can get away with it. Wet sanding when re painting anything is time consuming so they were trying to do the least amount of work possible. Same goes for both SA's who "looked over the car" before calling me to say it was done. The first job was terrible, with paint runs and everything but the second one, a lot of less picky and experienced people would of just driven off in the car without a problem.

The other thing that bothered me is the SA not even telling me they had two shops that do paint work, one that's cheaper with lower quality(which is clearly the one that did the work) and another that takes longer with higher quality but more expensive. I clearly would of chose the higher quality shop or just waited till I could afford a new bumper all together.

ThroughTheEsses

any chance you found out who the actual good paintshop was? would be great info for the rest of us locals.

Enigma94

I'll ask them for the names of both shops when I go to pick the car up. I have a friend who works at Vivid and referred me to AT&T Collision in mesa. I haven't had a chance to go by there personally and now I'm selling my c32 (which is the car that needed the paint work) but he's used them and it's where they send all their clients with high end cars. It's where I'd start if I were looking to get paint work done outside of the dealership.

JonMBZ

GM has the power to make things happen immediately the rest of the employees including the SM fear the GM, especially since GM's get mad if they have to be involved in any customer related issues since they pay management ridiculous money to handle that job. The problem is S/A 's get quick easy money and spiffs for using these crap body shops which half the time are a illegals working out of a plastic paint booth in the back which have no skills and using cheap materials. Next time you need to make sure it's going to a certified collision center for repairs and you should be expecting to pay 1k for just painting/repair because you get what you pay for. I went that route you did and my bumper completely fell apart after a year the repair they did ruptured and all of the paint started flaking off and faded also they did not secure the fender liner and it shot off on the freeway the day I drove the car home it cost me $100 just to replace that and all kinds of clips were missing there was over-spray on everything they painted my headlight gaskets and a rag and sand paper fell out of my belly pan when I had it serviced. I ended up having the real MB body shop do it and it's perfect.

Need4Speed

So sorry that happened to you

Peter_02AMG

While back as I backed out my E63 snagged onto a concrete parking stop and ripped the corner of the front bumper and bent the fender. It cost me almost $6000 for a NEW left fender, front bumper, respray the hood and applied new clear paint protection cover on the hood, front bumper and fender. For $500 it sound like a Maaco job. What do you expect for $500.

Enigma94

6000 seems like a straight rip off for a bumper and a fender. The bumper is a grand and the fender can't be more than 500. And it shouldn't be more than 1500 to respray and blend the whole front end so... I know what a single stage maaco job looks like and it's definite not one of them.

Got the car back yesterday and it finally looked like it should of in the first place. It's not perfect but you'd really have to look at it under a magnifying glass to tell it was resprayed, which is all I wanted all along. They gave me 100 bucks in shop credit for the hassle and they still owe me a clear bra on the fender, just have to give the paint a couple weeks to cure. I may tell them to just give me the cost of the clear bra as shop credit because I'm probably going to have the whole car wrapped next month. Since I drive so much between cities on the highway I figured a whole wrap will help protect everything as opposed to just the front end.

p30amg08

6000!???

Sry that happened to you bro...

Op glad to hear all is well

BlownV8

I hope you got the common courtesy of a reach around.