I confess that they are starting to piss me off a bit now. This was the latest reply:
"
Thank you for contacting Mercedes-Benz Customer Service.
As confirmed by my colleague Andrew, the document you are referring to regarding the HVB warranty is in fact for internal use only. The "Power Electronics" wouldn't be covered under the drive train warranty, the document itself, on the pages previously quoted, is advising about new and additional equipment and doesn't concern the warranty.
I apologise that you feel you've seen documents giving you contradictory information however our stance on this stays the same.
Should you have any further requirements please do not hesitate to contact me or any of my colleagues."
and my response:
"I have to say, I am truly disappointing with Mercedes Benz. It has taken over two months to reach this point, and still you refuse to acknowledge your responsibility as detailed in your own publication. A publication that informed my purchase. You assert that this document was purely for internal use. There is nothing on it to indicate that, so a reasonable person would have no way to know that what they are reading may in fact be meaningless. It looks to me like a product guide brochure, the sort of thing a customer might reasonably look at to make an informed decision about a purchase in fact.
It is quite clear what it means - ALL hybrid components, battery, motor and power electronics have a 6 year/62000m warranty. The specific page is making a comparison between equipment included as standard on the C350e Sport vs. the C220 BlueTEC Sport. How you can claim that the hybrid components of a hybrid car are "additional equipment" and that the document "doesn't concern the warranty", when the words "HVB Certificate (Warranty) for all Plug-In hybrid components" are used explicitly, is beyond me.
I simply do not accept that you can pick and choose what you will honor like this.
I'd be grateful if you would escalate this matter to someone with some authority please."
See what they try next......
Be very interested to hear how you get on with your enquiry
@wivenhoe. Please keep us posted.