well, you may be a tech at a m-b dealer, but i question your understanding of the starmark process.

as i understand it, starmark claims are filed in advance over the net for approval before work is conducted. mbusa then responds almost instanteously to approve or deny.

in the instance of this c140, the non movable seat backs and floopy rear view mirror were my major claims. both were denied by mbusa - trim items was their escape clause.

however, because this new dealer installed a state of the art alignment rack and bay, i requested that the c140 have its alignment checked. as it was reported to me, problems were found with bushings, etc. now, all of these bits will be replaced gratis under the terms of the starmark warranty.

what makes this most odd is that i requested the alignment check as an afterthought when my tour of the facilities revealed this alignment bay. i had no handling issues.

but the defective operation issues that i did have went uncovered by mbusa.

do you see something wrong with this picture?

i sure do. owner-identified problems are denied as trim exclusions[and i don't thin that is correct]. yet suspension problems that get caught as an afterthought, that the owner has not declared, are covered. hmmmmmm.

makes me wonder - was there a factory campaign at some point since 1997 to correct suspension component deficiencies?

did the starmark selling dealer fail to bring this vehicle up to campaign levels?

nothing would surprise me now.

all ears.