Delivery Charge on New C Class W204 - Please explain.

[Goldfish11]

Order Cancelled



Received email:


Good afternoon Mr XXXX
I have had talks with XXX and XXX my sales and general managers, please see attached quote for final offer. If you wish to go ahead that is great.
For the COMAND unit you will pay an extra £719.00 over the original car that you ordered. There is nothing else that can be done and you are getting a fantastic deal.
If you wish to cancel, I will need your card details to refund your deposit, which will be processed on Monday coming.
Please confirm by return email which way you wish to proceed. <<...>>

My response:

"Dear XXX,

I am sorry but I am going to cancel my order. Please give me a call so I can give you my credit card details over the telephone.

I am not cancelling the order because of the £113 but over the principle.

I find it unethical (and even perhaps illegal and against trading standards) that a “delivery and on the road charge” advertised in the Mercedes brochure (including the ones being handed out last night at the launch event) and on the Mercedes internet site is ignored by dealers. Effectively you are saying that the brochure on the road charges quoted by Mercedes UK are fictitious. It would be like Tesco advertising a product for a given price and then when you get to store they want to charge you more.

You would have been better off giving me less of a discount and making margin in this way but at least sticking to the additional on the road charges quoted on the Mercedes website and brochures rather than trying to sneak this charge through on a customer. If I ran my business in this way I would be sued by my customers. The discussion on the Mercedes Benz Club website I started a few days ago also agrees with this point.

It is really sad, that over the years my Father, myself have bought 3 vehicles from Mercedes Benz, XXXXX all nearly new and when I come to buy a new vehicle I find that this is how new car business is done. I have purchased new vehicles from other manufacturers and have never experiences this so I am very disappointed.

I recommend that yourself, XXX and XXX review this policy and think carefully about the implications.

Kind regards,"

Anyway thats that. I now need to place an other order with a dealership giving me 10% off and who sticks to what the MB site states. Luckily I got a few quotes at the start of this process who can do this so I am optimistic but sadly I have now lost my build slot which was booked in May. So I do hope I can get one for September delivery.

Or there is always BMW or Lexus

Alternatively I can carry on driving my 8 year old E Class now no longer on private plates and look forward to the winter again with the snow tyres I bought last September, I was the only thing moving in our area

 

[Goldfish11]

PS Winter tyres are in Garage, nice new Costco Michelin Pilots currently on car.

 

[A210AMG]

If you go for September isn't that a newer plate, in fact why not wait a tad longer and use the E class on winter tyres and get a 2012 model

Have you considered factory collection also?

The garage don't seem interested at all in explaining their fees and it pretty much sums them up, if you want it you will buy it... Like you instead of 10% off give you 9% or whatever so it doesn't 'feel' like your being taken for a fool.

 

[dhard]

To cancel an order because of £113 pounds when u were getting 10% discount is a bit over the top , looks to me u were just looking for a excuse to get out of the deal.

 

[Simon_M]

Oh well, back to negotiating down from list at another dealer then........but dhard (although generally posting shyate about C63s and M3s) does seem to have a point.

Cutting your nose off to spite your face is the phrase.

 

[rascalmaster]

Received email:


Good afternoon Mr XXXX
I have had talks with XXX and XXX my sales and general managers, please see attached quote for final offer. If you wish to go ahead that is great.
For the COMAND unit you will pay an extra £719.00 over the original car that you ordered. There is nothing else that can be done and you are getting a fantastic deal.
If you wish to cancel, I will need your card details to refund your deposit, which will be processed on Monday coming.
Please confirm by return email which way you wish to proceed. <<...>>

My response:

"Dear XXX,

I am sorry but I am going to cancel my order. Please give me a call so I can give you my credit card details over the telephone.

I am not cancelling the order because of the £113 but over the principle.

I find it unethical (and even perhaps illegal and against trading standards) that a “delivery and on the road charge” advertised in the Mercedes brochure (including the ones being handed out last night at the launch event) and on the Mercedes internet site is ignored by dealers. Effectively you are saying that the brochure on the road charges quoted by Mercedes UK are fictitious. It would be like Tesco advertising a product for a given price and then when you get to store they want to charge you more.

You would have been better off giving me less of a discount and making margin in this way but at least sticking to the additional on the road charges quoted on the Mercedes website and brochures rather than trying to sneak this charge through on a customer. If I ran my business in this way I would be sued by my customers. The discussion on the Mercedes Benz Club website I started a few days ago also agrees with this point.

It is really sad, that over the years my Father, myself have bought 3 vehicles from Mercedes Benz, XXXXX all nearly new and when I come to buy a new vehicle I find that this is how new car business is done. I have purchased new vehicles from other manufacturers and have never experiences this so I am very disappointed.

I recommend that yourself, XXX and XXX review this policy and think carefully about the implications.

Kind regards,"

Anyway thats that. I now need to place an other order with a dealership giving me 10% off and who sticks to what the MB site states. Luckily I got a few quotes at the start of this process who can do this so I am optimistic but sadly I have now lost my build slot which was booked in May. So I do hope I can get one for September delivery.

Or there is always BMW or Lexus

Alternatively I can carry on driving my 8 year old E Class now no longer on private plates and look forward to the winter again with the snow tyres I bought last September, I was the only thing moving in our area

this is a super conclusion...
You're paying a substantial amount of money and if you're going to come away with a sour taste- that's a definite deal breaker!
As you have pointed out it's not the £110... (we've probably all spent more than that on a night out!), but the principle.
If i was selling a premium car to someone- i would make sure they felt the 'premium experience' instead of being peeved off at the close of the deal.
Add to this the fact that you're an old standing customer of their's; and that's just shameful.
You considered going to Germany and picking up your car? that sounds like a bit of an adventure and that way you know unscrupulous dealers haven't had a chance to get their mitts on it!

 

[markjay]

Just a thought - have you considered bring this issue up with MB UK, who published the original brochure you mention?

 

[219]

You considered going to Germany and picking up your car? that sounds like a bit of an adventure and that way you know unscrupulous dealers haven't had a chance to get their mitts on it!

That is yet another plus point for personal collection

 

[Goldfish11]

I tend to agree I may be "Cutting off my nose to spite my face" but at the end of the day I like to deal with businesses that have integrity.

I don't think I would have enjoyed the car from them, I would always remember the hassle. This issue was the thing that broke me.

I was misinformed about availability, the amount of fuel on delivery, the costs of personal collection for my wife to join me and finally the delivery charges. They over sold and under delivered, told me what I wanted to hear, got me to pay £1000 deposit and then messed me around for a month.

I can afford to stand up to them others may not be in such a privileged position. If some of us don't take a stand then they will try it on again for more in the future.

dhard - You may be right, I have been feeling uneasy about this but hoped it would come good. So this is the excuse I needed.

 

[dhard]

Just a thought - have you considered bring this issue up with MB UK, who published the original brochure you mention?

All mercedes brochure say information correct at time of going to print , price and specifications are subject to change without prior notice.

 

[eugekav]

Extras!

Hi, Well done I think you have scored one for the consumer and the idea of going to germany to cut out the middle men sounds like a real adventure.These people are negociators and do not seem very good at their job to leave a customer unsatisifed over such a small point.you should write to customer relations even if it just to tell them about this.How much would you save going to germany?.


Euge.

 

[timk]

All mercedes brochure say information correct at time of going to print , price and specifications are subject to change without prior notice.

Yes, but the point is that the dealer seems to have imposed their own take on delivery and on the road charges, as opposed to the discrepency being a result of an MB UK imposed pricing change...

 

[219]

Info about personal collection here

LINK

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Reading all of your posts Goldfish, I would have done the same thing pal.

One of the worse feelings in the world that; feeling as though you've been turned over. Well done for standing your ground.

 

[crockers]

Going to Germany isn't cutting out the dealer. One buys through the dealer and going to Germany is covered in this spurious delivery charge. If you buy it in Germany you have to buy it through a German dealer.

As far as I am aware Mercedes don't sell direct to the public.

 

[LTD]

Well done Goldfish.

Now the DP may be asking questions of his sales team.

 

[Simon_M]

With factory collect you still pay the delivery charge, but get flown to Germany to collect it and drive it back to the supplying dealer who register it and PDI it.

So you will still be buying from them.

Just try another dealer.

 

[219]

Going to Germany isn't cutting out the dealer. One buys through the dealer and going to Germany is covered in this spurious delivery charge. If you buy it in Germany you have to buy it through a German dealer.

As far as I am aware Mercedes don't sell direct to the public.

Would it be advantageous to buy your UK spec car from a German dealer ?

 

[crockers]

Think they load the price for RHD to stop this -- Ian had a crack at this but I dont think he bought from there..

 

[219]

Probably to do with quietly arranged territorial agreements

Personal collection still means that your new car has not been bombed up the motorway by a delivery driver , or thrashed round the dockyard when disembarking from the ship .