CAR: 2002 C230K Coupe
DEALERSHIP: Riverside Motors, Little Rock, AR
While in for service B, someone at the dealership left the dome light on and killed the battery. They jumped it, but 2 days later the car would not start. Never had any problems before, but the dealership refused to pay for replacement. After spending $320 for what was essentially an oil change(service B), they made me pay another $120 for a bettery. They are the only dealership in Little Rock, and the battery needs to be from MB. Nearest dealership is 150+ mi and I cant waste time driving around the state.

What do you guys say?

 

Just read your post...before getting to whose liability is this, could you explain how you were able to tell that the dome light had been left on? Did the dealer admit that's why they had to jump it? I take it you were sure the light was off when you dropped the car off.

Bob

 

The dealer admited to me that they left the light on over the weekend.
Bye the way, the salesman who sold me my C230 in Orlando was named Bob Jones. Coincidense?

 

My evil twin...

Actually, no relation, just the curse of a common name.

My opinion on this is you've certainly acted in good faith trusting the dealer to sell you a car that was appropriate for your needs and budget, backed by one of the premier service organizations and manufacturers in the world. This is also my suggested opening line when you call the sales guy, and cooly explain what happened, and put it on his back to set up a meeting with you, the sales guy, the service writer and the dealership Service Manager. The business issue in my mind is that the 'admitted negligence of a Dealership employee caused irrepairable harm to the battery in your car when it had to be jumped. Being asked to pay for a newbattery after this employee's negligence punishes the innocent. Then negotiate for what you can get...pay back on the battery/labor if any, (most desireable), credit your account for future work (least desireable as you'll have no real way to verify that actual work was performed against any credit)

Somebody in the service foodchain (probably shop forman)wanted to push the problem to you as opposed to exposing the employee's negligence. When you ask the sales guy to set this meeting up, my bet would be he'll call you back with an offer to settle this without a meeting. Play it the way you think you should based on their offer.

If anyone tries to tell you that the battery was 'good' after they jumped it, ask them for a copy of your VMI showing where that battery was load tested witha Midtronics Load Tester (MB Standard tool)That's the only way to tell if a battery is 'good'.

Bob

I just re-read your other post about buying the car in Orlando but you're now in Arkansas? If correct, skip the stuff about calling the Sales guy, call the Service Writer and approach the same way. He's dealing with a Customer Satisfaction issue and should be responsive.

 

Draining the battery once should not have affected the battery if it was in good shape. If this is the original battery, I think it just made a pending problem appear a little more quickly. That battery would be ready to go anyway. The dealer should eat the stupid labor charge to replace the batteryjust because they started it all but you should be responsible for the price of the battery itself. Of course, you could always go to an autoparts store and replace the battery for $60 plus get a longer warranty (OK, battery warranties are pretty useless once you read the fine print). I was at O'Reilly's looking at their batteries and their premium battery had to be made by the exact same people who supply MB. The rather unique case design for MB batteries (built in handles, lock down design, vent caps) was exactly the same.