dearlership responsibilities

[turbospud]

our car[c220cdi 03] was recently taken into the dealership for the rust to be treated/repaired shocking for a 5yr old car to that bad but at least their doing something.
pics had been taking prior to merc approving repairs.
two weeks later its ready to pick up,wife returns courtsey car,gets in her one to find that the dash,mileage trip meters have been reset,clock at wrong time, and the srs light is on,goes back in to ask if its safe to drive home,to be told it was like that when she dropped it offand to take it to the mech part of the dealership[which is futher along the road].
after twice them having a go at repairing it,the drivers airbag is whats causing the srs light to be on and as its wear and tear we have to foot the bill for a new one.
do they have the right to do this and what have they done to cause the faults above?
so unless we had have pics of the time it was dropped off its our word against the bodyshop
it certainly gives you no confidence in the dearlership

 

[jberks]

You say the mileage was reset. Do you simply mean that the battery was disconnected for a while or has the main mileometer been zeroed?
I could understand some things like the clock being out though I can't see why they needed to disconnect the battery but the mileometer should be ok.
Airbag is a tricky one as we don't know what has failed or why. It could be co-incidence but equally (and I've seen it done more than once ) it could be a mechanic swapping a friends busted airbag with yours. |I'd take 2 lines on this one. Firstly I'd sit down with the dealer principal and make it clear that it was fine when it went in and you expect the car returned in the same mechanical condition it went in with so you are holding them responsible and will consider court action if necessary. This may well do the trick.

If not, then tack 2 is that it is not reasonable wear and tear for a merc airbag to fail in 5 years. Airbag systems should last 10-15 years. I had a similar issue with a diff seal on mine recently (only a year younger and again it shouldn't have 'worn out') and after the intervention of the dealer, MBUK agreed to pay the lions share of the repair.

 

[turbospud]

thanks for the reply,main mileage was ok,all the trip readings were reset to 0 and clock was miles out ,i think they have flattened the battery and put one of these boost charger things on it or have been in the doors and trim to short something,in touch with mercedes customer services and their going to investigate,i agree it just doesnt happen or go faulty that quick

 

[television]

Just a point in that SRS systems and their component are safety items. The only way that the lamp can be turned off is in STAR, and yet they gave you the car back with no internal safety system working.,, Not good is it for the franchise. Just think that sods law came into play and someone crashed into you, you would have had no internal protection at all

 

[rf065]

Not good is it for the franchise. Just think that sods law came into play and someone crashed into you, you would have had no internal protection at all

It doesn't look good for MB when you read that, regardless of what or who caused it, they should fix it as a goodwill measure for potentially putting you & your family at risk. What would the papers say?

Russ

 

[turbospud]

it gets worse im told if i dont pay for the new airbag they will remove it and put the faulty one back in:!:,so its in the same state as they recieved the car

 

[television]

Why do not service companies have someone check a car in, as it comes in for repair. You cant miss the SRS lamp.

Now a driver for the firm doing the work must have started the car up to get it into the workshop. He would have seen the lamp, and would have known that this car was not in for damage repair. They should have rung you at the start.

Euromerc has them for £199 below in my signature

 

[ricky s]

I know this is a little off the threads issure, but along the same line. It is just amazing how you are unable to thrust anyone these days. The older I am getting the worse it is, and I am still not learning fast enough! Approx 4 years back my wifes car was valeted during a service by MB. A couple of months later when the summer arrived, wifey notices loads of straight line scrathes to roof and bonnet, Car wash seniario and our car are always handwashed by ourselves, complained to MB, not our fault was the answer, then placed with a paint shop to hopefully polish out scrathes, made it worse, no it was like that when you gave us the car, was their reply. About a year ago, had my front valance resprayed by MB approved repairer, due to stone chipping damage, after repair looked over the car everything looked great. A week later having driven the car the 5 miles from repairer to home, noticed nearside headlight did,nt look right, took to MB, thinking adjustment needed, no sir headlight unit has broken mounting point. Returned to paint shop, to complain, not us sir look you have signed this litle bit of ok its fine paper. Finally, last month, brought a brand new AMG alloy to replace a kerbed existing wheel, totally checked for damage on arrival, as new, perfect. Local tyre company fitted new tyre, "oh by the way did you know your wheel is damaged" was their comment on my collection, big dink in outer rim, not us sir thats how you delivered to us. The issure of my dilema, no eveidence at any time, and persuring legal paths very costly as well as your time and potentially unsucessful. You have got to be so alert at all times with these things, and the thought of becoming cinical and bitter, untrusting with all aspects of lifes battles, is not a pleasent thought to me. On that note, I am on holiday from Monday and wont care, and wish all you nice people out there a good Christmas and new year, and look forward to new battles in the coming years to which we may communicate to each other, and just hope I will learn just a little faster!

 

[television]

Thinking back on this we have had many threads and post over the same thing, mainly from the body shops

 

[mercglas]

Why do not service companies have someone check a car in, as it comes in for repair. You cant miss the SRS lamp.

Now a driver for the firm doing the work must have started the car up to get it into the workshop. He would have seen the lamp, and would have known that this car was not in for damage repair. They should have rung you at the start.

Euromerc has them for £199 below in my signature

Dealers should inspect the car on receipt and note any problems - if they don't they can be liable. Most Dealers do check for their own benefit as they can get caught by customers - but it works both ways and although they will chance their arm, ultimately they know they are a sticky wicket. My advice is to push hard and argue that they are the experts - that they have a duty of care and that it is clearly dangerous to give a car back with an SRS light on

 

[turbospud]

Dealers should inspect the car on receipt and note any problems - if they don't they can be liable. Most Dealers do check for their own benefit as they can get caught by customers - but it works both ways and although they will chance their arm, ultimately they know they are a sticky wicket. My advice is to push hard and argue that they are the experts - that they have a duty of care and that it is clearly dangerous to give a car back with an SRS light on

one thing in our favour was the assesor for the bodyshop took a lot of pics of the rust on the doors, archs and one of the dash proving the mileage to send to mercedes for approval under the corrosion warranty that same pic will show if the srs light was on and what the trip reading was[we never reset it]but no doubt they have proberly got rid of them by now

 

[turbospud]

Why do not service companies have someone check a car in, as it comes in for repair. You cant miss the SRS lamp.

Now a driver for the firm doing the work must have started the car up to get it into the workshop. He would have seen the lamp, and would have known that this car was not in for damage repair. They should have rung you at the start.

Euromerc has them for £199 below in my signature

if they do put the old one back in and i bought that would i still need to have it reset,thats a better price than the 570 they want,but it should not have to come to that

 

[truthfindergeneral]

So you turn up with a paper and a pen. You drag the person behind the counter outside when you drop the car off and you make them sign to say there are no warning lights on, the thing has a wheel in each corner and glass in all the windows !
Time consuming as it may be , we have reached the stage where a full inspection is needed on drop off with both parties putting pen to paper.

 

[television]

This is almost the same scam that the rental companies pulled. You drop the car off and a bill followed for damage that you had not done. The last time I dropped a car off the girl said that she was too busy to check it, but with the fuss that I made she did and I got a signed paper.

When I did all trade service,, the goods brought in were checked for damage and missing parts, and these were noted on the signed form, its the only way to go.

This has come up here and elsewhere many times before.

If this went to County Court, the firm doing the work would be asked if they checked the car on arrival, and their answer would have to be no, so they would lose the case.