Mercedes benz service!

[kamsingh]

Took in my CL65 last week friday to a MB dealer because my a/c was not working correctly, i told them i did not want any work done that is outside of the warrant and they said fair enough.. They had a look at it and said the condensor unit had gone. I asked again and said will that be covered under the warranty and they said definitely. So i picked my car up yesterday morning and the lady at the service desk handed me my keys over, and i took the car home, pretty pleased with the results.

Today i get a phone call saying how would i like to pay for the condensor unit. I said but the work was carried out under warranty, they then reply no it was not, because a stone had gone into the unit and damaged it. Now they are insisting i pay close to £1,000. I then spoke to the manager and he apologised for the problem in communication and said either i drop the car back to get it UNFIXED, or i pay a discounted rate at £900!

I really dont know what to do....

Quite weird really that they realise after the cars been home for a day, that the work is not covered by warranty.

Any advice what to do next?

Thanks guys

 

[Triple Star]

buy a can of petrol...

 

[kamsingh]

buy a can of petrol...

where should i accidently on purpose spill it?

 

[BlackC55]

get them to show you the old condensor

 

[C240Sport97]

tell them to take a running jump into the nearest frozen lake and procreate

if I were you, I would stand firm .. as far as you are concerned, they agreed to cover it under warranty FOC. The fact that they handed you the car back without asking for payment is consistent with your position.

They cannot do anything to you, short of issuing legal proceedings in the small claims court. If they did, I would fight and you would probably win .. circumstances are in your favour.

Which MB dealer is this?

 

[kamsingh]

get them to show you the old condensor

If it is damaged, what to do then? I originally thought if it isnt covered under warranty, i would get it done from a independant specialist. I doubt it would of come anywhere near to the cost of £900. Its like im in a lose-lose situation!

 

[kamsingh]

tell them to take a running jump into the nearest frozen lake and procreate

if I were you, I would stand firm .. as far as you are concerned, they agreed to cover it under warranty FOC. The fact that they handed you the car back without asking for payment is consistent with your position.

They cannot do anything to you, short of issuing legal proceedings in the small claims court. If they did, I would fight and you would probably win .. circumstances are in your favour.

Which MB dealer is this?

Leicester

 

[wemorgan]

Maybe this is a interesting point of law that an expert would need to answer.

You might of had a verbal contract with them to fix the condenser under warranty?
On completion of the works and then collection the contract was 'ratified'?
End of contract?

It's clear I am no expert, but just proposing a theory.

With the car in your possession you can negotiate from a point of strength.

Best of luck.

 

[Rory]

get them to show you the old condensor

How would he know it was his?

 

[robertjrt]

Oh dear!

This sound very familiar.

How do you know that your old unit was damaged by a stone? Were you shown the damage in situ?

Your contract with MB was, to paraphrase, don't do any work that I would be expected to pay for. MB accepted your car on that condition.

I would not pay, let them go to the Small Claims Court and prove that the damaged unit was from your car. For all you know it was a 30p "O" ring.

MB my use the Tort Act as MB could claim that they have "improved the goods", very iffy. MB are used to using hollow legal threats.

If MB do issue a Claim, counter Claim.

The worst that can happen in the SCC is you will have too pay plus £85 Issuing Costs, but, the burden of proof will be on MB to prove the damage
and that the damaged part was from your car, and who will give evidence, MB employees?

Find a few quotes for elsewhere to repair/replace the alleged damaged part.

Remember MB swore that the damage to my car was present when it went in for repairs, not true, as proved at trial.

 

[mr. shr]

Don't suppose you know the name of the individuals you spoke to before they did the work? (i.e. do you remember who told you they wouldn't do any work if the fault was non warranty work?)

 

[kamsingh]

Don't suppose you know the name of the individuals you spoke to before they did the work? (i.e. do you remember who told you they wouldn't do any work if the fault was non warranty work?)

It was a woman at the service desk counter, the same woman who happily handed over the keys yesterday to pick the car up. I cannot remember her name of the top of my head...

 

[flango]

Oh dear!

The worst that can happen in the SCC is you will have too pay plus £85 Issuing Costs, but, the burden of proof will be on MB to prove the damage
and that the damaged part was from your car, and who will give evidence, MB employees?

What if he loses and get stuck with MB's legal costs as well? needs careful consideration, also no verbal evidence in SCC so no one would be on the stand. If complex may get kicked out of SCC and escalated potentially raising the costs further.

For what its worth though I would stand my ground based on the verbal contract and from the information provided so far I'm pretty sure it would go in your favour.

However remember not all judges are smart and as in Glojo's case in the SCC the judge agreed with the seller even though the seller had breached several sales acts, so you cannot always rely on a just outcome.

Just give it some thought is what I am saying but as you have the car and possession is 9/10ths as they say then I think you should be OK

 

[C240Sport97]

What if he loses and get stuck with MB's legal costs as well?

each side bears its own costs in the Small Claims Court

 

[flango]

each side bears its own costs in the Small Claims Court

Not if you lose and the other sides summons includes their legal costs. i.e cost of the condenser + the solicitors time for preparing the case

 

[219]

Did you sign anything when you handed the car in ? Possibly some sort of document agreeing to a maximum of £xxx without further notification ? I don't use stealers these days other than for buying parts , but when I did , they always had me sign something agreeing to work up to a certain limit ( something like £150 IIRC ) .

Perhaps Nick Mercedes will come along and advise the cost of the part .....

 

[kamsingh]

Did you sign anything when you handed the car in ? Possibly some sort of document agreeing to a maximum of £xxx without further notification ? I don't use stealers these days other than for buying parts , but when I did , they always had me sign something agreeing to work up to a certain limit ( something like £150 IIRC ) .

Perhaps Nick Mercedes will come along and advise the cost of the part .....

Nope no document of any kind. All was done verbally and a phone call aswell!

 

[x332race]

Try contacting MB head office customer relations dept.....I did this when I had a problem....its worth being persistent too as they initially backed up what the dealer said.....it was only after a few emails where I pointed out that I was being reasonable in presenting the facts that they turned round and accepted liability....this was a warranty issue too.

Oh, and by the way, I have left MB premises in the past without paying although in each case staff have said that they have not got the paperwork together and that someone will be in contact by phone to take payment...not a problem...

 

[219]

A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on !

I think they'd need WRITTEN authority to proceed with chargeable work in order to make anything stick in a court of law .

Is the vehicle perhaps still covered by Mobilo ? I think certain aspects of Mobilo , depending on the age and service history of the car can cover accidental damage of the type described by the garage . It may be a matter of referring this to Mercedes-Benz and asking them why their dealer are trying to charge for something their warranty is supposed to cover ? Just a thought .

 

[kamsingh]

The vehicle is only a year old and has been serviced, i infact bought it from mercedes leicester! I asked them why is it not covered under warranty? They replied, because it has been damaged. I then replied, well the car has never been in an accident and its only done 5,000 miles! Thet then came up with the stone chip story....