If you go into a lawsuit with your dealer, you may want to get all the records on all the owners who has been charged for new AAM and keys, and check to see if they were suppose to be recalls on defective design/parts or scams.
Some dealers have become major crooks that bully customers and scam them major time.
I am willing to testify on your lawsuit on some documented and dis-honest issues that I have experienced myself, which put my vehicle integrity and all of the passengers inside in danger. I am sure that other owners have experienced abuses and overcharges, too.
You should include MBUSA in your lawsuit since they are indiferent and turn their heads away and become rude when customers complain to their customer relations department.
AC
__________________
2005 ML 500
Black, 18" AMG Wheels, 285/60R18 Falken Ziex ST/Z + Bi-Xenons(+ Drew's e-code mod), Yakima roof bars. Former vehicle 2001 ML 320 with 108K miles, when traded, and a large repair/defect history. After 3 years of owning my current 2005 ML 500, it has become another unreiliable vehicle with a very large/expensive repair/defect history..
If you go into a lawsuit with your dealer, you may want to get all the records on all the owners who has been charged for new AAM and keys, and check to see if they were suppose to be recalls on defective design/parts or scams.
Some dealers have become major crooks that bully customers and scam them major time.
I am willing to testify on your lawsuit on some documented and dis-honest issues that I have experienced myself, which put my vehicle integrity and all of the passengers inside in danger. I am sure that other owners have experienced abuses and overcharges, too.
You should include MBUSA in your lawsuit since they are indiferent and turn their heads away and become rude when customers complain to their customer relations department.
AC
just throwing this in randomly
my mb dealer was doing some work on my car and forgot to tighten the lugnuts on one of the wheels, we were driving around with a wheel no secured for a few hours before we realized it, we went back to the dealer and got all the work done free plus a free detailing job
however I still have trust in them and they are great people
On one of my last visits to the MB dealer, I was talking to a lady that left the service department after her vehicle was supposed to be repaired, and after a couple of blocks, the wheel dislodged/fall away from the vehicle and she barely was able to stop/control the vehicle. She was with her daughter. The dealer told her that they were not going to charge for the repairs and hopefully they fixedcall the problems/damage and the scratches to the vehicle.
The one above was a human mistake that happens even to the best mechanics, and happens more often to nigligent mechanics. Those are suppose to be unvoluntary/negligent accidents.
The case that I was referring is the one that MB delaers sell you defective used tires and wheels (as new and for big profit) that can't even be corrected with balancing and/or alignment. Most of the people will not catch the problem right away and may be charged for new wheels and tires after a couple of weeks or months. In my case, I caught the dealer installing used tires and wheels on a brand new 2005 ML with 28 miles in the odometer. The manager of the dealer trying to bully me that they can do and install whatever they want on an ML and the MBUSA customer relations saying the dealer owns the vehicle and that they are not responsible for the dealer installing defective tires/wheels on it.
The dealer was charging $4000.00 dollars for what was supposed to be brand new tires and wheels, which at the end, we found that they belonged to the MB managers wife and that after using it for some time, she did not like them so the manager put it on a brand new ML. the tires where completely defective and the ML had drivability problems. I took it right away to another MB dealer, and without me saying anything about the other dealer, they came and said that they could not fix the problem with my brand new ML because it had used tires/wheels and that were defective (written in the service report) and that since the tires/wheels were not MB, warranty did not cover them. The dealer who sold the ML was so crooked that they ended installing my old traded ML wheels and tires from my old ML to the new ones because they will not put back the OEM's back into it or refunding the money. I called MB USA and they were as rude as they could be. After that we had a couple of hurricanes to deal here in Houston, and I just have been to busy to handle a lawsuit at this time. Though, I am still considering taking them to court because they are scamming and putting people's life in danger by installing defective/used tires on brand new MB ML's and vehicles.
Tim, thanks a million for your reply. Good to hear a similar story with a proper resolution. "...they figured out it was the AAM at fault..." is exactly what I maintain should have happened in my case. And replacing it is also exactly what should happen next. As far as keys go, there was a long exchange between my dealer and MB North America...total confusion, yet to be resolved.
Really appreciate your taking the time to help out. Thanks again.
Steve
Steve, did you finally have your AAM and keys sorted out?
Where is parkrog..? He was an honest owner fed up with Mercedes Benz and the dealers highly profiting from repairing defective MB parts/design and trying to gather information from all the scammed owners who had these same kind of chronic problems.. If all the past and present owners, who had this same problem would get together in a lawsuit, then owners will not be suffering because of this known problems.
Too bad that most of the owners that had this same problem just sold their crappy chronic defective vehicles and left the forums.. Though unluckily the new people bought the ML's at a bragain price are paying the price for the same problems.
You may want to contact him to see what is the status of the lawsuit..
After having about 3 or 4 keys replaced in quick succession over a period of a few months the dealer finally realized maybe it's not the keys afterall - doh!
They replaced the AAM under warranty and all was well with the key issue - shame I couldn't say the same about the subsequent swarm of unrelated failures.
The final straw was the failure of the PAS hose which scared my wife sh*tless and resulted in the ML being sold shortly thereafter - with sighs of relief all round.
__________________
Tim (Formerly a senior race engineer / designer at Cosworth Racing UK for Formula 1 and CART engines)
'00 ML430
Replaced with Lexus RX400h 4x4 (0 to 60MPH in 6.5 seconds and 30MPG city)
My other 4x4 '03 Colbalt Blue Porsche Stage III 996 Twin Turbo (60 to 130MPH in 8.7 seconds and 12 MPG)
2005 Mini Cooper S, a pocket rocket
2002 VW Beetle, daily hack
Past cars of note:
'02 Porsche 996
'99 Porsche Boxster
Linear Mode
