Gripe with MB dealership

Joined
Sep 20, 2003
Messages
1,708
Location
Austin, TX
I called my dealership from where I bought my MB and asked them some questions on bolt sizes for the differential.
They had no clue of the bolt sizes and one thing lead to another and apparently the shop techs use a bolt size based on feel and gut
No technical service manuals detail what and which sizes these bolts are - was floored. I will never take my car to a dealership where they don't know bolt sizes.
 
BMW tech and parts manuals are very detailed. The guy you talked with was an idiot. It is common. You can probably find on line parts fiche for you car and get good advice on a MB specific forum.


Rod
 
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
Probably too lazy to look up info and tell you....

+1

They have no incentive giving him that info, so why would they.
 
Either bring it in to have them diagnose and/or fix it, or find some other source for details. They couldn't be bothered with a phone inquiry. I would necessarily dismiss this dealer's tech abilities based on that phone call.
 
I had to tell my friend's son that Honda dealership or corner garage isn't tech support for your doing your own repairs.

It appears even MB "customer satisfaction" has limits. j/k
 
Last edited:
Here is how I think this works. I own an early 90s MB. I'm subscribed ($80/year) to an MB electronic parts catalog. Everything, down to the bolts and nuts for a specific VIN are in there, but often only part #s, without sizes. So a technician at a dealership would just source part # needed for the job and might not know what size they are. In order to answer your questions, parts guy would have to look up part # and if the size (very likely) is not provided, he'd have to physically access them and measure them for you. Too much trouble. This is what I think the situation in your case was
 
Originally Posted by SeaJay
Either bring it in to have them diagnose and/or fix it, or find some other source for details. They couldn't be bothered with a phone inquiry. I would necessarily dismiss this dealer's tech abilities based on that phone call.



+1

They aren't going to stop a job they are being paid for to help someone look up something like that for free, especially considering they probably know you are working on your own vehicle and won't be giving them any business.
 
Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
Probably too lazy to look up info and tell you....

+1

They have no incentive giving him that info, so why would they.

Indeed, because if anything can be said for German cars, it is the level of detail and documentation they have. I am positive there are tech specs which detail everything on the car including the thickness of the primer and paint.
 
There is nothing that my parts guy where I service my Lexus & Toyota wouldn't give me over the phone!!

In-fact the parts guy out here in Charles Maund Toyota pulls up his service manuals right up and confirms I am ordering the right part - its a drive to go his service center. They have saved me much dough over the years on repairs, they seem to know as much as the techs on the floor.

I must have landed with a jerk - having said that they don't earn my business moving forward!! Thanks gentlemen.
 
Once I asked a service advisor about a repair quote and part numbers. He gave me the quote but laughed at the part number request: "I'm here to sell service, not help you buy parts online". I walked a few meters to the parts department who gave me the part numbers readily.
 
Originally Posted by MaximaGuy
There is nothing that my parts guy where I service my Lexus & Toyota wouldn't give me over the phone!!

In-fact the parts guy out here in Charles Maund Toyota pulls up his service manuals right up and confirms I am ordering the right part - its a drive to go his service center. They have saved me much dough over the years on repairs, they seem to know as much as the techs on the floor.

I must have landed with a jerk - having said that they don't earn my business moving forward!! Thanks gentlemen.

Yeah, well that's why many are leaving the "premium" brands of Euro manufacturers to go to the American/Japanese offerings.
I've stated before, that after I'm done with the BMW in my signature, I'm done with Euro vehicles in general.
The premium you get for driving it is not worth the price of admission (and can't forget the aggravation).
 
Originally Posted by MaximaGuy
I called my dealership from where I bought my MB and asked them some questions on bolt sizes for the differential.
They had no clue of the bolt sizes and one thing lead to another and apparently the shop techs use a bolt size based on feel and gut
No technical service manuals detail what and which sizes these bolts are - was floored. I will never take my car to a dealership where they don't know bolt sizes.


They only know part numbers they don't NEED to know bolt sizes per se. If you get the part number for the bolt then you can google it to get the size.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy

Yeah, well that's why many are leaving the "premium" brands of Euro manufacturers to go to the American/Japanese offerings.
I've stated before, that after I'm done with the BMW in my signature, I'm done with Euro vehicles in general.
The premium you get for driving it is not worth the price of admission (and can't forget the aggravation).


The crapp that aggravates me the most is their specs and their mindless dot conventions - for all its greatness the American/Japanese offerings make it real simple. SL/SM oil and GL5 fluids, end of story. MBs 75w85 doesn't tell me its a GL5/GL6, anyway I intend to put RL75W110 into it since RL75W85 is approved for those dumb differentials.
 
We as parts people can only be as helpful as the information provided to us from the customer and the manufacturer, plus our knowledge from experience. Ford will give specs on fasteners, but it will generally be the thread size and pitch and occasionally the fastener length. They won't tell you what size socket to use. The people that call with "I have a PXXXX code what part do I need?" make it a lot more difficult. Ya I can go to OASIS and pull up the PC/ED that has the diagnostic flow chart, but that mostly involves verifying voltage/ohms at certain connectors before throwing a part at the problem and people don't want to hear that.

When I do sell a part and someone asks for instructions, I have no problem taking the minute or two to print them out. There are times when it isn't in the system for whatever reason.
 
If you just wanted to know the sizes for the heck of it , you could probably find that on a factory parts diagram. What does it matter anyway, unless you are going to work on it? In that case, just take several sizes of wrenches until you find the one that fits.
 
Originally Posted by MaximaGuy
There is nothing that my parts guy where I service my Lexus & Toyota wouldn't give me over the phone!!

In-fact the parts guy out here in Charles Maund Toyota pulls up his service manuals right up and confirms I am ordering the right part - its a drive to go his service center. They have saved me much dough over the years on repairs, they seem to know as much as the techs on the floor.


You have an atypical parts guys. Most parts department employees won't do that.
Keep their help in mind when you order parts. If they'll help you out that much, they will probably save you money by suggesting what parts you should be buying and not screwing up your order.
 
If they don't provide any information, then they can't be blamed later for providing wrong information.
 
Originally Posted by mrsilv04
If they don't provide any information, then they can't be blamed later for providing wrong information.


This is also true.

One thing about parts people is first and foremost we are paid to sell parts. My pay plan is setup so I get whatever minimum wage is per hour, then commission based on a percentage of department profit. So when you hear parts people say that they don't give out free info, it is because they aren't being paid. My take is I win some, I lose some. I don't mind helping people as long as it doesn't become me spending a lot of time with someone with my company not getting any reward if that makes sense. There are some shops that call and all they want are part numbers so they can buy them on Amazon and never anything from me. Other shops will buy a lot and occasionally need some help and I either mark the part down further to help their person out of good faith, or give them the number so they can find it cheap.

Also note that I primarily work back counter. That means I spend most of my time with the technicians in the shop. I have even been told by higher up management that I am to make the shop my first priority since they are my largest customer, which is true. Days like a Saturday when there is only one person in parts, I spend the day keeping all the spinning plate on poles spinning.
 
Originally Posted by MaximaGuy
I called my dealership from where I bought my MB and asked them some questions on bolt sizes for the differential.
They had no clue of the bolt sizes and one thing lead to another and apparently the shop techs use a bolt size based on feel and gut
No technical service manuals detail what and which sizes these bolts are - was floored. I will never take my car to a dealership where they don't know bolt sizes.

Try this link from Peachparts Diesel forum:
http://www.everythingbenz.com/z/epc-mercedes-parts-info-diagrams
 
Back
Top