Mercedes (lack of) Customer Service

[rf065]

Hi Dave,

On the back of your excellent recommendation,I have already sent them an email,asking them to contact me re. a 'b' service and a possible service plan,as my dealer has not yet committed to this yet.Just as people are prepared to travel distances to see a good dentist,I do not see why the same is not true for an annual car service.I will see how efficiently they will deal with my enquiry and thanks for the information.

The bar has been set by Stratstone Mercedes, (see post No. 8).
Maybe we should have an annual competition to see which MB dealer can ignore the most e-mails.

Russ

 

[petef]

Do Mercedes dealers price match indies??

Are you asking a question ? If so, no they dont ....

 

[kipper10]

Dealers

When I was interested in purchasing a C180 K Sports Coupe recently,I rang the used car sales of MB Preston three times,and each time was unable to speak to someone,it was always,we will get someone to call you back - which they never did.On the final occasion,I was told by the receptionist that all the sales team were busy in a meeting - obviously discussing tatics of how they were going to meet this months targets - whilst a real customers was struggling to make any sort of first contact.In the end,I went to MB Whitefields,Manchester and found them most obliging - I have yet to avail myself of their service department - however they did fix a couple of items very promptly,some weeks after I had the car - one was my fault and I was satisfied,but I have yet to avail myself of their service department.The car is under an extended mb approved used warranty still and I am wondering if anyone has used any of the Manchester MB Dealership service departments,including Whitefield,or Central,or MB-Direct in Manchester and could possibly guide me to a satisfactory one.Once the warranty is up,I shall of course use someone like 124works etc.

I have found the MB dealer at Manchester Central really excellent. I recently had my CLK 320 Conv (05) serviced there (B service) for which I was originally quoted £339. After asking and being told that the oil would be £140 from them I asked if I could supply my own, they said that would not be a problem. So I arranged for my car to be picked up at about 9am on the day of the service, which it was. I asked for it to be dropped at before 2pm which also happened on time and the final MB bill incl was £214 ( I supplied the oil from Costco's at a cost of £46). I have also had some warranty work done by them recently which was also excellent.

I really am not a fan of car dealerships but was really pleasantly surprised by this dealership for it's service and value for money.

BY the way the CLK 320 is superb- best car I have ever owned by far.

 

[travelininstyle]

I have found the MB dealer at Manchester Central really excellent. I recently had my CLK 320 Conv (05) serviced there (B service) for which I was originally quoted £339. After asking and being told that the oil would be £140 from them I asked if I could supply my own, they said that would not be a problem. So I arranged for my car to be picked up at about 9am on the day of the service, which it was. I asked for it to be dropped at before 2pm which also happened on time and the final MB bill incl was £214 ( I supplied the oil from Costco's at a cost of £46). I have also had some warranty work done by them recently which was also excellent.

I really am not a fan of car dealerships but was really pleasantly surprised by this dealership for it's service and value for money.

BY the way the CLK 320 is superb- best car I have ever owned by far.

Thanks for your recommendations,I feel I will be able to go in to my first 'b' service,armed with many facts,thanks to all the members whom have responded.I presume the prices quoted included vat - also,I presume the price you paid for your oil at costco was for a 229.3 grade oil and I guess about 6 litres ?.
I like the look and quality of the CLK class,but what mpg does your return,as I am looking for a future upgrade,but with a decent mpg - sorry to go of the thread here.

 

[st4]

I contacted Stratstone Mercedes through their book a service on line facility on three seperate occasions earlier this year.

Each time I got a standard reply along the lines of, "your e-mail has been recieved, will be treated with priority and you will be contacted to confirm your preferred dates".

Still waiting on the phone calls after 6 months, and the car has been serviced by another dealer.
(I should also add, I have no intention of going near a Stratstone dealership again)

Russ

The bar has been set by Stratstone Mercedes, (see post No. 8).
Maybe we should have an annual competition to see which MB dealer can ignore the most e-mails.

Russ

Please tell me this isn't MB of Glasgow. My car needs MOT, autobox fluid changed (nearing 37k) and a B service. My plan was to get all of this done in one go, bitting a big bullet. Will this be a waste of time.

My experience of them so far has been good, bar one thing I will go onto in a second. They sold me a car, knocked £3k off in interest, it needed a service just 3 days into its owner ship, so I called them and they booked it in for me, serviced it FOC, paid for taxi's to and from work. The bill was £450 OUCH.

Problems, the car was missing its service book but I bought it as the salesman and the service desk showed me its service history that was stored electronically. The salesman then says I'll have the book in 14 days, I chase and rechase leaving messages and emails. 4 months in, and no booklet. It doesn't bother me as I will have the car a long time, and I'll have receipts etc to back up the work thats been done to it.

 

[rf065]

If I remember correctly, it looks as though the on line booking form is addressed to the Internet sales team and is then forwarded to the service department of whichever dealer you nominate, who will then contact you to confirm dates etc.

In reality, I think they are just deleted as the internet sales team are not interested in booking services, or if the service department do get them, they don't bother reading them.

I tried a different dealer each time I booked on line, (all Stratstone dealers though) and not one of them contacted me. Never used MB of Glasgow, only the Giffnock branch who have failed to impress on every occasion. Ended up going to John R Weirs as they seemed to have the fewest complaints from both forums. I found them to be excellent.


Russ

 

[Maz]

I was in the Thurrock dealership when I overheard a phonecall, a guy was wanting to speak to 'the sales manager' because he had twice been promised a phone call about a new car but had not been called.

He was put through to the sales guy who had not returned his calls (sat right by the receptionist) . It turned out he was after an SL65, response was 'that is a factory order car' will take 12 weeks. The punter obviously wanted it asap so he asked for an SL63 instead. The salesman's response was 'that is a factory order too'. No apologies, no mentions of searching for the car on his behalf, no offer to call other dealerships, nothing. The call ended and the salesman pulled a face as if to say 'what the fek did he want'.

Now sales ain't my thing, but if a punter walks in with 150K to spend you
make sure you relieve them of their cash, especially in this climate.


Muppets.....

SL65 and SL63 are available via factory order and other dealers will only have stock allocated as Demos or customer sold orders.

And in reality anyone looking to spank £150k on a car usually comes in to talk turkey as it could be any Tom, **** or Harry on the end of a phone.

 

[rf065]

And in reality anyone looking to spank £150k on a car usually comes in to talk turkey as it could be any Tom, **** or Harry on the end of a phone.

That comment kinda sums up most car salesmen, no offence.

Russ

 

[Maz]

That comment kinda sums up most car salesmen, no offence.

Russ

That's like me saying,

"Hi I don't know you but I think you're a ****!"

"No offence"

If you can't offer someone something they want, when they want it - what can you do?

And let's get real here, no one wanting to buy a £150k car does so over the phone.

 

[rf065]

That's like me saying,

"Hi I don't know you but I think you're a ****!"

"No offence"

If you can't offer someone something they want, when they want it - what can you do?

And let's get real here, no one wanting to buy a £150k car does so over the phone.

The reason I have a Mercedes is that despite walking around a couple of BMW dealers looking for the right specced 5 series, with £30,000 cash in my pocket, not one salesman bothered to look in my direction. Maybe you need to get a haircut, shave & buy a new suit to visit a BMW dealership?

By chance, there happened to be a MB dealer across the road, a salesman saw me looking at 2 cars that had caught my attention. Even although he was dealing with another customer, he shouted over that he would attend to me shortly. When he came over, he had already brought the keys to the two cars I had shown an interest in and offered a test drive. Within half an hour he had a sale.

If I wanted to spend £150,000 on a car, how do you know I would not do it over the phone? A good mate of mine bought a £500,000 house without even looking at it. People with money can do funny things on a whim.
I really meant no offence before, but I cannot stand salesmen who think they can size someone up on sight or over the phone, and judge them accordingly.

If a salesman thinks I cannot afford his product and shows it, I will walk away and he will think he had me pegged. He will not see me buy from his competitor down the road though.

Russ

 

[Simon_M]

The reason I have a Mercedes is that despite walking around a couple of BMW dealers looking for the right specced 5 series, with £30,000 cash in my pocket, not one salesman bothered to look in my direction. Maybe you need to get a haircut, shave & buy a new suit to visit a BMW dealership?

LOL, the exact reason I bought a Porsche. Was trying to buy an Audi but had similar luck, went into a Porsche dealer by chance on the way home and the job was done.

In fairness, I think I was lucky to find the sales manager in the Porsche dealership

It is amazing how the little things can effect big purchases.

I would have expected the Thurrock guy to at least have a look round for a 65AMG on the systems...

S

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I'm consistently ignored when I visit car showrooms, so generally speaking, if the sales person talks to me I end up buying the car.

Our local Porsche dealership is particularly bad. Ignored me completely a few years ago - literally didn't say a word in response to me asking questions - seriously. I'm sure it was because I didn't look like their usual customers, and I rocked up in an Omega with a young baby in tow.

We bought an ML instead, and went back to the same dealership to see if the reaction would change - and it did. It was incredible how much difference the car made - the same salesman couldn't do enough to get me into a Cayenne for a test drive.

I wanted a Goodwood Green Toyota MR2 for years. I happened to drive past a Volvo dealership, and there was one stickered up on the grass verge outside in exactly the right colour, age and spec.

I think I was a scruffy looking 22 year old at the time. Salesman came over and threw me the keys and said "take it for a spin". I said I had no intention of buying, and he said "not to worry, take it for a spin anyway".

He didn't want to come with me, leave my details, or even my car keys. He even said take as long as I wanted. Needless to say I came back, we agreed a price, and the car was mine.

 

[kipper10]

Thanks for your recommendations,I feel I will be able to go in to my first 'b' service,armed with many facts,thanks to all the members whom have responded.I presume the prices quoted included vat - also,I presume the price you paid for your oil at costco was for a 229.3 grade oil and I guess about 6 litres ?.
I like the look and quality of the CLK class,but what mpg does your return,as I am looking for a future upgrade,but with a decent mpg - sorry to go of the thread here.

The oil was Mobil1 and it was for 8 litres, the price included VAT. The price of the service also was incl of VAT.

MY CLK returns about 24/25 mpg driving to work and about 30mpg on a longer run and is worth every penny!

Hopes this helps.

 

[SJL]

i have always ended up going to look at cars in work clothes / or looking scruffy it always seems to happen that way for me!! but i 100% know what reactions you get and the way it gets my back up ? i went with a mate to look at a brand new navara a few months bk on a whim after helping him with a drive way .

we went to the telford nissan dealer ship and we were treated like aliens , the looks and whispers started then the silent treatment , by this time all interest had gone ( and this is nissan "datsun") i could not belive it.....

we persivered and tryed the wolves dealership , different story ........ he now owns a top of the range one 28K half paid on the day, telford franchise treat him better now ! suprise. not my cup of tea but none the less a very nice motor.

 

[Robbie T]

There's so many stories about salesmen ignoring people who look a certain way and then regretting it. One that springs to mind is a guy that owned a demolition company coming into the showroom in scruffy jogging bottoms and t-shirt who was just ignored by the sales guys, only to go and buy a CL500 and a CLK cab for his wife somewhere else. That was £100k of cars those sales guys missed out on.

Also, whoever thinks that people don't buy high calibre cars over the phone is very deluded. If an Arab Sheikh will put an order in for an SLR speedster @ £750k after hearing about it for 10 minutes, then buying an AMG car wouldn't require a visit at all.

 

[splitpin]

Doncaster's OK, but I regularly make the trip from Donny out to MB Hull, at Hessle, before you get into Hull. They're part of the Listers Group. They have various awards for customer satisfaction and I'm not surprised...they're superb.
They advertised their Customer Services a few years back in the Yorkshire Post and invited readers effectively to find fault with them. I've been going there for a few years now even though my car carries MB Doncaster badges on its plates and frankly it becomes a great trip instead of an anxious wait to see what arguments are about to come up.
Asking the reader to prove their service credentials was Hull's great puller - I went in reception and put this advert down, expecting the usual so-so treatment, but came out feeling I'd got a lot of new friends to help me in the Mercedes world. I still get the same feeling every time I go there.

I too, have had consistantly excellent service from Listers of Boston for many years now.There has been a succession of dealership takeovers in the past but the service has remained constant.Similar to ukcodger, I look upon them as friends..from the Service Manager downwards,they are always polite,courteous & particularly helpful.I wish I could say the same about the Sales staff.

I have also used Grimsby & Lincoln facilities in recent years & have experienced similar standards(but have not had actual servicing carried out)

I have to admit that when the Lister Group took over, I was pessimistic but
there have been many improvements & customer satisfaction is high on their list, hence the various awards gained.
The latest innovation is a mobile Star Diagnosis service currently being trialled !

Splitpin

 

[bobby]

To think that someone who walks into a showroom looking "scruffy" is undeserving of attention just shows an outdated view from the salespeople that perpetuate this.

If I was a salesman I'd speak to anyone who came in! My own experience at MB dealers has always been that they exhibit a cold detached front. I like the cars though '-)

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

When I was 16 with iffy dress sense and long hair I was offered a test drive in a brand new Jetta GTi 16v - must have thought I was in McFly!!

 

[Maz]

The reason I have a Mercedes is that despite walking around a couple of BMW dealers looking for the right specced 5 series, with £30,000 cash in my pocket, not one salesman bothered to look in my direction. Maybe you need to get a haircut, shave & buy a new suit to visit a BMW dealership?

By chance, there happened to be a MB dealer across the road, a salesman saw me looking at 2 cars that had caught my attention. Even although he was dealing with another customer, he shouted over that he would attend to me shortly. When he came over, he had already brought the keys to the two cars I had shown an interest in and offered a test drive. Within half an hour he had a sale.

If I wanted to spend £150,000 on a car, how do you know I would not do it over the phone? A good mate of mine bought a £500,000 house without even looking at it. People with money can do funny things on a whim.
I really meant no offence before, but I cannot stand salesmen who think they can size someone up on sight or over the phone, and judge them accordingly.

If a salesman thinks I cannot afford his product and shows it, I will walk away and he will think he had me pegged. He will not see me buy from his competitor down the road though.

Russ

I understand what you're saying, but the simple fact is.

These cars are not available without waiting for an allocation, and no other dealer in they're right mind would give it up for nothing.

So I imagine the guy had nothing to offer than man

 

[jpwilliams]

I sent an email on 20 August to a specific individual in the service department of Mercedes Chester inviting him to requote me for a large B service (101,000 miles) on my W210 as two local indies had quoted £170 less than his quote of £619.
As of yesterday 29 August I had not received either an acknowledgement or reply so I phoned him. Receptionist said he was with a customer,she took my number and said he would call me back .He didn`t phone so I called back later and was then told he was with a customer and would call me back.

I am still waiting.Well I`m not any longer as they have lost my business and I will have the car serviced in Spain next week.
The Mercedes organisation will not last long in my opinion with such dismissive attitudes.



Just to provide an update......Arrived in Axarqia on Saturday having driven 1700 miles through France and Spain without a hitch.Car ran beautifully giving 51mpg even though fully loaded and showing B service overdue by 900 miles.
Went into official MB dealer in Velez Malaga on Monday and asked to arrange for a B service..Jose Maria said "9am tomorrow morning and you can collect at 3pm"

I arrived at 9am,collected at 3pm,paid the equivalent of £268 pounds and drove off with a full MB stamp in my service book and MOBILO cover still intact.

If only everything in life was as reliable as...............
I would advise anyone who can to have their MB serviced on the continent.

Regards

John