Service Plus Fiasco!!

[Benz270]

Has anybody had serious issues with Mercedes honouring Service Plus contracts?? I am simply getting fed up with the level of service from Mercedes.

My car went into the local dealership to have the window regulators replaced on both the front doors and now Service Plus are saying this item is not covered. The irony is the windows squeeked before this and another dealership sorted this by lubricating some parts and now this has happened with the regulators.

Service Plus are not giving any explanation as to why they are not willing to authorise the work neither are customer services. Mercedes UK are trying to split the cost with myself, which having paid out a lot of money for my Service Plus contract i dont see why i should pay out more for work which should be covered. It certainly doesnt make any mention of window regulators in the exclusions list on the signed document from Mercedes.......... maybe thats why they are trying to split the cost.

Im seriously not happy, you buy a Mercedes for the peace of mind and then you take out Service Plus for the 'no hassle' maintenance of your car. This is far from it!

I know Mercedes have ceased service plus for older cars and is only for new cars but this is no excuse not to honour existing contracts.

 

[BTB 500]

Did the window regulators actually fail?

 

[Benz270]

I was advised by the dealership that they needed replacing, why replace something thats working fine?
The windows were playing up and thats why they had a look at it.

 

[BTB 500]

I guess a lot depends on what "playing up" means.

AFAIK Service Plus is a form of warranty, and many (most?) warranties will only replace failed items - hence my question.

 

[Satch]

Experienced no problem with "failed" items, although that is a matter of interpretation of course. Over past year battery and pair of shock absorbers replaced although did have a bit of a quibble over slightly iffy tailgate struts.

That was however resolved after Service Manager bashed his head on the less than fully open tailgate

 

[glojo]

We have had another member who had issues with Service Plus, how long have you had your contract?

I would be just like you; I would certainly be digging my heels in and would expect the warranty to pay out for the FULL repair.

Who cares if it is broke or just slightly broke? If it's not right, thern it should be fixed

I have not claimed recently, but trust me, if there are any problems then rumour has it, I am not backward in coming forward

Good luck with this and do not settle for anything other than FULL recompense.

Regards
John

 

[crockers]

MB offering to split the cost???

Sounds like a judgement of Solomon to me.....

 

[MBManInKen]

How old is the car?

 

[whitenemesis]

Have a read of my experience with Service Plus

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=576083&postcount=55

Don't accept the refusal of your claim. I think your's is slightly more contencious though as it's electrical

 

[glojo]

I believe that those of us with a Service Plus contract need to monitor these threads very closely and keep a ecord of the successful claims.

Regards
John

 

[Benz270]

The car is a 05 plate so just over 3 years old now.

BTB500 wasnt having a go at you, apologies if you thought i was. Just very frustrated with Mercedes at the moment.

John I have had the contract for nearly a year now, its near the end of its life and obviously does not look like it will be offered again by Mercedes.

Whitenemesis just had a read of your post sounds very similar. Interesting though that your work started first then the claim was put in. However in this situation the work was not started as authorisation was requested first. Looks like something else Mercedes have changed or the dealers.

The current situation is the car will be collected by me today as its pointless it being sat in the garage and i will continue to fight this. If the boot was on the other foot you know Mercedes would be after you for every penny.

It does seem apparent that by this expereince and by some other peoples that Mercedes customer service is becoming very poor. It does make me question if I would really consider buying another Mercedes in the future.

 

[crockers]

Give the impression to me that MB are either hurting now or are expecting things to get bad and are looking to save every penny they can... it is amazing how a few savings here and there for a corporation mount up....

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987
by eliminating one (1) olive from each salad served in first-class.
They didn't care if they upset their 1st class passengers and I don't think MB care if they upset you. I dont think this just MB but alot of manufacturers..

 

[pammy]

I'd be going to the dealer and pointing out that on an 05 plate car this should not be happening and be it Service Plus or not - it's not fit for purpose and should just be fixed - end of.

Edna goes in for her service and MOT tomorrow under Service Plus - will see what transpires as the contract ends next month. Will also see what new shiny toy I get to play with

 

[MBManInKen]

The car is a 05 plate so just over 3 years old now.

On a Mercedes just over 3 years old, windows should not fail IMHO and if I were in your case, I'd certainly take a similar stance. I would initially write to someone high enough up the management chain in Mercedes customer services to politely point out that this really should not happen on a Mercedes of that age and urge them to sort it. Strictly technically speaking I guess the 3 year warranty is over and if they would really wish to they could wriggle themselves out of it. Nevertheless, I would hope that someone sees reason at Mercedes. At this stage, a polite conversation is probably going to get you the farthest.

Will also see what new shiny toy I get to play with

What's wrong with Mr Pammy?

 

[BTB 500]

On a Mercedes just over 3 years old, windows should not fail IMHO

I'm not sure we actually know the nature of the problem. If they'd failed completely I don't think there'd be any problem with a repair.

 

[MBManInKen]

I'm not sure we actually know the nature of the problem. If they'd failed completely I don't think there'd be any problem with a repair.

True enough, but to be honest I would not want any problems with windows at that age and if they propose expensive repairs, it would suggest there is something not right?

On a slightly different note, when can we get our hands on your SL for an experiment?

 

[Rory]

The current situation is the car will be collected by me today as its pointless it being sat in the garage and i will continue to fight this. If the boot was on the other foot you know Mercedes would be after you for every penny.

It does seem apparent that by this expereince and by some other peoples that Mercedes customer service is becoming very poor. It does make me question if I would really consider buying another Mercedes in the future.

I'm not going to go over old ground with the issues I have with ServicePlus, except to say that I'm most annoyed that it's considered necessary to have ServicePlus and I don't belive for one moment that MB lost money on it.

My dealer has so far avoided these issues by telling me the faults my car has are not really there, or work that needs doing for cash paying customers isn't required on my car. However, I have resolved that if I have to pay for anything on my car then I'll send the bill to ServicePlus. If they don't pay it then I'll sue them using http://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk .

This has been my first Merc and I certainly won't be buying another.

 

[Benz270]

I'm not sure we actually know the nature of the problem. If they'd failed completely I don't think there'd be any problem with a repair.

I have to ask the question why would there be a noticeable fault and the dealer agree but yet everyone keeps talking about failure???

When your brake pads need replacing they are done under ServicePlus you dont wait till the brakes have failed completely.......

An update on the situation is Mercedes UK have agreed to authorise the work. I think they official line was they are carrying out the work as a gesture of goodwill. Personally i wonder how much this is to do with the fact that by the looks of things legally they dont have a leg to stand on. As Rory points out if they dont carry out the work for him he will sue them. I really hope it doesnt come down to that but out of interest is anyone aware of such a test case?

The whole thing has been annoying as i went and collected the car today, drove home only then for Mercedes UK to ring me and say they will authorise the work. It means having to wait a further two weeks to get the work done as no courtesy cars available at the local dealer. Not the dealers fault they have been very helpful.

 

[Rory]

The whole thing has been annoying as i went and collected the car today, drove home only then for Mercedes UK to ring me and say they will authorise the work. It means having to wait a further two weeks to get the work done as no courtesy cars available at the local dealer. Not the dealers fault they have been very helpful.

Considering that your stereotypical MB driver is a busy business person, Mercedes are very cavalier with owner's time.

 

[glojo]

The whole thing has been annoying as i went and collected the car today, drove home only then for Mercedes UK to ring me and say they will authorise the work. It means having to wait a further two weeks to get the work done as no courtesy cars available at the local dealer. Not the dealers fault they have been very helpful.

This appears to be yet another example of poor PR skills and it is not doing Mercedes-Benz any favours.

Our local dealership will use Enterprise whern they need any extra courtesy vehicles.

John