In January I was traveling in my 2018 Pleasureway Plateau... - smscott744
In January I was traveling in my 2018 Pleasureway Plateau TS when I suddenly lost power and pulled over to the side of the road. I had recently hit 20000 miles on the odometer. I had roadside assistance come. They found a fuel leak with fuel everywhere under the hood. He fixed the leak with zip ties. It started but only ran about 5 miles. I was then towed to Kettleman City so I would be in a safe place, then later towed to Mercedes Benz in Fresno.
While at the dealer in Fresno I was told they didn’t have the exact part but could fix it so I could be on my way and make it to my shift at work. A short time later Chris Klein came to me and told me nothing would be covered by warranty and the fix would cost almost $400, later decreased to $299. A while later I was called into an office with Chris and told that my RV would not start and they needed to run diagnostics which would cost $1400-1900 and take 6 hours. Nothing being covered by warranty. I was also told several times because I had an oil change done that was not by a Mercedes dealership, nothing would be covered by warranty in the future. I called my mechanic in Salinas who I have known over 8 years. A mechanic I trust. The MB people reiterated to him that my warranty was void because of the oil and fuel filter change. I arranged to have the RV towed to Salinas because I felt I could not trust these people and all the charges would come out of my pocket anyway since I now did not have a warranty.
I feel I was bullied into a progression of threats. A knowledgeable mechanic would have been able to diagnose the problem immediately. It took my mechanic about 30 seconds. My van would not start because it was OUT OF FUEL! It had an empty fuel tank because of the fuel leak. If I had left my van at Mercedes Benz, I could have been cheated out of thousands of dollars and never known the truth. As it is I was completely taken advantage of as a single alone female. They seemed way more concerned with being sure I knew I had screwed up my warranty then with fixing my RV.
A few days later I received a text from Chris saying Mercedes Benz hopes I am completely satisfied and they “will do everything in our power to gain my complete satisfaction.”
I sent a letter and I was finally contacted by a group from Mercedes Benz by phone on March 13. I did not feel I was going to get any kind of satisfactory answer and was told they would send me an email reiterating our phone conversation. I never received that email. I did receive a letter saying they did not feel they had any responsibility and a check for the $299. They said if I had left it there they MAY have come to the same conclusion. If I had not been repeatedly told that my RV was no longer under warranty, of course I would have left it there. But believing I would be paying out of pocket for everything and would probably never know the truth I chose to put it in the hands of someone I trusted.
I then contacted the Mercedes Benz customer care and after numerous phone calls and emails did get a call from Fresno. It cost me about $3000 in tow bills, rental cars, a place to sleep ( I live in it full time), and lost wages when it could have been diagnosed in 30 min by a knowledgeable mechanic. They did finally say they would give me $400 and that my warranty is good and I should have known that all along.
I have since learned that under federal law it is illegal for a dealer to deny warranties because someone other than the dealer worked on a vehicle. I have also learned that it is a common tactic for a dealer to imply that a warranty is void. It is so obvious to me this is exactly what they were doing.
I would not trust MB of Fresno ever. And I have read plenty of reviews here that tell me many others feel the same. And, honestly they should be very embarrassed. It was out of fuel!
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