Corrosion Warranties (boot lids, bodywork,etc) READ THIS

[gworilla]

I have just been informed by Mercedes Benz UK that my corrosion warranty claim on the boot lid (which is horrendous), will now be sand blasted and re-painted as opposed to a complete replacement (which is the route they were taking). Also, my local dealership already has a backlog of 3 months for this warranty work on the E-Classes and they now tell me that they cannot cope with the work, given this new directive from MB UK. Replacing the hatch was a fairly straight-forward process which has been turned into a nightmare for the dealerships that now have to farm the cars out to other local and some not-so local MB dealerships just to try and cope with the extra work. The bodyshop manager told me that he was horrified with this decision and is not looking forward to informing his customers that their pride and joy will be just be sandblasted and repainted. Just more fuel to the fire that MB customer service in this country really sucks!! :x :evil:

 

[johnmc]

Hi,
If you don't mind me asking, what age is your E-Class? Is it covered under the Mobilo 30 year warranty (post about September 1998)?

I've got a rust claim for 4 doors that's been holding for 12 weeks now,
and I'm looking for new parts. If they've made a serious change to save warranty cash then I'll be up for war with the UK support team.

Thanks for the post, it's interesting to hear how much attention the problem is getting, finally.

Cheers!
John

 

[jberks]

I'm fairly sure that my boot was sandblasted rather than replaced. It was just the lock that was rusty, but personally, so long as it looks right and the rust doesn't return (6 months on and no sign yet) I'm not bothered. If the rust does return they can do it again! That will wipe out any cost saving so if it's the bean counters again, it will rebound again.

I have a claim in for 3 doors and a sill at the moment. The dealer reckoned to give them 6 weeks or so for a response. We'll see, though as the rust is miniscule and hidden I'm not too concerned if it takes longer.

I don't see why the dealer would be concerned about an overload of work as many don't have their own bodyshops anyway. Mine use a local firm (non merc), but I know the BMW shop does VWs, my Audi was straightened at Skoda etc There are a number of very large bodyshops in most areas and dealers of all makes seem to be using them rather than building their own. Based on the excellent work done so far, I have no complaints. There should be enough capacity in any area to cope with a few rusty E classes, unless the dealer is trying to keep it all in house and pocket the proceeds.

 

[johnmc]

Hi,
I know that my bootlid got replaced in one piece, as did the wings.
While sandblasting might be a good cure the Mercedes promise is that perforated parts will be replaced. Promises need to be kept even if they are skint.

My doors have the same problem as yours Julian, rust along the frame tops, but I've noticed that a couple of tiny stone chips are beginning to grow crows feet around them on the paint surface. That points to an underlying quality problem that fixing the door frame tops (sandblasting or otherwise) ain't going to fix. That'll be four new doors please. They promised after all.

John

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Took Mercedes to garage in August....rusty doors......still waiting for response.....almost 4 months gone and still waiting.

Was in Peugeot garage last Saturday, buying parts for 1995 405GTX TD I have since new...mentioned rust at top of two doors.....dealer said that they will look after that at the next service under warranty.

Imagine if you got Mercedes service like that....imagine if you got service with a smile form MB......

 

[jberks]

Olaf,
What dealer do you use?

Mine have their faults, but they do at least give the impression of trying to help. I actually quite like the service guys and am on first name terms with them, and they don't muck me about anything like your's sounds to.

They are stuck between what Merc and we want and I suspect you're a little harder to please than most (then so am i), but they wouldn't even try to put a 4kmls exhaust down to wear and tear. I once had one suggest that I pay for a replacement touch up stick for one they claimed to have mailed me but hadn't arrived. But I just put him down as a prat. What did he think I was doing, storing up enough for a respray!

Amusingly I was behind a chap last week who was trying to convince the service rep that he shouldn't have to pay for his service as the car was under warranty!
Life's rich tappestry I suppose.
Seriously, who are they? so we can avoid them!

 

[OlafMaxwell]

We have a big problem over here in Ireland.

There is a local dealer here in Cork, part of a national group called MSL and they are bad. I still have the 'safe' tyre MSL left on the car, and the exhaust that failed due to 'wear and tear'. It was MB who decided the exhaust was wear and tear, MSL who failed to follow it up when it was under warranty and clearly visible to a competent service professional. MSL also failed to see a leaking shock despite hydraulic fluid everywhere. It was also MSL who took so many attempts to sort out a failed oil level sensor. Their garage in Cork refused to fix it, it was ony when I told them that I thought the car was unsafe and would have to call in breakdown that they even agreed to do anything. They took a whole day and refused to give out a replacement car. The local dealer here is a good topic of conversation, always about how bad and incompetent they are.

I took to using an independently owned main dealer in Waterford, Tom Murphy's, and you are right about being on first name terms. They are very helpful and quite honest, will tell you as it is and they are interested in what they do, will call you if they encounter a problem or if they will be late getting service finished. I get on fine there, am on first name terms with their service personnel but MB still leave them with nothing technical to go on. They at least sorted out most of my problems and they don't try to fool you. However as they did not deal with the earlier problems I had to deal with Mercedes about them and they did not want to know. I wrote numerous letters to MB but it was like extracting teeth trying to get anything positive from them.

I remeber having a Fiat years back that was being troublesome, after warranty expired and not dealers fault but it had one problem too many and I wrote to Fiat complaining about the quality of their cars. It was more letting off steam than anything else but I got a phone call a few days later from the local dealer asking me for a suitable date to drop the car over. He said Fiat were willing to sort out the various items on my list if I would pay the labour cost. I bought three more Fiats after that one, and a Peugeot [he changed over to Peugeot] which I still have. I always wonder what Mercedes would be like if there was service like that.

Maybe I am a bit harder to please but I do realise cars can go wrong and service costs money and has to be paid for. I also believe in keeping a car well maintained and will do that evewn though it costs. I have never had a complaint with any of the previous cars that I have owned, mostly with the same dealer so I know my expectations are not unreasonable. I also think too if the quality of service and customer courtesy were what they should be then there would not be half the problem that we have here. MB have a bit of a quality problem at the moment and the dealers intead of sorting it seem to be alienating customers instead of holding on to them.

I would have had no complaint whatsoever if MSL and MB had simply sorted out the items that were wrong or failed under warranty. If they did I would be singing their praises because any car can have its problems.