Andy M3

I had to laugh when I heard this: A chap at work has a MY02 Mercedes 180 Coupe. Today it went in for a B service. He was quoted £450, but managed to negotiate to £397. So his car got picked up and off it went.

5 minuets ago, the dealer called to go through a few things. She highlighted that the car needed an oil and filter change, fuel filter change, air filter change, pollen filter change, 4 new tyres as they are illegal, 2 suspension bushes and a handbrake ratchet. The chap at work responded with:

“So what exactly is included for my £397 ?”

“We check all around the car sir and make sure it is roadworthy ?”

“But I had an MOT yesterday, and he was convinced it was roadworthy ! And for £397 it better include all filters and oil !”

“Ah well, the tyres aren’t quite illegal, but could do with changing in the next few months and you have to pay [fiddles with a calculator] £453 for the other things on top of the B service”

Needless to say, MB customer services got a call as another dealer quoted similar money with all oil and filters included.

Jonathan Davies

Car dealer in attempted customer fleecing shocker!

stilover

MB are having a hard time at the moment with service department reputation. Both Jeremy Clarkson and EVO have had a cry about them. After reading the above, you can see why.
£397 to look over the car ????? WTF ??

Diablo

The quote for the B service should INCLUDE all the filters and oil.

Tyres bushes and ratchet would, understandably, be extra.

scoobynutta555

Every main dealer I've ever dropped the car off at has called up to say the pads need changing urgently, both Ford and Subaru. In every single case they do not need changing and have thousands upon thousands of miles left on them.

Just an excuse to fleece you.

subarustel

subaru aint no different, they been right c u n t s 2 me recently.

then when i try and argue at faulty parts and wrong parts and the discount they promised me seeing as ive had 3 subies, they tried 2 say :

BUT YOUR CAR IS MODIFIED, i laughed it off as an exhaust (seeing as thier sales manager bought the same exhaust off me)

and i told them ill go elsewhere seeing as the receptionist is always on her period and the service manager is a jealous bast...d.

they got upset about my rudeness i can tell u, but did say they would change thier ways, of course they would if they wanna get the warranty work.

i do my own work on my car, but i do need the stamp and annual check over as the next owner can have peace of mind heh

matchmaker

My Octavia vRS had a service at 18000 miles last weekend at an independent. £90 including parts, labour and VAT

And they checked the brake pads and said I'd probably need new rear ones at the next service in a years time

Doc

For the last 3 services my dealer has been telling me I need to change my front discs and pads even getting me to sign a disclaimer once. I have measured the discs myself - not warped and just over half worn and not heavily scored. Pads have lots of meat left. This is on a Skoda but happened on my previous Subaru as well.
FMDSH is not worth the paper its written on except to a gullible next owner. Peugeot told me they only change brake fluid if specifically requested by the customer despite the fact it is listed in the service schedule (3 years from memory but I can't be bothered to get the book out).
Traded in my wifes fiesta years ago and it had a few stamps missing due to me servicing it. Sales guy said don't worry you have told us you serviced it so we will just stamp the book up ourselves!

subarustel

update:

wilsons sent me a customer service questionaire 2day. i wont b writing good things back heh.

oh i might say they tightened my handbrake after 2 years of me moanin about it.

The_Gza

Hi Matchmaker,

Who do you use for your servicing? Star by any chance?

Cheers

matchmaker

You guessed right! Star every time. If I trust them to tune my car, I can surely trust them to service it. Excellent bunch of guys

Mind you, having had it serviced on Saturday, I hit a bit of metal lying on the road last night and holed the ****ing sump

It's now at my local dealers awaiting repair (Tuesday!) and I'm running about in a 1.4 Focus

Bit of a performance drop

Andy M3

At least it will handle better

matchmaker

Possibly/probably. The Focus just doesn't either go or stop very well

Andy M3

I was trying to think of a good thing - lo l

Tony MY03WRX

Hi all,

My Impreza is coming up for its 30,000 mile service so I emailed all the local Dealers and specialists, here are my findings:

Sparshatts £495.00 in total, including VAT.

Bell and Colvill £457.43 including vat.

Gatwick £480.00 inc VAT.

Triton Motorsport £398.92.

Pure Service £350.00 inc of Parts, Labour and Vat

Subaru 4 You £365 inc vat

I will be using Len from Subaru 4 You, even though its over an hour from were I live and Sparshatts is a only 30 min drive, i begrudged giving Sparshatts £130 extra for the privilege.

Tony

matchmaker

Courtesy of my local Skoda dealer I'm now running about in a rather nice 55 reg Octavia TDI Elegence. Over the course of a reasonably rapid trip to Edinburgh and back the average fuel consumption came in at 49 mpg

It's not, obviously, as fast as my vRS, but it's helluva lot nicer than the Focus!!

This sort of car could convert a petrolhead to diesel