Continuing Saga of Mercedes Benz

After 3 days with no contact from anyone (? – why wouldn’t they give me updates?), I got a call from the Montvale NJ Customer Service folks (Patricia Rosatto – 201 573 – 0600 x78737) to tell me my car was ready. When I asked why no one had contacted me, as I was in distress that they were doing nothing unless I paid them more money (last I heard, and with no call back from dealership owner Harvey Dyer after he took initial data from me the week prior), she replied that she had been in contact during the repairs (really??? Cool! News to me!? Why didn’t they tell me they were working on it and alleviate the stress?), and they had wanted to wait until it was done to contact me. Great customer service. In any event, she said they fixed the car and they were absorbing the cost (as well they should) but they couldn’t guarantee that the problem (or others) wouldn’t happen again. Great.

I picked up the car, and got a list of what they had done, and noticed that the new fix (replaced control unit) had no relation whatsoever to what they had done initially (oil sensor, harness, etc). This particular charge was $2000, a $900 difference between the first fix and the second fix. Where was my money?

Since I have the initial parts, I called Patricia and told her I was bringing the parts in for a review to an independent mechanic to see if they really needed to be fixed (if the second repair fixed the problem, and the first one didn’t, one might suspect that the first problem didn’t need to be fixed, right? And they weren’t even related, according to the nice service team manager Ron). [As of now, the credit card charge for the initial $2990is onĀ  hold, with no payment authorized.] She said it was fine, but that I had to go to a Mercedes dealership or the report wouldn’t be authorized.

I called the dealership that sold me the car in Littleton Colorado and spoke with the service manager Andrew Savoy. I told him I wanted to send them a few parts to check to see if they were still good, as my problem might involve a misdiagnosis. “You brought it to another dealership and you want me to check their work? I don’t want to get involved (did they all take lessons from the same people?)”

Sharon-Drew: So, you aren’t standing behind your product? I bought the car from you, there was a problem, and you won’t stand behind your product? Even to check parts?

Andrew Savoy (Service Manager): I know Jim McGuane in Austin. He’s a fair minded guy. If he says there is a problem I trust him.

And there you have it. A loop. They all stick up for each other. The customer has no place if it’s outside the box. And no one wants to stand behind the customer unless there is a huge fuss (and the Daimler people in Germany give the customer the right numbers to call).

There you have it. If you buy a Mercedes, hope that you will have no problems with it. Or don’t take it to the dealership for repair. They do not stand behind their product without a fight. And diagnose and fix the wrong problems. And won’t admit mistakes. And won’t let you speak with customer service managers without calling Germany.

Me? I will never buy a Mercedes ever again.

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