I made my third trip to MB World in Weybridge yesterday, and was not impressed. I went with a group of friends, all of whom had to drive at least two hours to get there, and the plan was to do some driving, and then head elsewhere for the rest of the day. I booked 6 rides, two AMG and four 30 minute Mercedes experiences, four at 10.00 and two more at 11.00 so we could head off early for lunch.
Got there nice and early, which meant we all had to set off before 7.30. First in line to register for our driving experiences, only to be asked to take a seat at the side. No explanation was given, but I could hear the girl telling the manager that although we had booked, someone had not put it "in the diary", so no instructors had been allocated. At around 10.15, the manager came out and explained that because it had not been put in the diary, none of us had been allocated instructors. However, he had gone to a lot of trouble, and managed to fit us in at various places throughout the day. Although this completely messed up our plans for the rest of the day, no appology was given, and he was not even particularly polite. What came accross was how irritated he was at having to fit us in at the last moment, even though they were the ones who made the mistake. The closest we got to an appology was the offer of some passenger rides between 2-3pm, which did not fit in with our schedule. We were all really taken aback by his attitude.
On to the rides themselves. I did the AMG experience in an SL63, and was distinctly underwhelmed. I know the instructors have to be cautious, but I can honestly say I went faster during my previous visit which was just an MB experience. Unlike the previous instructor, this fellow was really patronising and just kept going on about how much the car was worth etc.
One of my other friends had a really unsatisfactory experience. They were clearly short of instructors, so her MB experience appeared to be accompanied by one of the hostesses, i.e. the people who show you to the car then let the instructor take over. This ride was the only one which did not include the skid pad, and she was told not to go above 40mph (in an SL350). She went around the track a few times, and that was it: entire duration less than 20 minutes!! Unfortunately, she did not mention this to me until we had left, or I would have taken it up with them at the time: not that I imagine anyone there would have been interested.
Needless to say a letter of compaint is going in, but the real consequence is that I won't go there again. My previous visits were great, but this has put me right off.
Got there nice and early, which meant we all had to set off before 7.30. First in line to register for our driving experiences, only to be asked to take a seat at the side. No explanation was given, but I could hear the girl telling the manager that although we had booked, someone had not put it "in the diary", so no instructors had been allocated. At around 10.15, the manager came out and explained that because it had not been put in the diary, none of us had been allocated instructors. However, he had gone to a lot of trouble, and managed to fit us in at various places throughout the day. Although this completely messed up our plans for the rest of the day, no appology was given, and he was not even particularly polite. What came accross was how irritated he was at having to fit us in at the last moment, even though they were the ones who made the mistake. The closest we got to an appology was the offer of some passenger rides between 2-3pm, which did not fit in with our schedule. We were all really taken aback by his attitude.
On to the rides themselves. I did the AMG experience in an SL63, and was distinctly underwhelmed. I know the instructors have to be cautious, but I can honestly say I went faster during my previous visit which was just an MB experience. Unlike the previous instructor, this fellow was really patronising and just kept going on about how much the car was worth etc.
One of my other friends had a really unsatisfactory experience. They were clearly short of instructors, so her MB experience appeared to be accompanied by one of the hostesses, i.e. the people who show you to the car then let the instructor take over. This ride was the only one which did not include the skid pad, and she was told not to go above 40mph (in an SL350). She went around the track a few times, and that was it: entire duration less than 20 minutes!! Unfortunately, she did not mention this to me until we had left, or I would have taken it up with them at the time: not that I imagine anyone there would have been interested.
Needless to say a letter of compaint is going in, but the real consequence is that I won't go there again. My previous visits were great, but this has put me right off.
) We arrived late, nothing was a bother. Had an absolutely fantastic instructor, got me properly drifting on the wet circle (3 times in a row - 
