Deep Singh

Ok, you decide if this is fair. My MBs warranty runs out after the 29th Nov. I ring my local dealer on Friday 26th with a list of minor interior faults. They said as they c'ant book me in until 7/12/04 it c'ant be done under warranty as its expired by then. I of course calmly explain that I have logged the complaint within warranty period but they were having none of it. A rather uninterested MB emplyee after confering with her manager confirmed there was nothing else they could do and goodbye!
So I ring MB UK who look into it and confirm the dealer is right! Employee there says 'sir you have rung in 3 days before the warranty expires its to be expected'. Yes you dimwit I thought,thats the whole point, I'm WITHIN 3 DAYS, so whats the problem. Asked to speak to someone more senior and she told me I'd get the same reply from them but I insisted.
So in effect MB warranty does not last for 3 years but 3 years minus an unknown time that represents the lag period to get booked in! I've never heard of such madness! This means if I had an issue with the car on the 28th,forget it its tough luck!
After 5 hours of furious(but polite) phonecalls MB agreed.
So MB did remedy the situation in the end but really p1ssed me off in the process. Though I'm happy with the car I think this has put me off spending my hard earned with MB again
Does anybody think MBs original stance was reasonable.?
I've put this post up as a cautionary tale for all else whose warranty may be in the last few weeks.
Deep

NotoriousREV

I had exactly the same treatment from Renault with our Clio. The difference between MB and Renault is that MB backed down, Renault told us they were happy to go to court if that was what we wanted. When the Clio's time is up, I'm going to hire a big catapult and fling it at Renault UK's headquarters

brickboy

For what it's worth my MD has just had the same with Jaguar ... his X-Type has had persistent and untraceable problems causing the "Check Engine" light to come on.

He mentioned it at every service, they "couldn't find any fault". Before his warranty expired he booked it in to be looked at again. However, the date that the dealer inspected it was AFTER the warranty expiry, even though it was booked and logged BEFORE expiry.

Cue exactly the same palaver that you've had -- furious phone calls to dealer, Jag UK etc etc. Got it sorted finally, under warranty.

Like you say, god knows what would happen if you had a major engine / gearbox problem 2 days before warranty expiry.

wrxsmo

All the dealer needed to do was create a job card when you 1st called (showing the date before warranty expiry) listing the faults & MB Warranty wouldn't have queried it.

As simple as poor dealer service ......

Deep Singh

Even though it should'nt matter what the car costs, MB sell cars the price of some peoples houses( not my car!) how can you try and rip people off for whats relatively a few pounds?
I'm sorry to hear about your Renault

Bobby Peru

DS, would you not renew your MB warranty, if not are you happy without a warranty or are you taking out an aftermarket one?

The Chief

My old fella has had around 5 mercs now and to be honest when buying them they couldn't be more helpful with all the sucking up that comes with it but unfortunately just because you are buying a prestegious motor vehicle the aftersales he has had is f***ing abysmal get this took his S500 in for a service and it cost him 480 quid and when he checked they hadn't even changed the oil god knows what they did, i dont think i have seen him as mad and he threatened to sue them if they did not pick it back up and do it properly.
480 quid just so he can have that magical MB dealer stamp on his service book.
After that he said stuff it and stuff the history, and gets it changed at halfords for about 30 quid or whatever they charge.

logiclee

This is exactly why MB sit at the bottom of nearly all customer satisfaction surveys. My uncle has had a new Merc every three years since the early eighties. His current E320CDi Estate will be his last Merc. The dealer service has become very poor, the cars are lower quality and poorly built.
He says his last good Merc was his 1994 300D, the car is still in the family and done over 200000 miles without a problem. All his cars since have been riddled with niggles that the dealers are unable or unwilling to sort. His current 320CDi is on it's third auto gearbox in 30000 miles, the rear suspension has constant problems and the parking sensors have a mind of thier own.

In contrast a couple of years back my wifes old Skoda was out of warranty by three weeks when an exhaust bracket broke on the cat. I took it to the main dealer to see what they could do and they replaced the entire exhaust system free of charge. The car also had some bolt on steel trims on the wheels, my wife had damaged one but they are only sold in a set of four so I hadn't bothered replaceing it. When the car was in for it's second service the dealer replaced the damaged trim, they had a write off in awaiting collection so had swapped one over for us.

With the price you pay you would rightly expect the customer service to be the other way round, MB will only change when they start loosing customers though.

Cheers
Lee

Ubik

>Does anybody think MBs original stance was reasonable.?
They need a good kick up the ****, that is absolutely discusting! They don't deserve any further sales.


To be fair my local dealer has been pretty good, my dad and I have had a few cars off them, they try and do their best if we have a problem.
A good example is the old 98 E320 he used to have, outside the warranty period by six months needed the whole bottom end replacing. They took it off him and contacted someone higher up the chain. With only 50k on the clock mercedes offered to pay for all the repairs as they believed that the engine should be good for well over 100k.

The original estimate was pretty big money and it was pretty unexpected when a few hours after we had dropped it in they phoned up and said ready next week, free of charge.

Since then I have had a c-class off them (now replaced by the scoob) and my father has had another two E classes.
Its mainly because of the customer service they give him they get the return buisiness. Dealer should recognise that they need to do all they can to help people when they have a problem if they want any future sales / after sales buisiness.

zoog

I've had good service from MB London's Dartford Stealership, I must confess. Sorted out niggles and problems without fuss or trying to charge me. Were honest about the brake pads when the wear light came on-told me there was 25% left when I would have happily paid for a new set if they were less scrupulous.

The build qualityof MB cars is nowhere like what it used to be. The ML's are the worst- just check out the door handles, there's no need to go any further. The A class is just a horrid car full stop. Dread getting them as courtesy vehicles!

NotoriousREV

Funnily enough, I was talking to a bloke in the pub last night. He's a truck driver and reckons another guy that works with him has just been given a nice new Mercedes truck with switchable auto/semi auto gearbox which decided to select reverse while pulling 40 tonnes up the M6 at 56mph. The bang was rather loud, apparently

Flat 4x4

My two-penneth:-

1) It would be reasonable to make an appointment a couple of weeks before the warranty expires. Would you always expect a service with 3 days' notice? I don't think you were realistic on that score.

2) As you're talking about minor interior faults, I would have thought that the dealer could have used their discretion - by recording when you booked the appointment (as others suggested).

3) Did MB HQ give you the rationale behind why they couldn't accept point 2?

4) The product quality is improving massively now - not perfect, but at least on a par with BMW for 2004-made cars. The trouble is that the surveys won't show this until 2006. The general quality of interior trim etc is having a fortune spent on it for all new models, I hear

Deep Singh

Bobby, as far as I know MB d'ont do extended warranties? I'll just take my chances.
Flat4, I d'ont quite understand your first point. Its not that I wanted the car fixed right now but wanted them to log the probs prior to warranty expiring,was'nt worried whwn they fixed it. If the probs have ocurred in the last week how can I have booked the car in two weeks ago without a time machine?
I'm not saying that all MB service is crap all the time,just that on this point I feel their policy is wrong.
On the point of interior quality, I sat in an E Class and the heater rotary ***** felt like they were made by Fisher Price toys!

CLSII

I had the misfortune to own an A class diesel Merc for 20 months and can honestly say that it was undoubtedly the worse car I ever owned. Bearing in mind my first car was a £200 Peugeot 104 well past its sell by date this says a lot. My experience of Mercedes Benz dealers has put me off the brand for life and I'll now stick to Japanese vehicles. The number of friends and colleagues who have expressed a similar opinion recently defies belief. The reason is not just about deteriorating manufacturing standards but appalling customer service.

Any company can make an occasional bad vehicle people accept this but to be treated like dirt by MB staff is appalling.

Alas

Wife had a merc about 2 years ago. Although the car was okay the service rec'd was not very good at all. Have a Lexus & BMW now and must admit the service has been excellent for both. Don't know whether it is dealer or company specific.
Alas

andypugh2000

That is absolutely carp service, I got a letter from Bell & colvill (subaru dealer) telling me my warranty was about to expire and if there were any problems that they could sort out under warranty then please book your car in with us, now thats what I call a good dealer

andy

Deep Singh

Well I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks MBs original stance on the matter was unreasonable.

Flat 4x4

Deep

I agreed with what you were saying about the apparent policy (and your point about what had happened if something had broken right near the end of the warranty anyway), but if I had had some minor (but irritating) problems with my car I wouldn't have left it until the last minute before contacting the dealer.

The question I couldn't quite understand (as you couldn't also) was what was MB HQ's reasoning for supporting the dealer (by the policy) when you were trying to explain that you just wanted the faults logged to ensure they'd be covered when the dealer could see the car ? Did they explain this ?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

My father in law is getting rid of his C class a year early because its been in the dealers so much, he has had 2 previous Mercs and they have been a bit ropey as well, wont be buying another, conversely my mate bought a new Rover 200 in 1996, has run it for 100,000 miles with nothing other han a service once a year, never even checks the oil, the head gasket went a month ago, not bad going really considering Rovers are so unreliable and Mercs are so reliable...

Midmotorsteve

I had a warantee claim with my runabout Proton, exhaust flange cracked on friday, wanrantee ran out on sunday so i phone them they say they are sorry but they can't take it in untill next friday, i ask if its still going to be done under warantee, they said well yes,.. with the tone of voice am i being weird, of course it is. Well the next week they also told me it'd had missed an electric recall so as well as having the exhaust replaced it had also gained a new engine wiring loom and ecu, they had also valeted it. Charge, from the dealer i didn't even buy the car off and had never been to before = zero.

I think the dealers of excutive vehicles need a good slap, they trade a product that sells because of snob value and couldn't give a **** about the buyer. They probably hate you because you can afford the 'excutive' motor and are having a good laugh as you drive it away about how they'll stiff you rotton over the next few years of ownership.

Buy a cheap as chips car like a Proton and they'll look after you as they'll think you can't afford to be robbed.

Deep Singh

Good way of looking at it Steve!

SRSport

I think there is quite a bit of truth in this actually.

zip106

7 year old thread resurrection ....

brendy76

iTrader: (6)

Holy good ****!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like the sort of person who should buy a BMW 5 series

Shaid

Well the Merc dealer did fix it, i don't see what the problem is

Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

Holy crap!

Thread revival and then some!

Shame the thread starter (original) was/is a muppet!

Dingdongler

Sounds like the sort of guy who could buy any car he chooses to, also is probably quite well hung

That's one hell of a random thread resurrection though!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Do you ever think of anything else!!!!