Mercedes service practices/service plan

[sgregory124]

Had a B Service done as part of a service plan late last month. Just got a call from Inchcape saying that whilst the car was in, it should have had a gearbox and diff oil change at the same time and that they can't claim the cost of the service from the plan, without doing the work.

This is despite me telling them (and it being on record) that Mercedes Beaconsfield actually did that work when it was due at 30k in November 2023 prior to me buying the car (as a condition of me buying it from an indy dealer). So its going back for its second set of oil changes in 12 months, admittedly at no cost to me, but £800 to 'someone' for the privilege.

Makes zero sense to have it done again, but I got the impression they'd try to charge me for the previous service if i'd have refused to have it done, as they'd have treated it as breach of the contract (i.e skipping service items etc).

Signed: Confused of Derbyshire.

 

[markjay]

Presumably the indie didn't have access to the MB DSB, and did not update the DSR?

If so, then, understandably, the MB dealer can't rely on printed invoices from unknown garages or on customers verbal reports. If it's not logged on the DSB, then as far as they are concerned, it wasn't done.

And, yes, the plan requires that your car is maintained to the manufacturer's schedule.

 

[sgregory124]

Presumably the indie didn't have access to the MB DSB, and did not update the DSR?

If so, then, understandably, the MB dealer can't rely on printed invoices from unknown garages or on customers verbal reports. If it's not logged on the DSB, then as far as they are concerned, it wasn't done.

And, yes, the plan requires that your car is maintained to the manufacturer's schedule.

I bought the car from an Indy, who had the work done at Beaconsfield Mercedes as a condition of sale to me (I spotted they both needed doing when trawling the history). The person who called me from Inchcape even commented she could see it on the system…

So it’s baffling that they’d choose to do the work again.

 

[whitenemesis]

So it’s baffling that they’d choose to do the work again.

How frequently does this need to be done?
If the service, as dictated by MB, is to have the trans/diff oils change at the mileage/age the car is now, then it would have to be done to qualify. I guess the £800 cost is on MB (covered by your plan costs?). The first time it was done the cost was absorbed by the indie (and covered in the price you paid for the car?)

 

[sgregory124]

How frequently does this need to be done?
If the service, as dictated by MB, is to have the trans/diff oils change at the mileage/age the car is now, then it would have to be done to qualify. I guess the £800 cost is on MB (covered by your plan costs?). The first time it was done the cost was absorbed by the indie (and covered in the price you paid for the car?)

The service interval for both the gearbox and diff oil are 30000 miles or 3 years (IIRC). So when it was done at Beaconsfield Mercedes in November 2023 (the car had 30500 on it at that point), it would have been the first time.

However, the only thing I would say, is that the visit would have been out-of-band work carried out on request from the guy I bought the car from. Which is likely what has confused the issue with Mercedes now, even so, the fact that an actual dealer carried out the work and its all on record, makes it crazy they would choose to do it again. But I guess if they can't claim for the original B service I had done last month, then it makes sense why they'd go to the trouble of a repeat.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not complaining - its costing me nothing, i'm getting a car for the day and the only effort required by me will be to take the car to/from the dealer (a 7 mile trip in each direction). I'm more bemused than anything else!