Mercedes Roadside Assistance fiasco

[snookwhaler]

The wife had the car all day. When coming back from lunch she managed to lock our only set of keys in the trunk? In a panic, she called asking "where is the hide a key"(she knows we only have the one set). I said there is none and you are stuck. It's OK call Mercedes Roadside Assistance.

This Mercedes Roadside clown came out bragging about how he has worked on these cars since 1965 and it's a cinch to get in there. Then he begins to tell my wife that the trunk probably won't open because usually the vacuum systems are shot. So, she calls me to verify that the system works (she knows this, not sure why she called, probably for moral support). Anyway, I assured her (via direct connect/Nextel) that the system has no problems and works flawlessly. It can open the locks 5 times or more without running the engine. This clown over hears me talking to my wife and starts arguing with her about how "no one knows these cars better than I do" and how he doesn't want to argue with some guy (me). So, this guy obviously has some kind of mental problem.

20 minutes goes buy and she calls me back asking for my credit card #. $130 to open the door!! I could not believe it. My insurance covers this kind of crap, but I was stunned. Then she proceeds to tell me how he "wedged" the top of the door open and then just used a piece of wire to pull up the lock knob. I was furious... This cannot be good for the doors integrity. I was expecting him to "slim jim" the door. If I had known this, I would have immediately said "Get that guy away from our car" and call someone else.

Anyway.... Thank God that is over with.... WRONG!!! Now 4 hours later I get a call from my wife again. She is leaving work and when she opened the door, she found that the seal is all mangled where he forced the wedge in and the paint is scraped off around the window frame!! She called me and I just WENT OFF!!

This is unacceptable!! She called and told the dealer about this and they said "they would cover it, just bring it in". Are they serious? They want me to take my car up there after what this clown did to it? Plus we lose one of our cars for a day or more because of their negligence?

I'm so mad over it all... I'm not sure what to do. I'm thinking about just asking for the $$ to cover the damages and doing the work myself. If they will do that.

Opinions greatly appreciated!