Sick of dealership techs breaking stuff during routine servicing and not disclosing!
 

I've only recently gotten familiar with my ML as it has gotten older and I begin to do some of the smaller maintenance issues at home.

Now I discover pieces here and there that are broken, and I KNOW had been broken when the ML was serviced for some other repair! Yet, the part was put back, and maybe one day I glance, or do some detailing and discover a loose flap, a broken windshield defrost vent, or some other piece that was broken when removed or re-installed improperly.

Problem is, I discover this stuff months later since I don't know what was dismantled when they performed the repair (I will be more vigilant from now on)!

As most of you know, it's not cheap to go to the parts bay and have to try to replace the broken pieces!

The dealership will pretty much deny any fault...do I have any recourse, or do I just have to watch for this better in the future?

This is the main reason I try to ALWAYS do my own maintenance whenever possible. It's been years since anyone else worked on our cars.

Well, I did have to pay for an alignment on the '91 the other day. Figured I couldn't manage that on my own. Needed the alignment after I replaced all the shocks.

Whatever knowledge I lack, I can make up for Because I Care!

I try to avoid our local MB dealer exactly for this reason. Years ago, I had my front brakes done by the dealer. They replaced front rotors, pads and sensor. I picked up my car and about 3 miles later, I lost a front wheel, causing some damage to the inner fender. I had the car towed back to the dealer and found out that the wheel studs had been completely stripped, probably by the use of a too-strong air gun. "Not our fault" was their final answer.
I now do business with a very competent independant shop and I always watch what they do on my car.

Sadly, not just the dealer techs...
 

About ten years ago, I took my W123 300D in for an oil change just before leaving on vacation. I went to Jiffy Lube and waited the 30-45 minutes to have the car's oil/filter change.

Got the car back and drove down the street to the wash to have it rinsed off before the 7 hour drive. There, I noticed 7 or 8 little "dots" on the front fender....what's this?

Turns out the guy servicing the car tried to add water to the battery and battery acid splashed onto the fender. The acid dissolved the paint where it had splashed and was down to the bare metal! I went back immediately and spoke wth the manager. Filed insurance forms, etc. They fired the employee for not fessing up to his mistake. :mad:

You know....
You put your life into someone else's hands when they work on your vehicle.
Business knows no ethics. Techs are trying to log as many hours as they can and do not really care about you or your expensive vehicle. Next time you are at a shop watch how the "tech" test drives customers cars(sometimes to lunch and other personal errands). I am sure they don't drive their own vehicles that way because they had to pay for them(and the tires and fuel). Using a hidden gps unit can go a long way. Loose wheels, broken/missing parts, and even sabatoged vehicles are not uncommon.

Sabotage by tech at dealer
 

My wife's sister recently had a headlight replaced (reflector and all) in her 300E. The dealer, in the California Bay Area, replaced the light and also charged for properly aiming the headlights. When she first went to drive the car at night, there was no light coming from the new headlight. The dealer tech had not put a bulb in! She took the car back to the dealer and they gave her a bad time about making it right. Talk about cheap! :rolleyes:

I recently bought the car. With the rather grumpy help of a motorcycle policeman who I blinded with my lights one night, I found the dealer tech had gotten even by aiming both headlights way high so the low beams blinded oncoming cars. The high beams were up in the trees. :eek:

It's a shame that these kind of techs tend to make us suspicious of all techs. There are many honest and competent techs out there. I just wish I could tell which were good before I take the car in. That's why I try to DIY as much as possible. :mad:

I found an indie last summer that works on the older (R107, W126, W123, 124, etc.) models and owns a W163! Sadly, he can't do much for my R129, but fortunately, it has required very little, and I have been able to perform that work myself.

But whenever I have to farm out, it now goes to him. Not only does he do it right, but he goes ahead and orders missing or broken pieces discovered as he does the work! Some of which I didn't even know were missing until he handed me the replacements parts and told me where they install.

He's also been far more reasonable in terms of price...unlike paying the dealer $120 to replace a 75-cent shifter bushing!

Not all bad!
 

There are some careless & irresponsible Techs out there. You can come across those kinds of people anywhere in the service industry. In my shop, I find that the fastidious owner who works on his own car is the most difficult one to deal with and invariably ends up with some kind of disagreement. He comes along with an attitude of distrust and that is not a good start. It is the seed of misunderstanding. If you give people a chance to prove themselves without preconceptions they will do their best. And if their best is not good enough you deal with it in a factual and understanding manner. This way both parties establish a relationship that has respect and trust. (What a perfect world we live in) Life’s good!!!

Maybe we all need to move to Australia with haido1!

:sun_smile

With all due respect to the concentious, responsible techs, I have found, in dealing with service work on autos, aircraft and homes...the factory tends to do a good job building a product just to have it messed up in the field. My new heat pumps come to mind...and the alledged mechanic who was running my brand new $20K airplane engine with NO air filter or cowling...etc.

I agree with haido1, you always hear about the horror stories that people have encountered, but you rarely hear about the positive experiences. Personally I treat every customers car as if it were mine, I build up a strong relationship with each customer and take pride in my workmanship. You can generally tell what sort of workmanship to expect from any workshop by observing a few things;
1) Have a general look at the workshop, if its untidy or dirty, this is often a reflection of work carried out.
2) Do the technicians use seat covers, floor mats, fender covers and other means of protecting your car?
3) Do the technicians look clean and presentable, if theyre covered in grease and look like they should be pumping petrol at one of those outback truckstops in the middle of nowhere, hop back in your car and find yourself another workshop.
Its not the dollar rate per hour, its the quality of workmanship per hour that counts!

I also do the majority of the work on my 190 myself but have been lucky enough after being screwed once, to find an indie shop that really does take care of their customers cars like they were their own. I have taken my car there only 3 times over the years and have been very impressed with the work not only on my car, but with the care I observed then taking with the other cars they were working on.
If you are in the Charleston South Carolina area, go see Hans at German Auto Repair on the lower end of Rivers ave. He and his whole crew are top notch, factory trained MB techs and good people to boot.

I'm new to Dallas - who is this guy you're talking about, and where is he located? I have a W124 - will he work on it if I ever need anything done?

On this rare occasion, I did go to an indy this morning to have my shifter bushings replaced. I didn't want to spend half a day under the car.

He was very professional, did it while I waited in about 15 minutes and charged me just $27.05.

I was pleased!

You have a pm...

Could someone please explain how the technicians get paid at indie shops and dealerships. From 220se's post I gather that at the dealership the pay to the technician doing the work is based in some way on the number of jobs he is able to complete in a day. Is this so?

I believe they are paid by "Book hours", how many hours the book says it takes to do the job. If they are very fast they can get 14 hours work done in 8 hours, etc. If slow, they get fired...

Mike

Usually the dealer techs get paid the 'flat rate' time for each repair or service item they perform. So if the 'flat rate' for a certain job is 1 hour and the tech completes the job in 1/2 hour you still get billed for 1 hour labor. Conversely if it takes the tech 1 1/2 hours to dio a 1 hour flat rate job you only get billed for 1 hour labor.

And since the dealership has to make a profit, the labor rate I get charged is higher than the labor rate paid to the tech. Do indie shops work the same way?

From what I know most techs get paid by flat rate. This means that they get paid x amount of dollars per flat rate hour(where I live it is around 20 to 30 dollars an hour). Those hours are determined by a labor guide. So, if the labor guide says it takes 3 hrs to change a starter that's what he gets paid. Most techs try to do it in less time(say 2 hrs). Thus the tech gets paid three hrs for two hrs of work in this example. It is in their interest to "bill" as many hrs as they can. Some techs get paid for as much as 70-80 hrs of labor a week(in a 40 hr work week). How do they do this? Well experience, good tools, and mostly by taking shortcuts. Example of a shortcut is when you pay to have valves adjusted on a car and they check a couple and put it back together(who will know?), or they omit parts of a major service(eg inspection of various vehicle systems). This applies to dealers and indy shops. So unless you can babysit these people you just don't know if you are getting good value for your hard earned dollar. Also, some shops employ $8.00 an hour "helpers" that do the work while the almighty tech "supervises" and gets paid as if he did the work himself. I just had the brakes redone on another brand car at a shop. Friend of mine is a tech there. I didn't expect any special deals but it got ugly. I told them to do whatever it needed so they replaced parts as necessary. When the car was done shop owner had left for the day. The idiot in the office said he didn't know what to charge me so I told him to charge for the parts and I would come in on Monday to pay whatever the labor was(this was late Friday). On Saturday I got a very nasty message on answering machine from shop owner. Monday I called shop and offered to pay over phone with Visa whatever the remainder of the bill was. Shop owner refused, said I has to come in to pay. So at 8:30 am I show up and get told that owner is upset because I paid with visa card and that I had not been charged enough for parts. I offered again to pay without questioning bill. Owner says that tech had plenty of work to do on Friday without working for free. Working for free????? Hell, I never intimated I even wanted a discount.
Needless to say after paying the $900 bill without even a word of thanks I got out of there and will never go back. When I was leaving my "friend" says I could have avoided this by just bringing my own parts and paying him directly for labor. They are all scumbags.

Just reading the previous thread made my blood boil!
I would write a very strongly worded letter to the owner of the shop explaining the situation and the fact that he was not "attending to business" at the time you picked up your car. Also mention that this was on a Friday and that your livelihood depends on your car (can't get to work without it) and that others do as well. IF YOU AND OTHERS DO NOT WORK, HE DOES NOT GET BUSINESS AND DOES NOT GET PAID!! Be sure to mention all the ways you tried to be accomodating TO HIM AND HIS BUSINESS by paying with a credit card.

As an aside, doesn't it seem funny to you he did not want to accept that form of payment? I would just about bet a paycheck that he is not claiming some of his income to the IRS! (I also bet if he gives you any legal trouble you could tell him you are contacting the IRS about his unscrupulous business practices and see how much further he proceeds with legal counsel. Yes, I know this is blackmail but, hey, nice guys finish last! :( )

I would not be ugly but very much to the point. I would send a copy to your local and state better business bureaus and a copy to him. His copy I would send certified letter - return receipt requested.

Well, I should write a letter to the proper authorities. However, time will show this guy that complaining to customers that Visa "charges a percentage" will not help him very much. I used to own a Antique store and taking a credit card payment is just one of the many cost's of doing business. I was was glad to accomodate any legal form of payment because a customer standing in front of you willing to spend money is why you open the door everyday. Otherwise, what's the point. Paying customers are worth their weight in gold.
Instead of bringing this guy more business, I will simply go elsewhere. It's ironic that he has plenty of money for tv commercials but complains the I paid with Visa. Let's see..... it cost him maybe 20 bucks to take Visa for a $900.00 bill. Makes you wonder what shop's priorities are.

G-Benz....can you share the name and address of your mechanic in the DFW area? Thx

300sdlguy...you have a PM

Please share with me too - I'm new to the DFW area and don't want to get stuck with this guy! Thanks in advance.

I had a bad experience at a local brake place. I was debating whether or not to take it to the Mercedes dealer to have the brakes checked but decided to go with this place because it was no charge to have the brakes checked. Anyway, things didn't start out well when the mechanic drove my car into the garage and all the mechanics gathered around the car and started talking. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I was watching from the waiting room. I thought, "If these guys are making a big deal out of a 1992 190E they must not be too knowledgeable when it comes to Mercedes vehicles."

I couldn't believe it. The first thing the mechanic did after opeing the hood was light up a cigarette. He continued to smoke the entire time he was working on the car. Not only do I think it's unsafe to be leaning over the engine with a cigarette in your mouth, but I don't want my car to smell like smoke. I could really tell they didn't know anything about Mercedes when the mechanic finished with the car and referred to it as "a fancy foreign car." A 1992 190E? Even though I love my car and everything, it doesn't compare with the high end of the Mercedes line. That was the last time I'll ever go to that garage.

Trust your instincts... look, listen and ask questions
 

That quote from that mechanic is scary enough to think about what they would've done to your car. My sister had a Renault Alliance and had a well-known chain of "oil-changing" shops do an oil change. Well these numnuts put the wrong filter on, spewing oil all over the highway and blew up the engine. Since my sister's boyfriend was an attorney, he told her what to do.

End result, she got enough for a down payment for a new pickup!!

Lesson: find a very good indie shop that will provide references and observe their business practices (i.e. clean work area, loud music, dirty employees, etc.)

I think the a major factor in all of this is how techs are paid. In the US they are more likely to be paid "flat rate" per job while in Australia we are paid per hour (working or not) and given bonuses if the productivity is within the range set down in a contract. If we need to spend more time on a car then we do it knowing time isn't hurting our wallet unlike our US counterparts.

It doesn't matter where you go (Indy or dealer) as long as you find someone you trust to work on your car then stick with them. A bottle of wine/case of beer for the tech who did some especially good work on your car always goes a long way to ensuring they look after you everytime you visit. I certainly remember every customer who has left a gift or thanked me personally and I would go out of my way to help them anytime again.