Rip off dealer Service

[BaldGuy]

Speaking with a colleague in the office this morning about his 2009 C Class Coupe with a gearbox issue... He's not a car person and always uses main dealer for everything.
He'd noticed over a week that changes were getting worse and one morning it wouldn't change up into higher gears, he got to work and left early that day to get to his local main dealer.... they turned him away as it was the end of the day and said come back.... the next day he arranged for Mobilio to recover his car to them.....
They had it for several days and then said it needs a new module at £900.... fitted it and gave car back.... drove 20 miles and the fault came back... he refused to pay the bill and Mercedes said Ok we'll continue with investigating it... Another 2 days past and he gets a call to say it needs a new gearbox and convertor.... @ 6k.... naturally he said I'll have a think about that... called a local Indie after seeing the Wheeler Dealer episode on the Boxster they bought with a dodgy gearbox, they simply changed the oil and gearbox filter and all was good.....
So said Indie who used to work at this main dealer took the car, within an hour refreshed the gearbox oil and filter and told him to come and collect.... its been fine ever since and a bill of £200

How do Dealers get away with this? I'm more than sure that some people would simply pay that 6k bill as they have no knowledge of cars and they need their wheels.....

 

[Tiim533]

Same in all walks of life. There are good people out there, and there are bad ones. So he called the independent and all worked out well, and the main dealer will presumably never see him again.

There are rubbish independents out there as well! You just have to sort out the wheat from the chaff!

 

[Darrell]

Name that dealer.

 

[John N]

Name that dealer.

My sentiments exactly, it may save many others being ripped off!

 

[Darrell]

My sentiments exactly, it may save many others being ripped off!

And on a positive note...name that that Indy.

 

[Petrol Pete]

My mate owns a garage and offers a service to polish headlamps where possible if they fail MOT at his garage, he could fail the car and charge for two new headlamps and then polish and sell the old ones on E-bay. He thinks this is bad form and ultimately bad for business on the long run.

He knows of other garages who do just that to unsuspecting customers.

Its the non technical people who fall prey to the unscrupulous.

 

[BaldGuy]

Newbury Dealer

 

[Tiim533]

Newbury Dealer

Ahhh... Sytner Group. I was led to understand there used to be a "silent" h in their name, but I may be wrong.

 

[John N]

Ahhh... Sytner Group. I was led to understand there used to be a "silent" h in their name, but I may be wrong.

It must have been a subconscious reaction, but I had added the "silent" h automatically.

 

[ajs37]

I have had dealings with them before - as soon as your car is over 5 years old, they really don't want to know, but will take your money anyway - absolutely appalling bunch of sh&tes!

 

[bh13coupe]

i am shocked at the thickery at main dealers. this is another example of why i will only use my indie. he has saved me a fortune over the years with a policy of honesty and subsequent repeat business over the last 15 years. I have told him he isnt allowed to retire ever!!!!!

 

[Rory]

They had it for several days and then said it needs a new module at £900.... fitted it and gave car back.... drove 20 miles and the fault came back... he refused to pay the bill ....

He's very lucky to have got away without paying that - normally dealers won't release a car until the bill is paid.

 

[gl boy]

He's very lucky to have got away without paying that - normally dealers won't release a car until the bill is paid.

I must be one of the lucky ones , I have a 30 day account , which sometimes rises to 60 days if I forget to pay , and I've always had this service from my main dealer is Shrewsbury and cannot say a bad word , they are always helpful , explains the problem and tell me the price Before doing any job

 

[oldguy57]

I must be one of the lucky ones , I have a 30 day account , which sometimes rises to 60 days if I forget to pay , and I've always had this service from my main dealer is Shrewsbury and cannot say a bad word , they are always helpful , explains the problem and tell me the price Before doing any job

Its good to hear something positive about a main dealer. My old boss use to say that its easy to gain and retain the confidence of a customer by good honest service but impossible when confidence is lost.

 

[Rory]

I must be one of the lucky ones , I have a 30 day account , which sometimes rises to 60 days if I forget to pay , and I've always had this service from my main dealer is Shrewsbury and cannot say a bad word , they are always helpful , explains the problem and tell me the price Before doing any job

Wonder if things will change now Lookers have taken over Drayton.

I think individuals having accounts is quite an old-fashioned thing from the days before credit cards. I worked part-time in a garage while I was at college and hardly anyone paid cash, even for fuel. They had a constant nightmare getting some customers to settle but the owner would never put anyone on stop.

 

[Doodle]

Newbury Dealer

Things have definitely gone downhill there. Used to put all my parts orders through Mike but once he left the knowledge disappeared.

Used the Reading branch (Vertu) for a while until nearly ending up in a stand-up fight with the service manager and his over-inflated ego. Now most of my business goes through Basingstoke (Sandown) or via mail order.

 

[Delayed Steve]

Wonder if things will change now Lookers have taken over Drayton.

I think individuals having accounts is quite an old-fashioned thing from the days before credit cards. I worked part-time in a garage while I was at college and hardly anyone paid cash, even for fuel. They had a constant nightmare getting some customers to settle but the owner would never put anyone on stop.

My dealer is part of the Drayton group and I have used them since Lookers took them over and I have to say the service I received was as good as ever last time I used them.

 

[TheFoX]

...a service to polish headlamps...

When I first read this, I thought he only serviced Polish headlamps, as opposed to English headlamps.

It's amazing what we read when we aren't paying attention, or half asleep.

 

[John]

I bought my CL from the Lookers in Gatwick and got a good service there.

I've had warranty work done at Tonbridge, also Lookers.

The sales experience I received at Tonbridge although I didn't buy the car.

I think red_c220 has used MB Gatwick too.

So if Lookers have taken over, I'd be surprised if they weren't good although like with anything, there will always be turds in a nice garden.

 

[Rory]

My dealer is part of the Drayton group and I have used them since Lookers took them over and I have to say the service I received was as good as ever last time I used them.

I didn't mean to suggest anything bad about Lookers - just that often after takeovers a lot of things change.

There's always going to be an element of corporate culture influence at dealerships but mostly the relationship is down to the individuals you deal with. In bigger dealer groups staff seem to change very frequently - I rarely went to my local dealer over 10 years and dealt with the same person twice.