boy, do i think that i have a starmark story. long and the short of it is that a 12 month starmark warranty was included in the price. and the price was more than fair for the condition and the mileage of the car.

and i suppose that if i have a major problem, i might take it to the dealer. but so far, i have had so much waffling from the dealers and mbusa as to what is warranted that i am forced to say "to hell with them".

for instance, when i inspected the car when i first put a deposit down on it from m-b sanantonio[not where i live] it had been selected for starmarking but had yet to have been starmark examined.

several weeks later when i flew into sa so as to pick up the car, i found that the rear view mirror was floppy, would not hold its position. dealer had my money, it was 3pm on a friday, dealer said get it repaired and we shall reimburse you.

i assumed 35-100 adjustment. perhaps the sales personnel did as well.

much to my surprise, when i stopped into houston benz store, i learned that no adjustment was possible - the mirror would have to be replaced[approx $1000].

now the sa dealer pretended that they didn't know me.

coincidentally, i discovered that my mirror had a homelink system that did not support rolling codes. since i was anticipating a mirror replacement, i went to the local benz store to ask them if the pre-rolling code mirror could be replaced with its rolling code supersession. they didn't know but said that they would check with mbusa. for over 2 months, i have been stopping in every week for an answer - still no answer. no phone calls of mine returned by dealer service personnel.

and i knew this dealer from its origins. in fact, when bill pennel opened intercontinental motors, i was one of this first customers. and his people worked on my cars for 20 years. but then i discovered the conscientious independent garage. bye bye intercontinental motors.

sometime in the midst of all this, i received a letter from a mr paul juron, the director of the mbusa customer assistance center. it was a form letter with a form. but it said that if there were any special issues that required their prompt attention, to telephone or email. and i did that an sent a crr letter to mr juron.

no response.

no one would tell me if the mirror was entitled to a warrantee replacement.

to this day, no one has answered that question. however, today i did receive a free mirror from m-b sa. but only because they want to sell m-b parts to my independent garageman and he held their feet to the fire[i.e., you owe my client a mirror. furnish it and i shall continue to buy parts from you].

but other questions go unanswered from mbusa and their dealers concerning warranty questions[they go unanswered on this forum as well]. for instance, after i arrived home after picking up this car, none of the seatbacks would fold forward.

then the next day they would. then the passenger seat would and the driver's wouldn't. then vice versa. today, neither will fold forward.

is that a warranted repair? i cannot get an answer from m-b sa. nor from m-b nor th houston. nor mbusa cac. does that give me a warm and fuzzy feeling? no, it does not.

if m-b is not going to tell me if they are going to honor a warranty in advance of performing the work, then why would i drive 40 miles to have the work performed which may end up at my expense? aren't i better off to just write off the benz warranty and have the problem solved by a real pro? my independent garageman.

i would love to hear your answer. i think you know what mine is. m-b has become a rip-off operation. my mechanic is better and more honest than any of theirs.