MB Colindale Bodywork service- my rant!!

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KLP 92

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 28, 2003
Messages
2,671
Location
London
Car
Mercedes S600, SL600, C250TD
My rant!

I recently acquired a E320 CDI W210 2002 estate which had the usual rust. I sent the car for an inspection to MB Colindale who subsequently agreed to repair the rust on the rear 3/4 panels, bootlid and door tops/bottoms.

The car was sent by MB Colindale to M&A Coachworks, their alledged flasgship bodyshop which is also approved by Aston Martin, Bentley and Jaguar. There was a small 'ding' on the 3/4 panel which i had to pay £80 to be removed, otherwise it would have been painted over :crazy:

When the vehicle arrived back to me after 2 weeks i was far from happy with the work carried out, or not carried out. My main issues were:

1. Boot lid had been painted, but bubbles/speccles were evident where the rust was.
2. Overspray on the rubber strips at the door tops, roof, front wing, rear bumper.
3. GPS aerial on the roof was missing the rubber seal
4. Door bottoms still rusty
5. Petrol cap silver with overspray
6. the rear tyres have silver overspray (while at PCS Ollie pointed out the shocks and springs were also silver :crazy: )

Needless to say i was far from happy. Spoke to MB who had M&A call me back and explain that the speccles in the paint was normal and the door bottoms and overspray would be removed. They took 2 months to rebook the car back in.

I popped in in the meantime to them to complain and show them my issues. This is 2 weeks after the original repaint, the bootlid had rust bubbles which were peeling off, all 4 door tops rusted again :mad: The manager at M&A simply stated that they get paid £25 a door to paint hence the poor jobs.

Anyway, it gets better. The vehicle was collect last Friday for 2 days for remedial action. 1 week later, the car finally gets back to me at 5:30pm.

Upon intial inspection:

1. Door tops are untouched-still rusty
2. Significant overspray on the front driver's wing, and skirt.
3. Boot lid has scratches and a large chip round the boot handle but rust free
4. Overspray on the rubbers/petrol cap area/roof still there.
5. Black paint on the rear arches, overspray form when they repainted the inner arches from their first mistake

Needless to say i'm furious at this point. The driver was still there so i had them call their manager. After a heated discussion no issues were resolved apart from they have to recheck the car as went it left them it was rust free and checked by a quality control inspector.

It gets better......

Driver asks me to drop him off to the station, jumped in the car to find it in limp mode. Stuck in 2nd gear, no tip functions, switching on and off does nothing. Asked the driver who stated he drove it from the bodyshop and up the M1 like that (in 2nd gear :eek: )

Enoughs enough, rang up the Branch manager at Colindale. I explained to him the full story and the fact they've retuned a car to me that quite frankly is still rusty and now non roadworthy. As far as he was concerned the car needed a reboot but i would have to take this up with the bodyshop directly as they contracted the work out. He was kind enough to say he would book the car in, but i would be liable for the bill.

I have a rusty W210 outside (surprise surprise!!) which is in limp mode. Combine that with the fact i'm at work from 8:30 to 4:30pm and then i'm driving to Germany after that, supposedly in this car.

Any suggestions on the next course of action would be greatly appreciated. I've tried disconnecting the battery but no joy. I don't want to take the car to work as i use the M1 and 2nd gear isn't getting far!! But i need the car in the evening to go to Germany, i really don't want to take the C Class, the V12 has a faulty navigation system!

Rant over :)
 
Fax to dealer principle asap (must get your issues in writing), explaining your predicament and asking what they are going to do about it, and follow up with a phone call in the morning.

Contracting the work out, does not mean that MB do not have to resolve your issue as far as I can see
 
The thing i'm annoyed at is the fact my car is in limp mode, combined with my planned trip to Europe tomorrow and the fact noone is prepared to do anything about it.

I'm going to turn up at MB at 8am on the way to work and make a serious amount of noise.
 
the car needed a reboot but i would have to take this up with the bodyshop directly as they contracted the work out

Absolute and total rubbish!

Your contract under the terms of your ageement :

MB Colindale who subsequently agreed to repair the rust on the rear 3/4 panels, bootlid and door tops/bottoms.

are with MB Colindale..to try and teflon it to you like that is at least unprofessional and at worst illegal.

Step back, and consult a Solicitor.:mad:


 
If your stuck try Wayne Gates, I am pretty sure he starts early on saturdays.
Wayne Gates Mercedes Benz Servicing
020 8863 9233
Unit F5, Pheonix Ind Est Rosslyn Crescent
Harrow Middlesex
HA1 2SP
 
would mobilo be able to diagnose/reset the limp mode?

Refused on the phone, they stated that if the car was in permanent limp mode then all they would do is tow me to my local MB dealership for repairs, the cost of which i'm liable to.
 
Contact Mercedes Customer Care dept and lodge your complaint.
 
You must write too the top man

-
Dermot Kelly M.D.
DaimlerChrysler UK Ltd.
Tongwell
MK15 8BA Milton Keynes,
Buckinghamshire
Great Britain
 
Im sorry to hear about your troubles mate. Personally I would never take my car to a MB dealer for them to do any sort of jobs on it after what I witnessed with my own eyes once...and this too in Colindale!

The guys that bring the customers cars in and out, park them around the courtyard and or move them around have no respect for them. Once I went there to enquire about the AMG Gen 2 bumper for my W124, this service guy a customers E-class after he had left the premises to do what seemed like initial checks. There is this side road which links edgware road to stag lane, on that road this service guy was thrashing this customers car up and down the road, driving it extremely hard, blatenly red-lining it as the engine sounded as if its constanty boucing on the rev limiter and doing wheelspins in it!!!

I've never been back ever since then and its really put me off from going to any MB dealers. Even witnessing a small incident like that just makes you lose all confidence and trust.
 
Im sorry to hear about your troubles mate. Personally I would never take my car to a MB dealer for them to do any sort of jobs on it after what I witnessed with my own eyes once...and this too in Colindale!

The guys that bring the customers cars in and out, park them around the courtyard and or move them around have no respect for them. Once I went there to enquire about the AMG Gen 2 bumper for my W124, this service guy a customers E-class after he had left the premises to do what seemed like initial checks. There is this side road which links edgware road to stag lane, on that road this service guy was thrashing this customers car up and down the road, driving it extremely hard, blatenly red-lining it as the engine sounded as if its constanty boucing on the rev limiter and doing wheelspins in it!!!

I've never been back ever since then and its really put me off from going to any MB dealers. Even witnessing a small incident like that just makes you lose all confidence and trust.

I have never seen a good word for them, only complaints
 
Sorry to hear your troubles at this stage, Makes me think about the amount i am having with MB just trying to get my claim approved.
I would contact Milton Keynes head office direct, and say explicitly you will make no hesitation to get a legal team involved unless this situation is sorted.
I would tell MB Colindale the same thing, i believe it would have been a certain Miss. C***y (not mentioning any names) or her counterpart liaising with you there?
And personally i would have given the guy from M & A a good hiding had he had brought my car back like that, but violence never solves anything i guess!
Good Luck.
 
If your stuck try Wayne Gates, I am pretty sure he starts early on saturdays.
Wayne Gates Mercedes Benz Servicing
020 8863 9233
Unit F5, Pheonix Ind Est Rosslyn Crescent
Harrow Middlesex
HA1 2SP


And next to him is Dave at Mercstar who is also OK, I think he does the STAR stuff for pearly.
 
I have seen the car and it is unaceptable. good luck Nav.
 
MB Colindale is becoming much worse than the 'Direct' low cost outlets
 
Just a quick update.

All the mentioned garages in the thread were 'too busy' to be able to reset the fault codes yesterday. I had the vehicle taken back to M&A Coachworks who turned round and stated they have no technicians that can use the MB Star. Not a problem as i know my way round one andcould do it myself. But apparently i'm not allowed :mad:

Well i ended up taking the car down to PC MERC in East london who were kind enough to have a look for me. There were alot of fault codes, all from having a flat battery. The one that caused the limp mode problem was something along the lines of 'voltage low to solenoids' in the gearbox. A reset of the codes got rid of the problem.

Not impressed so will be making a formal complaint when i get back to MB head office.
 
Thank you for the update, what a shabby outfit to be presenting MB. If the car goes back to them again for the paint work you will have to do it all over again
 
Thank you for the update, what a shabby outfit to be presenting MB. If the car goes back to them again for the paint work you will have to do it all over again

MB aren't much better themselves!

I've spoken to the managing director of M&A Coachworks later on that day who came and inspected the vehicle at my workplace (i work accross the road from them :D ) and genuinely seemed appauled at the workmanship. He said he will investigate why my car was allowed to leave the workshop in such a condition.

We'll wait till tomorrow and see what happens.
 

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