Mercedes-Benz Reviews

I also had an auxiliary battery replaced AND 2 cam sensors to see if the check engine light would go off.... It did not. I now have to replace the Balance Shift gears so my car will pass emissions inspection. The Mercedes Benz car I own, based on my experiences, IS NOT worth buying. Mercedes Benz needs to be responsible for faulty equipment. Mercedes Benz DOES NOT have the reputation it use to, in my opinion. I will never buy another Benz.

In April 2014, the problem has been aggravated and the car became slow and the vibrations are increased where I suspected the gear box oil. Car has been sent to the Mercedes Maintenance at Fom El Khalig and they reported that gear box oil is not the problem and it is in good condition and they have to change Belt Tensioner again (already has been changed when the car was reading 30,800 km). Three days after receiving the car, same problem appeared again. I re-sent it again to the same Maintenance Center (Fom al Khalig) where they reported that the car needs to change the main Control Board of the Gear Box!!! You will not believe that the car is reading now 47,011 km which is very weird and strange for Mercedes Benz with their GREAT HISTORY.

When I chose to buy Mercedes I chose Name, Reputation, Strength and durability. I work as Engineering Director at and Engineering Consultancy Company for Petroleum Companies (as Business Card attached) and I'm sure that Mercedes Benz, with their large reputation in Egypt and Middle East and Internationally, cannot accept these many disrepairs for a car 47,000 km. I really was going to buy the new CLA but now after all these happenings, I will not and will not recommend Mercedes for any of my acquaintances. I expect free change of this spare part and rechecking of the many frequent breakdowns of the car. Appreciating your understanding and your time. N.B. my car is in Mercedes Agency at Fom Al Khalig since Saturday 3rd of May and no answer till now.

Each time it's there, we lose money, so why would we want to waste their time and ours??? At one time they had it in the shop for over 2 weeks!!! We never had these issues with our used vans. My main fear is the brakes stop working when I have my kids in there or some child is crossing the street and the brakes don't work. We are told every time that they can't find anything wrong. We spent over $55,000 cash and we lose money every time is sits in the shop. The service people have not helped us at all in this dealership and we don't want anyone else to go through this!!! I don't know where else to turn!!!

I have recently replaced both batteries in my car, based on forum advice. I now get a white symbol of a wagon with an upward pointing arrow inside the center of the wagon symbol, and a message that simply says "Visit Workshop". Someone mentioned that it has to do with the shocks/suspension, and sent me a link to the Arnott site, which is a fabulous find. Better quality, longer lasting shocks than original MB. I, and I dare say surely other MB owners too, would love to hear from you on the many issues that can crop up in our cars, and the best ways to prevent, prepare and cope with them safely and economically.

Strangely, I used to think that MB cars last a lifetime, if well-maintained correctly. Perhaps it still is true, except that it takes a celebrity's budget today. Perhaps not, as the cars have all functions controlled via microprocessors, which has historically not been a German forte. Thank you.

God forbid if consumers found out that the ML-class would be involved in the same investigation as the C-class. They were of more concern about this being leaked or exposed and tried to sweep my case under the rug. They held my vehicle for about 2 months for their "investigation" and not to have any conclusion of the manufacturer's defect is complete BS. They told me that the fire was inconclusive and not a manufacturer's defect. Get this! They only gave me one case manager and limited me only to speak with her. After I had asked to speak to numerous other managers and higher ups they told me I strictly couldn't.

After being trapped in this corporate cover up I had nowhere else to turn. SUSAN (my west coast regional case manager). How many other vehicle cases did they sweep under the rug like mine? I do not expect this kind of cover-up from Mercedes and would expect them to stand behind their vehicles. I only had 76,000 miles on it. An absolute nightmare!! THIS WENT TO CBS2 KCAL 9 THE BBB, NHTSA, numerous auto blogs ,CAS and the Federal Trade commission . I'M STILL NOT DONE!!

Example: as of 2009 most of the 4-Matic models (GLK, C-class, E-class, etc), have a front differential that holds .6 qt of oil. There is a drain plug but no fill plug. European models have a fill plug, but U.S. models have a steel plug pressed into the hole. Mercedes has bulletins about differential bearing failures, but no recommendation for changing the front or rear differential oils. When they fail, replace the complete unit at own expense. The rear differential is about $4000 & the front differential failure will "total" the car. Take it to the salvage yard. The cost for a front differential on these models is staggering. I've explained this to hundreds of owners & showed them the bulletins. Only a very few will take the advice and protect their investment. The owners need to ask their wives if they should spend the $10 for the differential oil. I was in Germany at a Mercedes factory function & the head of Mercedes-Benz worldwide service told the group I was with, that Mercedes could not possibly make a car for every situation around the world. They depend on the local service departments to adapt to their specific situation.

On the other side of this problem, is the dealer network that is structured to sell cars. Service departments are where the headaches come from, so mechanics are treated like they are dirt on the floor. Mechanics react to the way they are treated. The best leave and go on their own. Almost all the complaints listed from owners have been addressed by Mercedes. Someone needs to read the bulletins to fix the problems. Customers think Mercedes should pay. Mechanics think they shouldn't pay to fix your car. Mercedes doesn't think they should pay for a bad EPA regulation that caused the problem to begin with. (The public would not believe how much the stupid EPA regulations have cost the American public. It has gone way past the nutty point, & the EPA certainly won't pay for anything.) The EPA is the root cause of most problems. Bottom line, the EPA wants gas powered cars off the road & America switched to clean energy. They don't care how they get there.

My wife had the problem in her CLK550 2007. The dealer Fletcher Jones of Newport Beach gave us nothing but trouble and getting the problem fixed. Her car has 7000 miles on it. Shame on Mercedes Benz of America and Fletcher Jones Motorcars of Newport CA for NOT doing the right thing for their Customers. This is a Serious fire and explosion Hazard. The fix can run 1300 dollars all the way up to 3500 dollars if you need a new fuel tank. The estimates online say that as many as a million vehicles are using these defective Sensors (I think it is a lot more). Keep in mind these sensors are located directly under the rear passenger seats under access panels. In my wife's vehicle, we actually smelled the gasoline in the cabin and the garage. Also note all of the leads and electrical lines going into this sensors in contact with the raw fuel/gasoline.

Defective products are not just inconvenient for consumers. When products fail due to bad designs or manufacturing flaws, they can cause injuries and cost consumers significant financial loss. Manufacturers have a responsibility to comply with industry safety standards and "to WARN consumers" of any potential dangers. If physical injury or financial harm results from their failure to do so, and when other consumers have suffered losses similar to yours, the manufacturers may be held legally responsible through class action lawsuits and complex multi-district ligation (MDL).

I called corporate customer service. Was horrible and not comfortable to speak with. The case worker called me and it was a waste of my time. Hold is too long. Getting in touch with anyone in corporate is easy. Also, I called back asking to speak with someone else even asked for the General Manager and they said Ralph ** does not accept calls from customers? That was not customer service orientated at all. When I should not even pay a 200 tire it should have been replaced when it's a tire leak. That is a bad tire which is not my fault. I was shocked on the customer service. Never had I had such horrible experience.

One thing is that I would never buy another Mercedes ever again. That is only what I drive and would be the only car I drive, however they will lose a repeat loyal customer with this pity low class service. The case manager Justin did not even try to assist when I was not pleased with the situation, and they told me he doesn't report to anyone? That is false information and every customer has the right to speak with some else. They send me off with a defective bad tire which is not safe to commute in.

They say that the turbo is making it stop and go and shake. We have a brand new Porsche and it does not do what this car does. When I am at a red light and the light turns green the car stalls. I have taken it back several times. I am tired and I believe that I should just go through the Lemon Law because no one seems to want to help. Mercedes calls me every time after I pick up my car to ask me how my experience was and I tell them but all they do is nothing except say "oh I'm so sorry". I am done with MB.

Sure people stare at this car as I drive by, beautiful lady with long blonde hair driving a high-end vehicle but it sure hasn't been worth it. I'm making car payments about $1,000 a month and not only are the regular oil changes brutal ($500 on average) but there are a number of things wrong with the car that were wrong since the day I bought it that the mechanic "can't troubleshoot because it doesn't seem to make that noise when he drives it". This includes the Distronic arbitrarily shutting off even on the highway on sunny days with no inclines on the roadway and no traffic with the car being washed just earlier that morning so nothing in the way of road grime. Go figure. The seat never worked properly since day one but since I didn't think the seats performed with the auto-inflation when you turned a corner, I never raised it up with the dealership.

Then it cost me $500 after arguing back and forth because they said I broke it. By the way, the reason I never knew the seats were supposed to have this feature is because not only did it not work when I test-drove the vehicle and then bought it but the salesman was having surgery the day I bought the vehicle, and no one explained to me the various features. I've been reading the very thick and complicated manual trying to see what features my car does have and that's how I found out. Again, when I went back to say it wasn't working since day one the dealership thought I was trying to scam them. Out of frustration I paid the $500 (half the cost) to get the seat fixed but believe me, I will take a polygraph test and prove the seat never worked since day one.

I could never re-sell this car with a broken seat so I bucked up and had it fixed. I also take meticulous car of this vehicle and don't like things not working on it. I'm exhausted but I still owe $40,000 on the car loan and I'm locked in to this nightmare. Would I buy another one? No, of course not. I have owned two Chrysler's before this, and NEVER had to pay this kind of maintenance and the one Chrysler 300C is a 2005, has over 400,000 km on it and I'm lucky if I've had to pay $3,000 in total for things that have need replacing. So, looking at the stack of receipts and work orders from the last 18 months, I've got another three and a half years of payments to go on this thing and then I'm free. Come on Mercedes. Stop creating new vehicles and advertising them on TV when you have a mountain of issues from the past to have to resolve. If I ran my company this way, I'd be bankrupt and in jail.

At 3rd time I found the oil leak in my garage so the tech checked out and mentioned that the oil leak is from engine and it is 13 to 14 hours job to fix because top half of the engine needs to be removed. Total cost is $2600 for this job. Total $3500 expense after paying 60k for the luxury car. I have several other cars like Chevy Venture and Lexus 470 and more than $100000 car and took to the dealer for just oil change or tire change. I've been working with the HQ in NJ to get it covered under warranty because it is just 9000 over the limit of 50k warranty manufacturer provide. Is this a red signal to buy a luxury car and take to the dealer more often because it has more electronics?? Or is it just Mecedes c350???

Why I say this??? Because after 1 week of having this vehicle it's been a sequence of malfunctions and headaches! It's been HELL and in the service department over 11 times 6 of them for the same thing!!! After so many trips to the dealer, have them check it, have the computers check it, have MB expert Techs check it, after so many conversations with so many managers, in the service dpt. at Alex-Rodriguez Mercedes-Benz in League City, TX and a case a manager Jennifer in customer service @ Mercedes Benz North America, NOTHING has been found by their computers. In other words Mercedes Benz mechanics, techs call them whatever you wish are only computer error codes readers and parts changers! They have no idea of the problems unless their PRECIOUS computer tells them what's wrong with the vehicles! I am exhausted, ready for another heart attack!

It's not only all the inconveniences and stress this has caused my family, myself and my work, it's also and the most important part of this problem, OUR SAFETY!!! Warning light comes on: a) Front Passenger Airbag Disabled, See Operators Manual; b) Front Passenger Airbag Enabled, See Operators Manual; c) ESP warning light also comes on (ESP stands for Electronic Stability Program)!!! The manual instructs you to take it to nearest dealer A.S.A.P. Mercedes-Benz does not want to honor their factory guarantee 4 years, 40,000 miles! According to Jennifer (case manager) at Mercedes-Benz North America I'm not under factory guarantee, this vehicle today has 30,221 miles! I also have the Certified Pre-Owned warranty, this is meaningless to them! I have asked time and time again to exchange this vehicle that we are very scared to drive! God forbid there's an accident and the passenger in my vehicle get seriously hurt or worst, there is no money in the world to recompense a loss of a loved one!!!

I've asked all of them managers to write me a letter and guarantee me that the airbags will deploy in case of an accident and they all declined! I tried to speak with Mercedes Benz of Greenway (this is where I purchased this LEMON) and to add insult to misery, they wanted to make even more money off from me! They are a total joke! My salesman Rik is a total disappointment! After trying to speak to him on several occasions, he asked me to go through their legal department (company policy) all because I asked him if I should be looking for an attorney (thought for a moment there he was my friend). Nice going, MB of Greenway, make the sale and later bully people with your legal department! Now I'm left with no other choice as to hire an attorney and sue them, they sold me a LEMON and they know it, they're just making time for the guarantee to run out of time! Let me tell you people, Mercedes-Benz has sacrificed their quality for quantity, their integrity for money, their customer service for bullies!

I called Mercedes Benz helpline and the lady at the other end told me that I had run flat tires on my car and this means I won't have a spare tire but I can still drive up to 80 kms an hour on the tire and take it into my nearest dealership which would be Vancouver (120 kms away). I explained to her that there is no way I could do this as the rim was now sitting on the tire. After a lot of back talk, I finally convinced her this wasn't possible, so she organized a tow truck to come and pick the car up and take it down to Vancouver (at MB cost). The tow truck left a huge black line on my driveway where the rim of the tire had scraped into the tire itself when putting it on the ramp.

The next day, Monday, I had a bunch of appointments that I had to re-schedule, so that I could take the bus to Vancouver to pick my car up. I arrive at the dealership and I am informed that the tire could not be saved and was presented with a bill of $575. I questioned why it was this expensive and they said that's what run flats cost. This week, 5 months later, the run flat indicator came back on and I noticed a nail in one of the tires. I took it to my local garage who managed to fix it for $23.99. I asked them how much they would charge for run flats and they said that I don't have run flats on my car and that they are regular all season tires and they would charge for a good tire between $250-$275.

As you can imagine, I am not very happy on a number of levels and particularly as I have regular tires and don't have a spare in my car. I referred this complaint to the dealership and was merely told that I have a compressor in the back of my car and I can easily pump it up. This is not acceptable. If the tire had blown out making it totally undriveable and I was in one of the many areas throughout BC that has no cell phone service, what would I do? I can change a regular tire if I had one but in this case, I would be totally stranded! As far as I can tell, this is a big issue that needs to be resolved by MB and I am hoping that they do the decent thing and follow up and to safeguard other owners of these cars.

At that time, he explains that I have to work that through Mercedes Financial or I could have had that rolled into my new lease payment. I spoke to his boss, Peter, on 16 Nov. who told me there was nothing that they could do although they wish they could. On 17 Nov., I had to travel out of town for work and then came the holiday. I contacted Claudio last week, and asked to discuss this matter with the district manager. I was told to call him this evening. His name is Scott. Scott explained to me that I missed a window of opportunity after I spoke with Peter. I had 24 hours to respond in person. That opportunity consisted of redoing my contract so that the $2500 which was never brought to the table during the deal process could be rolled into my new monthly payments. However, when I spoke to Peter, I was told that there was nothing he could do so this window of opportunity was in fact never presented to me in writing nor verbally.

I explained this to Scott who seemed surprised. I have asked Scott to send me all of this information in writing explaining that a window of opportunity was presented and it is no longer valid. No other options have been presented to me. I am a disabled veteran who has been a loyal customer with Mercedes since 2007. Now that the deal has been made, I'm being treated poorly because the entire terms of agreement at the time that the deal was made, were not explained to me either verbally or in writing. I only went into this new lease agreement because according to the terms of agreement that were laid out, that I was informed of, it was a great deal. I have since been blindsided with the omission of a lease penalty I would be responsible for upon accepting the deal. The fact that the $2500 lease penalty or any lease penalty for that matter fee was never brought up during the entire deal process is a tremendous error on that entire sales team. I am kindly requesting your assistance for a viable solution because this type of treatment is unwarranted and completely unprofessional.

I have since contacted the CEO, Mike Morais, and received a response from him in Dec 2012 apologizing and informing me that he would look into this matter and get back to me. I have sent follow up correspondence as there is not a listed number for him to no avail. I have informed Mercedes Benz Financial from beginning to end about this matter. They too have tried contacting the dealership to no avail. Ultimately, I am responsible for full payment and this is a hardship which I have explained and have attempted to work with Mercedes Benz Financial to make payments to avoid delinquencies. However, my account was recently submitted to a collections agency as I was unable to make the minimum amount requested by Mercedes Benz Financial. I did work out a plan with the collection agency that is within my budget constraints. However, this situation should have never come to this. My vehicle to this was in mint condition and the only reason why I traded it in is because I was tricked into a "deal". Thank you for your time and attention.

I had previously changed the brakes, so it was not the brakes. The technician told me that the service was recommended at 50K miles for this car. He performed the service and I paid for it. Unfortunately, the problem continued. I went back to the dealership and explained that the issue was not resolved and they said that they would look at it. They ran a diagnostic program. After they used a diagnostic service, one of the service men said that the car was fixed. I drove out of the dealership and immediately felt the problem again. I drove right back into the dealership and the service technician drove the car and told me that there is nothing wrong. He also said that they used a new program to extend the life of the car, an updated program for the transmission and that I would "get used to it."

The problem persisted and I was told by one of their managers to take the car to Tim at Mall of Millennia Mercedes Benz. I was ignored even though I had an appointment with Tim, and was told that he was in a meeting with the manager. I asked why they had made an appointment for me when he was not going to be available. They did not answer the question, but put me off again. I ended up leaving and the car was not fixed. I attempted to communicate with the managers at both dealerships as well as with the corporate office, and was subsequently told that there is nothing wrong with my car. The company will not answer my questions or fix my car, and the best that they did for me (case manager, Ms. **) indicated I should again visit the same dealership.

On Thursday, September 5, 2013 I was on my way to a job interview and the car completely stopped and would not move at all. I was on a busy highway (436) and could have been in an accident during normal conditions. I was very lucky that there were no cars at that time, a very unusual situation on this road. If I had been on the freeway, I would have been in a bad car accident. After my interview, I took the car in to the dealer again and this time they seemed like they were actually going to fix my car. They provided me with a rental car for the time that their car is in the shop and they said that they would cover the cost of the rental car, as they did not have a loaner vehicle.

I told them that I had already paid for repairs that were not originally performed and that I expected them to fix my car. Now they contacted me telling me that they want me to pay $900 for the repairs. I have already paid for the repairs that were never properly done on the car. I truly feel that they never looked at my car and did not fix what was wrong the first time. They have since had my car and are telling me that I have to pay this amount.

I have already paid to fix my car and after multiple visits, many discussions and letters to their service center, they have yet to fix my car. I am asking for your assistance to resolve this issue as I feel that I have been taken advantage of through this whole process and that I paid for something that was not delivered. I would like my car to be fixed and have warranty for the repair and the parts so that my car operates properly. I already paid for repairs that were not performed and should not pay for something twice. This is a safety issue and they put my family and me at risk by not performing the repairs. I would like to have an explanation of what was wrong, the repairs. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.

I agree, having an MB approved body shop do anything to the paint could reduce the car's value (if the value is not already compromised due the number and type repairs already accomplished). At this point, I feel I have the following options: 1) We can file a Lemon Law Claim or other legal claim. This option is not optimum for anyone and my wife will not let me. 2) We keep the car; but given the current position of MBUSA, it is very unlikely I will ever have anything good to say about Mercedes Benz. And my family will never buy another MB product and I will do my best to dissuade my friends, co-workers, people I meet, from buying a Mercedes Benz car. 3) We can trade/sell it and buy some other company's car. I have two very good vehicles from Toyota and BMW. Unfortunately, I fear the trade-in value of this car may be very inconsistent with the possibly overstated quality of MB. 4) We can come to an agreement about compensation/price adjustment. My wife likes the car and we would consider buying another Mercedes Benz in a few years.

Honestly, I prefer option 4. You have my money and you can maintain your position, but ask yourselves what if? What if, given all the defects we forced on this consumer, we agreed to compensation of a few thousand dollars for the actual depreciated value to save ourselves more than $30K, $40K, $50K (times friends and family) in future sales. I appreciate your further consideration.

On the 5th of June 2013, I returned to Mercedes Benz Durban to have my car repaired and serviced. I was attended to again by Zain. I explained to him that I was unhappy with the way my car was idling; it was idling rougher and louder than normal. There was also a small rattling noise in the engine compartment when listened to with a technical ear; I myself am a diesel technician by profession though I am retired. I told him about the car having a lack of power on takeoff points and smoking when going up hills. I also mentioned that he should attend to the fault that they had diagnosed in August 3-8 2012. Zain, the service adviser, started the car and tried to listen to the noises I had complained about. He said he did not hear any noise, and asked me where am I hearing the noise. I said that the noise he is hearing is exactly what I am complaining about. He insisted that there was no abnormality.

At this point I had to tell him that this is my car and it is an S Class. It does not sound like this normally. He then wrote on the job card, Rattling noise in the engine, in a way that showed that he was not taking my complaint seriously. I then told him that the noise is not inside the engine but in the the engine compartment. He then asked me to relax, the technician will diagnose the fault; I must just sign the job card. I signed the job card and left in hope that all the issues that I had raised would be dealt with.

A week later I received a call from Zain. He told me that they had diagnosed the problem that was giving me concern. He said that the EGR Valve needed to be replaced and that it is the cause of the idling abnormality I had noticed and it also causes lack of power on takeoff points and smoking when going up hills. I was happy with the response he had given me and asked him if my insurance would be able to replace that for me. He told me that he had already spoken to my insurance company and they said that they only repair the engine not anything outside the engine. I told him that it was fine, he should go ahead and have my car fixed at my expense.

Two weeks later I received a call from Zain. This time he called to tell me that my car's engine had packed up while parked at the car park after the EGR Valve had been replaced and the car was left and ready for collection. They said I should come and have a look at it. When I got there, the car was on the ramp, the sump was off and smashed and one bearing cap was left on the floor. Rian, the Group Leader, accused me of having the car fixed before it came to Mercedes Benz in Durban because it was very clean underneath the car and he also suspected that it had been in an accident. I told him that I had never been in an accident and my car has never been fixed since the last time I had brought it in August 2012. I told him that my car was clean because it was steam cleaned on the 31st on May, Just before it came to them.

I asked him why the sump was open; he said the assessor asked him to have it opened. He further told me that they have found 3 main bearing caps loose in the engine. I asked him if the checking of loose bearings was also an instruction from the assessor. He didn't respond to that question. He only said that the person who was working on the engine forgot to torque it properly. I asked him how was it possible for my car to travel 95,000 km with loose bearing bolts? He then said he wanted proof that my car was steam cleaned underneath. I then went to the service manager, Gerald, and told him that I don't understand how it is possible for the car to smash its engine while parked in the car park with the key not in the ignition. For me with my technical background, it sounded impossible. I also mentioned to him that Rian had made very serious accusations and that those accusations can lead to very serious consequences. I asked him to please do a full internal investigation in order to find out what really happened to my car.

A few days later, I received a call from a person who told me that he is the service foreman. He said that the Dealer principal was not prepared to take full responsibility for my car though it was damaged in his premises and he didn't give any reason as to why that was so. He also said that if I want to discuss anything regarding my car I should speak to Zain, the service adviser. He then hung up the phone. This was very stressful for me and I thought that maybe they wanted to see proof that my car was indeed steam cleaned underneath. So I went to the car wash where my car was steam cleaned and they gave me a copy of the receipt. I took this receipt to Zain, the service adviser, and he took it and told me that he would pass it on to management.

Seeing that everything had come to a standstill at Mercedes and management was now unwilling to help uncover the truth about my car I remembered that Rain had told me that my car's EGR Valve was replaced by an elderly black man. If I am not mistaken his name is Enock. I found out from other workers that, that man is unqualified, was not supposed to have worked on my car. I confronted management about this and requested a full report from every person who was involved with my car while in their premises before it was reported damaged. I also requested a report from the person who physically removed and replaced the EGR Valve. I never received a response regarding those requests.

I heard that Enock, the mechanic who removed and replace the EGR Valve in my car, was taken in for cross examination by management but none of the findings of this were shared with me. I also heard that the workers were threatened that if they shared any information with me that they would be fired. So whenever I go to Mercedes Benz, everybody who is an employee at the workshop avoids me even though I am a customer there. I have phoned the service manager on numerous occasions and I have left messages for him but he did not respond to any of those calls. I then wrote a letter to him. In this letter I expressed that I have been trying to get a hold of him unsuccessfully for the whole week. I have since written three letters to them and have only received a letter from their lawyers as a response to my letters. I have enclosed all my correspondence with Mercedes Benz Durban.

I am frustrated with the service that I have received from Mercedes Benz Durban and its management team. It has very little regard for its customers. It is not the first time that I have received terrible service from them. Last year when I sent my car in, in August 3-8 2012, I reported to them that the Mercedes Benz tool kit that is standard in the car as well as the pay as you driver device is now missing from my car and that the insurance company has tracked the device as last being operational in their premises during the period that it was with them. I was told that they do not know what I was talking about and no investigation was conducted even though I gave Zain proof of this from my insurance company (Please contact me for more information regarding this)

I would really appreciate it if this matter could be investigated and for this issue regarding my car to be resolved quickly and amicably because I am now without a car and as a result I am very stressed.

Since the car came with defective parts and they changed almost the engine, I believe the value of my car has diminished and the MBUSA should compensate me at least by extending the warranty. After several phone calls and emails, someone in the name of Joe called me from the MBUSA and told me that he will talk to the dealer and the service adviser; and he will get back to me. So I got a call yesterday and result was/is disappointing. He told me that MBUSA did not grant any extended warranty and that is why the original warranty is there for. My next step is to file a complaint to Virginia Department of Consumer Affairs and Better Business Bureau Virginia. Did anyone else have any issue similar to mine on their E350? I am certain my next car is not going to be a Mercedes Benz. What would you guys do if you were me? Thanks for your inputs in advance.

I called 911 to report the incident then AAA to get a tow truck. The CHP arrived within about 15 minutes to help divert traffic away from my car as I was at a dead stop in the middle of a 5-lane freeway. The officers alerted me that it is too dangerous to stand still in the middle of the freeway and that they needed to immediately move my car off the freeway. Since they didn't have towing capability, the only way for them to do that was for them to push the car from the back with their squad car while I steered towards the nearest exit. Without getting too dramatic, I will say that this was probably the most frightening experience of my life. Luckily, no one was injured, and the car just suffered a lot of scratches on the rear bumper as a result of it being pushed by the police car.

I wrote to MBUSA and explained the entire experience plus access to the police records. They offered absolutely no sympathy. They didn't even offer a nice gesture by offering to fix the scratches which would have cost approximately a few hundred dollars - pocket change to them. They didn't see any seriousness to the incident. I could have been seriously injured, and I could have caused serious injury to other motorists on the freeway that day. The message that they were sending to me was clear: I am an isolated incident to them, so I do not matter at all. They're a big, powerful company with millions of other buyers, so of course they don't care. How nice. I'm the family's third generation of MB driver, and I will most certainly be the last.

Over $6000 worth of new parts and labor, yet my car is still not fixed. These cars or at least mine should be recalled and the owners should be reimbursed for this literal pain and suffering. I have been terminated from my job and unable to get another because I don't have transportation. This was not my first MB. I have had 4, but this certainly may be my last if I cannot get any resolution to this. I have sent 2 emails. This is the 3rd to MB and was assigned a case manager. She called me 2 times. I've called her more than 10 times. All I get is a person on the phone that says, "I see that you left her a message. Is this the number where you can be reached?" I say yes and that ends the call. "Ok she will call you today." I attempted to reach MB via a BBB complaint, but they aren't affiliated. LOST WITH A R-CLASS LEMON. It's sad that you don't acknowledge that these cars are lemons, but then again you do acknowledge, because you have discontinued the model. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.

My car looks and runs like new other than this problem. In fact I researched it and found the recall because I wanted it perfect as to trade in or sell and replace it! So Mercedes won't cover a problem that has 1,000s of complaints pending with the NHTSA. I cannot fill my gas tank because if I do, the backseat (driver’s side) fills with fumes and my children complain. I pulled the backseat in the service area parking lot, and we opened the hatch and saw the gas sitting in the sender (see attached pic). It was like we were looking at the pictures attached to the campaign!!! Yet not covered!?

I have owned 3 Mercedes Benz in my lifetime. I can honestly say that I firmly believe they are the best constructed, most reliable, and sharpest looking cars on the road. I have spent years telling everyone I know, anyone that would listen, that once you own a Mercedes Benz, you can't own any other car. And I routinely argue with my BMW loving best friend (a luxury car dealer) over which is the better vehicle. My car has reached 125k. It's time for a new Mercedes. If any part of you believes I will ever buy another Mercedes when the company will not in good faith fix my vehicle that is so obviously having a problem that is manufacturing defect, then you are out of your mind!

I'm no idiot. I realize if you have even bothered to read this far into the letter, the company could probably care less about one consumer. But you will have lost a truly faithful customer who would've never bought another brand. And whom will exhaust my fingers and wear out my iPad on every blog, website, complaint site, NHTSA hotline, and anywhere else I can to be sure that I will deter as many people as I can from ever buying a Mercedes because a multibillion dollar company didn't stand by their product, and fix a maybe $1,500 problem. If you took the time to read this and take the time to compare my symptoms and pics to that of the campaign (and I'm sure millions of complaints), then anyone with any power and want to do the right thing will help me and keep me on team Mercedes!

I picked up my car a couple of days later and started driving, and it seemed fine. The next day, the problem arose again, except the shaking became extremely worse. At this point, I don't even know what to do with this vehicle, and am so shocked that we paid $1,600 and nothing was fixed. I HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND BUYING A MERCEDES. I own a Toyota truck and have received extremely better service paying less than half the price!! Not worth it!! Go for a Lexus or Acura instead!

This company's disregard for the lives of the people that buy their vehicles is appalling. You buy these cars because you think they are safe, yet when the company has been contacted on numerous occasions about a defect that has the potential to kill people, the company does nothing to fix the problem and lies to customers saying they have never heard of a GL450 catching on fire. It's as if they don't think we can search for things on the internet. I will never trust Mercedes again. I cannot believe they knowingly leave these cars on the road with seat heater defects that are literally like bombs going off when the car is unattended in a garage. This company has no respect for human life.

Well Barry, I have a bill here that said I had the transmission serviced the last time I was there. He told me I had a serious oil leak at the oil cooler. In the last 10000 miles, the oil did not drop as much as a fraction of a quart. I normally wash my own car, check my oil and keep the area under the hood spotlessly clean. If I had all the oil leaks that he told me I had, I would notice. I will now take my car to one of the best transmission specialist I know and see if they really serviced my transmission last time. I have another Mercedes Benz that I have had for 27 years that was purchased at Snyder's when they had the dealership and then I paid for the transmission to be serviced four times over the years and twice at Carlton in Greenville, SC. The transmission failed and I found out that that transmission had never been serviced once even though I have service records to prove that I had.

I thought I had finally found an honest MB dealer in Mercedes of South Charlotte but I am pretty sure there is no such thing as an honest MB dealer. It is impossible to send your wife to have a car serviced and expect a fair deal. It's not an issue of money as I can certainly afford what I want. I am just tired of being ripped off. I met the owner and his son and I was really impressed that I had found a dealer I could trust but I can tell you now, run, run as fast as you can away from an MB dealer. They thrive off of wealthy people that have more money than brains. My phone number is ** and my name is Carson **. Call me if you want to know how I really feel.

A summary of the succeeded maintenance By Brumos Mercedes of Jacksonville, FL follows: Service on October 17, 2012, car mileage 29339, for regular Flex A Diesel special. Right rear tire found to be worn bald. We ended up putting 3 new tires on the car. Total bill is $1,156.45. Service on November 12, 2012, car mileage 30,584. Incoming customer complaint: Very noticeable heavy vibration appears at most highway speeds. Service checked balance on all tires. The 3 that Brumos replaced checked okay. The RF tire that was replaced on September 14, 2012 by Quirk Mercedes of Bangor Maine needed to be rebalanced. Post service comment: There is a brake vibration at highway speeds coming from the front rotors. A cost estimate to replace both front brake rotors (brakes pulsate when applied) of $535.90. Total bill is $24.88. We now have a time period when we did not drive the Mercedes very much.

Service on March 8, 2013, mileage 31,569. Note from last service visit: We discovered a noticeable vibration that appears when the brakes are applied at 35MPH and higher speeds. Customer has felt the same condition in the steering and in the driver's seat. The tech stated it needed front rotors. Service note 31580 found front brake rotors with excessive rotor run out causing a vibration when braking. The tech then replaced the front rotors, front pads and new sensor. Road checked okay. Bill total is $556.16. Our service advisor, who we like very much, informed us that the run out or warping is most likely caused by overheated brakes that cool unevenly such as keeping the brakes applied in the same spot after stopping or running through water with hot brakes. Nowhere in the Mercedes manual is this discussed.

I would think that the excellence of German engineering would design rotors that would stand up to these conditions. I hesitate to declare a design flaw, but perhaps the design margins have been compromised for some other consideration. In any event, I really do not want to face another rotor replacement in another 30,000 miles.

Luckily, the coat protected my skin or I would have had a burn on my left upper thigh area. I went to the local Mercedes dealership and was told it would cost me approx. $1,400 to replace the warmer element and seat top. When asked why I was responsible, I was told I was past my 50,000 mile/5 year warranty. I am extremely upset and angry with this malfunction, and Mercedes is very lucky I did not get injured or have my seat catch on fire with my small children in the car.

When I arrived in Tunisia, I went straight to the house nearest Mercedes, Av Grand Maghreb Nabeul 8000. They informed me that the problem was with a seal, but what's worse was when he told me that this is a defect with the Mercedes C180 and they did not have the seal in Tunisia. I contacted the seller and sent the attached reference but he sent me another one with another reference. This is not normal at all from a big house and your staff. I'm disappointed with everything around me and my family because the car is in the garage. I worked hard to have a nice car and go home, but Mercedes deceived me and betrayed me. Why? I did not want to buy elsewhere to be sure of the quality and the seller told me that the car is almost new. Sorry, but I do not have confidence in your company as my car is in the garage and I cannot use it. Every day, I am forced to use public transportation.

I regret having chosen the Mercedes. I know that 20,000 Euros (the price of my car) is worth nothing to you, but for me, it was all of my money. I spent one year in an unstable country - away from my family - to have it, and I did not want to buy a new car from another brand because we were fans of the Mercedes. I did not want to buy from an unknown dealer. I chose the house because I trusted in this house and its staff. Now, I hate it, and I will tell my case to all people with Facebook, Twitter, and the web because I wrote a lot of messages to Mercedes but they don't care about us.

To make matters worse, I purchased rubber floor mats and received a recall notice for the driver's side, took the mat in and was told they had to actually take the current mat, mail it to Mercedes and wait for Mercedes to mail the new one back. Again I am told, no ETA, and off the cuff, "good luck with that"...

I have receipts on all of this, stating they will deliver it to me at a later date and when they would deliver it. The day I received the car, the check engine light was still on and they, the dealer, instructed me to go to Mercedes and get the code cleared because they had put an O2 sensor on it. That was the reason why I did not get the car the day of the signing of the papers. Well, I took the car in to remove the code, but there were 5 codes on it, none of which were related to the O2 sensor! Here are just a couple of codes showing: random misfire po300, and po303, misfire no. 3 cyl and there is more relating to the cam.

Now I'm looking at thousands of dollars to fix this but they, the dealer, covered their butt by having me sign everything from as is to no attorney if I were to sue them. I want to see all receipts made on this car and see if anything was fixed on it as promised, and the name of the smog company that smogged this car. I'm going to file a complaint with the Air Resources Board (ARB). I just want everything fixed with the check engine light off.

Well at this point, I made a claim against this and the reason is that a manufacturer is not allowed to deliver cars or any constructions if they know that there is a failed component in it. Or at least they are supposed to inform the customer of this possible problem and then he can decide what to do with it. Anyway, after a few days, I got the car back and now everything is okay, and so on. It wasn't. The same problem came back. The car was back in the work shop, and this has gone now several times. At the moment the car is at the work shop. I already told them earlier that they should get me a new car to replace this one or give me my money back. They told me that is totally an unreasonable claim. A new car which doesn't work, is it so unreasonable to expect that new cars should be okay?

Also, during this experience, it has been really hard to get in contact with anyone. The dealer is totally worthless. The car importer is really hard to deal with and the manufacturer in Germany doesn't answer in any messages. The first one I sent half a year ago. Now, I have a lawyer to take care this, and I also took contact with LRQA (Lloyds) who have certified their ISO9001 based management system.

Of course, I am angry about the car itself, but also because of this habit of delivering cars included with components that they have themselves declared on not-to-deliver. I was told by them that it is totally normal to replace these kinds of components during a normal service. Actually it is not. It is a hidden/silent recall, and that is against the law and against the ethics as well. We will see what happens. But I would like to give a warning for all possible car buyers of this kind of actions from Mercedes-Benz.

It was towed to the dealer. They found a leaky distribution line in the air suspension system and they claimed they fixed it on the next day. But we felt the air suspension very stiff ever since. Then 10 days later on December 10, a day before we decided to send it back to dealer for a check-up, while dining out, driving on the highway at high speed, the 'malfunction' in dash appeared and the rear of the car sagged again! My pregnant wife and 2-year-old son and I were bounced like popcorn on the flat bed in the car and barely drove it home. We had it towed to dealer soon after. There were more problems with the air suspension this time: replaced valve, relay, and now the compressor needed to be replaced also and had to be ordered from Germany. The car is disabled at the dealership at the time of this writing.

The car is unsafe to drive now. It is less than a year and with only 10,000 km on it. I demand the full money back including HST from the manufacture because the manufacture has refused to replace me with a new car at no cost.

After about 4 months, I went back to my dealership and traded in Sprinter #1 and upgraded the model of vehicle to a 3500 Dually with an extended wheelbase. In addition to the cost of the lease, an additional $6200 for the lease shortfall was tacked on to the lease value which had a drastic effect on my monthly lease payments (which are a handsome sum of $1109.90/month). This shortfall would offset the reduction in value since I drove the vehicle off the lot. Unfortunately, it was not long after this that I discovered a very real threat to my business which might force me to shut down operations, which also happened to coincide with a new promotion that Mercedes began specifically for Sprinters. I contacted my dealership to explain the situation, but with little result. All that was said to me was to contact Mercedes Benz Financial Services to see what the options are, which are very limited. Essentially, the options are as follows;

a) I could voluntarily surrender the vehicle at which time Mercedes would then send it to auction where they would try to recover the highest value, leaving me responsible to cover the balance plus the tax. This option would have a very detrimental effect on my credit rating as it would not distinguish that it was a voluntary repossession, only repossession; b) Find a candidate to take over the lease (the truck has been on leasebusters.com since August 2012. See leasebusters ad ID # 132995 if you're interested); c) Either myself or someone else could buy the vehicle outright.

Now, I'm not asking for special treatment and I understand that I signed the paperwork making me responsible, but let me share a couple of other things that have happened in the interim. I have had two serious inquiries about the truck since it has been on leasebusters.com. The first was a pair of gentlemen who had just started a cartage business and were going to take over my business with the truck who had contacted the individual at my dealership (whose name I will not mention) who sent them the necessary forms. Now part of the issue was that because they were a newer company and lacked any sort of financial history, they were asked to provide personal guarantees on the vehicle. Fair enough, though it is important to keep in mind that my business was enough to get me the truck, so why not them? I mean they were intending to take over my business, after all (in case you're wondering, the threat to my business is not a sudden loss of business but something I don't wish to disclose).

Now the second gentleman contacted me from Montreal where he is the president of a large, international multi-modal transportation company and we had actually agreed upon incentive fees and a pick-up date. When I contacted the same individual at the dealership, she once again sent the same applications to the individual for him to fill out. Upon realizing that he was being asked for personal information, he basically ceased all communication with me and effectively killed the deal, less than a week before it was scheduled to occur. I later learned that he was reluctant to personally guarantee the vehicle, especially when it was his company that would be taking over the lease, and not him personally. Needless to say, I was very frustrated at this point. I contacted Mercedes to find out why both business and personal financials were needed and wasn't given any explanation except that it was often the case in these circumstances. Since then, I have been trying to contact Mercedes Benz Financial to come up with alternative potential solutions, such as offering to pay an additional lump sum to bring down the monthly payments, in order to make it more attractive to a potential lease take-over candidate but to no avail.

When I suggested this I was told that there would be no point in paying extra, as it would not affect my payments but rather reduce the amount of money owed on the back end of the lease. My business is closing at the end of January and as of right now, it seems as though I will have to continue making payments on the Sprinter until either someone takes it over or I take it back for repossession. If I take it back for repossession, I will have a long-lasting scar on my otherwise impeccable credit. I have done everything I can think of and Mercedes Benz is completely unwilling to assist me in any way. Mercedes Benz has put me on a collision course with bankruptcy. On numerous occasions, when dealing with someone from either the dealership or MBFS, I have been met with what can only be described as indifference. I feel as though I will be left with no other choice but to file for bankruptcy and start all over even though I have tried everything to pursue other avenues and solutions.

The problem is not just the non-existing volume on the media system once in a while; the real hazard here is that when the volume comes back randomly, it does so at the loudest possible. This is a very serious problem because that very loud volume may scare you while you are driving. It can really cause an accident. I have been told that the problem is the BlackBerry attached to the Bluetooth system but I no longer have the BlackBerry with me and the problem is still present. I believe there is another problem in the car and they can't figure it out. I would like to know if anybody else is having such a problem while driving an E-Series or is it just my moody car. I think if they can't fix the problem, they should get the cars out of the road. It is a very serious problem.

After performing tests, they said it was a defective speed sensor and would cost $2,500 to replace. Even though the car only had 49,000 miles on it, they wouldn't repair it under warranty as the 5 year (50,000 mile) factory warranty had expired. Before authorizing the repair, I researched NHTSA to find out if there had been other reports of the same problem. While there are some reports of this on my model, there have been numerous problems with other Mercedes model's speed sensors that have been repaired for Mercedes owners as a safety issue. Some of those repairs were directed by the NHTSA.

Considering that the issue seems to be safety related and my Mercedes only had 49,000, well-maintained miles on it, I asked my service rep if he would mind contacting Mercedes about this issue and see if they would repair it or at the least, share in the cost of the sensor repair. Two days later, the dealer contacted me and said Mercedes wasn't interested.

I am surprised and disappointed in Mercedes for their seeming lack of interest and Silver Star for not offering a cost adjustment in the absence of Mercedes not reaching out. It is my understanding that Mercedes has become more proactive in safety related issues and gives their dealers more flexibility in situations similar to mine. I have a genuine concern for my family's safety and the safety of other Mercedes owners and their families.

Within the last month, while driving, my transmission goes into neutral, causing the car to lose forward motion and not allowing me to regain drive. It occurred on the freeway at 65 mph, in traffic on a major boulevard, and most recently on a one-lane, steep, downhill grade in Malibu Canyon. Each time, I had to coast off the highway, turn off the motor, and wait. I would then restart the car and it would become drivable again.

After the last incident, I took it to Silver Star Mercedes in Thousand Oaks where I have my SLK350 serviced, and where I purchased it new in 2005 as a retirement gift to myself. After performing tests, they said it was a defective speed sensor that would cost $2700 to replace. Even though the car only had 49,000 miles on it, they wouldn't repair it because the 5-year (50,000 mile) factory warranty had expired.

Before authorizing the repair, I researched NHTSA to find out if there had been other reports of the same problem. While there were some reports of it on my model, there have been numerous problems with other Mercedes model's transmission speed sensors that have been repaired for Mercedes owners as a safety issue. Some of those repairs were directed by the NHTSA. Considering that the issue seemed to be safety related and my Mercedes only had 49,000 well-maintained miles on it, I asked my service rep if he would mind contacting Mercedes about this issue and see if they would repair it, or at the least share in the cost of the sensor repair. Two days later, the dealer contacted me and said Mercedes wasn't interested.

I am surprised and disappointed in Mercedes for their seeming lack of interest, and in Silver Star for not offering a cost adjustment - with Mercedes not reaching out. It is my understanding that Mercedes has become more proactive in safety-related issues and has given their dealers more flexibility in situations similar to mine. Obviously, that was not the case. I have a genuine concern for my family's safety, and that of other Mercedes owners and their families. I have written emails to Mercedes and have not received any response.

On Saturday, October 13th, I started my vehicle and a red indicator read ABC malfunction. Also, smoke exited from under the hood and oil leaked. Again, it was towed on October 15th to Mercedes-Benz of Encino. After inspection, I was informed the ABC system hose had burst. The initial assessment was $882 for repair. After several emails to the General Manager, I was informed the cost was $629. My argument is two-fold. Although, the vehicle was not certified pre-owned, I expected Mercedes-Benz to had fully inspected the vehicle prior to sale. Second, when installing a new major pump, why not install new hoses preventing this malfunction? The first repair cost was outrageous, and the second cost avoidable and ridiculous.

After taking off the unit that shows the air filter, it was clear that it had not been replaced in several years with all the bugs and dirt that had collected on the filter. Next, the oil filter was pulled out and it was clear that the oil had not been changed in several months, even though I just had the oil change less than 4 hours ago. On the maintenance receipt, it clearly shows 6 quantities of oil change. C230 maintenance book shows 5.8 quantity of oil per vehicle. After checking other C230 maintenance receipts, I found out that I was charged 7 quantities, on others, I was charged 8 quantities of oil for my car when it can only hold 5.8 quantities of oil. My question is where were the additional quantities of oil being used for if not for my car?

I drove my vehicle for over two years believing that the maintenance I was paying for was being done. I now know that they were not. I contacted Ed Hicks with my findings and they admitted that the oil change and filter was not replaced. The service manager was present when I took my car in. He saw for himself that the filter had not been replaced and the oil had not been changed. The mechanic told the service manager that he had an emergency that day and just forgot to complete the maintenance. However, Ed Hick refused to refund me the maintenance they have charged me for the job that was not performed. I need a lawyer that can help!

I called the Mercedes customer complaint line. I told them what happened. They said, “Take your car to an authorized dealer for diagnosis and will get back to you,” even though the person speaking to me was clearly aware of this problem since she mentioned it was an approximately $1,200.00 repair. I had the car towed to the dealer, and the technician called me back and said, “We have your car and will get back to you with an estimate.” I said Mercedes should take care of the repairs. Minutes later, another person called me back from the dealer and said he was the manager; that he was told I needed to speak to him. Anyway, I explained to him my concerns and told him that Mercedes should make the repairs and fix the flaw at no charge. Today, I got a call from the complaint department basically saying they are not responsible, and they will not help with the situation. I looked on the internet and know there are many people with the same problem, and I am determined to get everyone on board to fight this big corporation for taking our lives for granted for extra profit.

I was spoken down to at the point that I didn't know if this was for real or a blood joke. There was no customer satisfaction. I felt my complaint was dismissed and no investigation was going to take place. I wish I had never bought from them and never will again. My advice to anyone is if you do buy a Mercedes or smart car, don't expect the excellent service because there isn't such a thing. And if you ever have a complaint, be aware that the head office’s customer service team is like the Mafia. If there is anyone out there who had the same experience, I would love feedback on where to go to get heard.

Today, I was surprised that MB USA got the conclusion based on one of their specialists that the issue in my car is common for all other cars same model parked at the dealer. Is this not amazing? All the money and time spent to fix my complaint got the great and funny conclusion that this is part of the car design? It is offensive. It is frustrating that we, the customers, look for a good and guaranteed car that make our driving and lives easy without problems and results that now I cannot believe in Mercedes Benz as my dream car because MB is designing and building cars that have issues hidden, not described in their owner manual or at least notified to customers.

What is happening with one of the best car brands in the world? For sure I'll not purchase any other Mercedes Benz in my life and will not recommend anybody believing on brands. All are the same! If somebody has a suggestion on how I may elevate my frustration and solve this situation is more than welcome to contact me.

It was such a cold response from the service provider at Mercedes Benz. He could have said, “Well, whenever you can come by, we will clean your car,” but he offered nothing. Useless cheap service. When you purchase a high-end car, I believe the service and customer care after are very important. It is such a turn off, that I wouldn’t buy another Benz because of the lousy, “give a damn about the customer” attitude.

He came over and tried to start it, then he popped the hood. He started messing with the battery and said he thought we needed a new one. He said he was going to have someone come jump us. Well, that did not work at all, and as the tech was helping us, he noticed our seats felt real wet. The floors were wet too. Real wet. Still, I did not think anything of it. A few minutes went by, and another man came out, a tech one who works on cars. At that moment, they said that when they washed it, the sun roof was open a little and water got in our electrical gear and messed some electrical stuff up. So what I want to know is why did they not say that in the first place. They had to have a known cause. There had to have been water all over, when they opened the door. They had to dry it all up. They did not say anything to us and were going to let us leave.

How did they know that fast what was wrong. They knew it had all got wet. I did not even know they were going to wash the car. I got my car back the next day (today). They came to my work and traded me cars, and it stinks so bad like mildew. I got a few opinions and have been told that it could never be the same. I don't know how extensive the damages are and what they fixed. They tried to get me off the lot as fast as possible, so it would not be their problem. But I know that I had my three kids and could have had my car just stop somewhere, and we could have gotten hurt. Now, I have a stinky car that I am still paying for, and I don't know if they fixed the whole problem.

Long story short, he did nothing but lose a customer for life. And now for peace of mind for me and wife, we are probably going to be spending another 3 to 4 grand on an extended warranty because we are concerned that we have purchased a "lemon". I sure wish I would have read all the reviews before purchasing a MB.

The third time I went to start the car, the engine came on and made a very strange “gurgling” sound like it wasn't getting enough throttle/gas. So I gave the car a bit of “gas” by slowly pushing down on the accelerator pedal and the engine caught, but then quickly died. All this time, the instrument cluster was “fluttering”. The RPM needle was bouncing between 0 & 1k rpms very quickly (5-6 times per second). No warnings on the instrument cluster either. I gave up and called a truck to bring the car to the local dealer service center.

I know that Mercedes-Benz is very concerned about its reputation but I was shocked by the way I have been treated by our local dealer here in Saudi Arabia (Juffali). For someone who just purchased a car, I was expecting more consideration. Moreover, they did not provide a substitute car for me which has a very strong impact on me being using public transportation instead of using my brand new car.

Two days later, they called me from the workshop to say they had changed these parts and also put in a new timing chain but when they started the engine, there was still a rattling noise which they thought was due to something wrong with the valves. They opened up the engine again and supposedly fixed everything. My bill for this, after discount, was a handsome J.D.2545 (Euros 2700)! I paid and went home. This was yesterday. This morning, on the way to work, the brake pedal suddenly went flat and the ABS light came on. Braking was lost for a few seconds. I was lucky I was going very slowly in a traffic jam and, as the car veered to the left, I didn't hit anyone. I slowly drove the remaining mile to my office. On the way, I lost the power in the steering for a while, then the ESP light came on. I really didn't know what was going on. They have just winched the car back to the workshop.

My question is this: Is it normal for Mercedes metal teeth to wear out so badly after 125000 kilometers? I am 68 years old, have had a license for 50 years and was a car dealer myself at one point. I thought Mercedes was one the best made cars on the market and lived almost forever. I am shocked, indignant and really needing an explanation.

The senior engineer in the GAS (Mercedes agent) told me that this part should not malfunction with this few millage of the car (39000 km). He informed me that he will contact the company in Germany in order to change it for free or they might share in the cost. One hour later, the engineer came and said he is sorry, the company in Germany refused to do it and I have to pay the full 3,100 EGP. I refused to change and pay because I cannot believe that Mercedes Benz Corporation (considered number 1 worldwide) can accept not to take the responsibility of having short life part functioning properly for only 39000 km in its valuable and expensive products. I am bringing this to your attention and I am sure you will take the proper action to rectify this problem. Thank you.

After reading different class action lawsuits, I find this to be a common problem with several MB models. I realized MB cars are not as good as I thought or had claimed to be. I am very discouraged with engineering technology on this car. I can’t imagine paying almost the same amount I owe to repair the car. But I honestly don’t see myself purchasing another MB vehicle again. I hope for MB to take care of its customers, as I have heard other dealers such of Toyota, Jeep and Ford taking care of theirs. I want Mercedes to get me in a new car, fix my car or purchase it off from me.

Mercedes Benz says to Navy service member: "We here at Mercedes Benz want to thank you for your service but since you aren't the original owner and you haven't had your car serviced at a Mercedes Benz dealer, we cannot participate financially." Wow! They cannot stand behind their product or the Mercedes Benz name either. They just hide behind a line of **! We just bought the car 9 months ago. I haven't really had a chance to get it serviced at the dealer until the manufacturer defect showed up!

I thought I wouldn't have to walk very long thereafter. Unfortunately, Mercedes Benz did not have parts. I contacted national customer support after waiting more than a month. Parts have not arrived (confirmed with them and panel shop). I asked that I be provided with a courtesy car as I used the car to go to work. They refused and said it was not their fault. I say it is, because had they had parts, my car would be in my hands by now. They later told me the parts had arrived. Panel shop claimed to have received them last Monday (19/03/2011). Repairs will likely to take 3 more weeks. I am still a pedestrian.

I loved Mercedes cars. I bought a Mercedes at a price and for, amongst other things, good service. That is what I expected. I value myself and as such prefer to deal with people and companies that value me. I thought Mercedes was among one of them. Was I wrong? Now I know. I may have to be associated with them for longer than I can endure. What a pity?

4 months later, the left shock absorber was damaged (and it's normal). So we have to change the left shock absorber. But really, they changed the 2 front shock absorbers finally. Then 3 months later, the car didn't start up in the morning. The service said it was the injection pump. Ok, I'm still in the guarantee limit. The car still didn't reach 30,000 km. They said that it is my fault as the fuel was not clean and there was water in it. Ok, I paid around 3000 Egyptian pounds. 3 days later in the morning, the car didn't start up. So the service came, and they said it is the fuel pump again. Is that logical?! The guarantee of fuel pumps is 6 months, so I have to buy it again.

The car is now 40,000 km in almost 2 years and a half. Do I have to change 3 shock absorbers and 2 fuel pumps in two years and half?! Dear sir, I bought a Mercedes Benz car, not a logo of Mercedes..Thank you.

The owner of the shop has had the car for 2 months, trying to get parts from Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes keeps saying the repair parts are back-ordered and that Mercedes dealerships get them first. I spoke to a Mercedes service manager in California, who informed me that this transmission valve body and intake manifolds are widespread problems with their cars. I then called MB of North America, and they denied there was a widespread problem and that there is no recall. They told me that the independent import repair owner can order these parts.

The owner of the repair shop has called every dealership in the tri-state area and was being told he can't order the parts needed to repair my little red car that I have painstakingly paid for over the last 5 years.

I had car towed again to MB Keenan Motors, and they said they have to do a diagnostic test. I told them I already did that and would have results sent to them. "No," they said, "can't accept tests from different dealership." I have been told that the transmission is a widespread problem, and yet, MB will not recall. I would like to research a class-action suit.

They eventually sent their manager out in the middle of January 2012. All he did was take photographs of the jeep on his mobile phone! And he eventually sent a letter to my solicitor stating that he could not say the vehicle as not road worthy. This has been explained to him that my complaint is that I was sold a vehicle under false pretenses, as I was not informed of any repair work being carried out prior to me purchasing the vehicle. And if I was, I would not have completed the purchase, as stated I paid top book price ($90K+). I have informed both the dealership and Mercedes Inchcape that I have rescinded the contract with them and I am requesting all monies paid to them be returned to me.

The dealer referred me to Mercedes Benz USA and they told me that the warranty was not refundable, as the warranty only allowed me to cancel 60 days after I bought the brand new car with a 4 year factory warranty. I kept telling them that this did not make sense and the 60 day rule for the refund would logically begin 60 days after the extended warranty went into effect. Mercedes corporate absolutely refused to budge from their position, and have pocketed my $3,500, without doing anything for my money. I have been a loyal MB customer for 20 years, and have purchased 5 vehicles in that time frame, and I find it unacceptable that the big international Mercedes corporation found it necessary to keep my money.

This vehicle has cost us a lot of money on repairs and it is just over three years old. We did not anticipate that a top of the line motor vehicle with such high ratings would give so much problem and so we would like to talk to someone to see what redress we can get. The history of the problems is with Silver Star Motors in Kingston. You can verify with them but we are totally disappointed and embarrassed and would love to know if we actually got a "factory fault" vehicle with so many malfunctioning units.

We agreed that since I needed the car for work the next morning, and would leave for work the next day before 09:00H the car could be delivered before nine the next day. Clive said he would do his best to get the car delivered today. He also mentioned that the passenger side wheel arch cover was missing, and I asked him if that could be replaced. He said it could, and the cost of that was added to the bill, which was paid by credit card. Later on, I got a voice mail on my phone from Clive that the car would be delivered before 09:00H tomorrow.

The next morning (today, the 25th of January 2012), I rang Clive at around 09:00H to ask where the car was, as it was nearly 09:00H. He said the driver left at 08:20H, and should have been there by now. He promised to ring me back. I rang him at 09:10H or so, to say the car is still not here, and my medical clinic will be starting and my patients will be waiting. He said he would try to get in touch with the driver. Nothing happened, and it was now 09:26H.

I rang again, and this time he said he is just around the corner, and should be there in a couple of minutes. I asked him how he knew, he said he had spoken to other drivers, and they said he was in the area as they had spoken to him. I was getting desperate. At 09:32H or so, I rang Mercedes Benz, and asked to be put to customer services or the general manager, in order to lodge a complaint. The lady said none of the sales managers is free, and no one can take my complaint. However, if I would leave my name and number, someone would ring me back as soon as they were free. No one rang back as of today.

The driver eventually turned up at 09:37H. He said sorry, the traffic was bad. I asked him what time did he leave, and he said 08.50H (whereas Clive repeatedly assured that the driver left at 08:20H). I don't believe the driver either, for if he had left at 08:50H, he should have been at my place at 09:20H at the latest (or 09.30 if traffic was very heavy). I was dismayed that no one from Mercedes Benz rang back to apologize, and to check if everything was okay. No one was bothered that a number of my patients had to wait, and then had to leave without seeing their doctor.

On top of that, even though I had been charged, the wheel arch cover had not been fitted (as the bumper was a bit warped). No credit note had been issued. I discovered the arch was not fitted only late this evening. I strongly feel that Mercedes Benz Croydon were not truthful when they dealt with me. Are they truthful when they say they serviced the car properly? I strongly feel that Mercedes Benz treated me extremely shoddily.

I request that a full investigation be made why this happened, and how can I overcome my reluctance to deal with this same crowd again? My service book was not stamped (it was in the car on the inside leg area of the front passenger seat of the car). I can understand if it was overlooked. I feel reluctant to go to the branch to ask them to stamp it, because they appear to be an untrustworthy lot. I request some compensation be made for the aggravation suffered by me, due to this unfortunate incident.

When everything is thought to be fixed, it wasn't. The consequence of this defective part and questionable workmanship is having the new car buying experience ruined and it ruined the image of MB. This is my third MB, and this is not something that happens to supposedly one of the most luxurious brands in the world. ML may not be their best car, but it may well be their most important vehicle this year. I can't understand how this could happen to a MB vehicle. I'd understand if it was made in China like vehicles.

It was the second visit to Fletcher Jones for the same problem in two months and the sixth total visit in 8 months to a Mercedes dealership attempting to get warranty repair on the stereo speaker wiring. At one point today, we were hopeful that maybe the Fletcher Jones service department would actually do something about our issue when one of the Fletcher Jones employees, who had seen the videos, stated to us that she agrees that the audio is certainly clear enough to be able to hear the speakers are cutting in and out.

However, it sounds as if her understanding of Mercedes corporate policy is that the Mercedes service technicians have to hear it themselves live in person as it is happening for Mercedes HQ to accept it as proof and allow the warranty repair. Our 5 videos are audio and visual proof. However, the service technicians continue to deny being able to hear the problem despite having our car at Mercedes dealers six times for the exactly the same problem that they say does not exist.

Mercedes Benz warranties don't seem to be worth the paper they are printed on and it appears as if Fletcher Jones Mercedes Newport Beach only cares about selling more new cars. They are not at all concerned about service department issues.

When I bought this car, I was looking for elegance, trusted and safe. As Mercedes Benz has good brand name, when I bought this car I almost paid all of my savings from many years of saving and I always think that car will be good with no problem. I thought MB has always good service with care because of the price value that I will get from MB.

Having to drive a new 2011 Mercedes with a stereo system being inoperable for over eight months with speakers that completely cut in and out on the driver's side is unacceptable!

I purchased an MB car, because I wasn't comfortable with warranty and service in other brands, but it looks like MB has no difference about responsibility or how to send customers away with problems. I'd like to receive comments or support about my complaint before I look for a lawyer / firm that is probably interested in a lemon case.

You'll be amazed how quickly the office of Ralph **, VP of Customer Care at Mercedes Benz USA in Montvale, NJ call you back. If he doesn't, hire a big rat and put them in front of their office. I would assure you lots of fun doing this. Either they quit or they will make better cars. Remember, it is all a little game.

The steering wheel and the floor of the car continues to vibrate and my hands get numb with driving at 60 -70 ml/h. Mercedes Benz of America (case manager Robert), told me that vibration phenomenon is normal for $115000.00 car with 19" wheels coming from the Mercedes Benz factory. This is insane! Also, Mercedes Benz of America told me that nothing they are going to do and I have to drive the way it is. The case manager has refused to escalate call to his supervisor. Rudely hanging up on me. I cannot believe that one reputable company behaves with their customers this wild way.

They only give the reasons and stopped at that. I'm not satisfied with just an answer from a company that is supposed to be one of the finest in the motor business. My husband bought me a Mercedes because it's one of the best, but my trust in my vehicle on the road is ruined and I am scared for the next time the turbo fails, the car lost power and had a lot of smoke coming from the exhaust. Fortunately, I was near the school where I'm teaching and could reach my destination. What if my car lets me down on a deserted road and I'm alone? I really want somebody to give me more than an excuse and with a practical solution to my problem.

Over a month and a half later, when my car was finally fixed, I inquired about the work on the other dent and I was told that the quote was incorrect. It was really $2000! When I complained about the quote, I was told that they just made a mistake and that I was trying to get something for nothing.

I explained that if I was trying to be dishonest, I would have included all of the damage in one claim. I added that although I lost my 6 figure job and was now working for 60% of what I formerly, I still pay Mercedes every month and that my husband and I own 3 Mercedes and SMART car. I was told that I should have sold my car and driven a $200 clunker. I was trying to explain that I live up to my obligations and that I felt Mercedes should do the same. So much for being a loyal customer who tries to do the right thing. I guess Mercedes doesn't value my business. The dent in my car has not been fixed and I have made a formal complaint to the National Consumer Service Center.

First, weakness and negligence and recklessness and ill received of the complaints of clients, particularly the receptionist on the phone and example of this is the denial of the existence of customer service employee. After requesting to speak to the director, she transferred the call to the customer service employee in charge.

Second, after examining the car at the workshop after the incident, there were specialists who refused to give a report about the situation of the car, and of deficiencies in the vehicle which caused the non opening of air bags which was extremely dangerous to the passengers.

We require to have our rights back with direct compensation for the size of the injury to the passengers of the car in order not to damage the reputation of the company in Egypt or we will be forced to resort to the parent company abroad or to contact the legal authorities specialists in this matter to give us our rights. I require documented investigation with the staff of the company because of behaving in an inappropriate manner with the customers in a company such as Mercedes.

On the 19th of October 2011, my car was booked for a service. I reminded them about the noise in the engine. That afternoon, I received a call from them, informing me that the hydraulic lifters needs to replaced. I was informed that it is not wise to drive my car like that, and they will only receive the parts after three weeks. They told me that I have to pay in over R10,000.00 as part of my contribution.

I contacted my insurance. They are willing to pay my share if they receive a full report from Mercedes Benz. I contacted them and asked them for a report. They told me that they cannot assist me with a report, as it is confidential information. They cannot assist me with a loan vehicle, as they don't have any. I reported this to Mercedes Benz South Africa. After many phone calls, they told me that I must come and collect my car and drive it, until the parts arrive.

I phoned the service manager and asked them for a letter, stating that if I do drive my car, that there will be no additional damage to the engine, and they must take responsibility. They agreed to that. That was 13:00 today. They promised me an email in 15 minutes. At 15:30, I phoned back and they told me they are busy sending the mail to me. At 16:50 I phoned again. The guy that promised me the mail, will only be back on Wednesday. I don't know what to do or who to contact.

I was stranded for hours. I cannot do my job since I am locked out of my car, this will keep me from filing my appeal. I am a nervous wreck that they are trying to frame me for something I have not done.

What the hell is the matter with you people? Financial Services lost a payment in May and it took them four months to find it. In the meantime, they are calling every day for that May payment that they already had. I have never seen such Mafia techniques in any company in all my 69 years not to mention a poorly run financial department that cannot keep track of the payments that are made and lose some of them and then start harassing customers for their own mistakes. I would never buy a Mercedes Benz product just based on your financial services harassment tactics. There is no reason for this kind of treatment. I intend to contact every consumer complaint organization I can find and send them a copy of this letter online, offline, by mail, and any other way possible.

Currently I am facing a serious color fade on the bonnet/hood and a leak from the closure point of the convertible above the driver when the car is washed or when it rains. And it rains in Florida.

This is not something that the mb dealership wants to fix and I am disappointed that for a car that expensive, problems like these should be non existent or cost covered by Mercedes to say the least. All of my other Mercedes and I had 3 prior, the family all own Mercedes, did not have such issues. I am very disappointed and I so wanted to keep this car and buy another to run around. Can you please assist in my dilemma and in correcting these problems?

I have bought all my Mercedes from Mercedes-Benz Angelopolis. I submitted a letter to the dealer and they told me that they have not received answer from Mercedes. To date, we have seven Mercedes vehicles and none of these had experienced problems before or had manufacturer's defects except for this Class A-190. The vehicles we own are: one Class ML 350, two Classes ML 500, one Class A 190, one Class C, and one Smart.

The only reason we have continued with the brand was the durability and the confidence that the vehicles gave us; it was reliable, as what I used to say. The vehicle, Class A-190, which has the problem has just 30,000.00 miles. I cannot conceive that a Mercedes has major problems with such a short mileage. I insist that the only reason I'm still buying Mercedes is because of the supposed level of quality and service life of the vehicles. I hereby, request this to be reported to the plant in Germany and to repair the vehicle at no cost. It's not a Chevy, GM or a Ford; it's a Mercedes. It's what the vendor say when you are paying extra money for a Mercedes, and it should last as a Mercedes. My wife almost never use this car.

If this is what we expect from the brand, it is cheaper to buy an Atos or any other car and change it every three years. I have been its most faithful advertiser because I always trusted the brand. I hope this will be resolved. 30,000.00 miles are nothing for a Mercedes transmission. I definitely want to stay with them but in no way I will accept them trying to rip me off. This transmission came defective from the beginning.

Four years ago, we started to buy other brands for a couple of problems we had with the service; while Ford and GM, are still a mess, at least Toyota has given us good service. Last year, we bought back with them the Class C and the Smart. A couple of days ago, we were evaluating to buy another Class ML-500, but after this, we do not know what to think. It really upsets me that Mercedes ends up being as good as a Chevy and in theory charges me extra money for a quality that does not exist. Please give me a favorable solution to this issue as quickly as possible. If not, then tell me what to do.

I wont buy a Mercedez Again and I will suggest that everybody chose another brand.

From what we knew, this is a general defect in the car that must be changed despite its high cost (14000egp). As a result of all the above, we demand that you change the spare part on the company's account because in other cars like the Renault the vitesse has a guarantee until 100,000 kilometers. I don't understand how in Mercedes, which is a high class category, it doesn't cover an equivalent guarantee. Please, consider all this in our complaint. I will wait for your reply, and my best regards to you all.

I love the car; I enjoy driving the car, and I expected to remain a loyal customer for a longtime. In fact, I was planning to trade my C350 for the new E350 Coupe next year. The dealership is not willing to do a courtesy repair on my car because my regular services had not been completed by them. I would like the Mercedes corporate office to intercede on my behalf, but when I contacted them (in not so many words), they told me that I was "SOL" (short on luck), and I was at the mercy of the dealer. I guess I made a big a mistake when I left BMW to become a Mercedes owner.

A couple of months later I was looking forward to taking the car on our annual Penn State football trip. Everything went well on the way up but on the way home while I was traveling at 60 mph, I heard a loud bang. At first I was all over the road and there was a moment when I didn't think I was going to regain control of the car but I did, and pulled off to the side of the road. Not a good ending to the family trip. Thinking it was a flat, I was preparing to change a tire and then noticed that the tire was fine. Four and a half hours from home in the middle of nowhere and I had no idea was had just happened. After an hour or so, the car was towed to a Lexus dealer in Louistown, PA.

Since the owner of the Lexus also owned an MB dealership, I assumed they would be able to fix it. I finally got a rental car and was home about 7:30pm on Sunday night. The people at the dealership called me at 8:15 in the morning and were very nice and sympathetic. They indicated that a spring broke and that it broke the axle boot. How is it that a spring breaks on a car with 42k miles?

Unfortunately, they were unable to fix the car but set me up with a contact person at Mercedes Benz of State College and even called there to let them know my car was coming. It took about a day to get the car to MB of State College and that is when my experience changed for the worst.

I found out that my third party warranty doesn't cover springs but covers everything else that was broken, but because it was a cause and effect they will not cover anything. By the way I was still two days without my car and more than 300 miles away from my car. I have owned a lot of cars and not one of them ever had a spring break. I was curious to know if this was perhaps a recall or something so I called MB of North America. On Tuesday at 4pm, I spoke with a great guy who took my info down and said I should hear back from someone in 24 hrs. The next morning, I called MB dealership of State College at around 10am and spoke with Brian who told me that "MB of North America was paying for everything and they will pay to replace the other spring as well because that is the right thing to do. I was very happy and proud once again that I purchased the car. I thought; wow a company that stands by its product.

On Friday, I called Brian to make sure that the car was going to be ready. He asked me if I have spoken with a Lindsay ** (Case Manager) from MB of North America. I had not, and asked why. Two hours before I was leaving for a 4-hour drive to pick up my car that I thought was repaired and the expenses were paid for, he indicated that Lindsay was confused and that they should not have said that they were going to pay for it. At the end of the day, the individuals at MB dealership of State College took it upon themselves to determine that if the car was certified before I purchased it they would get MB of North America to pay for the repairs. I was under the impression that my complaint got MB of North America to pick up the tab but I was wrong. Lindsay realized their mistake and what was going on and quickly offered me a credit of $400 to any MB dealer and that it will not expire. She sent me an email which said to contact her 1 week before to make an appointment. That was nice but I'm still out $1,000 for the car repairs as well as a couple of hundred for rental cars. All of this due to a spring breaking on a Mercedes Benz with only 42,000 miles.

When I told the firm that this vehicle is not as per agreed specs, they tried to threaten me and asked me to sign an amendment of our agreement to change agreed specs for accommodating the vehicle shown to me instead of supplying me a vehicle with pre-agreed specs. I, nevertheless, remained steadfast and refused to sign any amendment in agreement despite their threats of extreme consequences, in the presence of their armed guards as a symbol of threat. The firm has gone beyond limits by communicating with me that my down payment is being forfeited on charges of not conforming to the agreement on my part. On the contrary, I confirmed to pay the balance amount vide my email in response to the firms letter to me informing me that vehicle is ready for delivery. I only refused to pay after looking at the vehicle that was not as per agreed specs.

The objective of narrating above facts, and enclosing all the relevant documents and correspondence between me and the firm, is to bring to your notice as to what kind of customer dealing is being undertaken by the firm authorized to represent an esteemed brand Merced Benz in Pakistan. Fully cognizant of the value that Mercedes-Benz gives to consumer satisfaction, I am confident that you will probe into the whole matter and address my grievances.

I have owned Mercedes cars since 2008 and not once have I had an issue, until now. And this is making me seriously contemplate selling the car (at a substantial loss because who wants to buy a car that smells like sewage) and buying something else. I had considered myself to be a lifelong Mercedes owner/driver, but if they refuse to stand by their product, then why should I remain loyal to them? It is an engineering and design defect that needs to be retrofitted and corrected. Come on Mercedes, do something about this, or I won't be the only Mercedes customer that you'll lose to another manufacturer.

Extensive damage was caused to the under carriage and to the BlueTEC line because of this tow. I haven't been with my vehicle or even an offer of a loaner vehicle, since Aug 31, 2011. Neither the dealer nor the towing company are taking any responsibility for the damage. I have finally directed the dealer to just repair the bare minimum so the vehicle may be driven.

This experience has tainted my trust in Mercedes-Benz. I have every intention of disposing of both my wife's r350 BlueTEC as well as my E63 AMG. These two vehicles are my 5th and 6th purchases of Mercedes-Benz products. You can rest assured that they will be my last. If your are interested in salvaging a once loyal customer, I would be happy to discuss the details further.

While in the waiting area (first one), other customers began to arrive, dropped their cars, and left with loners. When I was finally called to be driven to work, I walked outside and there was a loner. It doesn't end there. I was told that I would be picked up. At no time during the day, Mari gave me a courtesy call in regards to the status of my car.

At the end of my work day, which ends at three o'clock, I wasn't picked up or contacted. At which time, I had to take a taxi to the dealer in Larchmont, NY that cost me 50$. Upon my arrival at 4 p.m., Mari says to me, "Oh, your back." I stated, "Yes, you told me I was going to be picked up. Why wasn't I contacted?" After that being said, she stated that the car was not serviced as yet and that they were backed up. The waiting area was completely empty .No Customers.

At this time, Ii was livid and none could give me any answers. Mari kept apologizing, then she said to me, "Let me check at the back to see what's going on." She returned a few minutes later and said that they are getting started right now. I immediately told her to have my car brought around and that I will take it to White Plains Dealership. I was totally displeased with the service and disappointed with the way I was treated. I feel that Larchmont Mercedes Benz dealers are racist. I was the only Black female getting my car serviced at the time and the only one that was wrongfully treated. This was the worst experience in my life.

Instead, with 37,000 miles, I have incurred thousands of dollars in repaired services. This could not possibly be represented as the German engineering. I feel that as a consumer, a victim of total misrepresentation.

I would expect Mercedes-Benz to stand by their product. At this point, I believe getting rid of this vehicle and purchasing, and finding myself a more reliable and upstanding company to buy myself a new car from.

I am completely frustrated with them and now they won't even take my calls. Please help.

On 13 Aug 2011, a 20-feet wooden telephone pole was lying on a badly-lit street in the middle of the night. No one knows how it got there. Driving 45 miles per hour, (speed limit is 45 mph) I hit it with the front of my car. Then the pole went under my bumper resulting into a broken steering column and a bent car frame. My air bags, however, did not deploy. When I asked Mercedes why the bags did not open, they said that it only opens when hit in certain spots. In the end, my car was totaled by the insurance company.

I had been talking to MB USA about some type of assistance. MB USA notified MB of BR and promised to pay 50% of the bill. I only had $2,000.00 which I told Dan. I went and borrowed $1,000.00 to repair my truck. MB of BR kept my vehicle about three weeks. I was called by Dan on Wednesday, August 10, to tell me that my vehicle was fixed and ready for pickup.

I arrived at the dealership at approximately 5:45 p.m. I paid for the vehicle and drove it to Prairieville, LA, approximately 30 minutes away from the dealership. I went shopping at Walmart. I cranked my vehicle at 7:05 p.m. I heard a loud noise and the car cut off. I restarted and I had plenty of codes on the screen. I immediately called MB of BR at 7:09 p.m. and left a voice message about my vehicle. I returned the vehicle to MB of BR the next day.

I was notified yesterday, August 16, 2010, that several sensors had gone out and it had nothing to do with the repair work that they completed on my balance shaft. I was quoted $1,700.00 to fix this problem. I only drove the car for 30 minutes, approximately 20 miles, and my car broke down. I was never notified about any other issues with the engine; however, I was made aware about some routine maintenance such as new tires, brake pads, and a shock.

I have tried to talk to the owner, Joe, the service manager, Dan and Bryan, who is over at the repair area. I also talked to Gwen and Margie. Bryan told me that I told Dan to only fix the balance shaft problem. Dan and I disclaimed that statement. I never told anyone at MB of BR to only work on the balance shaft problem. I never knew anything about other problems and was not given that information.

When I left MB of BR, my vehicle was clear of any errors. Bryan claims that he even drove my vehicle approximately 70 miles and he did not get any codes; however, within 20 miles of me driving it, it broke down. They disconnected the electrical system and removed the motor, and MB of BR is telling me that the new problem did not stem from them working on the vehicle for three weeks.

I've been had for the third time by MB. They also cheated me out of one year warranty when I bought the car.

Now the car has 170000 km and it does not change gears. I have to stop the car in the middle of the road to switch the engine off to reset the computer and start it again. It happened a couple of times during the day. The central locking is not working either. The suspension is making a terrible noise when I go over bumps. This is the ** car I ever had!! My wife drives a BMW, no problems at all.

I wrote to Mercedes customer care services a few months ago about the problems and I'm still waiting for an answer. The car is always serviced at Bedfordview dealer. What a ** dealership? It's always my mistake for the failures!! Soon i will take the car outside of BMW head office and set it on fire after I invite all the car magazines and the management of Mercedes to see what I do to rubbish cars like this. I will then walk in to BMW AND GET AN X5.

At 30,000 km, the car went for a service. Within 50 km after the service, the suspension collapsed and there was a complete failure of the brakes. Fortunately I was able to avoid an accident. The car was towed in to Mercedes-Benz Sandton (corner Rivonia & South) on Monday July 18, 2011.

This morning (July 29, 2011), I went and enquired what was happening and I was told the parts for the suspension were due on the 4th of August.

Only after the suspension was repaired could they establish why there was a total brake failure. If more parts are required, then I guess there will be a further 3- 4 weeks of wait without my car.

The customer service center will not return my calls. (Lance)

In summary, straight after the car was serviced, a serious safety problem arose – namely, the suspension and total brake failure occurred. Previous experience showed that repairs, namely the distronic, are not reliable and excessively slow.

Please explain to me why I should not notify the relevant authorities on the apparent inability of your group to maintain vehicles in a safe and roadworthy condition.

Your reply without delay would be appreciated.

I had a minor problem with the front wiper controls in 07 Dec 2010. The wiper starts to behave in a funny fashion even when the vehicle is parked and locked. This posed a huge problem. Even after the service on December 2010, the wiper problem was not rectified. It was resent back to the shop on 06 Jan 2011 and subsequently for the same problem on 12 Jan, 30 May and 29 Jun. Still, even after this much attention and care, the problem exists and I was not offered a complete or even a remotely satisfactory answer for the problem. Even more, I was charged for the same unsolved problem by your people again and again.

I had mailed you regarding the same but with no clear opinion except a mail for the same. Yesterday, I had to drive the vehicle as my chauffeur was absent. Unexpectedly, there was rain. The wiper did not function in spite of repeated attempts. I had to park the vehicle in the highway and could only start when the rain stopped after an hour.

My question is, when my old vehicle is reliable and has no problem, why should an advance model have problem? Why am I not explained of the problems in spite of multiple inquiries and services at your authorized center? Why was the problem not rectified during the service of the vehicle? Why was there no satisfactory answers/replies about the problem from your people at Chennai? If you want more details of the receipt and fees, I shall be able to send it.

This failure on the highways could have caused an accident. It is pathetic that a reputed and time-tested concern should deal with a problem in this unconcerned manner in spite of strictly adhering to schedule for maintenance. I hope that my problem will get attended here amicably.

Each crack is adjacent to and emanates from an assembly (also cracked) just under the hood that bolts the fender to the frame. They are about 6 to 7 inches long, and growing. The Mercedes-Benz Collision Centre general manager acknowledged that they were not impact-related. He surmised that the damage was due to a structural flaw (assembly/stress), and not a sudden impact. I wrote to the president of MB Canada, seeking consideration in the repair. The response was a 'no'. The decision on the part of Mercedes-Benz to profit (thousands to repair) from the situation and offer no consideration whatsoever was disappointing. Can you, or anyone you know, suggest a further course of action; or put me in touch with someone who has experienced a similar situation? Thank you very much.

The engineers examined the car and informed us that the undercarriage needed to be tightened, which they did, wonderful! However, this did not solve the problem, so the car was sent back at which point we were told that the front right suspension unit needed to be changed for a modified suspension unit since the original units are faulty on all C180s. We were told that the unit was not available and would be available within 2 weeks. Two weeks later, we are told that we have to wait for another two weeks.

The issues with customs and a wait list of the same problem were sited. A week or so later we called the service point and where told to send the car in. Oddly enough, there was no part available by the time the car got to the dealership. On the next day, we were told gain to come back in a week. I believe this happened more than once or twice, I let the driver deal with it since by this, I was too frustrated. Two weeks or so later, the faulty unit was replaced.

Fast forward, 4 months and another 4000 km, the same sound again. So we sent the car to the service point and we are told that it is the rear suspension that is now faulty and the modified suspension part would arrive in, yes, that's right you guessed it, in two weeks. As I knew that this would probably take a month or more, I asked the engineer to temporarily replace the rear suspension with the non-modified suspension unit until the other one would arrive. He was kind enough to agree and did so and told us to come back in 10 days for the modified unit.

As we left the dealership, we heard the same sound and called the engineer, he told us not to worry because it was the sound of the temporary rear suspension. So we waited ten days and the car goes back again to the dealership. This time, I am told that it's the front right suspension unit again that needs to be changed not the rear ones and it would take roughly two weeks! Moreover, the rear temporary non-modified units cannot be replaced for the modified ones because there is nothing wrong with them!

Do you realize how frustrating this is for a car owner? For the car to have to go the dealership roughly 7 times for the same issue that is an hour each way in Cairo traffic! To know what the issue is and to have a recorded message come out of the service engineer’s mouth, as well as the constant delays. I have owned many cars in Egypt, 4 BMWs, a 318i, a 318is, a 525i and a 650csi, as well as a Porsche 911, the service points are far from perfect but I have never been this frustrated!

I bought this car since middle of 2009 as I was looking for elegant, trusted, & safe car. So all my family and friends recommended Mercedes for me as also my dad was one of the people who was caring to drive Mercedes since the early 60s till his death in 2001. When I bought it I almost paid all the money that I have and I said no problem because of the price value that I will get it from Mercedes. I bought the car from the Main Dealer in Alexandria called "El Tarek Motors" Mr. ** and Mohamed **.

The first problem was in the car before first 500 km. The motor check lamp lightened without any prior notes, so I was so afraid that the car has a big problem. So I traveled from Sharm Elsheikh to Alexandria to go to Mercedes Service Center and while I was driving in the highway the car started to shake and break. So after I arrived the Service Center and they checked the car , they told me the problem was in the fuel that you may used unclean fuel and this is the main reason , so I respect their opinion and after fixing my car I took it and traveled back to Sharm .

As this Situation repeated frequently, I left my business to be able to go Mercedes Center in Alexandria forth and back and each time I go there, they fix it without telling me any reason for these problems and of course they consider it my fault not Mercedes fault so I have to pay fees for Mercedes Service Center. And they felt that they did a great job for me.

Then in my last visit, "I visited them 9 times beside my regular visits to do the Car Service" I brought my car to Mercedes Service Center in Alex and I complained that the engine is very loud and in this visit they only told me that there is a defect in the engine. Really it was a disaster to hear that Mercedes car has a big problem in its engine before 40000 km. "Thousand not million." So I came back to my home in Sharm ElSheikh, and after few days, the car almost stopped in the high way suddenly, so I phoned Mercedes Service Center in Alex and they told me do not drive the car. So I decided to rent a tow truck to transfer my car to Alex and I paid about $300.

Then after I arrived at the Mercedes Service Center in Alexandria they told me there is a problem in the car "Sim Control" then they told me there is a problem in all meters in the dashboard and all of them must be changed. And the car stayed in the Mercedes Service center for 1 week, and no one knows where the real defect in the car is.

Then in this visit I went to the Mercedes Dealer in Alexandria "EL Tarek Motors" and I told him all the car history and how the car had many problems in this short period of time, and I shocked when he told me that "To have 4 or 5 problems in Mercedes this is the normal in this car". And he was speaking in unfriendly way, then he phoned the Mercedes Service Center and the Service Center told them the car is ready to deliver it to me and I asked him a question "Do you guarantee that if I took the car and drove it to Sharm that it will not stop in the desert high way" and he answered in a very provocative way, "Can you guarantee for me that if you fly in a plane it will not crash" so of course I cannot guarantee that.

You have to imagine sir how your Dealer in Egypt is not concerning about your product at all "that he cannot guarantee". And at last the Dealer promised me to let the German technicians in Egypt inspect my car, but he never did that really it was in my expectation that after telling your Dealer all these problems he will change the car for me immediately to keep your brand name in the sky.

You know the price of Mercedes in Egypt can buy three very good cars like Japanese brand, but unfortunately I cannot imagine having all these problems with Mercedes. Please try to help me sir as this is a disaster for me. I wrote this Email to you after I lost all the trust in the Egyptian Dealer and the Mercedes Service Center here as they never told me the truth about the problems in my Car, even I tried to ask them many times what is the problem and every time I got no answer. So please try to help me and change this car with another new one. I'm waiting for your urgent reply sir.

I contacted MBUSA customer service to notify them of the safety concerns regarding the vehicle. I told them that I was still experiencing the same problem, and that I was brushed off saying they were sorry and there is nothing they can do about the problem. This is a problem that could potentially lead to a fatal accident; it involves the vehicle cutting off for a brief second and causing many components of the car not to function during that second, and the vehicle is not intended to function in this manner. Mercedes is not doing their part to investigate and correct the problem, besides the basic diagnostics that do not yield an error code. I will gladly furnish the video tape, which is the evidence that the issue occurs.

Several days ago, while I was shopping and only mere few feet away from my vehicle, the vehicle was broken into by a thief, who broke my window and stole some valuables of myself and of my wife. To our dismal surprise, when we approached our vehicle, we were shocked to find that it had been broken into and to our shock, the alarm had never been set off during this break-in. Aside from more than $5000 in physical damage which includes the smashed window and trim, the stolen laptops and camera, the thief has stolen my PhD notes which are of no monetary value but of a great value for me. I was planning to finish my PhD in 2 months, but with the loss of my notes, my life plans fall apart, and I will not be able to finish my PhD in a timely manner as previously planned.

The car totally burned to the ground! It has now cost me over $1500 on rental fees, not to mention it’s financed and the interest is accruing and that means less money for me to buy a new vehicle, not to mention I am currently unemployed and will have a hard time getting a loan for a new car.

Now, here is the corresponding problem, The headlights go off for a second then come back on when you hit a bump in the road! There is a correlation between the frequency of the headlights going out and the intensity of the burning smell. I am a trained automotive mechanic. Seems to me we may have something moving (wiring) and contacting something hot (manifold/exhaust). Anyway, the dealer has not found any problem and will not even return my calls. Because I have 21,000 miles on the car now, I feel they are waiting for the 24,000-mile / 2 year warranty to expire. If this car catches fire I will not be surprised. Thank you.

Well, it takes a good 6 hours out of my day to get any service done, sometimes longer.

The car was towed into MB numerous times. Please note, I am a petite attractive blonde standing on the side of the LA freeways numerous times, waiting for tow trucks to haul me and my car into the nearest dealership! It was scary and stressful. Finally, Mercedes Calabasas gave me a new transmission at 44,000 miles (only 30,000 miles after I bought it). These trannies, under normal conditions, should last up to 150,000 miles! Unbeknownst to me, there is a major issue with MB built within this 2002-03 time frame.

The Valeo radiator is faulty and leaks an extreme contaminant into the transmission, glycol, ruining it and causing it to need to be replaced. Unfortunately this dealership did not replace the radiator at this time! They replaced the transmission only, even though the faulty radiator was a well known and documented issue by 2007. Please see Mercedes blogs, internet comments and most importantly, the Bulletin put out by Mercedes in 2005 describing this very issue. I trusted MB and continued to drive the car. All the while, the insidious glycol pouring into my transmission!

Beginning in early 2009, the car began stalling again. This time I was driving a lot between LA and Vegas. So here I am on the side of the 15 freeway next to my stalled out Mercedes! Over the next several months, I had it in and out of the Santa Monica dealership many many times. I had the transmission filter replaced at my cost even though it was still under warranty. They found a "substance of unknown origin" in my transmission but never did a glycol test! Several times it stalled while I was in Vegas on business and the dealership replaced the fuel filter! No glycol test was done!

Shortly after this, my 2-year extended warranty expired and the problem was never resolved. I got comments like, "these 240's always lurch in low gears" from the service advisers! Too bad I trusted MB so much.. If I would have just researched the year and make of my vehicle, I could have read about this radiator/transmission problem and diagnosed it myself! I was seriously frustrated that Kevin ** at the MB dealership in Santa Monica could not fix my car! It continued to lurch, sputter and stall. Thirty thousand miles later (now at 78,000), I took it to an independent to fix an airflow problem in one of the stepper motors (the second time this was needed), and told him about the lurching, etc.

The first thing the man said was, "take it to my transmission guy, you probably have glycol in your trannie". I did. He tested it and said I did, indeed, have the contaminant in my transmission! He said maybe MB customer care would help knowing this is a known problem for many years and not one of their technicians tested it since 2007 even considering all the comments I made thinking it was the transmission! Fast forward to today, many hours of frustration and wasted time. Not to mention the car is now out of warranty and I am unemployed hoping to drive this car, which I have kept in excellent condition otherwise, for another 10 years.

I took the car to the local dealership (I am now in Portland, OR). Mercedes Benz customer care said it was imperative to get the car diagnosed by an MB dealership before they would even consider offering any help. I did. The glycol test (that an independent mechanic finally educated me on and told me to have done) was finally done at my request! According to the service rep, "There's a lot of glycol in your transmission!". This was most likely seeping into my trannie since at least 2009 when the problems started happening again! He would not even tell me how much glycol when I asked, but did say it was way over the 400mg/1000 liters that the MB bulletin (put out in 2005! ) says warrants a transmission replacement!

Even Simon at customer care said my transmission is shot! However, the dealership only replaced my radiator, flushed the trannie and replaced the torque converter. They did offer some goodwill. However, the service adviser, Rob ** at Portland MB said, "I'd fix the car and sell it". This car only has 78,000 mostly freeway miles on it! It will cost me $1500 even after the goodwill, however I have no guarantee that other parts of the transmission will begin to give out because of glycol deterioration! The service manager, Shannon **, said there is only a 60-70% chance that this car will continue to run efficiently!

If a lawyer is reading this, I would like to start a class action suit. There are thousands of 2002-03 C240 MB owners who have experienced this same problem!! MB is not standing behind their automobiles and unsuspecting owners are getting screwed! Please note that there are thousands of complaints about this issue on the Mercedes blogs, internet, etc. Thank you.

We asked if they would make a concession of part and we pay the labor. It was no go! This is a workmanship issue and MB USA should be able to accept responsibility for it, at least to the extent of the part (PFE pump) that has failed. What happened to an explanation of why something fails with minimal use. No one is suggesting that they replace tires or brakes or electronics or batteries that get used. In fact tire sensor batteries have failed on 3 out of 4 tires but we accepted that, again. It shouldn't have but batteries do fail over time.

All we want is the part given the scenario and we would pay for the labor. We would appreciate any assistance. I spoke to a Mariano ** ext ** at MB USA in NJ. He was no help, in fact said his word was final and there was no need to go above him. One has to wonder why he has supervisors then? Perhaps their salaries could be put to better us - called Customer Service in circumstances that are warranted such as this. This has cost me $990+ for repairs.

The dealership has been very professional and helpful, and flexible in some cases, but that hasn't changed the experience. I wonder if this car is generally faulty in engineering or if I am an exception. I am also evaluating the service repairs for the Lemon Law of California, but I don't know if the items will qualify. I have had to have the car repaired because the gas tank became unsecured and was banging around inside the casing of the car; the back suspension required repair; the convertible top stopped working while being repaired on another item; the shocks replaced for the trunk because it was difficult to open; the driver side heated seats stopped working and required repair twice over two years; an electrical part stopped working for the transmission; and recently, my audio system failed.

It was unable to locate a hospital nearby when I needed one for a semi-emergency situation. It should, one did exist, but I traveled to where the hospital was supposedly located and discovered it was leading me on a wild goose chase. I took the car back to shop in Oklahoma several times. Early on they did give me a check for $400.00 for goodwill, but I spent way more than that getting loss, and just being exhausted from traveling too many hours looking for something that was just not where the system said it was. They know the GPS is working properly but at every level. I have complained.

They keep telling me the system is working in compliance as it was designed . I used a Tom-Tom simultaneously at one point and found that the GPS is my vehicle is nothing but a piece is junk. It is approximately 50 percent accurate. They have treated me with little regard up to this point. I need your help in getting my money back for that system.

Today, the check engine light has come back on. What do I do? Replace the whole thing again and then all over again? My second problem is airbags. Over a year ago, I got rear-ended at a "Yield" sign. I came to a complete stop to let the oncoming traffic pass and a moment later I got hit and pushed all the way to the main road by an SUV going at least 45 mph. I hit my head and broke front teeth against the steering wheel. No airbags deployed. My lawyer says that we won't be able to prove anything in this situation by filing a law suit against Mercedes. I wonder why. Please note that I had a seat belt on.

The consequences: Tons of money spent on determination of the check engine light problem, and stress, of course. As for the accident, I am dealing with headaches due to the accident-related concussion, had to replace front teeth, damaged several disks in lower back. Neither physical therapy, nor drugs seem to be helpful.

The next day, I took the vehicle to a Mercedes Dealership not too far from Cibolo. After about 45 minutes, the customer service representative said that my car was ready. I asked what was wrong with the car. He said, "the light is out now.” No matter what I asked he said the same thing. Since I did not speak Spanish, I thought maybe there was a communication problem. Over the next year, we took the car in on numerous occasions. Every time I would explain to the service representative that the car was shifting hard at times and the malfunction light continued to come on and then would go off.

On one of our visits to the dealer, the representative called to ask permission to change the transmission fluid. He said it was dirty and had shavings in it. My husband asks if that would fix the problems we were having with shifting, jerking and the malfunction light coming on. I told my husband that did not sound too good having shavings in anything especially the transmission. The representative assured us that everything would be okay and there is no need to worry about it. Because we travel a lot with my husband’s job, we bought a Mercedes believing we would have many years of good service.

On August 31, 2010, we were in Atlanta, GA. It was late afternoon and traffic was terrible. A lot of stop and go, slowing down then speeding up. I noticed the transmission was shifting hard sometimes and downshifting a lot. I just thought it was the heat of the day and the heavy traffic. Suddenly, there was a hard jolt. It felt like I had been rear-ended. I checked traffic because I wasn't aware of any car being that close to me. There was no car close enough to have hit me. In fact, there was no car behind me or on either side that was close enough to have made contact with my car. I was trying to make sense of what had happened when realized that I had no power. It was very similar to what happened only a month before when I was in Orlando, FL. I had taken the car to a dealer there because it felt like a hard jolt and I had no power. The service representative said that it was a good thing that I had brought it in since we were 6 days from the warranty expiring. He assured us that he had fixed the problem and everything was okay. Ummm…. there seems to be a pattern here, maybe Mercedes gives the representatives training in this! I was frightened.

The traffic was moving very fast. The car had no power and then it would zoom forward then downshift and then lock up like I had put it in park or reverse. My mind was trying to make sense of what was happening and stay safe in all the traffic. I put on my hazard lights and the other drivers did a great job helping me to be able to coast/drive to the side of the road. My husband called when he realized I was not following him. I explained what was happening and that I was going to go to the next exit if the car would make it. I drove slowly so the transmission would not shift but it continued to shift up and down and into park. We had the car towed to Buckhead Dealership in Atlanta, GA.

On Tuesday evening, the tow truck driver asks me if the car had been towed before since there was no tow hook adapter. Thankfully, he could drive the car on to his truck otherwise there would have been no way to have the car towed. On Wednesday morning, Buckhead called to tell us that we had to replace the transmission at a cost of $8000.00. My husband said he felt like this should be covered by our now expired warranty since we have had the car serviced repeatedly for this same issue. The service manager said that we needed to contact Mercedes Corporate. Since it is a warranty issue, he could not make the call. He said the car’s service record documents that on at least 2 occasions we had brought it in for transmission problems. Actually every time, we discussed the transmission. I called **** which is the customer service department for Mercedes USA.

I explained the situation to the person taking the call. He said someone would be assigned to our file and would give us a call. I waited but no one called. I called back and was told that actually our file had been assigned to Ray but that he had gone on vacation the day after getting our file. The person I spoke to assured me that he would put a message in our file asking him to call us when he returned. I explained that a simple call to let me know that he was going on vacation would have been the customer service thing to do. Hey, anybody calling me would have been a good thing! Maybe they could have given my file to someone else who was not going on vacation, unless Ray is the only customer service representative they have working at their cooperate offices.

Ray did call on Monday to tell my husband that he was back from vacation and he assured him he would call him on Wednesday. It had now been a week since our car was towed. We waited, waited and waited some more. My daughter said, “Good luck, unless you are a pain in the butt you will not hear from him.” I told her this is Mercedes, the company with good customer service. So much for that idea! Six days later he did call to offer us assistance with the cost of repairing the transmission. My husband told him that we did not ask for assistance since we believed it was a warranty issue. He then asked Ray if he had read our file or had looked at the car’s service record. He said sort of, that he was sort of familiar with it. My husband told him he either had done the research or he had not. Things got a little heated when Ray said that we had no warranty claim. He said we had taken our car to many different places to have it serviced. Yes, we had but only to authorized Mercedes Dealers. We live in FL, we have a daughter in TX, a son in NC and another daughter in SC and friends across the nation not unlike many people across America. I bought a Mercedes because we do travel a lot with our job and to visit our kids.

I thought a Mercedes warranty was honored at all Mercedes dealers. It appears that each time we took it in, because we were from out of town, they patched us up and sent us on our way, telling us not to worry and everything was okay! As long as we could drive off, they did not have to deal with us. Since this happened, I have found that there are many more R-Class series with transmission problems just like ours. Since 2008, maybe before, Mercedes has known about the 7-speed transmission problems and the fix. Ray said that there has not been a nationwide recall so he doesn't know what we are talking about. Oh, he knows and so does Corporate Mercedes. I do not know what will happen but we believe Mercedes should replace the transmission at no cost to us. The service manager at Buckhead has been very kind to us. He says the car’s service record clearly shows that we brought the car in for transmission problems while under warranty. Unlike Ray at corporate level, he has read the car’s service record.

There was info about load sensors but my car did not have them. I thought it was just some weird thing. I mentioned it to my husband, he was going to see the sales Rep Mr. Todd ** that day so he discussed it with him. Mr. Todd had been a Service Manager for many years before becoming a Sales Rep. He said I should take the car to a dealer to have it checked out.

The next day, I took the vehicle to a Mercedes Dealership not to far from Cibolo. After about 45 minutes, the customer service rep said my car was ready. I asked what was wrong with the car. He said, "the light is out now. "No matter what I asked he said the same thing. Since I did not speak Spanish, I thought maybe there was a communication problem. One of our visits to the dealer, the rep called to ask permission to change the transmission fluid. He said it was dirty and had shavings in it. My husband asked if that would fix the problems we were having with shifting, jerking and the malfunction light coming on. I told my husband that did not sound to good having shavings in anything, especially the transmission. The rep assured us everything would be OK, no need to worry about it. Because we travel a lot with my husband's job, we bought a Mercedes believing we would have many years of good service.

On August 31, 2010 we were in Atlanta, GA. It was late afternoon and traffic was terrible. A lot of stop and go, slowing down then speeding up. I noticed the transmission was shifting hard sometimes and downshifting a lot. I just thought it was the heat of the day and the heavy traffic. Suddenly there was a hard jolt. It felt like I had been rear-ended. I checked traffic because I wasn't aware of any car being that close to me. There was no car close enough to have hit me, in fact there was no car behind me or on either side that was close enough to have made contact with my car. I was trying to make sense of what had happened when realized that I had no power. It was very similar to what happened only a month before when I was in Orlando,FL. I had taken the car to a dealer there because it felt like a hard jolt and I has no power. The service rep said it was a good thing I had brought it in since we were 6 days from the warranty expiring. He assured us he had fixed the problem and everything was OK. (Ummm--There seems to be a pattern here, maybe Mercedes gives the reps training in this!)

I was frightened, traffic was moving very fast. The car had no power, then it would zoom forward, then downshift and then lock up like I had put it in park or reverse. My mind was trying to make sense of what was happening and stay safe in all the traffic. I put on my hazard lights and the other drivers did a great job helping me to be able to coast/drive to the side of the road. My husband called when he realized I was not following him.I explained what was happening and that I was going to go to the next exit if the car would make it. I drove slow so the transmission would not shift but it continued to shift up an down and into park. We had the car towed to Buckhead Dealership in Atlanta,Ga. on Tuesday evening. The tow truck driver asked me if the car had been towed before since there was no tow hook adapter. Thankfully he could drive the car on to his truck otherwise there would have been no way to have the car towed.

On Wednesday AM, Buckhead called to tell us we had to replace the transmission at a cost of $8000.00. My husband said he felt like this should be covered by our now expired warranty since we have had the car serviced repeatedly for this same issue. The service manager said that we needed to contact Mercedes Corporate. Since it is a warranty issue, he could not make the call. He said the cars service record documents that on at least 2 occasions. We had brought it in for transmission problems, actually everytime we discussed the transmission.

I called 800-367-6372, which is the customer service dept for Mercedes USA. I explained the situation to the person taking the call. He said someone would be assigned to our file and would give us a call. I waited, no one called. I called back and was told that actually our file had been assigned to Ray but that he had gone on vacation the day after getting our file. The person I spoke to assured me that he would put a message in our file asking him to call us when he returned. I explained that a simple call to me to let me know that he was going on vacation would have been the customer service thing to do. Hey, anybody calling me would have been a good thing! Maybe they could have given my file to someone else, who was not going on vacation, unless Ray is the only customer service rep they have working at their corporate offices. Ray did call on Monday to tell my husband that he was back from vacation and he assured him he would call him on Wednesday. It had now been a week since our car was towed.

We waited, and waited and waited some more. My daughter said, "good luck - unless you are a pain in the butt you will not hear from him." I told her this is Mercedes the company with good customer service. So much for that idea! Six days later, he did call to offer us assistance with the cost of repairing the transmission. My husband told him we did not ask for assistance since we believed it was a warranty issue. He then asked Ray if he had read our file or had looked at the cars service record. He said sort of, he was sort of familiar with it. My husband told him he either had done the research or he had not. Things got a little heated when Ray said that we had no warranty claim.

He said we had taken our car to many different places to have it serviced. Yes, we had but only to authorized Mercedes Dealers. We live in Fl, we have a daughter in TX, a son in N.C.and another daughter in S.C. and friends across the nation. Not unlike many people across America. I bought a Mercedes because we do travel a lot with our job and to visit our kids. I thought a Mercedes warranty was honored at all Mercedes dealers. It appears that each time we took it in, because we were from out of town, they patched us up and sent us on our way, telling us not to worry everything was OK! As long as we could drive off they did not have to deal with us. Since this happened I have found that there are many more R-Class series with transmission problems just like ours. Since 2008, maybe before, Mercedes has know about the 7 speed transmission problems and the fix.

Ray said there has not been a nation wide recall so he doesn't know what we are talking about. Oh, he knows and so does Corporate Mercedes. I do not know what will happen but we believe Mercedes should replace the transmission at no cost to us. The service manager at Buckhead has been very kind to us. He says the cars service record clearly shows that we brought the car in for transmission problems while under warranty. Unlike Ray at corporate level, he has read the cars service record.

They took a very long time processing, so I decided to leave and I asked him to call once they figured things out and I would gladly come back. In conversations over the phone between the salesman and I, I told him that I felt that the car was way overpriced for a used 2008, so I attempted to negotiate the price via phone.

A couple of days went by and they still had not gotten back with me on the financing. I received a call on Saturday to come and view the car but I could not make it that day. I received another call on Monday, the 21st, as the salesman called and said that he was able to get his sales manager to come down on the car and if I were to get there that he was pretty sure he could work the deal for me.

I told him that I did not want to waste my time and if they were not interested in selling the car close to the price that I stated that I was not interested. He assured me that he could work the deal so I went. The salesman greeted me and went inside and I went to look for the car but didn't see where they had parked it. A few minutes later, the salesman and the sales manager are walking out having a conversation about the car being sold on Saturday the 18th.

This really upset me because I told the salesman that I did not want to waste my time. Further, the sales manager could not stop smirking as he was telling the salesman the details of the sale. He finally looked at me and said, "Well, we have this 07' if you're interested, it's not the Sienna Black but you can't even tell the metallic brown when its dark". He shrugged his shoulders expecting me to answer him and I was still very upset that they had wasted my time.

I would have purchased the 07' if they had been straight with me but I felt that they baited and switched me and they knew very well the game they were playing. The sales manager never once apologized for the inconvenience and further aggravated me by insisting that what I wanted was not important because you couldn't see the unique color of the vehicle when it's dark! I was ** and it took every bit of collectives that I had to walk away without causing a scene. I decided to leave and to not do business with them ever. I tried to give them a chance to remedy the situation by placing a call to the GM for the location but I never received a call back.

I called twice and left messages both times. I make decent money and this dealership made at the very least a $30k mistake. I can't believe that this day and age, with the state of the economy, that a real buyer walks into a dealership and is treated unfairly and smirked at by the sales manager without the lease bit of an apology. I really felt the need to express this and I am hopeful that others read this and decide to shop elsewhere.

Since then, the car has only covered 3,500 km, but has been nothing but trouble. After 150 km from purchase, one of the hoses of the cooling system came loose, and the car emptied all the cooling fluid. We reattached the hose and refilled the cooling fluid. The car was sent to the old CNA service center to be checked, they referred us to the new Katameya service center where we were told everything was fine.

On 21/92010, the rear DVD system is malfunctioning, and there is a continuous knocking sound coming from the rear right side of the car. The car was sent to the CNA Katameya service center where it spent two days. According to the engineers (Amany), they changed both DVD screens and their wiring harness, after all this both screens are still malfunctioning. As for the knocking sound, they claim to have changed the rear right shock absorber, but again they have admitted they were not able to solve the problem and we are still hearing the same sound.

On 28/9/2010, the car has been readmitted to the CNA Katameya sevice center to recheck both the DVD and the rear suspension. The car has been at the center for the past three days. Now, under the supervision of a Mercedes-Benz after sales engineer, the DVD system has been changed again and the suspension component is not available in Egypt. It will have to be ordered from Germany and it will take from 21 to 30 days to arrive.

Consequently, according to the MB engineer this long delivery time will cause failure in other suspension components, and extended repair time, when and if this time comes. I hope you can find a solution to these problems. If I cannot find help from the local Mercedes-Benz office, I will have nothing left but to contact Mercedes-Benz Germany (there is always a way).

I suggested a reasonable compromise: Give me the rims that came with the car, after all I didn't get a credit for the dealer keeping them. I just paid extra for the nicer rims. After 2 years of this lousy treatment, MBUSA finally said that they would do this, But, I had to buy 4 new expensive tires from them, even though I didn't need new tires. Amazing! Why put an owner through this? Long story short, I realize that MB does not stand behind their product or their dealers. My next step is to get to their corporate office in Germany, which I am doing.

The dealer said they were going to send me a survey, yet I never received it. The dealership fabricated an email address using my personal information to fill out the survey themselves. I found this out when they called me to thank me for the phenomenal survey I had submitted. I was going to write them a terrible survey and they knew it. This dealership is very shady and will do anything they can to reach into your pockets up to their elbows. Be warned.

MBFinancial states that even though these lease obligations were not performed during the transferor's contract with MB, I am now responsible for the MB Service estimate to correct these issues of around $4700 before I can turn the car back into Mercedes at the end of the lease this December 2010. They claim that the day they received my paperwork, the car was legally mine, even though the transferor had the car for another 2-3 weeks with no liability and they would not legally give me the car until that time. Amazed at this ridiculous process, I asked what would happen if she did anything even smash the car and bend the frame during this final transfer process. An MBFinancial supervisor's answer was "Mr. ****, you do have insurance, don't you?" The car that MBFinancial is jamming down my throat is costing me an additional $4700.00 that should have been the transferor's liability, not mine.

The car has 65,535 miles on it and it was in the repair shop for a check engine light in April of 2009 while still under warranty at which time they replaced right camshaft magnet and right bank exhaust camshaft magnet per DTB S-B-03.30/08H. This is the same Dealer Technical Bulletin that Mercedes sent out advising dealers on how to handle balance shaft failure problems. I have searched MB forums and found that the problem with the balance shaft is that there was faulty metal used in the chain sprockets of these shafts (the gear metal was too soft) and thus prematurely wear down causing engine timing loss. This problem is present in all M272 and M273 engines series from 2005 - 2008.

We have taken excellent care of the ML 350 and would prefer that Mercedes Benz correct this problem rather than advise me to sell or trade the vehicle. I was advised by Frank ** of Mercedes Benz Nashville that to repair would cost $7,000.00 to replace the balance shaft and that the clock was ticking on how long it would be before the sprocket failed and the vehicle would become inoperable. Now we do not consider the vehicle safe to drive due to the fact that it could breakdown at any time.

When I got to the dealership my advisor (Andrea at Helm's Bros) told me that Jenna never reached out to them, they don't know what I'm talking about, and in addition to that they're not going to change the brake calipers. After 3 trips back and forth to the dealership, and numerous phone calls, my issue was never resolved. I had no choice but to get them painted in red, which makes the car lose the luxury look to it. If you want get a Benz, you might want to think twice because their customer service **! You're better off taking your business to either BMW or Audi if you prefer German cars I'm sure they value their customers unlike Benz.

I was recently driving the car and the car stopped in the middle of traffic, with absolutely no warning. Up to this point we have been very satisfied with the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to Mercedes Benz of Huntsville, University Drive, Huntsville, AL 35806. I have called everyday inquiring the status of my vehicle. After 3 days of waiting, the service advisor contacted me and stated the turbo (turbine) came apart and flew into the engine. He also stated that up until the point that the turbine flew into the engine there was absolutely nothing wrong with the engine and that it was otherwise in great condition. The engine has to be rebuilt and the cost is $13,000 or my other choice is to replace the vehicle. Now I have been asked to return the courtesy car, so I am without a vehicle. There must be something that Mercedes Benz can do to help with this problem.

I have 15,649 miles on my motorhome now and I am on my third turbo resonator. When they go out on the expressway, you can't go over 45 mph and you run the risk of being killed until you can get it into a Dodge dealer to get it fixed. It seems that many, many people are being put at risk by this defect. But MB and Dodge will not admit they have a problem with the turbo resonators on these engines!

Riordan makes a turbo resonator that will last the life of the engine, but Dodge keeps replacing these plastic resonators with another plastic resonator that will not withstand the vibration and heat from the engine. I hope there's a Dodge dealer nearby when it breaks. What will it cost after my 5-year engine warranty runs out?

I know this is a total rip off. I was told from one of the employees at the service dept. to make the complain and they should apply the warranty and take it in for service with out any charge. I'm buying 10 more E200 from the same place. so I hope I have a respond (before I waste my money on more cars that I thought are worth spending the money on, like every body used to tell me before I told them my story).

On yesterday, June 15, I discovered from Donna at the DMV compliance office that "Gus ** came to work and was shocked to find that Wells Fargo had retrieved my car." When I called Wells Fargo, they told me they were informed by Mercedes Benz that my vehicle had been abandoned. Wells Fargo sent a repo man to Mercedes Benz with a notarized letter and paid the Mercedes Benz dealership $2700. The DMV Compliant Officer, Donna ** had informed me that we were going to meet with Mercedes Benz and Gus ** to discuss paying the auto bill on Wednesday, June 16th. Gus ** had been on vacation and when I attempted to contacted him today, I was informed that he would not be in the office until next week. I had filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Now that Wells Fargo is aware of this, they are refusing to speak to me. Emotional damage: Mental anguish Loss of pay from car rentals-over $1100 Embarrassment sleep loss, emotionally drained loss of car.

I went through the dealer and on to MB USA and they say that is their last word. There are many of us that are disappointed with Mercedes Benz as of late. This balance shaft issue occurs in MB's with the same engine (272.967), and they are refusing to help their loyal customers. This is the last MB I will buy! My car is sitting in the garage because the balance shaft issue affects the engine. It is inoperable at this time. It is the only vehicle we have.

The mechanics state that they are performing 3-5 repairs for this issue each month, meaning that is impacting hundreds of owners. I have personally spoken to 18 other owners that have the identical issue. The repair is $4,500 - $6,000. No car can pass state inspection with the issue and sooner or later, once the cars go outside of available timing, they will no longer run at all.

I took it back to the dealer and the computer diagnostic reported a problem with the 02 sensor upstream of the catalytic converter. This was one of the problems caused by the oil released by the faulty solenoid: all the sensors along the cable were affected by the oil released. My mechanic had spent hours of time cleaning the oil off the sensor cables when the problem first surfaced. But the only way to eliminate all the oil was to do the $7,000 service originally proposed by Mercedes: replace the harness and all the affected sensors. The recall only took care of replacing the cause of the oil. The sensors causing the check engine light to go on were still contaminated. My Mercedes rep said, it would cost about $900 to take care of the 02 sensor but that was no guarantee that the check engine light wouldn't come on again. I took it to my mechanic, who wiped down the oil (much less than the first time), replaced the 02 sensor (at a much lower cost) and yes, the check engine light came on again.

My mechanic said this is a problem with all the Mercedes Kompressor cars and he knew they would eventually have to do a recall. But why aren't they taking care of the entire problem is obvious: they would like the owners to think the check engine light is not associated with the oil released and continue to pay and pay for repairs. I am sending this story around to my SLK230 club and posting it on the Mercedes blog. I think this is criminal and would like to have it addressed legally if the company doesn't come forward and take care of it themselves.

The car can't get smog certification if the check engine light is on. I've spent hundreds of dollars that should have been covered by the recall. There are SLK230 owners who have spent thousands having the repairs done. Plus, the company isn't notifying owners about the recall. I would like Mercedes Benz to reimburse my expenses to this time and take care of the complete work that should have been included with their recall so the check engine light stays off.