ohio_wookie Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 the guys who work on mercedes benzs make alot of money for nothing. took my 1982 300sd turbo to the shop for the breaks, they carged me $100 bucks to get in it push the break pedal and tell me its the master cylinder, then to get that fixed would be $1000. well i said fuck that, and decided to do it myself. the mc cost $35 and took me 40 minutes to install. i think i might have found my future occupation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRocket1647545505 Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 they're stupid as hell. My mom's 2003 c240 was screwing up and makin some weird noises, at 40k miles. So she took it in. Those idiots must have more money to blow on parts, than sense, because The never did find the problem. The replaced everything in the driveline from the tranny, all the way to the back tires. Ended up spending, I think they said, close to $8,000 in parts. And they never did figure out exactly what was makin the noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy1647545504 Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 You've got to remember, when you go to a Mercedes dealer, you're spending a lot of money to have the privelege (sp?) of having that star on the invoice. Most of the mechanics that you'll find at a high end dealer are only one altercation with management from working at the area Chevy or Ford dealer doing the same thing. For the most part, there is no such thing as "Factory Trained Service Professionals". The dealer will send their techs through a specific training course on some of the more specialized equipment they use, but that is it. You're paying for the name. Hell, some of those technicians might have just come from the local Chevy or Ford dealer... Does working for the dealer make that technician more qualified to work on your high end automobile than the shade tree mechanic next door? I don't think so! I'd only take my car back to the dealer for warranty concerns. Otherwise, there are a lot of people that will do the same work for far less money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chochmo Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 CR caddy why don't you go learn some then come back and talk about that shit. Every manufacturer has "manufacturer specific" programs to train techs to work specifically on their vehicles. They hire mostly those people, the manufacturers actually send quailfied tech to the Manufacturer specific training for free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tony_K Posted April 16, 2004 Report Share Posted April 16, 2004 First, I would never take a car to a facility that charges to look at something simple. If an inspection requires disassembly of something other than basic common componentry, specialized tools, or more than a half an hour, it is fair to charge appropriately for the time/labor, but for "what's wrong with my brakes," on a 22-year-old car, I would run as fast as possible from any shop that wishes to charge for that. If there is no good will in your beginning encounter with the shop, there will not be any down the road. They will butt-rape you to the end. Don't forget that it is AGAINST THE LAW for a shop to make you pay for something over $50 without an estimate beforehand. Check if that number is still $50 or if it has gone up. If a shop charges you for more than $50 (or whatever it is today) without an estimate, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY. Call the police. Pay them the legal minimum and take your car. As for "factory trained technicians" - how poorly trained the techs are at the dealership is ultimately the dealership's fault and responsibility. The highline German automakers all have programs where they send techs TO GERMANY for anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months to learn in-depth the intricacies of a specific model(s) and system(s). The problem is that a lot of the dealerships might only send one person on the whole staff over there, so, yes, you do have scrubs working at highline dealerships. And just like at body shops, they have the scrubs work on the older cars. MORAL OF THE STORY: DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY TAKING A 20-YEAR-OLD CAR TO A DEALERSHIP. EVER. They charge new-car rates and give you jalopy-quality work. CR Caddy - the quality of the techs varies by how good of a dealership you go to (example: Fred Baker Porsche (lousy - pretty much as you described) vs. Stoddard Porsche (top notch - all techs go to Germany). From what I have seen of dealerships and specialists in Columbus, I would run as fast as I can from all of them except Dave Wenger. chochmo - sending someone to special training doesn't necessarily mean that 1) they will learn anything any better than how they failed to learn in school, and 2) that they will have any sense of integrity. You need quality people, not just a training course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest evorx7man Posted April 16, 2004 Report Share Posted April 16, 2004 Originally posted by CR Caddy: You've got to remember, when you go to a Mercedes dealer, you're spending a lot of money to have the privelege (sp?) of having that star on the invoice. Most of the mechanics that you'll find at a high end dealer are only one altercation with management from working at the area Chevy or Ford dealer doing the same thing. For the most part, there is no such thing as "Factory Trained Service Professionals". The dealer will send their techs through a specific training course on some of the more specialized equipment they use, but that is it. You're paying for the name. Hell, some of those technicians might have just come from the local Chevy or Ford dealer... Does working for the dealer make that technician more qualified to work on your high end automobile than the shade tree mechanic next door? I don't think so! I'd only take my car back to the dealer for warranty concerns. Otherwise, there are a lot of people that will do the same work for far less money. I really think you need to pull your head out of your ass, because you dont have a clue what you are talking about. I spent almost a year in school for BMW alone before I ever touched one,and I go to Chicago, South Carolina and California regularly for update classes and I really dont recall working next to anyone from a ford or chevy dealer(even though this has nothing to do with being a good tech). I would love to see someone as brilliant as yourself come out and diagnose some of todays electrical issues we encounter. You should really try to educate yourself on a subject before saying something as stupid as this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoop-D Posted April 17, 2004 Report Share Posted April 17, 2004 Originally posted by evorx7man: I really think you need to pull your head out of your ass, because you dont have a clue what you are talking about. I spent almost a year in school for BMW alone before I ever touched one,and I go to Chicago, South Carolina and California regularly for update classes and I really dont recall working next to anyone from a ford or chevy dealer(even though this has nothing to do with being a good tech). I would love to see someone as brilliant as yourself come out and diagnose some of todays electrical issues we encounter. You should really try to educate yourself on a subject before saying something as stupid as this.You're mean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man of Steele Posted April 17, 2004 Report Share Posted April 17, 2004 Your cocks , if your shitty cars has good design you wouldn't have electrical problems. It's all about the carbed engines... tongue.gifgraemlins/asshole.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chochmo Posted April 17, 2004 Report Share Posted April 17, 2004 evorx7man I agree totally with you. These people just don't understand what the hell they are TRYING to talk about. I would like to see a ford or chevy tech that has been there for a few years try to just walk into a BMW or Mercedes dealership and get hired. It wouldn't happen, not without sending them to training, LOTS of training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy1647545504 Posted April 26, 2004 Report Share Posted April 26, 2004 Maybe my perspective is skewed a little bit from being on the body side of the industry. I'll be the first to admit that when we have a "special" vehicle in the shop that requires specific expertise (ie: adding trans fluid to a newer VW automatic or diagnosing electrical gremlins), it will go to the respective dealer or service provider. I never said that I could go out and diagnose anyone's service concerns, any more than a lot of you could write a collision damage estimate. It wasn't my intention to ruffle any feathers on the board, but it has been my experience that the term "factory trained" has fallen into far too liberal use. Again, maybe my perspective is skewed as I've not spent a whole lot of time in auto servicing. I am speaking from my experience in the auto industry from the collision repair point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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