MB Service Rip-Off

[kjj90210]

I'm just having a rant today against MB dealers, my local MB dealer (Southport, Merseyside) changed me £515.84 the other day for the privilege of getting my W140 S300TD starting again.

They also wanted another £100 for a new battery, which had only been replaced 2 months ago. Fortunately they have fitted a new battery under the MB warranty.

The annoying thing is, the car was supposed to have been fully serviced by a major MB dealer in Belgium about 14 months ago, the service book claims it was a full service so surley these filters should have been replaced?

Even the air filter is way older than 14 months so it looks like that hasn’t been changed either.

The car wouldn’t start and I knew the glow plugs were already new as I had them replaced about 6 months ago (not by MB), so I suspected the fuel wasn’t getting through to the engine.

Sure enough after removing the main diesel filter and pre-filter they were all blocked up, it looks like they hadn’t been changed since the car was new never-mind 14 months ago, changing these however didn’t fix the problem as expected.

After a phone call to MB in Belgium they came up with 2 possible causes;

• The alarm immobiliser was cutting off the fuel.
• There was air in the fuel causing loss of pressure.

I didn’t like the look of taking all the air-intake off myself so phoned MB, they sent out a tow truck to pick the car up; had the car for 2 days then fixed it.

Sub Contracted Tow Truck £85
Parts £54.46 (all fuel lines and filters)
Labour £299.55
VAT £76.83

Total £515.84

I was told that because the filters were blocked it had put pressure on the fuel intake causing a leak at the seal and could have been avoided by paying a few pounds for the filters.


And the moral of this story is; never trust MB if they say they have serviced the car double check it yourself.

 

[television]

Sadly we no longer have many engineers, we have fitters instead, that rather than replace one injector (as they cant work out which one) by replacing them all they are safe.

Many Bosch service centers have engineers that can diagnose correctly and do the work for under ½ the MB price

£600 is a blow from any working mans pocket

 

[BTB 500]

Don't understand this. Shouldn't the rant really be against the dealership in Belgium that (apparently) skimped on the last service?

Incidentally, blocked filters on a 10 year old diesel would make me wonder if it had been run on cooking oil or similar.

 

[DaveK]

As much as I hate the sue, sue, sue culture of the USA it does have some good points. Mainly, when faced with consumer problems like this, you can take some sort of action by dragging the other party through the courts. In this country, the costs of using even the small claims court can be quite daunting and is little more than gambling. Some one the size of MB knows this and will therefor hold out.

You paid for something, you didn't get it...in my book that constitutes fraud

 

[BTB 500]

You paid for something, you didn't get it...in my book that constitutes fraud

Are you talking about the service in Belgium? Not clear to me whether the poster owned the car then or not.

 

[DaveK]

If the owner is saying he had services in Belgium and now discovers that they had been short changing by not fitting the parts they claim to have then I'd be straight down the Fraud road if those parts were on an itemised bill.

 

[Shude]

In this country, the costs of using even the small claims court can be quite daunting and is little more than gambling. Some one the size of MB knows this and will therefor hold out.

Making a claim through the county court is a fixed price of about £50 and even if you lose the costs cannot be passed onto you. You can even start the procedure online now! Money Claim
It is a great way for the "man in the street" to take on a big business and win. A colleague of mine had to use this to get some money from an unhelpful double-glazing company that ruined his bathroom. Also if the company doesn't respond or fails to send a representitive (common) then you win by default and have the right to send in bailiffs.

Good luck to the OP in getting his car sorted!

 

[kjj90210]

Are you talking about the service in Belgium? Not clear to me whether the poster owned the car then or not.

Hi, yes the dealer in Belgium has short changed me. I bought the car from them with their word it was serviced.

My rant was not against MB Southport as they fixed the car and told me how much it would cost before repairing it.

They obviously did not do the full service at MB Belgium, maybe only changed the oil and oil filter.

I don't have an itemised service bill for this. So the court route would be hard to prove without good evidence, it’s a gamble if they would settle out of court. I don’t have the time or patience for that right now.

I am going to put this down to experience and learn my lesson by be more cautious in future.

Anyway the car now drives like it should again.

 

[television]

Some new rules have been passed that say the garage must tell you what is needed before they fit anything, there have been so many cases of this.

 

[fredfloggle]

Making a claim through the county court is a fixed price of about £50 and even if you lose the costs cannot be passed onto you. You can even start the procedure online now! Money Claim
It is a great way for the "man in the street" to take on a big business and win. A colleague of mine had to use this to get some money from an unhelpful double-glazing company that ruined his bathroom. Also if the company doesn't respond or fails to send a representitive (common) then you win by default and have the right to send in bailiffs.

Good luck to the OP in getting his car sorted!

I'd suggest a bit of research before assuming that costs can't be awarded against you.

 

[crockers]

Hi, yes the dealer in Belgium has short changed me. I bought the car from them with their word it was serviced.

My rant was not against MB Southport as they fixed the car and told me how much it would cost before repairing it.

They obviously did not do the full service at MB Belgium, maybe only changed the oil and oil filter.

I don't have an itemised service bill for this. So the court route would be hard to prove without good evidence, it’s a gamble if they would settle out of court. I don’t have the time or patience for that right now.

I am going to put this down to experience and learn my lesson by be more cautious in future.

Anyway the car now drives like it should again.

Trouble is they may not have been telling porkies.....it all depends on what service they did...If it was a small A service then that is basically an oil changed - if it was a B one then the filters need checking etc...

The lesson is to ask what type of service and what is checked ...........but yes its always easier to be wise after the fact....its called learning..

 

[WLeg]

Some new rules have been passed that say the garage must tell you what is needed before they fit anything, there have been so many cases of this.

But not in Belguim...

 

[BTB 500]

My rant was not against MB Southport

Ok thanks for clarifying as your original post did rather sound that way!

I'm just having a rant today against MB dealers, my local MB dealer (Southport, Merseyside) changed me £515.84 the other day for the privilege of getting my W140 S300TD starting again.

Anyway, glad to hear the car is running well again now.

I don't know how often fuel filters are replaced on that model, it might not have been due at a service 14 months ago. Either way, like you say it's probably one to put down to experience rather than trying to take them to court for fraud.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Trouble is they may not have been telling porkies.....it all depends on what service they did...If it was a small A service then that is basically an oil changed - if it was a B one then the filters need checking etc...

The lesson is to ask what type of service and what is checked ...........but yes its always easier to be wise after the fact....its called learning..

My thoughts too.

Unfortunately I'm not sure your argument will be watertight. If the filters didn't need replacing at that time, or for that service interval, then they didn't sell you short by not changing them.

The passage of 14 months would also make this difficult to prove. It would be different if the service was a month or two ago, but it wasn't. Might be worth appealing to the dealer's better judgement, but legal procedings may prove expensive and unfruitful.

Sorry if that's not what you came here wanting to hear.

 

[jonm]

My understanding is that filters are changes as needed ratehr than at every service???

Had the fuel filter changed on mine as an extra at 4 yrs rather than as part of the A/B service...it says in the book that its a check/advisory.

 

[124fan]

Outside the dealerships, I always had my fuel filter, oil and oil filter changed at 10k, air filter at 20k if it looked like it needed to be. Am I wasting my money? do filters still function at their best with higher miles on them? How many of the high mile'ers on here leave filters for longer periods? sorry to sort of hi jack this but, as oils have gotten better and longer service intervals I was just questioning myself if I was wise sticking with my old system?

Cheers

 

[kjj90210]

Now my rant is at MB Southport

I came to start the car this morning and it wont start. The same symptoms as last time, it turns over but wont start.

They obviously havent fixed the original fault correctly. This time there is no fuel in the intake pipe at all.

I will be contacting them first thing Monday morning.

I dont see why I should need to pay any more labour costs or tow truck charges either as they havent fixed the fault, I will pay for parts but nothing else.

 

[glojo]

What fuel are you using and is there a chance there is muck in the fuel tank?

Regards
John

 

[kjj90210]

What fuel are you using and is there a chance there is muck in the fuel tank?

Regards
John

Its diesel.

I would not be surprised if something like that could be causing the fault,

 

[kjj90210]

I have had another look at the problem this morning. There is no fuel in the pre-filter intake pipe. I disconnected the pipe from the pre-filter which is still clean.

I blew compressed air back through the pipe and could hear the diesel bubbling in the tank so there is no blockage in the pipe or pre-diesel heater.

I put everything back and still won’t start, there is still no fuel in the pipe.

I’m leaving it to MB to fix now as I can’t think of anything else other than air getting in the intake pipe somewhere.

It probably didn’t need all the other pipes replacing in the first place.