Bad experience at C&C

[leeric]

Hi all. Just want to share my experience at C&C regarding claiming of warranty.

 

Last year i bought a used cla200. I was informed that the original warranty given by C&C will end by 28 March. So i tot at least i got some assurance.

Last month my front left LED was not working. So i went back to C&C. Got it checked and repaired. So far so good.

Just last week, after a heavy downpour the warning lights came on again. When i go out to check, i realised tt the left lamp is defective again. This time round worse. The whole lamp was filled with water.

I went back C&C. The service advisor told me he will fix on monday. Drop my car off with the expectation tt by e end of e day my car will be ready. Got a call in e afternoon informing me that they just complete diagnosis and found the problem. But need put my car overnight for them to fix on tuesday. But as i alr have plans to use e car at night i told him that i have to come back another day. He arranged for me to come down on wednesday.

Wednesday came. As usual i put my car in the morning expecting it to be ready by end of the day. Afternoon got a call and was told that they did further diagnosis and found out need to change the whole lamp. As they do not have stock so need to wait till friday. This time im a little upset. But there is nth i could do so i said ok.

Thursday afternoon got another call from the service agent. He told me they DID ANOTHER diagnosis check and claim that the lamp was tampered with so cannot claim warranty. I went down immediately to find out whats their finding he told me:

1) the front bumper is not original. Meaning the workshop could have tampered with the lamp when fixing the new bumper.

2) there are spray paint on my left front lamp.

Based on these 2 reasons they claim that my lamp was tampered with and thus void the warranty. He told me if need to repair will cost 5k. He is willing to give me 10% discount.

I was naturally upset. It appears to me they are trying to find reasons not to honour the warranty knowing that it will void at the end of this month.

Went to CASE. Was given a few option but all of them will drag a few months. During this period i cant change the lamp. But i cant do that cos i have to go for car inspection before i can renew road tax. So i decided not to pursue. Just log a report at CASE and also decided to share my bad experience with you.

If you pay money, they will give you good service. If you want to claim warranty, they give you shit reason. In any case, this is just for sharing.

[Odessus]

Hi @leeric. Firstly, let me say that I'm in no way affiliated to C&C or their associates. Like you I'm (or more accurately was) a fellow Mercedes-Benz owner.

I can understand why you're upset about this warranty claiming incident you're experiencing - you bought a used car under warranty thinking it's piece of mind only to find out that it really wasn't. Based on your summary I really don't find any fault from C&C. They're just doing their job. If it's an original equipment bought from C&C, I'm sure the warranty claim would be seamless. Alas this was not to be and the previous owner has already tampered with the "originality" so you really cannot blame C&C for voiding that part of the warranty. Can you imagine the bag of worms if C&C allows this? Everyone would go aftermarket parts, potentially causing fault or problems to the car and return to C&C for claims. The loss to C&C would be unimaginable.

In my view, you've got a few options.

1. C&C made a mistake and yours is an original equipment sold by and from C&C. If you can prove this beyond reasonable doubt, you should pursue vehemently a warranty claim with C&C.
2. The previous owner indeed tampered with the equipment. If this is the case, then you should probably speak with the previous owner to see if both of you can reach an amicable agreement. Maybe he rectifies, maybe co-pay, maybe something. If the previous owner is uncontactable or wants nothing to do with this, then I'd say you've probably made some savings buying a used car so time to reach in those pockets to rectify. Part and parcel of buying a used car, my friend.
3. Check with the previous owner where he did his mods and talk to the workshop if they can help rectify.

I don't think it's fair to say that C&C is finding reasons not to honour the warranty knowing that it will lapse by the end of this month. I've dealt with many marques service department - Japanese cars (few hundred dollars), European cars (few thousand dollars), Italian supercars (5 digit sums) alike, and not one service advisor gave me this impression that they're trying to help their company save money by voiding your warranty claim. Trust me their thinking is more like "it's not my money anyway it's company's money I'd rather let you claim warranty if possible so that I can close this case than to cause the owner inconvenience thereby inconveniencing themselves."

My 2 cents.

[leeric]

Hi Odessus,

no worries. Anybody is free to share their views. I'm just sharing mine and anybody reading this can take it as a pinch of salt.

 

I disagree with you and these are my reasons.

1) My left front lamp is faulty. How can they blame the changing of front bumper to have caused the front lamp to be tampered with?

2) When I bought the car, the front bumper has already been changed. When I send my car in last month, they already acknowledged that the bumper is not original. However they go ahead to repair the lamp without kicking up a fuss. When I send in the car on Monday, they also did not kick up a fuss. Neither did they kick up any fuss on Wednesday when I send in the car again. How can it be that after more than 1 month, plus 2.5 days of checking, then they realised that the front bumper somehow causes the lamp to be tampered with? If that's the argument, can I argue that when they repair the lamp last month, they accidentally dropped my lamp causes it to damage slightly, that's why now water seeps in? I think the argument is never ending. I don't want to go into this WHAT IF argument.

3) To me, if they tell me on Monday. They found a small opening. Seems like someone opened the lamp and did some modification to the lamp and close back. That's why water seeps in. I take it. Nothing to say. Now they cannot find any physical tampering on the lamp. Only after 3 days they say the changing of the front bumper might have caused the lamp to be damaged thus water seeps in. I clap for them.

[Odessus]

I don't think anyone reading this should take it with a pinch of salt. It's actually good learning material and reference for us all. Purchasing used cars is quite common and this is a probably pitfall that anyone can face because we don't know 100% what the previous owner(s) has changed that are aftermarket.

There's certainly merit in your argument and since you've already decided to resolve it on your own, this discussion is purely for learning. Perhaps, and just perhaps, maybe your SA was being helpful in resolving your issue when you sent your car in for LED light issue because it was a quick and easy fix. Your SA probably thought he was extending a service though rightfully he could have denied your warranty claim as C&C has already noted your aftermarket front bumper. Turning a new customer away just because he was following the book strictly maybe wasn't the best decision so he helped.

Unfortunately the recent heavy downpours caused severe water seepage and damaged your light assembly and replacement was imminent. Due to the significantly higher cost of replacement (not repair), maybe his management rejected the warranty claim he submitted and so he had no choice but to turn you down due to the void warranty.

I'm just providing the other extreme probability or flip side of your coin. Not saying that this actually happened or fact. While it may seem to you like what you described "finding reasons not to honour your warranty", maybe the reality is different? Regardless of our postulation, the fact is your front bumper is aftermarket and C&C has every right to void that part of the warranty from the onset. On hindsight maybe they should have rejected you from the start and that may have prevented your negative perception of them but then again other perceptions may arise. Oh well...

A day in a life of a used car owner such as myself.

[Odessus]

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