Big Discounts on New Mercedes

[Flash]

I can understand the objections especially when it comes from folks looking for bargains and then complaining when they don't get blue ribbon treatment. I wonder what a publican would think if I bought my beer from the supermarket and then demanded to use all the facilities at the pub?

Glojo: If someone purchases their car from a Stealer at a better price and then goes to another Stealer to service the car and "pays" the full MB labour rate/servicing costs and buys the parts via the Stealer then the Stealer is "obliged" to provide the the same standard/level of service regardless to where the car was purchased from and it is irrelevant to where the car was purchased from... What kind of of an excuse is that "ohh you never bought the car from us therefore you will get poor service..." - There is no excuse for rubbish/poor level of service from a Stealer... Refering back to your example with the Supermarket beer, well if I bought beer from the supermarket and then went into the pub and "paid" full price for a drink and am therefore giving the landlord busieness then i am "entiltled" to use the facilities at the pub just like any other customer in the pub...

If you were the dealer, would you offer a total stranger a free courtesy car and tell a respected customer they would have to go without???

With courtesy cars it is done on a "first come first serve basis" - done on an advanced pre-booking system. Why should someone automatically be given a courtesy car when I have pre-booked one in advance? Why should the customer who has bought the car from the Stealer jump the queue? (even if I had not bought my car from the Stealer and the other customer did?) For example, If i was to use the ATM cash machine at HSBC but did not hold an Account with HSBC and instead had an account with Halifax and I was at front of the queue and a HSBC customer is next in line then does this automaticlaly allow the person behind me in the queue to use the ATM cash machine before me???

 

[pint6x]

The problem with these deals is the after sales service. You buy the car from a dealer up country, then you go to your local dealership and expect the same service as they give to there own customers?

I suppose this is a consideration we should take into account when members complain about poor service? Did they buy the car from new at the dealership they use for servicing.

Please understand I realise that dealerships charge top dollar and those that fit into this category will scream that they should not be treated differently? I am merely suggesting that when we look at a 'bargain' we go into it with our eyes wide open.

John

So what happens if I decide to move to another part of the country ? Would I expect service of a poorer quality at my "new" stealer just because I happened to buy my car at the stealer local to my previous house? It should be absolutely immaterial where the car was purchased - the service should be the same.

 

[Robbo]

The problem with these deals is the after sales service. You buy the car from a dealer up country, then you go to your local dealership and expect the same service as they give to there own customers?

I suppose this is a consideration we should take into account when members complain about poor service? Did they buy the car from new at the dealership they use for servicing.

I cant agree with this, I am afraid. It should make absolutely no difference what dealer the car was purchased from.

When I take the car to my local dealer, I am paying him top dollar (in my case £97.50 per hour + VAT) to provide me with his services. Where the car was purchased from is irrelevent. At that labour rate I expect top service and I will vote with my feet if I don't get it. The garage will then lose money on the servicing as well as the sale. Their choice.

 

[glojo]

No one is saying you should NOT get decent service, but what I am saying is you should not expect blue ribbon service. I've asked the question about taking supermarket beer into a pub to drink but that has not been answered. We all expect something for nothing when we are the customer, but I doubt we would be so charitable if we were the employer?

If I were to move to Lincolnshire, then I would simply go to the dealership, introduce myself to the service manager, explain to them the type of service I am used to receiving and if they could not match this then I would take my custom elsewhere. I would not get churlish and call them names, or 'stealers' these folks run a business and they have to make a profit, if I do not like the price they charge then the answer is very simple.

I speak here from experience as our dealership in South Devon closed and I had to take my custom elsewhere. I phoned around the country, plus researched the best deals on the Internet then I went to the nearest dealership and put my cards on the table and negotiated a satisfactory deal, it was not the cheapest, but the car is always collected by a professional very competant driver, it gets taken away for ANY remedial work or servicing and is ALWAYS valetted prior to being returned. I am left a very decent courtesy car and this service is 'free'. Free as in I do not pay anything above the cost of the stipulated charge for the service costs of the relevant servicing scale of charges.

Please do not try to twist what I am saying, if a stranger were to contact a main dealer for a service then I would expect that person to have his car serviced to the same standard as someone who has been buying cars from that location for the last two hundred years, (give or take a year or three). Servicing must be done in a competant and professional manner.

Zooman could no doubt charge less for what he sells, but by charging less, clearly less money will be spent on investment. How do you think these companies can offer big discounts on new cars, do you seriously believe they will offer the same type of quality support as we should have?

John

 

[Robbo]

How do you think these companies can offer big discounts on new cars, do you seriously believe they will offer the same type of quality support as we should have?

Just because you buy cheap doesnt mean you get lower service. In our case the A class was bought directly from a Mercedes UK main dealer. All the broker did was put us in touch with the dealer in question (for a comission of course). Next time I will ring the dealer up directly as he said to us if we wanted any other cars, just give him a ring. The service we got from the selling dealer was very good, they threw in some mats for free as well. They were friendly and efficient and the deal went very smoothly.

 

[PJH]

..... You buy the car from a dealer up country, then you go to your local dealership and expect the same service as they give to there own customers?
John

Shouldn't be like that, the situation could arise if you moved house ?

 

[Tony M]

No one is saying you should NOT get decent service, but what I am saying is you should not expect blue ribbon service. John

Well said John.

Whatever the discount you should get decent service. If you are a regular customer and have given the dealer loyalty you should get a better service.

 

[Flash]

Well said John.

Whatever the discount you should get decent service. If you are a regular customer and have given the dealer loyalty you should get a better service.

Thats discrimination and being prejudice... you and glojo would make great politicans...

Why should some recieve better service than someone else if your paying the "same price" for the same "service/labour" etc... for example, on identiacal cars

 

[glojo]

Why should some recieve better service than someone else if your paying the "same price" for the same "service/labour" etc... for example, on identiacal cars

Hi Flash,
With the very greatest of respect your not reading what we are saying. If you get a very good discount then you can expect less service!! (Not a mechanical car service) a salesperson that only gets a £25 commission on a car sale is not really going to waste time on extended telephone calls, or moly-coddling individuals. They simply have not got the time.

My post might seem out of kilter, but I am trying to be realistic??

Read ALL the posts on Mercedes Discount type centres. Read the posts of folks using car supermarkets! If you squeeze to hard you cannot expect good service.

Take care,

Regards
John

 

[Tony M]

Thats discrimination and being prejudice... you and glojo would make great politicans...

It is a simple fact of life that a 'One off ' Customer that screws prices right down down is not the most desireable of Customers to any Company. They still deserve a decent service though.

On the other hand, a 'Repeat' Customer that pays a fair price is naturally more desireable to a Company and accordingly they generally get a better service.

The problems start when a 'Repeat' Customer gets less than decent service.

 

[BonzoDog]

Somebody with better experience of Dealers might know the degree of detachment of the different departments. It would not surprise me to find that the Service side has its own budgets and its own targets, just as much as the Sales side. For them business is business and customers are customers. If they reflect the Mercedes franchise, which markets a philosophy of customer care and service, they would attempt to give all customers top quality service no matter from where they came.
In the last few years MB have been stung by reports of unreliability and in UK, unfriendly Dealers but this badly dents their image and the brand. Although there may be occasions or odd cases where they still haven't put their house in order, one of the key responsibilities of the auto side of the company, post Schremp, must be to be a full service organisation refelecting the traditional values of MB; reliability, quality and service (at a price). The 1950's corner shop antics have no place in a world where the customer has unending choice.

 

[BonzoDog]

I should have added that in a multi million professional business, this is just not credible unless they had out of work football managers running their service departments.
"Excuse me Mr Ferguson, could you just explain this item on the bill please?"
"/&%( /&( )(/$§"!§(Ü*ÖÄ (//&)" - with red face and jabbing finger.

 

[Robbo]

If you get a very good discount then you can expect less service!! (Not a mechanical car service) a salesperson that only gets a £25 commission on a car sale is not really going to waste time on extended telephone calls, or moly-coddling individuals. They simply have not got the time.

OK, fair enough. But if you buy new and the car arrives in good condition, then there is no problem. Any problems with the car will be dealt with under warranty and this can be carried out at the service department of any dealer.

It depends what kind of price one is willing to pay for 'special service'. At 20% extra over the discounted price, I'll pass.

 

[jeremytaylor]

A quick look at the SMMT figures for December shows why there are so many good deals at the moment.

Mercedes 'sold' 10,392 cars, putting them 5th, behind Ford (23,236), Vauxhall (20,553), VW (16,721), BMW (11,845), but ahead of 'volume' sellers like Renault, Peugeot, Toyota, Citroen, etc.

These 'sold' cars have got to find homes, hence the pre-reg/second hand deals.

On a year-end basis MB sales were up 0.35% in a market that dropped 5%.