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If you are gathering parts for your Mercedes, brace yourself for very unhappy experiences. I would say one in four of all of the things I've ordered for my car have been screwed up in some way, with resolutions ranging from "tough" to eventually complete satisfaction. I am also amassing a garage full of parts that were sent in error that weren't even worth sending back. Recent examples for me:
Ebay - Private parties- A guy puts a new water pump and a VGC vacuum pump for the locks up. I won the water pump at a very good price. He sent me the vacuum pump (how he didn't notice the substantial weight and size difference, I have no idea, and I think he had been in a grand total of 18 transactions in 4 years). Apparently he sent the water pump to Canada. After I waited a month AFTER sending back the pump, he sent me a refund for the water pump with not even a "FU". I should have kept the vacuum pump!
Ebay - Companies - Won two blue star hubs for my wheels at a good price. Was sent from Canada two black ones. The guy told me I could keep them and he would send me blue ones - I feel bad because he's going to lose money on this, given shipping. Well, it wasn't an emergency, I just wanted to have a few spares.
Internet suppliers - I ordered seals for my Euro headlights from a well-known supplier. I got mostly wrong stuff, and to top it off, I was billed for (rather expensive) stuff that wasn't even in the shipment!
A frightening experience some time ago was getting tie rods for my car. I rec'd one for a 380 and one correct one for a 560. The difference is subtle and they were from different manufacturers, so I initially thought that this explained the difference. Not being an expert, I might not have caught this and installed them. This could have led to some "real excitement".
It's been so bad recently that I've been giving serious thought to selling the car and getting a 68 Camaro convertible. I can get virtually every screw, nut, and label for it, competitively and hassle-free.
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