I just thought I'd highlight something.
Our local dealer has closed (Mansfield) and an advert appeared in our local newspaper about Lincoln offering to take on Mansfield customers, with money off vouchers and services from £169.
So I dropped them a mail as (what was mine but is now the the wife's) ours needs a service B.
The mail thread follows verbatim (even down to [lack of] line breaks:
In resonse to my initial query, which included my lack of feedback from the original dealer to send me a stamped service book (I've called three times to the promise of a return call and not had a single one - they're in Harrogate, from memory. I also got nowhere with Mansfield):
Thank you for your interest, you query has been passed onto myself at Lincoln (service manager) to see if I can help.[/font]
Firstly if you let me have you Chassis number of the car, I can look at the national history database and see what I can find. You are more than welcome to any history that is on there. This would be more than adequate to prove history.
Secondly, a service book is just a book with a stamp in it and in real terms means nothing. We can order you a duplicate book for your vehicle, but we are prohibited from filling it in with service done by other dealers. I am sure you agree this is not good practice. What is more important is the VAT receipts which are also a valid confirmation of service.
I hope this clears the matter up and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards
Steve kirk
To which I replied:
Thank you for such a speedy response.
In terms of going forwards the vehicle came with no vat receipts for service, so the printed history would be more than welcome, thank you.
Could you tell me how much, given your current offer to Mansfield residents, a Service B would be please? If it’s an acceptable price we can go ahead and make arrangements to book it in.
We would require your collection and delivery service and a courtesy car as well please.
Thank you in advance.
Tony.
And received the following:
Price for Basic ‘B’ service would be £299.00 inclusive of parts,labour,oil + vat. No extra charges for environmental disposal, service wash, collection & delivery & loan car.
There may be some extra service items due on the car dependent on age, mileage etc which you will be notified of on arrival of your vehicle.
All oil used is fully synthetic and includes screenwash. Should you wish to go ahead, I will pass these details onto Jo, who co-ordinates all our booking and she will confirm day’s, times etc.
Thanks
Me again:
That is awfully high. I was hoping that you might honour the discount for vehicles over 3 years old.
I think I’ll be taking it to an independent – I have been quoted £189 inclusive for a B Service by the one on Nottingham. I only held off to try and get the service book.
Considering the age of the vehicle though, I’m not prepared to pay that much just for a service.
Thanks anyway.
Now it gets a bit interesting. He may have some valid points, but I thought his tone turned a bit aggressive about it, but that could just be the nature of email:
As long as you are aware that going out of the dealer net-work will not only affect the residual value of the car, your recovery supplied by Mercedes Benz & jeopardize any good-will future payments towards bodywork etc. Many people are not aware that these entitlements are with-drawn and somewhat disappointed when they find this out.
I am aware that price is an issue for many people, and the Fixed price offered is less than our competitors at Inch-cape, JCT & Drayton group.
The company you mention is known to me, and is cheaper, but is cheaper for a reason, you may find out this out when taking you car in. they have no Qualified Mercedes technicians (up-to-date), no ability to read indepth fault codes, no ability to down-load soft-ware upgrades on to your car (free of charge in Mercedes Dealerships) and needless to say what they actually do for the money they charge. On top of this they are not a recognized Mercedes ‘approved’ repairer.
However, we recognize that there is a market for this type of servicing, but have a duty of care to let you know that there is more than just ‘price’ when it comes to a service & value for money is sometimes in the things you don’t see and may take for granted.I wish you well and am always available should you change your mind or have other motoring needs which we can help with.
Many thanks
Trying to stay diplomatic / not misinterpret the tone and not tell them to stick it (and notice at no time did I mention an Indy's name even though there are at least three in Nottingham that I've been made aware of on here):
Thanks for the reply.
The top and bottom of it is that it’s a seven year old car. It’s also a second car and all of the mileage that we do as a family is covered in my “workhorse” which I also use for business.
My wife, on the other hand, covers around 1,500 miles a year and to date you are the third Mercedes dealer who has offered to help with the service history, the other two being the original dealer in Harrogate and the Mansfield dealer. Neither have come through, so it’s very difficult for me to see any added value.
I am very curious though about the numerous postings on the Mercedes owners club forums that I have seen where people claim that Mercedes drop their prices by 1/3 for cars older than three years as an incentive to stop the migration to independents.
Thanks again for the information.
And the final response from Mercedes (beyond their receptionist mailing me to arrange to book it in...)
You are absolutely correct in what you are saying. This year Mercedes Benz UK have required the dealer network to re-align their prices in-line with Market conditions and be open and transparent with a fixed price service. This is because it was made so complicated as each service was different for each model/engine and therefore a different price for a C180 coupe to C180 saloon & again different for an estate.
Before we re-aligned our servicing costs, a normal ‘B’type service would have been £400.00, the price you have is the new ‘Fixed’ price which is ‘Fixed’ for all ages of cars. We now do not differentiate between a car of 1 year, to a car of 10 years old for the fixed price’ service. It is the same price regardless.
We do however, lower our hourly rate for repairs on older cars. Ie 4-7 years & 7-10 years.
Many thanks
Steve kirk
So in other words, there is now no reduction in price for servicing older cars, and sorry MB but I ain't shelling out £300 for a service on a 7 year old runaround.
Contrast that to Ford from whom myself and immediate family have bought over a dozen vehicles in the last 10 years:
Negotiated a good price on an '04 Mondeo.
They have, under the 90 day warranty done the following with NO arguments (some before I bought it, and some after):
Replaced the rear light cluster which was cracked;
Replaced a leaky door seal;
Replaced the solenoid that locks the gearshift in Park;
Changed the bonnet release and front facia;
Replaced the rear brake disks, pads and handbrake cable;
Adjusted the steering wheel because there was a slight scraping noise;
Replaced the Sony in dash 6 CD changer stereo because it stopped recognising discs;
Repaired a tear in the leather in the drivers seat;
All of which makes me happy that I stuck with the same dealer, and will continue to do so.
So far, my dealings with Mercedes dealerships leave a bitter taste. Their idea of customer service seems to be to constantly lie about calling me back, to expect me to pay over the odds for servicing for a 7 year old car and accept it because it's the marque and to get quite aggressive when I say I'll take it to an indy.
And I wish it were just one 'bad egg' but the above covers three main dealers.
Peace
Our local dealer has closed (Mansfield) and an advert appeared in our local newspaper about Lincoln offering to take on Mansfield customers, with money off vouchers and services from £169.
So I dropped them a mail as (what was mine but is now the the wife's) ours needs a service B.
The mail thread follows verbatim (even down to [lack of] line breaks:
In resonse to my initial query, which included my lack of feedback from the original dealer to send me a stamped service book (I've called three times to the promise of a return call and not had a single one - they're in Harrogate, from memory. I also got nowhere with Mansfield):
Thank you for your interest, you query has been passed onto myself at Lincoln (service manager) to see if I can help.[/font]
Firstly if you let me have you Chassis number of the car, I can look at the national history database and see what I can find. You are more than welcome to any history that is on there. This would be more than adequate to prove history.
Secondly, a service book is just a book with a stamp in it and in real terms means nothing. We can order you a duplicate book for your vehicle, but we are prohibited from filling it in with service done by other dealers. I am sure you agree this is not good practice. What is more important is the VAT receipts which are also a valid confirmation of service.
I hope this clears the matter up and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards
Steve kirk
To which I replied:
Thank you for such a speedy response.
In terms of going forwards the vehicle came with no vat receipts for service, so the printed history would be more than welcome, thank you.
Could you tell me how much, given your current offer to Mansfield residents, a Service B would be please? If it’s an acceptable price we can go ahead and make arrangements to book it in.
We would require your collection and delivery service and a courtesy car as well please.
Thank you in advance.
Tony.
And received the following:
Price for Basic ‘B’ service would be £299.00 inclusive of parts,labour,oil + vat. No extra charges for environmental disposal, service wash, collection & delivery & loan car.
There may be some extra service items due on the car dependent on age, mileage etc which you will be notified of on arrival of your vehicle.
All oil used is fully synthetic and includes screenwash. Should you wish to go ahead, I will pass these details onto Jo, who co-ordinates all our booking and she will confirm day’s, times etc.
Thanks
Me again:
That is awfully high. I was hoping that you might honour the discount for vehicles over 3 years old.
I think I’ll be taking it to an independent – I have been quoted £189 inclusive for a B Service by the one on Nottingham. I only held off to try and get the service book.
Considering the age of the vehicle though, I’m not prepared to pay that much just for a service.
Thanks anyway.
Now it gets a bit interesting. He may have some valid points, but I thought his tone turned a bit aggressive about it, but that could just be the nature of email:
As long as you are aware that going out of the dealer net-work will not only affect the residual value of the car, your recovery supplied by Mercedes Benz & jeopardize any good-will future payments towards bodywork etc. Many people are not aware that these entitlements are with-drawn and somewhat disappointed when they find this out.
I am aware that price is an issue for many people, and the Fixed price offered is less than our competitors at Inch-cape, JCT & Drayton group.
The company you mention is known to me, and is cheaper, but is cheaper for a reason, you may find out this out when taking you car in. they have no Qualified Mercedes technicians (up-to-date), no ability to read indepth fault codes, no ability to down-load soft-ware upgrades on to your car (free of charge in Mercedes Dealerships) and needless to say what they actually do for the money they charge. On top of this they are not a recognized Mercedes ‘approved’ repairer.
However, we recognize that there is a market for this type of servicing, but have a duty of care to let you know that there is more than just ‘price’ when it comes to a service & value for money is sometimes in the things you don’t see and may take for granted.I wish you well and am always available should you change your mind or have other motoring needs which we can help with.
Many thanks
Trying to stay diplomatic / not misinterpret the tone and not tell them to stick it (and notice at no time did I mention an Indy's name even though there are at least three in Nottingham that I've been made aware of on here):
Thanks for the reply.
The top and bottom of it is that it’s a seven year old car. It’s also a second car and all of the mileage that we do as a family is covered in my “workhorse” which I also use for business.
My wife, on the other hand, covers around 1,500 miles a year and to date you are the third Mercedes dealer who has offered to help with the service history, the other two being the original dealer in Harrogate and the Mansfield dealer. Neither have come through, so it’s very difficult for me to see any added value.
I am very curious though about the numerous postings on the Mercedes owners club forums that I have seen where people claim that Mercedes drop their prices by 1/3 for cars older than three years as an incentive to stop the migration to independents.
Thanks again for the information.
And the final response from Mercedes (beyond their receptionist mailing me to arrange to book it in...)
You are absolutely correct in what you are saying. This year Mercedes Benz UK have required the dealer network to re-align their prices in-line with Market conditions and be open and transparent with a fixed price service. This is because it was made so complicated as each service was different for each model/engine and therefore a different price for a C180 coupe to C180 saloon & again different for an estate.
Before we re-aligned our servicing costs, a normal ‘B’type service would have been £400.00, the price you have is the new ‘Fixed’ price which is ‘Fixed’ for all ages of cars. We now do not differentiate between a car of 1 year, to a car of 10 years old for the fixed price’ service. It is the same price regardless.
We do however, lower our hourly rate for repairs on older cars. Ie 4-7 years & 7-10 years.
Many thanks
Steve kirk
So in other words, there is now no reduction in price for servicing older cars, and sorry MB but I ain't shelling out £300 for a service on a 7 year old runaround.
Contrast that to Ford from whom myself and immediate family have bought over a dozen vehicles in the last 10 years:
Negotiated a good price on an '04 Mondeo.
They have, under the 90 day warranty done the following with NO arguments (some before I bought it, and some after):
Replaced the rear light cluster which was cracked;
Replaced a leaky door seal;
Replaced the solenoid that locks the gearshift in Park;
Changed the bonnet release and front facia;
Replaced the rear brake disks, pads and handbrake cable;
Adjusted the steering wheel because there was a slight scraping noise;
Replaced the Sony in dash 6 CD changer stereo because it stopped recognising discs;
Repaired a tear in the leather in the drivers seat;
All of which makes me happy that I stuck with the same dealer, and will continue to do so.
So far, my dealings with Mercedes dealerships leave a bitter taste. Their idea of customer service seems to be to constantly lie about calling me back, to expect me to pay over the odds for servicing for a 7 year old car and accept it because it's the marque and to get quite aggressive when I say I'll take it to an indy.
And I wish it were just one 'bad egg' but the above covers three main dealers.
Peace
Last edited:
