Letter #1 (sent)

Our 2005 E320 CDI is in for repair at your dealership. Bill Blume is our service manager. My wife and I purchased the E320 in July. Our first encounter with your service department was when a glowplug went out. This was after our sales person (Byers) had told us that glow plugs had been replaced prior to our purchasing the vehicle. In fact, only one plug had been. We were charged diagnostic time plus parts. Bill offered to pick up the installation cost. Our next service item was a water pump the first week of November. We had the repair done locally as the car was leaking about a gallon of coolant every 10 miles. Last week I dropped off the car on Tuesday at Sears stating that it started very poorly cold and that it needed to be left outside overnight in order for it to show symptoms. I also stated that it displayed no fault codes (being a former mechanic, I have access to scanning software). Bill stated that it was the custom of the service department to perform about an hour's worth of diagnostics without additional customer approval. The car was diagnosed yesterday. I received a call from Bill stating that diagnostic time was 8 hours, the part would run $800 and that installation would beanother 3 hours of labor. He mentioned that he would talk with Bruce Bigalke about the charges today. Building a relationship of trust with customers is a nessential part of good business. Our first experiencewith Sears left us rather suspicious because we were told that the glow plugs had been replaced, when, in fact, just one of them had. We are unhappy with the amount of trouble we have had with this car thus far. We are unwilling to pay for hours of unauthorized diagnostic time. I plan to speak with Bill tomorrow, however, I want to be sure that we are being treated fairly and are being dealt with honestly. Thank you for your attention to this matter.