Should I be expected to pay for service?

[Rory]

After 4 months of ownership and just about 3500 miles our 10 month old A-Class says it needs an A-Service(bought from MB Macclesfield). This strikes me as a bit rich, especially as I am expected to pay for servicing the use of the car before I owned it. If I compare this to the BMW approved used car scheme they say that any car requiring a service within 4000 miles will be sold fully serviced - now obviously MB have a cop out with their computer only showing a *25-day to service* alert.

Any thoughts?

See this thread. The car should be on fixed interval servicing.
http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=53707

 

[Ratz]

Thanks for all the posts on this subject, I did ask when I got to the dealership if they would help me out in this and perhaps contribute to the cost - no was the answer(admittedly more diplomatically than I am implying). I have paid for the service and simply decided not to return to that dealership - their service has been less than impressive anyway!

I work in the service industry and so I do have a good idea what is deemed 'good service', shame MB dealers can easily 'forget' that this makes or breaks a product.

 

[hindesbeans]

When we bought our C200K from a local dealer we looked at the service history and knew that a B service would be due in 600 miles. As a condition to buying the car we turned down the service the garage was offering (not worth sweet f a ) and insisted on a MB service B. I also insisted that a few other minor things were put right at the time it was with MB.

Our local dealer done his homework and got quoted for £700 from MB for all the work including service.

We then agreed that he fixed rear ashtray and fixed front parking sensor and reduced the price of the car by a further £500, which after alot of haggling (my wife is the undisputed best haggler in the whole world) he finally agreed to. We then went and got our B service done at a MBspecialist not a MBdealership for £342

I suppose the moral of the story is that you really should have checked this out first before signing on the dotted line.

 

[Rory]

Thanks for all the posts on this subject, I did ask when I got to the dealership if they would help me out in this and perhaps contribute to the cost - no was the answer(admittedly more diplomatically than I am implying). I have paid for the service and simply decided not to return to that dealership - their service has been less than impressive anyway!

I work in the service industry and so I do have a good idea what is deemed 'good service', shame MB dealers can easily 'forget' that this makes or breaks a product.

As I'm also in Cheshire, may I ask which dealer it was?

I haven't been impressed with MB Chester, but it's mainly stupid things like resetting the master trip computer (which I wanted to run for ever) and writing the wrong year in the service book so the service history looks odd.

 

[dsolds]

I work in the service industry and so I do have a good idea what is deemed 'good service', shame MB dealers can easily 'forget' that this makes or breaks a product.

Exactly. A fine point, and well presented too. The exact reason my next car will not be a Mercedes. Great cars, crap service. After 2 months of arguing with 3 separate dealers, including 2 mobilolife recoveries, I am finally getting a replacement gearbox under warranty. If I wanted arguments and aggro then I would have bought something cheap and french. It is not expected with the MB marque. With MB's current attitude they will become just another company with a fine product which is let down by diabolical customer service.

 

[adm1945]

Just bought my SLK 350, dealer said the same as all the above but did say less than 4000 miles they would carry out the service, he also made it clear that it was a 'warrantie' pre sales service they did, not a full service. Then gave a full 12 month full warrantie. Tyres low on tread so a full set all round. A lot depends as has been said on here before, who the dealer is. I also negotiated a 20% discount on my next service. I have dealt with a lot of MB main dealers but the one in Bath and the one in Tonbridge have both given me excellent service. Cheaper in fact than a service on a Mazda MX5.

 

[Ratz]

As I'm also in Cheshire, may I ask which dealer it was?

I haven't been impressed with MB Chester, but it's mainly stupid things like resetting the master trip computer (which I wanted to run for ever) and writing the wrong year in the service book so the service history looks odd.

Macclesfield. On the surface very good & talk the talk, but they don't phone back when they say, don't complete on the timescales they say. For example when I queried the car needing a service early they said it didn't sound right and to bring in so that they could check while I waited. 1 hour later I am told by the service guy that 'the technician has reported that the car needs a service in 22 days' - to which I replied 'yes I can read what the computer was telling me'.