- Joined
- Mar 12, 2005
- Messages
- 7,612
- Location
- Cheshire, UK
- Car
- C270CDi Estate (late 2004 facelift model) - Bought 2005, Sold 2022.
So I took my C270Cdi Estate for its first ever trip to my local dealer (MB Chester) – the cars an Oct 04 vehicle that I bought in March 05 from MB Direct with 6000 miles.
I only really use the car for long motorway journeys, and it’s shown service A at approx 18,500 miles for some time.
I booked it in a couple of wks ago and was assigned my own service advisor, who turned out to be ‘Service Team Manager’. The day after booking it in the service changed to a B – bugger! I messed around with ASSYST (looking for the oil type it was set on) and somehow managed to reset it – so it showed 13000 miles to service A.
In view of the cars type of use and its age, I decided to stick with the A service. I expected a bit of hassle about this, and it was mentioned, but didn’t seem to be an issue. The cars been reset to now show 13,000 miles to B Service.
I supplied my own oil, which surprisingly (in view of their lost profit) the dealer was very happy about. I bought Motul MB specific 229.5 5W30 from Opie Oils at £52 for 10L. The dealer uses Castrol SLX at £12.95L (+ VAT, I assume). So this made the service cost £161 (plus my cost for the oil, which I still have 3.5L of), rather than the £254 I’d originally been quoted. (It still works out £6 or so more than it should have been if you subtract the oil cost, but I didn’t quibble).
As well as the service, there were also ‘checks’ (I think like recalls, but less serious) to be done on the AGW (Audio Gateway) and the fuel system. A query about the detail of these checks was met with a blank look.
I also queried ‘the roundabout error’ on my V2.0 nav DVD. They upgraded it – to V2.2!! Bugger again – I was hoping for at least V4.
I asked them (somewhat tongue in cheek) to set the mirrors to auto-fold – I told them it could be done by ‘upgrade or something’ to Star Diagnose. The guy looked blank, but said he would ask the technician. When he handed the car back he said it can’t be done on my car – but I got the impression this is because my car was never meant to do it, not necessarily that it couldn’t be done.
They also kindly provided a quote for 2 new Michelin rear tyres (they fit on the premises, not contracted out) - £167 each. I said surely that’s a typo – you mean £107? But no, £167 it was. They’re £100 in Costco, and £110-£120 in most other places. They knew about Mercedes Option versions, but didn’t know what it meant!
I waited at the dealership while the car was serviced. Somewhat dismayed they didn’t have wireless internet (‘what’s that’ the female service booker said, when I asked) but at least the lack of access enabled me to do some proper work for once! It was noticeable that there was no sense of urgency – they made a couple of guys wait 45mins for lifts, and my car was outside and ready for 20mins before the ‘Service Team Manager’ could be found to discharge me. I was dismayed that he hadn’t already done the paperwork, but he said he couldn’t do it until the technician released the car.
All in all, not too bad an experience. They didn’t damage my alloys, they didn’t try to get me to have the pads and disks changed. I took the car in very clean and told them not to wash it – seeing their washing arrangements as I was leaving made me glad I’d done that. I would have preferred to have dealt with someone who had some idea about the technical details – but these days I’m sure ‘Service Team Leader’ is an admin job.
I only really use the car for long motorway journeys, and it’s shown service A at approx 18,500 miles for some time.
I booked it in a couple of wks ago and was assigned my own service advisor, who turned out to be ‘Service Team Manager’. The day after booking it in the service changed to a B – bugger! I messed around with ASSYST (looking for the oil type it was set on) and somehow managed to reset it – so it showed 13000 miles to service A.
In view of the cars type of use and its age, I decided to stick with the A service. I expected a bit of hassle about this, and it was mentioned, but didn’t seem to be an issue. The cars been reset to now show 13,000 miles to B Service.
I supplied my own oil, which surprisingly (in view of their lost profit) the dealer was very happy about. I bought Motul MB specific 229.5 5W30 from Opie Oils at £52 for 10L. The dealer uses Castrol SLX at £12.95L (+ VAT, I assume). So this made the service cost £161 (plus my cost for the oil, which I still have 3.5L of), rather than the £254 I’d originally been quoted. (It still works out £6 or so more than it should have been if you subtract the oil cost, but I didn’t quibble).
As well as the service, there were also ‘checks’ (I think like recalls, but less serious) to be done on the AGW (Audio Gateway) and the fuel system. A query about the detail of these checks was met with a blank look.
I also queried ‘the roundabout error’ on my V2.0 nav DVD. They upgraded it – to V2.2!! Bugger again – I was hoping for at least V4.
I asked them (somewhat tongue in cheek) to set the mirrors to auto-fold – I told them it could be done by ‘upgrade or something’ to Star Diagnose. The guy looked blank, but said he would ask the technician. When he handed the car back he said it can’t be done on my car – but I got the impression this is because my car was never meant to do it, not necessarily that it couldn’t be done.
They also kindly provided a quote for 2 new Michelin rear tyres (they fit on the premises, not contracted out) - £167 each. I said surely that’s a typo – you mean £107? But no, £167 it was. They’re £100 in Costco, and £110-£120 in most other places. They knew about Mercedes Option versions, but didn’t know what it meant!
I waited at the dealership while the car was serviced. Somewhat dismayed they didn’t have wireless internet (‘what’s that’ the female service booker said, when I asked) but at least the lack of access enabled me to do some proper work for once! It was noticeable that there was no sense of urgency – they made a couple of guys wait 45mins for lifts, and my car was outside and ready for 20mins before the ‘Service Team Manager’ could be found to discharge me. I was dismayed that he hadn’t already done the paperwork, but he said he couldn’t do it until the technician released the car.
All in all, not too bad an experience. They didn’t damage my alloys, they didn’t try to get me to have the pads and disks changed. I took the car in very clean and told them not to wash it – seeing their washing arrangements as I was leaving made me glad I’d done that. I would have preferred to have dealt with someone who had some idea about the technical details – but these days I’m sure ‘Service Team Leader’ is an admin job.
) and when I "contested" and made him get w/shop to do the driling he said that "different models have different templates". I corrected him as that is a load of "bull" and that MBs right back from the W123/W126/124 generation to the present range have the drilled holes in the same place/template (except the M Class that has the spare wheel mounted option on the bootlid).
There are several horror stories/bad experiences that myself/family have had with Greenoaks...
