Mercedes Deeply dissapointing

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ACCobra

New Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Messages
20
Location
uk
Car
E350 amg premiem line
hi all,

just over a year ago I became the owner of 8k mileage E350 Estate with 20 wheels AMG premium line. car looks great goes well and very smooth.

Turns out I had just purchased one of the worst cars I have ever owned. not just from reliability but also from service.

after just 4 months into owning the the car - the sun roof rubber on one side started to come away from the roof. flapped around when open. around this time the car was called back for, in the words of Mercedes "something not to serious", that the steering rack had to be replaced, reported the steering lock engage while driving, some would say that could be quite serious. Any how. booked in and later got a phone call that they need to keep the car to do the sunroof, however this was not possible. so in their words said they would put the roof back together and I could collect the car. however the cars roof had never been looked at, stripped down so nothing was required to be put together, how do I know this. not a single finger print on the dusty roof...…

then after a few more week the second seal went on the roof...… no follow up call from Mercedes to rebook, then one day during a torrential downpour both a post were soaking wet inside and water flowing into the cabin and all over seats, a phone call with Mercedes followed, and they have no record of the sunroof issue on my car...……. me thinks someone is telling porkies.....

it was then the first service due, to then have been told I have a small crack in the front right of the rim inside and that it was a probably pot hole...… no air was leaking, so I thought for now its ok.

after a few more weeks that tyre started to deflate- after a further look there was now two cracks, so after complaining to Mercedes and coming up to a brick wall as expected, I got the wheel welded rather than throwing 1100 quid away.

following a second service I was again told the front wheel was indeed cracked again and the two front tyres on the inside were onto the wire- yet the rest of the 3/4 of the tyres were at 5mm - shows there is too much camber on the wheels applying a lot of force on the inner part of the rim. this has all come about since the replacement steering. Mercedes still wont budge, saying tracking and camber are in spec. so went to a specialist alignment company who indeed has found the camber out mostly on one side the side where the wheel is cracking. with this paperwork i went back to Merc who said they will get back to me. this was just before the Corona outbreak. I had to get the wheel repaired for the third time as it again was leaking air. I had to drive to Germany the at the weekend there was no other option.

fast forward a month, now the garage has been open a month, no one has still contacted me. so I call in and request some call me about it. no phone call. so a return to the garage to request again to receive phone call . three days later it came, I was unable to take the call, the message was that of no knowledge of the issue, and promised to try phone again. 4 weeks later no phone call.

in the last 4 weeks I have covered 3000 miles all of it motorways across Europe, got the car home at the weekend. Monday morning come out to find I have two flat tyres, I inflate them take them to my local tyre garage, to be told I have a total of 10 crack across all my wheels. this is clearly not about the state of our roads, its about the combination of hard suspension, run flat tyres and flimsy material. the weakest link in this situation will always give in first. I have hit no potholes, been on poor roads. or any type of driving outside of normal conditions. Mercedes know about this issue as you can see on the forums, they continue to place these wheels on the vehicle and do no clearly make any statements to any customers even when asked out right.

on top of this - front bumper had to resprayed(under warranty) as the paint was peeling off due to poor bonding at the factory.

the auto boot opening system had to have parts replaced on 4 occasions until worked even though each time I got the car back I was told that it worked, until one day they gave me it back and asked them to show me it working after being in with them for the day, it did not work and had to be returned to them.

Ad blue system would not allow top up to register. again 4 times in, on the last and final time, on a Saturday, it was low, I topped it up, it did not register, so I went to garage as again I was about to head out to Europe the next day, and was told they could not help and that I would have to break down and then be supplied a free car while it gets fixed. 8 hours in total when I broke down to finally get on my way.

so now I have a 2 year old Eclass sitting on my driveway with two flat tyres due to cracks in the rim and one wheel with now 6 cracks in it that unsafe to use. to be then told by Mercedes service desk that it need 1 to 5 days to look into it. again I need to travel outside of UK this weekend.

worst car I have spent money on...…. will not be burnt twice, nor will anyone that I know who is considering this brand.... terrible terrible terrible

haha im not looking for sympathy, I just think with something like the wheels, Mercedes have to be held accountable for selling such sub standard and clearly not fit for purpose items, or declare their limitaions prior to any sale of them. you ask a sales guy if you upgrade to this type of wheel what issues will I have, he will look you in the eye and tell no issues at all..... no accountability.
 
Wow, that is some serious bad luck with your car. Did you ever consider rejecting the car and asking for a refund?
 
Yep scary story , makes my 11 faultless years with an E320cdi (80k miles) something worth cherishing .
Anything above 18inch Wheels is asking for trouble on our potholed roads
 
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like all things its never as simple as that. im now more annoyed about the wheels as all the points have been dealt with. recent 1200 quid worth of tyres on rims that i cant use, and i am frantically searching for some new wheels as I am pretty stranded at the moment. could get it recovered and get a free car for few days until they investigate it... but heading out the country at the weekend..... inconvenience and cost....
the poor after sale service has been known about for years...… I should have known better:)
 
Sorry to hear about your experience.

I think it's a combination of a bad car and poor dealer service.

A more helpful dealer would have made the experience less painful
 
Yep scary story , makes my 11 faultless years with an E320cdi (80k miles) something worth cherishing .
Anything above 18inch Wheels is asking for trouble on our potholed roads
disagree about the roads - they are same all over the world, german roads in the last two weeks mostly autobahn, nothing to do with potholes, I do not accept that excuse in this instance. the tell you which tyres you must use on wheels they allow you purchase that are design in installed and sold by them on a suspension system they design, yet its my fault for driving the car in manner it was designed for. ……… motorway driving. it plain poor poor quality knowing they can get away with it.
 
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Changing the subject, curious about your user name, do you own an AC Cobra?
 
haha - yeah a hi quality American factory five supercharged 427 replica yeas. haha and no problems with cracked wheels ….. sadly not and original. but more powerful one that stops better.
 
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The v6 Diesel engine I have is nice and smooth, with the right amount of torque, holds the road well, not too hard, like msport, the cabin is a nice place to be I. for extended period of time With the ambient lighting and all things places in so subtle places, no creaks or rattles or noises, gear box is ok, 9g in sport mode some gears seems to be sometimes jerky In some gears, seems again a common occurrence, sat nav is not great but generally ok, plenty of passenger and luggage space, and with seats down really great size space. As they lay flat. Under boot tray ample space too.
That’s was what tempted me in most parts, but just didn’t realise how poor the rest of it was.... surprisingly poor ,thought I was buying into something much higher standard as this, found out I was clearly wrong.
 
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You must have been very unlucky with all the faults (paint, sunroof etc) it had but honestly what were you expecting from 20” wheels with almost non existant rubber on them. Yes, those look amazing and have an appeal but on roads are unusable.
Glad to see MB had at the end sorted out other issues but my advise, if you want to enjoy driving your car, is to downsize the wheel sizes to 18” or even 17” if possible.
There are many on the market looking for 20”MB wheels so you wont loose on it if you decide to downsize.
 
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I must admit that tales like this put me off changing my car - I'd be suidical if that happened to me, and it's nothing like as bad as some stories you read.

Wife has a 5yr old VW Tiguan that I've been thinking of changing, if only to make sure we keep one of ours cars pretty new. Reading the Tiguan forum today someone has rejected their new car after 3 days due to water pouring in the sunroof. He took it back to the dealer and they demanded £350 to look at it! And that was on a car the dealer found for him as they forgot to order the car he'd ordered 6 months ago!
 
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You must have been very unlucky with all the faults (paint, sunroof etc) it had but honestly what were you expecting from 20” wheels with almost non existant rubber on them. Yes, those look amazing and have an appeal but on roads are unusable.
Glad to see MB had at the end sorted out other issues but my advise, if you want to enjoy driving your car, is to downsize the wheel sizes to 18” or even 17” if possible.
There are many on the market looking for 20”MB wheels so you wont loose on it if you decide to downsize.

Normally you get a decent amount of sidewall even at 35 or 40 profile as the tyres are so wide. Some wheels do seem to suffer - BMW have a lot of issues with 18". Bonkers really - as others have said, roads are just as bad in many other countries so it can't be a UK specific thing.
 
Or Mercedes in general ? I think I had higher expectations of the vehicle and service, when expectations are not met at multiple points and levels, then the outcome is dissatisfaction disappointment, it can’t all be bad, other wise they would never have any customers and forum for the good things, like all big companies these days they are like the rest will get away with what they can until they can’t.... so what do I think about MB , is there anything good I can say, yeah , they are Exactly same as most other Car brands these days. I presume that’s a good thing... :)
 
I had a bmw 330 msport with 19s and runflats - first month all 4 tyres had blisters in the side walls - replaces all 4 tyres To new breed and never had any issue again. BMW blamed potholes and so and so.
I drive 30-50 k a year and never had these issue before. It’s not the roads. It’s manufacturers taking the ..... And making money from it. It’s as simple as that.
 
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I assume you dont have any issues with your Cobra?
 
The only way to get noticed is by an extremely large group of people taking them court - but proving things like the wheels is so difficult, and they no it, the next best thing is to stop buy their products,
 
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I assume you dont have any issues with your Cobra?
What like making sure it stays facing the same way as when you first pulled out of the junction haha , purchased with an expectation and purpose, it comes with its inherent things, but it was built by hand by a guy called bob. I don’t know bob, so I expect it may catch fire, or something may fall off, and it will try to kill
Me, my expectations have been met so far so not disappointed haha
 
What like making sure it stays facing the same way as when you first pulled out of the junction haha , purchased with an expectation and purpose, it comes with its inherent things, but it was built by hand by a guy called bob. I don’t know bob, so I expect it may catch fire, or something may fall off, and it will try to kill
Me, my expectations have been met so far so not disappointed haha

Im sure Bob did an amazing job, but if there's any problem, Im sure he will be able to fix it :thumb:
 
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Can I ask where u are located and which dealer you use for the repairs

Regards
 

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