Dealership Dealings

[snoop51]

My car is coming up for it's first service and I have the following dealership choice to make.

Colchester (Near to home)

or

Canterbury (Near to work)

I work away from home so stay in Kent during the week so convenience Canterbury wins, but I had a good buying experience from Colchester MB and have no reason to doubt this would continue into the service department.

Has anyone any experience of the servicing departments in either of these dealerships? Good or bad.

Thanks in advance.

 

[steve333]

My car is coming up for it's first service and I have the following dealership choice to make.

Colchester (Near to home)

or

Canterbury (Near to work)

I work away from home so stay in Kent during the week so convenience Canterbury wins, but I had a good buying experience from Colchester MB and have no reason to doubt this would continue into the service department.

Has anyone any experience of the servicing departments in either of these dealerships? Good or bad.

Thanks in advance.

Haven't used either of the dealers you've mentioned,have you contacted both to see who offers the best deal?(prices do vary from one mb dealer to another)also,if you intend keeping the car for a few years you might benefit from a service care plan,good luck.

 

[bpsorrel]

Colchester are part of the Jardine Motors group who were one of my biggest clients! I can vouch for them! Chelmsford and Ipswich are good also and supplied and serviced my first two MBs.

 

[rascalmaster]

dont know about Canterbury, but

my findings (and surprisingly what some other colleagues have seconded)-

colchester gives better deals when buying the car.

ipswich does a better job at servicing the car.

strange thing is they are the same dealership... (but ipswich is a bigger workshop and they have more kit at hand)

so my answer would be option 3 have ipswich pick up the car from colchester if you don't want to drive it there... and get the courtesy car from them in the interim

 

[timwood2000]

I have experience in Canterbury.

MB Canterbury gave me a disastrous experience, unhelpful, unknowledgeable and generally poor service which led me to ring MB Head Office Customer Service for help. Also handed me back my car in a state that needed it to be towed away by Mobilo less than a week after getting it back.

On the other hand, Vikings in Canterbury (where I bought my car from) have consistently been helpful and reliable and seem to know about looking after your car. I would recommend them. I have a major service with ATF change booked in with them next month.

 

[snoop51]

Haven't used either of the dealers you've mentioned,have you contacted both to see who offers the best deal?(prices do vary from one mb dealer to another)also,if you intend keeping the car for a few years you might benefit from a service care plan,good luck.

I took the service care plan out when I bought the car so it's just the quality of service / customer care I am interested in.

 

[snoop51]

I have experience in Canterbury.

MB Canterbury gave me a disastrous experience, unhelpful, unknowledgeable and generally poor service which led me to ring MB Head Office Customer Service for help. Also handed me back my car in a state that needed it to be towed away by Mobilo less than a week after getting it back.

On the other hand, Vikings in Canterbury (where I bought my car from) have consistently been helpful and reliable and seem to know about looking after your car. I would recommend them. I have a major service with ATF change booked in with them next month.

I'm guessing you've never been back to MB Canterbury then

 

[snoop51]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. I think due to the fact it's only a first service so I guess not a long job, I'll go with timwood2000 and try Viking in Canterbury.

 

[timwood2000]

I'm guessing you've never been back to MB Canterbury then

Right! They would need to pay me to go back there!

 

[Chrishazle]

For those of us that need a good indie instead of a dealer, thankfully there's Class Cars at Wingham, just east of Canterbury!

 

[Alps]

Ive used Colchester on my last service, as you have service care just go there, service is good enough, tech`s IMO are "OK" with the standard stuff, anything more complicated and they struggle!

FYI, if you didnt have service care, supply your own MB reccomended oil and save £114 off the bill, oil should be half that!

Kevin is the service manager I have dealt with and he`s a nice enough chap.

 

[timwood2000]

For those of us that need a good indie instead of a dealer, thankfully there's Class Cars at Wingham, just east of Canterbury!

Good point. They have a good reputation, although when I called by to talk about some work on mine, they didn't seem particuarly interested. Maybe it was just me (or my car!) as the feedback always seems good.

 

[Chrishazle]

From SE London you don't have to go as far as Wingham to find a good indie - there's an outfit in Sidcup that gets good writeups from both MB and Porsche! Miffy posted their contact details on another thread the other day.

 

[snoop51]

Car booked into Vikings Canterbury I did try ringing Colchester but the service department was busy on another call they will call you back said the receptionist. No call after 2 hours so Vikings got the business.

I'm not very patient when waiting for someone whom I wish to give money to can't be bothered to call me.