Quote:
Originally Posted by barrel47
I spoke with Peter from SMB this morning. He explained that there is a threaded nipple from the tank side to the ABS. He believes this must have been defective in some way. Given the uncertainty about the complexity of repair (whether the tank needs to be removed, or not), I will bring it to SMB-W for the work. I will report back when I learn the true nature of of the failure and also what it took to repair in the event anyone else faces this. Thanks for all the help!
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I’m sorry this happened. Brand new and this situation can be SO frustrating.
But listen, everyone knows I haven’t been shy about the terrible job they did on my 2017 van… And every answer to every failure included an excuse of some kind. I got “Must have been a faulty part” to “This has never happened” to “I don’t know why it’s this way”. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Peter is very very nice. And he will make you feel comfortable. But he’s not the one who makes the decisions, so no matter what he says he will try and do for you, be present and make sure they do right by you. I REALLY liked Peter, I felt like he was going to bat for me. But in the end, he just ended up being a poor messenger telling me not to come back. So…
May I please give you some advice… Take pictures of every single thing that you can, I know you’ve already taken video and that’s great. But also, walk back there every 10 to 15 minutes and take pictures of what they’re doing. Their mantra is “We have nothing to hide you are welcome back here anytime“, so take them up on that offer and do so. You may see them replacing stuff that they will never tell you got damaged or, even worse, you may see them (or stop them from) covering up stuff that is damaged because it is way too involved to replace it. You don’t want them putting down new rubber flooring over plywood that has gotten wet along the edges. You don’t want the damage being Bandaid’d when it should be repaired or replaced.
When I had a small mechanical issue with my new (non-SMB) van (Ram/Fiat Chrysler), I hung out as far as customers were allowed, in the bay, while they performed the work on my van. And I took pictures. I feel that as consumers we have to take a step up, for ourselves, because sometimes the “companies” will cut corners or skip steps or just Bandaid things. As consumers we have to speak up too. So, be very present when you have the repairs done.
And if God forbid, you have issues with the chassis, (the Sprinter chassis) for any reason, do the same thing. Be right there, as close as you can be while they are conducting repairs at the Mercedes dealership.
PS: Don’t be surprised if they ask you/pressure you into taking that video off of YouTube and taking this post down from this forum. There’s a slight chance they will offer to do a “complete repair“ if you do them the favor and take this post and that video down. They did that to me, and when I said no, that was the first and only push back they needed to start being terrible to me. That was three days after I picked up my van, LOL. Do not let that happen to you.
And once you get the van back and everything is absolutely perfect, put it behind you and move forward and enjoy the hell out of your new van. You deserve it.