Ethan and Hattarasguy both make good points. I agree that the "common shop" probably "hardwired" the fan so it would run all the time. That is the sign of a common shop alright. You need a UNcommon shop - that does correct work! Those are hard to find. On this site there is a forum for finding a good shop in your area. It is called "Good MB Shops". Anyway, whatever they did probably did fry something, if you were smelling something like that (or seeing actual smoke!).

However, as far as your original complaint that the fan died, I have a different car so maybe its not the same, but on my car I am unaware that my fan has ever run. It should only run if the radiator gets too hot. Mine generally does not get too hot. Maybe the radiator also has some problem? It is pretty bad that the dealer would replace a fan that was good, without doing any diagnostics at all (like testing the fan).

Good luck.

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra