Mercedes dealer steps up to right a wrong

[felthove]

I was having my car serviced at the Lynnwood, WA Mercedes dealer last week and I remembered that I didn`t include a "do not wash" sign in the car and forgot to tell the service manager not to have the car washed.



I just spent two days on paint correction a few weeks ago and immediately thought about all those dirty wash buckets and the scratches I`d get on my paint. I called the dealer immediately and he informed me that the car was ready to pick up and had just been washed...



I could have kicked myself...



When I got the car back I noticed several random deep scratches on the car. Needless to say, when I got an email asking me for comments on my service I mentioned the car wash issue.



The dealer called today and offered to have the paint corrected through their detailer, Metropolitan Detail in Lynnwood, WA. I called and talked to John at Metropolitan and he talked to me about their work. It sounds like he knows what he`s doing so I`m bringing the car in on Friday.



Just wanted to point out that sometimes dealers go out of their way to make things right and that the dreaded "dealer wash" doesn`t have to turn out bad. I`ll let you know how the detail works out on Friday.

[RTexasF]

Had it not been for your complaint in the Customer Service Index they would likely not have done anything at all. I hope it works out well.

[HBR]

Good to hear, tell them you`ll need a massage to relieve some of the stress they induced too. My MB dealer has a masseuse

[Holden_C04]

Personally, I would not allow any dealer recommended detailer/porter to come within 100 ft of my personal vehicle. I think it would be in your best interest to seek out a professional detailer that practices Autopian detailing. It`s a completely different experience than what 99% of shops offer.

[jimmie jam]

i had the same thing happen to me last year with my CTS DD. took it in ONE DAY after a 7 hour correction/detail for a minor warranty issue and specificially said "NO WASH" even though the car looked better than the showroom cars. yep, they drove it through their car wash angry. i just don`t get it :furious::furious:. sorry your dealer is also out of it.

[uzj100]

Since you spent two days on paint correction, sounds as if you did your own detailing? So, why not request a free service of some sort that`s approximately the value of the detail correction they`re offering, then re-correct the offending areas?

[David Fermani]

i had the same thing happen to me last year with my CTS DD. took it in ONE DAY after a 7 hour correction/detail for a minor warranty issue and specificially said "NO WASH" even though the car looked better than the showroom cars. yep, they drove it through their car wash angry. i just don`t get it :furious::furious:. sorry your dealer is also out of it.

I pray you didn`t take it to Coral Caddy?

[felthove]

I agree that the assurance of going to the dealer`s detailer is not, at face value, very assuring. However, they have 3 companies they deal with and gave me all three numbers so I could call to inquire about what tools they use, their philosophy, etc. After talking to Metropolitan I felt comfortable.



I dropped the car off there today and there were two Porshe twin turbos there as well waiting to be detailed for some Concours d`elegance event in Seattle this weekend. I asked him to promise me that there`d be no holograms, etc., that they`d look at it under halogens/halon (sp?) lamps and he assured me I would be impressed and they have 16,000 watts of light for inspecting flaws.



Last night I cleaned the car thoroughly and finished it off w/ some AW. It looked really sharp when I brought it in and I think he knows I`m expecting it to look even better when I pick it up.



Wish me luck...it`s supposed to be done around 6 pm (I dropped it off at 8 am).



To be honest I`m excited to see how the car looks when done by a "pro" with a rotary -- I`ve been working on it with my Porter Cable and I cannot get out some scratches on uneven surfaces like bumpers, rear view mirrors, etc. Maybe he can...

[felthove]

Since you spent two days on paint correction, sounds as if you did your own detailing? So, why not request a free service of some sort that`s approximately the value of the detail correction they`re offering, then re-correct the offending areas?

Because I don`t have the time to redo things right now!

[Tigerkiger]

I`ve got a 99` pontiac grand am, had just finished the day before swirl removing my whole car, about 8 hours spent total, with pc....well my alternator went bad...didn`t have the time to mess with it myself to I took it to my local gm dealer....shop manager told me that they`ll was it when there done....I told them to not wash it.... or attempt to clean it in any way!!! so that evening I go to pick it up and I was ready to kill someone!!! Pulled into the lot and saw my car sitting there....trashed, would not be a harsh enough word. My car...just washed, looked as if they had take a muddy terry towel and wiped it all over my car. You talk about one f***** pissed of customer. I don`t think that thereone spot that didn`t have a swirl. I went in complained about it and the manager said, "hey we washed your car!" They didn`t do a thing about it, and I have yet to ever take my car back to them...spent 3 days, re-pcing the car to get it back to where I had it at....oh I hate dealers, and there lack of detail experience as it proved they had none!

[felthove]

To put an end on this story...



Picked up my car Friday and it looked really good. There were still some small scratches around the door handles and on some of the chrome around the bumper (not induced by the dealer, but there from wear and tear), but for the most part they were able to correct some spots better using their rotary than I had w/ my PC. I was happy with the service and also felt a little bit proud that I had been able to get my car almost as good looking as a pro can do.



Would I go to them again, yes. They didn`t give me a perfect finish but it is a 6 year old car and there are some problems that I don`t think can be buffed out (rock chips, etc.). I bet they could have wetsanded a couple of the problem spots that remain but they spent a full day on the car and I didn`t pay a dime so I`m not going to expect them to go to that length. All in all, a good experience. Metropolitan Detail in Lynnwood seems to be pretty good at what they do.

[stiffdogg06]

Now lets hope it stays like that. And lets hope after a good rain the HIGH OIL GLAZE doesn`t come running off revealing all those scratches again LoL.:laugh:

[scpanda]

glad to hear that it worked out for you