OP
OP
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 7,544
- Location
- Weybridge. U.K
- Car
- 500L ( W221 ), 2014 AMG CL 5.5 Biturbo ( W216 ) Sold, 2014 Brabus Smart ( 451 Coupe ) Mapped 130bhp
Further Update : Manager phoned me this morning to say that the trimmer had a look and he could not supply the plastic headlining as they don't do them anymore, so he would only fit Alcantara. So Headlining, Sunroof and Sun Shades all in Alcantara, silver lining and all that. A fair result i think.
A-AvantGarde
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2003
- Messages
- 4,693
- Location
- South Bucks
- Car
- 2023 Mercedes EQC400, 2015 Porsche 911 Turbo S, 2019 BMW X5 40i
Not a bad result, nice upgrade but still a complete pain in terms of the inconvenience factor...
Keen to see how the Alcantara looks when it's done.
Keen to see how the Alcantara looks when it's done.
Plastic? The headlining is fabric isn't it? I'm fairly sure they are still available because the last 202 was built in 2000ish so it's not even 10 years out of production. What he probably means is he saw the price for a new headlining and that it would take 12 weeks for delivery from Germany and decided it was cheaper to get a contractor to make one from modern materials. Which is no bad thing I suppose!
OP
OP
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 7,544
- Location
- Weybridge. U.K
- Car
- 500L ( W221 ), 2014 AMG CL 5.5 Biturbo ( W216 ) Sold, 2014 Brabus Smart ( 451 Coupe ) Mapped 130bhp
No the headlining is plastic the A+B pillars are in fabric. The parts manager told me that he had spoken to his counter part in Germany who told him that there where none available and that they would have to do a special one off fun. The computer was saying end of November, that was the third different date it came up with. Come the end of Nov it would have said end of January and so on.
Yes i will be interested to see how it looks in Alcantara.
Yes i will be interested to see how it looks in Alcantara.
OP
OP
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 7,544
- Location
- Weybridge. U.K
- Car
- 500L ( W221 ), 2014 AMG CL 5.5 Biturbo ( W216 ) Sold, 2014 Brabus Smart ( 451 Coupe ) Mapped 130bhp
It is all being done through there "Goodwill Dept"
OP
OP
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 7,544
- Location
- Weybridge. U.K
- Car
- 500L ( W221 ), 2014 AMG CL 5.5 Biturbo ( W216 ) Sold, 2014 Brabus Smart ( 451 Coupe ) Mapped 130bhp
I know it looks great in the S-Class.
OP
OP
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 7,544
- Location
- Weybridge. U.K
- Car
- 500L ( W221 ), 2014 AMG CL 5.5 Biturbo ( W216 ) Sold, 2014 Brabus Smart ( 451 Coupe ) Mapped 130bhp
I though i would let you know how the C43 is getting on, the Saga continues.
They picked up the car on the 23/09/2009 and the loan car was 350 C-Class that was the good news, i would have preferred 6.3 C-Class.
After a week of no phone calls from MB (Par for the course) i phoned them for an update, will phone the trimmers to find out what is happening, still waiting for the Alcantara. Another week goes by still no communication from MB.
So i decide to get the number of the trimmers and get in touch with them directly,which i did, still waiting for the Alcantara. He had been promised for a week it would be delivered. I then find out it is coming from Poland ? !! hence all the delay. Why from Poland i ask, because it's the best quality, don't you mean that's where you get the best price from.
I then get a phone call from the supplier of the Alcantara to say they have delivered the wrong colour, it was darker than the one we ordered and would that be okay, in a word no, so they have had to reorder. It finally arrived last Thursday and i received a call from MB this morning ( that was only the third phone i have received in a month from MB) to say the car will be ready tomorrow nearly a month to do a two day job. The Body Shop Manager assures me that they have done an excellent job, seeing is believing.
I am going to make an appointment to see the General Manager at Brentford to air my dissatisfaction with the complete lack of customer service.
They picked up the car on the 23/09/2009 and the loan car was 350 C-Class that was the good news, i would have preferred 6.3 C-Class.
After a week of no phone calls from MB (Par for the course) i phoned them for an update, will phone the trimmers to find out what is happening, still waiting for the Alcantara. Another week goes by still no communication from MB.
So i decide to get the number of the trimmers and get in touch with them directly,which i did, still waiting for the Alcantara. He had been promised for a week it would be delivered. I then find out it is coming from Poland ? !! hence all the delay. Why from Poland i ask, because it's the best quality, don't you mean that's where you get the best price from.
I then get a phone call from the supplier of the Alcantara to say they have delivered the wrong colour, it was darker than the one we ordered and would that be okay, in a word no, so they have had to reorder. It finally arrived last Thursday and i received a call from MB this morning ( that was only the third phone i have received in a month from MB) to say the car will be ready tomorrow nearly a month to do a two day job. The Body Shop Manager assures me that they have done an excellent job, seeing is believing.
I am going to make an appointment to see the General Manager at Brentford to air my dissatisfaction with the complete lack of customer service.
Crikey, that really sounds like quite a catalogue of errors.
You'd have thought that they'd have waited for the parts to be ready before taking the car in - a month to trim a headlining is ridiculous.
Hopefully they'll have done a nice job this time, look forward to seeing it at Brooklands if you're there with it
Best of luck with everything,
Will
You'd have thought that they'd have waited for the parts to be ready before taking the car in - a month to trim a headlining is ridiculous.
Hopefully they'll have done a nice job this time, look forward to seeing it at Brooklands if you're there with it
Best of luck with everything,
Will
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2005
- Messages
- 30,092
- Location
- Mittel England
- Car
- Smart ForFour AMG Black Series Night Edition Premium Plus 125 Powered by Brabus
As tempting as it is, I think I'd pass on that idea.
The last person I'd wind up is the one that cooks my food.
The last but one would be the one that has the keys to my car.
OP
OP
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 7,544
- Location
- Weybridge. U.K
- Car
- 500L ( W221 ), 2014 AMG CL 5.5 Biturbo ( W216 ) Sold, 2014 Brabus Smart ( 451 Coupe ) Mapped 130bhp
The car was ready yesterday afternoon to be picked up after i had to phone three times to get a time. The manager was was off site at meetings all day, he did say he would phone me when i spoke to him on Tuesday ( par for the course ) and it was left to the poor receptionist to find out what was going on.
I was assured that the car had been inspected and cleared for pick up. I had phoned my better half to meet me there at 16.00. I was in town and had to pass Brentford on the way home, so i popped in to see how it looked, i arrived at 15.30.
The car was outside reception looking great from a distance, just been valeted. When i got up close and saw the wheels and the state they had left then in i was not happy, again. I have 18" Monoblock's with the Rims polished, Andrew ( Stats 007 ) spent the best part of a day getting the rims down to bare metal. What they had done was put some acid wheel cleaner on and did not wash it off straight away hence it reacted to the metal polish that we use to keep the rims nice and shiny. The rims where now black,
no great big problem they just needed to be re polished but they expected me to accept the car in that state.
Now for the headlining. I got in the back seat to view roof and the pillars, my first impression was wow, it looked great in Alcantara Silver Grey with Black Alcantara A,B and C pillars. I then noticed two black marks by the front courtesy lights, i thought it might be some shading. I then sat in the front seat and it was marks in the Alcantara and on further inspection the lining had not been fitted correctly around the courtesy lights there where lines in the fabric which looked terrible compared to the rest of the roof.
As i mentioned the manager was not there so i told his assistant to keep the car until they got it right, i thought since this has been ongoing since August 6 th another few days would not matter. I then had to phone Anna to turn round and go back home, not a happy lady.
As far as the Alcantara headlining is concerned it looks great and I'm very happy with the way it looks very good colour combination.
I have been keeping a log of this saga and when i came back from Brentford i sent a four page email to the Managing Director of Customer Services UK and copies to the CEO MB Milton Keynes and General Manager at Brentford that was at 17.45 .
At 18.08 i received a reply from The MD apologising for the inconvenience and lack of Customer Care that i received and he is going do an internal enquiry and for me to bear with him for a few days. At least it was a very prompt reply and i look forward to the outcome. I still have not got a car and as of 12 noon i am still waiting for the Manager of the Body Shop to contact me, nothing changes.
I was assured that the car had been inspected and cleared for pick up. I had phoned my better half to meet me there at 16.00. I was in town and had to pass Brentford on the way home, so i popped in to see how it looked, i arrived at 15.30.
The car was outside reception looking great from a distance, just been valeted. When i got up close and saw the wheels and the state they had left then in i was not happy, again. I have 18" Monoblock's with the Rims polished, Andrew ( Stats 007 ) spent the best part of a day getting the rims down to bare metal. What they had done was put some acid wheel cleaner on and did not wash it off straight away hence it reacted to the metal polish that we use to keep the rims nice and shiny. The rims where now black,
no great big problem they just needed to be re polished but they expected me to accept the car in that state.
Now for the headlining. I got in the back seat to view roof and the pillars, my first impression was wow, it looked great in Alcantara Silver Grey with Black Alcantara A,B and C pillars. I then noticed two black marks by the front courtesy lights, i thought it might be some shading. I then sat in the front seat and it was marks in the Alcantara and on further inspection the lining had not been fitted correctly around the courtesy lights there where lines in the fabric which looked terrible compared to the rest of the roof.
As i mentioned the manager was not there so i told his assistant to keep the car until they got it right, i thought since this has been ongoing since August 6 th another few days would not matter. I then had to phone Anna to turn round and go back home, not a happy lady.
As far as the Alcantara headlining is concerned it looks great and I'm very happy with the way it looks very good colour combination.
I have been keeping a log of this saga and when i came back from Brentford i sent a four page email to the Managing Director of Customer Services UK and copies to the CEO MB Milton Keynes and General Manager at Brentford that was at 17.45 .
At 18.08 i received a reply from The MD apologising for the inconvenience and lack of Customer Care that i received and he is going do an internal enquiry and for me to bear with him for a few days. At least it was a very prompt reply and i look forward to the outcome. I still have not got a car and as of 12 noon i am still waiting for the Manager of the Body Shop to contact me, nothing changes.
OP
OP
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 7,544
- Location
- Weybridge. U.K
- Car
- 500L ( W221 ), 2014 AMG CL 5.5 Biturbo ( W216 ) Sold, 2014 Brabus Smart ( 451 Coupe ) Mapped 130bhp
A phone call from the Manager ( Body Shop ) this afternoon, the headlining has gone back to the trimmer to get the creases out, the car will be ready on Tuesday.
Another phone call, this time from the Head of Customer Services to say she has had a meeting with the Manager and had spoken to the MD at Milton Keynes. The outcome was lots of apologies and the next Service on the C43 will be Free, as it is a "B" Service and the plugs need changing + all the fluids etc and i must get them to check the Discs it's not a bad result, also i can have it done at Brooklands, miles away from Brentford, which is were i also have the S-Class serviced.
Another phone call, this time from the Head of Customer Services to say she has had a meeting with the Manager and had spoken to the MD at Milton Keynes. The outcome was lots of apologies and the next Service on the C43 will be Free, as it is a "B" Service and the plugs need changing + all the fluids etc and i must get them to check the Discs it's not a bad result, also i can have it done at Brooklands, miles away from Brentford, which is were i also have the S-Class serviced.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2007
- Messages
- 20,778
- Location
- Portsmouth, Hampshire.
- Car
- E55K SL500 E250X2 Smart44 Brabus Track car E450Cabriolet X350 Pick up
I cannot believe the saga you have had over your C43. I am glad you have got some compensation though.
I am looking forward to seeing it in the flesh.
