Nightmare garage - finally car is right.. what would you do?

[rom1]

Purchased car in June from So called merc specialist, it's had problem after problem, for the price I paid I thought I would have a car that I could drive from day 1.

reported running rough poor MPG, going into limp mode generally running rough.
They said said stat is fine. I don't think they even checked it,
After paying Merc Leicester to run diagnostic on the car and showing the garage where I bought it from.
they claimed to have cleaned DPF filter, again it was untouched, only since car started running correct temp dpf regenerated. I have independent reports to show when it was full and how full it was, Going into Merc Leicester and then garage saying they had it cleaned the levels were exactly the same. Only since changing the stat it's started to regenerate and dpf levels have dropped.

They did there own MOT at the garage - yet wipers were smearing, horn not working - what else was passed when it should have failed I can't be certain
top mount for front suspension was left loose- causing banging noise.
claim they replaced EGR - not even been touched, I removed to clean it when RAC man told me that why it went into limp mode. it was deffo not new
claim they replaced ARB bushes - then I was told they didn't need to
oil was over filled wrong oil used not low ash - would a specialist not know which oil to use
car was a proper shed when they finally handed it over again.
First day EIS unit packed up - was without a car for 2 weeks
rear 1/4 panels all clips broken , just about hanging on - there solution bodge it with silicone, never mind if they need to be removed in future. I asked them to sort this under my statutory rights re the cars description, which by the way was described as stunning! at which point owner threw his toys out of the pram, started screaming and shouting, kicking furniture looked like he's lost the plot!
Fuse for horn kept blowing- diagnosed with 1 horn being faulty - solution put a universal red horn in, just the one, so now I have 1 black and 1 red horn.
Sunroof switch faulty - refused to even look at it.
Was told wheels would be refurbished, only the edges were done, lacquer peeling around the wheel bolt holes and backs of rim which were causing air to leak, had them resealed with beading
was told car will be valeted - barely had a wash and vac.
During the time they had it for repair work car was handed back dirty both inside and outside.
Been up and down to them at least 5 times since buying it at 26 miles each way.
Courtesy car given to me 1st time was a W reg c200 auto petrol
2nd time c250 TD S reg

Collection day it was raining really bad, yet collection was still done outside, so did not get to check everything properly. despite having space inside showroom

What a joke of a company, now it is how it should have been, from day one.
Towards the end of the problems they were so awkward to the point of turning nasty I had to resort to writing letters - recorded delivery, on the phone all I got was a pack of lies

If I wanted to waste time and spend money on car, I would have bought it off private seller, but I paid extra for piece of mind from a recommended garage, off this forum.

What would you
1) small claims to recover money spent
2) name and shame

 

[markjay]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

I think you should ask yourself what it is that you want from the garage - clearly you do not trust them to fix the car, so presumably you are after financial compensation?

Before taking them to small claims court, check if they are members of any trade association and if so then write to the trade association explaining the situation.

And if you are worried about the MoT test, VOSA will be happy to listen to your concerns.

 

[GordonTarling]

How much over the purchase price of the car are you actually out of pocket?
As Mark says, VOSA would like to hear your concerns over the MOT, but they won't be able to do anything if the 'evidence' has gone.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Under the Sale of Goods Act a car has to be of merchantable quality and fit for purpose and any fault that occurs up to six months from purchase is the responsibility of the supplier. If there are faults you are obliged to give the supplying dealer the opportunity to correct those faults in a timely fashion, IIRC up to three times, then if car remains unsatisfactory you can do the work yourself, making sure you incur reasonable costs.

If you have done it yourself without giving the supplying dealer the opportunities described above, then you won't have a leg to stand on in court.

Frankly, while it sounds like a lousy outfit, how much time and effort do you want to waste on them?

 

[Julesprivate]

I would certainly report the MOT concerns to VOSA, but unfortunately an MOT is only "valid" until the wheels hit the road, of course having said that VOSA can make any MOT Test Station's life a complete misery when they show up to do an audit.

Have the repairs now been carried out to your satisfaction? If that's the case then there probably isn't a great deal you can do - although you do have 6 months to "reject" a car under the SOGA using the "fit for the purposes intended" clause.

After 6 months you'd be really hard pressed to prove the faults existed at time of purchase, however in the first 6 months the onus is on the garage to prove they didn't - but they would use the MOT as an attempt to show that the car was roadworthy, so you'd need to challenge that at the same time as a counter argument.

Well done for not losing your temper when the guy started kicking furniture etc over... I remember once when I was a lot younger (and less patient) I "restrained" the Service Manager at a VAG dealership after he started to get threatening and abusive. My fiance (now wife) was with me at the time and he was very aggressive and I was genuinely concerned for her safety, that's my only excuse really.

I hope you manage to get things resolved,as to the "name and shame" part - I'm a firm believer in good and bad feedback on garages/suppliers/service providers but as i am new here i don't know what the forum rules are about that sort of thing..

 

[l5foye]

I am sorry to hear of your woes. I think you should name and shame over and above anything else you do. I would be keen to know what checking you did prior to buying the car - how soon after buying, did the faults show up?

 

[bpsorrel]

Sitting on the fence here, I would say the dealer should have the opportunity to defend themselves, before a name and shaming. After all, we only have the OPs word for all this (not saying he's wrong of course, just IF).

I have a feeling I know who the dealer is, and if I'm right, I'm really, really amazed..

 

[tombo5609]

My faith in Mercs is being diminished day by say.
I have a similar story. Bought a lovely looking 2003 E270CDI. 3 months after purchase the car went into limp mode. I took it too an indie and came out with a bill for 3000 quid to put right a multitude of defects. A judder on acceleration has just been diagnosed as a Torque converter problem which is going to cost another grand. I will have spent 4000 pound in repairs on a 3000 pound car.
Mercedes used to be a car that you just drive, wash down once a month and sold a million miles later, now they have to be molly coddled or they go into sulk mode.
A good Lada is probably more reliable.
Rant over.

 

[Julesprivate]

My faith in Mercs is being diminished day by say.
I have a similar story. Bought a lovely looking 2003 E270CDI. 3 months after purchase the car went into limp mode. I took it too an indie and came out with a bill for 3000 quid to put right a multitude of defects. A judder on acceleration has just been diagnosed as a Torque converter problem which is going to cost another grand. I will have spent 4000 pound in repairs on a 3000 pound car.
Mercedes used to be a car that you just drive, wash down once a month and sold a million miles later, now they have to be molly coddled or they go into sulk mode.
A good Lada is probably more reliable.
Rant over.

Wow that's tough going.. But if it was within 3 months of purchase why didn't you take it back - unless it was a private sale? You could have rejected it at that point and had a reasonable chance of getting most of your money back.

If it was a private sale then you do have somewhat less protection but even so I'm not sure why you would choose to spend £4k on a £3k car, even if you'd walked away at the point when the indie said it was going to be £3k you'd have been better off (financially).

I paid a little under £3k for my C270CDI in November, so far i've had a couple of niggling issues (new accelerator pedal resolve one of them, new injector seal the other), the parts have cost me ~£200 and the work well that's a couple of hours of my time really.

Oh I did spend £100 on specialist tools for the injector, but I figure I'll reuse them and do the other 4 sometime in the very near future.

I bought the car from a dealer, but haven't been back as realistically I expected a £3k car to have some issues, the accelerator issue was there on the test drive but I knew the part was cheap enough so hagled to get £500 off the £3500 forecourt price.

I know we're all different but I have really low expectations of a car that cheap. I've done a little over 3500 miles in mine now so i think i'm doing really well.

How well do you know the indie you used? I'm not suggesting they have mislead you but do you know if all of the work was needed?
What was the service history like with the car. When I was looking there were hundreds available in the spec I wanted so I picked one with a FMBSH.

Atleast as many issues with ANY car are caused by previous owners rather then manufacturing or design defects and of course lately the ability/desire to keep on top of technical issues has diminished so now more than ever it's "buyer beware".

 

[Rory]

Mercedes used to be a car that you just drive, wash down once a month and sold a million miles later, now they have to be molly coddled or they go into sulk mode.

A lot of them are - but not the E Class of the era you bought. Sorry you didn't know that.

 

[tombo5609]

Wow that's tough going.. But if it was within 3 months of purchase why didn't you take it back - unless it was a private sale? You could have rejected it at that point and had a reasonable chance of getting most of your money back.

If it was a private sale then you do have somewhat less protection but even so I'm not sure why you would choose to spend £4k on a £3k car, even if you'd walked away at the point when the indie said it was going to be £3k you'd have been better off (financially).

I paid a little under £3k for my C270CDI in November, so far i've had a couple of niggling issues (new accelerator pedal resolve one of them, new injector seal the other), the parts have cost me ~£200 and the work well that's a couple of hours of my time really.

Oh I did spend £100 on specialist tools for the injector, but I figure I'll reuse them and do the other 4 sometime in the very near future.

I bought the car from a dealer, but haven't been back as realistically I expected a £3k car to have some issues, the accelerator issue was there on the test drive but I knew the part was cheap enough so hagled to get £500 off the £3500 forecourt price.

I know we're all different but I have really low expectations of a car that cheap. I've done a little over 3500 miles in mine now so i think i'm doing really well.

How well do you know the indie you used? I'm not suggesting they have mislead you but do you know if all of the work was needed?
What was the service history like with the car. When I was looking there were hundreds available in the spec I wanted so I picked one with a FMBSH.

Atleast as many issues with ANY car are caused by previous owners rather then manufacturing or design defects and of course lately the ability/desire to keep on top of technical issues has diminished so now more than ever it's "buyer beware".

I could not agree more with some of your comments but it is the build quality of Mercs of that era that is the problem.
The reason that I ended up spending 4000 pound is that when it went in to a Indie merc dealer for a problem that had to be rectified with an estimated cost of 600 pounds. The garage is well advertised on this forum and because I have no issues with them I will not name them.
It was as he went from job to job that the extent of the problems started to show themselves. He phoned me with the bad news and as I now had a bill to pay anyhow I decided to carry on. The bill came to 2950 pounds. At least so I thought, the car will now be servicable and if I keep it for a few years I will be OK.
Two days ago the transmission judder started which has now been diagnosed as a torque converter problem. The final cost creeps up bit by bit and each time I think it is OK something else turns up.
I feel the originator of this thread is going to have similar problems.
I have been driving Mercs for 30 yrs but always older models and would advise people to do the same.
My first Mercedes was a 1985 500SL which I had for 3 yrs and sold for what I bought it for. I have had a selection of different models and have not had any problem.
It is Mercedes who besmirched the name of this once proud company by going along a cheap route and then trying to hide the problems or denying liability.
Because I spend a lot of time abroad I am told it is lack of use that is causing some of the problems but that is why i bought a Merc instead of a Ford.
My old 1995 stood on my path for 12 months. I just connected the battery and it started immediately. Took it for an MOT and it passed.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I will have spent 4000 pound in repairs on a 3000 pound car.

How many miles does it have and how long have you owned it?

 

[tombo5609]

I have had it since March of this year with 110,000 miles. Should just starting to be run in!.

 

[Berkshire Rich]

I have really low expectations of a car that cheap.

At least as many issues with ANY car are caused by previous owners rather then manufacturing or design defects and of course lately the ability/desire to keep on top of technical issues has diminished so now more than ever it's "buyer beware".

I have plenty of sympathy for those on here who have suffered real problems, but I have to agree with the points Jules made above

 

[phoenix550]

What would you
1) small claims to recover money spent
2) name and shame

I'd do both