My Door Rattles, Part II

[Kieffer]

Previously, I had started a thread about these mysterious door rattles that had started on all four doors after almost one year of ownership. The dealer had tried various things with no luck, and some of you had offered some suggestions. Unfortunately, nothing resolved the problem.

Then I thought I had found the problem - the plastic trim surrounding the inside of the window frame. So, I jammed some felt under the trim to see if it would make the noise stop. It seemed to help a bit. Then after a few days, the noise was back in full force. I thought I'd just have the dealer try again when I took it in for Service A. After all, it wasn't as though this was a sporadic thing. This happened all the time, and was getting louder every day.

The dealer just called and told me that they have found the problem after two days of searching for it. The problem is the seal that the window glass actually sets in when the window is rolled up all the way inside the window frame. Apparently all four seals are not setting properly against the glass. So they are overnighting four new seals. They also said they were going to polish the glass to make sure it sets properly against the new seals.

Has anyone encountered anything like this?

Now for the second part of this story. My usual service advisor is out sick this week. When I took the car in on Tuesday, I had a minor panic attack when they said that he wasn't in. I seriously thought about just rescheduling for another time, as this guy is so good at following up and making sure someone doesn't just punt on a difficult job. I decided to keep the appointment, obviously. But I wish I had rescheduled, as this other service advisor told me this on the phone today, after describing the problem:

I just want to let you know that Mercedes is very forgiving about things like this when they occur in the first year of ownership. But if this happens again a few months down the road, they won't pay for this repair again.

What??? My usual service advisor would never have said that. My response to this [insert bad word here] jerk was, "If it's a defective part and the defect manifests itself during the warranty period, it WILL be covered - I will make sure of it."

I've never had any problem with this dealer - but I've always used the same service advisor, who will go to the ends of the earth to make sure you are happy. I guess I got a taste of the real world today, eh?

[rb23lb]

ya man, if the PART is defective, and the DEFECTIVE part is causing the noise... they replace it under warranty, PERIOD...

I would assume though, that since such issues are so minor and can be expected after normal wear and tear, and are so hard to pin point, that the dealer may not get reimbursed 100% for the labor if it takes them 2 WHOLE DAYS just to find out a small seal warranty problem...

for example, say it took them 8 hours of labor to find the cause of the noise (which could be reasonable for such ambiguous door panel noises)...

Can they ask Mercedes corporate to reimburse them for $120/hour *8 = $960 + PARTS???

That is most likely a warranty repair reimbursement claim that is gonna be over a grand, and probably not to profitable for the dealer or MB corporate...

Anybody else wanna way in? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Always wondered how exactly warranty repairs worked and what you could get away with and what you can't get away with asking for...

In theory, if they truly get reimbursed 100% for warranty repairs, why would anybody ever be afraid to ask for anything or why would any dealer ever be afraid to to any work?

Any old MB service techs wanna weigh in?

[Ape]

My take on it is if the car rattles while under warranty it should be repaired at no cost to the customer. If you are a lux brand, it is (IMHO) your responsibility to provide a lux product free of rattles and other annoyances.
I actually told the mgmt at the dealer that I bought my car at that rattles drive me nuts and they assured me if any occur they will be fixed no problem.
Hopefully I will not have to test that pledge...

[RLE]

Originally Posted by rb23lb

ya man, if the PART is defective, and the DEFECTIVE part is causing the noise... they replace it under warranty, PERIOD...

I would assume though, that since such issues are so minor and can be expected after normal wear and tear, and are so hard to pin point, that the dealer may not get reimbursed 100% for the labor if it takes them 2 WHOLE DAYS just to find out a small seal warranty problem...

for example, say it took them 8 hours of labor to find the cause of the noise (which could be reasonable for such ambiguous door panel noises)...

Can they ask Mercedes corporate to reimburse them for $120/hour *8 = $960 + PARTS???

That is most likely a warranty repair reimbursement claim that is gonna be over a grand, and probably not to profitable for the dealer or MB corporate...

Anybody else wanna way in? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Always wondered how exactly warranty repairs worked and what you could get away with and what you can't get away with asking for...

In theory, if they truly get reimbursed 100% for warranty repairs, why would anybody ever be afraid to ask for anything or why would any dealer ever be afraid to to any work?

Any old MB service techs wanna weigh in?

How about an "old" Mercedes owner whose eight new MBs have had hundreds of warranty repairs?

First off, you are obsessing about something that is of no concern to you. What the dealer's warranty reimbursement may be is not your problem. Nor is the time required to remedy a problem.

The dealers know how to do warranty work and how exactly to word the work order so that they will be paid as much as possible.

And, BTW, there is nothing "normal" about rattles and squeaks and it's likely that other new Cs may have had the same noises and the fixes will be in MB's service database, shared across the country.

You (and I) can consider yourself damned lucky to be driving one of the two most reliable models in MB's entire history.

[C300Sport]

Hey RLE,
What is the second model to hold the distinction of most reliable? Probably an old 1960 vintage 190D...
IMHO- if anything is wrong with a vehicle during the warranty period (other than wear and tear items and damage from wrecks/mother nature, etc) it is entirely the dealer's responsibility regardless of time, effort and cost.

[sou98]

Originally Posted by Kieffer

Previously, I had started a thread about these mysterious door rattles that had started on all four doors after almost one year of ownership. The dealer had tried various things with no luck, and some of you had offered some suggestions. Unfortunately, nothing resolved the problem.

Then I thought I had found the problem - the plastic trim surrounding the inside of the window frame. So, I jammed some felt under the trim to see if it would make the noise stop. It seemed to help a bit. Then after a few days, the noise was back in full force. I thought I'd just have the dealer try again when I took it in for Service A. After all, it wasn't as though this was a sporadic thing. This happened all the time, and was getting louder every day.

The dealer just called and told me that they have found the problem after two days of searching for it. The problem is the seal that the window glass actually sets in when the window is rolled up all the way inside the window frame. Apparently all four seals are not setting properly against the glass. So they are overnighting four new seals. They also said they were going to polish the glass to make sure it sets properly against the new seals.

Has anyone encountered anything like this?

Now for the second part of this story. My usual service advisor is out sick this week. When I took the car in on Tuesday, I had a minor panic attack when they said that he wasn't in. I seriously thought about just rescheduling for another time, as this guy is so good at following up and making sure someone doesn't just punt on a difficult job. I decided to keep the appointment, obviously. But I wish I had rescheduled, as this other service advisor told me this on the phone today, after describing the problem:

I just want to let you know that Mercedes is very forgiving about things like this when they occur in the first year of ownership. But if this happens again a few months down the road, they won't pay for this repair again.

What??? My usual service advisor would never have said that. My response to this [insert bad word here] jerk was, "If it's a defective part and the defect manifests itself during the warranty period, it WILL be covered - I will make sure of it."

I've never had any problem with this dealer - but I've always used the same service advisor, who will go to the ends of the earth to make sure you are happy. I guess I got a taste of the real world today, eh?

--------------------------------
In Canada, the warranty is 4 years bumper to bumper and the first 2 years cover wear and tear... I assumed the same with States.
@$#$#$ the service advisor. I encounter the same thing. some is good and some is darn @#$@#$ rotten with ZERO public relationship skill.

[jrct9454]

I almost let this go, but for our Canadian friends, as a well as some others here, I think I know the distinction that the [ill-informed] service adviser was trying to make:

-Defects in materials and workmanship are covered for 4 years or 50k miles.

-Certain "adjustments" are supposedly covered only during the first year - examples include some tire problems, interior defects [cosmetic problems], certain kinds of paint issues - things that may or may not involve replacing parts.

I suspect the SA was trying to put the noise problem in the second category; I strongly agree that it is in fact a TRUE defect that should be covered by the first category. I also agree that GOOD dealers know how to make the customer happy and still get paid.

Service Advisers are only the first layer of the cake - they can make things easier or more difficult, but they do NOT have the last word on anything - that's reserved for, in ascending order, the Service Manager, General Manager, and Field Rep for MBUSA. I doubt seriously if this kind of defect would result in much pushback from any of these other layers.

[RLE]

Originally Posted by C300Sport

Hey RLE,
What is the second model to hold the distinction of most reliable? Probably an old 1960 vintage 190D...

Not even close. it's the W221 S-Class. Just as trouble free as our 204s.

[Kieffer]

I picked up the C-Class last night. The fix appeared to work. When I picked it up, it was about 32 degrees, so it would have been prime window- / door-rattle time. I looked at the warranty bill to Mercedes-Benz: $774.49. I didn't see the breakdown between parts and labor, but I'm sure the labor was a significant part of that. That was an expensive rattle. They replaced all four of these window seals. They also "polished" all the window glass.

Oh - and my Service "A" was $198 - including a 10% discount coupon.

[jrct9454]

Glad it turned out well. Please report back after some miles and time have accumulated....