Sinclair Mercedes Cardiff - AVOID AT ALL COSTS

[flowrider]

The worst thing about the car i wanted to buy was the small crack in the windscreen, the sales manager (not the salesman) suggested I still take the car and claim the windscreen on my car insurance.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

It’s quite depressing hearing about the bad experiences that people have had buying used cars from MB dealers. For ten years I worked for an independent sports/prestige car sales company that sold a few new cars but mostly early new. If any of the salesmen had ever dealt with a customer like the reports here they would have been out on their ears. The thing is though, the standards of every car sold was top notch. The tiniest of scratches was removed before the car even went on sale, let alone before handing it on to a customer.

One day we received a letter from Mercedes’ solicitors in Germany saying that we mustn’t use their logo “because it could bring their good name into disrepute”. Even when I attempted to get around it by using a closish photo of the star on the bonnet of a couple of the Mercedes we had in stock, they came back saying that wasn’t allowed either. After feeling chuffed that Daimler AG were taking interest in a little car company in Hampshire, we had to stop using the star on everything. Their lawyers were no doubt far better paid than anything we could afford.

Perhaps I should tell that little company’s owner to stop getting all their Mercedes serviced by MB dealers because his good reputation risked being besmirched by association!

 

[markjay]

The worst thing about the car i wanted to buy was the small crack in the windscreen, the sales manager (not the salesman) suggested I still take the car and claim the windscreen on my car insurance.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Done

And already got a response.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

The worst thing about the car i wanted to buy was the small crack in the windscreen, the sales manager (not the salesman) suggested I still take the car and claim the windscreen on my car insurance.

Just a bit of Fraud for your delectation...

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Tell that to a 21 year old who has set his sights on a car after dreaming about buying a car for 6 months while finishing Uni and landing a well paid job because he studied hard at UNI? Thanks for your apologies - I accept! My son overlooked that defect because it was a dream car and has moved on. But I am still incensed.

I’m glad to hear your son has moved on. He has his dream car and has learned a valuable lesson, all at the tender age of 21 - it sounds like he has a bright future ahead of him, and so no doubt he’ll have another opportunity to buy a dream car.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

While I would be the first to pipe up, some people just aren’t that confrontational Rob and the reason they’re happy to pay a premium from a main dealer is because they don’t want the risk of the hassle of buying a dud and having a battle

If this was a ten year old car with 100k on I’d be saying what you are but it’s not, it’s a two year old Mercedes bought from a Mercedes main dealer and people expect a “better” customer experience.

I have a very low expectation of main dealer salesmen as an homogeneous group so this doesn’t surprise me at all but when you trade on a certain standard then you’ve got to back it up. Even if they thought he was in the wrong, it’s sometimes worth taking it on the chin for repeat custom or at least to be known as providing good customer service.

I agree the way the service was described is completely unacceptable, and falls short of what anyone would reasonably expect - especially when paying main dealer prices.

However the unfortunate reality is that accepting the car without an agreeing a resolution does diminish the likelihood of ever reaching an acceptable resolution

Firstly it reduces the buyer’s leverage, a bad or average salesperson has little incentive to resolve the issue, especially a distance sale which I suspect this is.

Secondly if the car is accepted without resolution, then for many it will be viewed as having been acceptable, including any future escalation or arbitration.

And finally even if the scratches and cowling are resolved, the ongoing “battle” to get things sorted will likely leave a sour taste in the mouth.

And for me that’s the thing that has the biggest impact, the buyer will never get back the car buying experience or new car ownership experience.

I’ll finish as I started, the experience described is unacceptable, but unfortunately doing something about it at the time Is always the best solution.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I also find in this day and age, if you have a consumer issue, there is no point in messing around and wasting your time with middle to lower management.....going straight to the top not only saves you time, it more often than not gets you the result that you want.

Dealing with a complaint as close to the issue as possible is always the best solution, because it gives the person who made the mistake an opportunity to make it right - and we all make mistakes.

It also reduces the likelihood of being dismissed or taken less seriously in the event that issue is not resolved, and ends up being escalated to someone senior and far removed from the cause.

Imagine you’re the person who receives the complaint “at the top”, would you think “thank goodness I’m the first person in my organization to hear of this complaint so I can deal with it”, or something else?

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Funny how powerful social media can be - basically, they just hate this sort of thing as it can reach huge numbers of eyeballs if it happens to catch the imagination and kick off. Most companies have big and very active teams constantly monitoring the usual suspects.

I had a bit of a beef with Emirates, couldn't get anyone to talk to about it, just endless loops on a rubbish website - posted a polite question on their FB channel and got an instant response.

Ultimately, some upset punter in a showroom has zero impact & influence. Same punter on the end of an email or phone to the head office is exactly the same. Said punter on Twitter or FB...now that's a different story. Suddenly it's all 'yes sir/madam, certainly sir/madam, how can we help sir/madam'. You can sense the gritted teeth as they say it too.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Funny how powerful social media can be - basically, they just hate this sort of thing as it can reach huge numbers of eyeballs if it happens to catch the imagination and kick off. Most companies have big and very active teams constantly monitoring the usual suspects.

I had a bit of a beef with Emirates, couldn't get anyone to talk to about it, just endless loops on a rubbish website - posted a polite question on their FB channel and got an instant response.

Ultimately, some upset punter in a showroom has zero impact & influence. Same punter on the end of an email or phone to the head office is exactly the same. Said punter on Twitter or FB...now that's a different story. Suddenly it's all 'yes sir/madam, certainly sir/madam, how can we help sir/madam'. You can sense the gritted teeth as they say it too.

100% this ^^

Whenever I get the runaround from a company, I always strive to give them as many chances as possible to resolve but if I get nowhere I head to Twitter and they’re all over you like a rash once you tag them, it’s a great tool for “the little guy”.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

100% this ^^

Whenever I get the runaround from a company, I always strive to give them as many chances as possible to resolve but if I get nowhere I head to Twitter and they’re all over you like a rash once you tag them, it’s a great tool for “the little guy”.

The World Wide Web became a great leveler, and social media took into into overdrive.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I agree the way the service was described is completely unacceptable, and falls short of what anyone would reasonably expect - especially when paying main dealer prices.

However the unfortunate reality is that accepting the car without an agreeing a resolution does diminish the likelihood of ever reaching an acceptable resolution

Firstly it reduces the buyer’s leverage, a bad or average salesperson has little incentive to resolve the issue, especially a distance sale which I suspect this is.

Secondly if the car is accepted without resolution, then for many it will be viewed as having been acceptable, including any future escalation or arbitration.

And finally even if the scratches and cowling are resolved, the ongoing “battle” to get things sorted will likely leave a sour taste in the mouth.

And for me that’s the thing that has the biggest impact, the buyer will never get back the car buying experience or new car ownership experience.

I’ll finish as I started, the experience described is unacceptable, but unfortunately doing something about it at the time Is always the best solution.

You’re saying nothing I don’t disagree with, it’s just that some people - Brits especially - tend not like the confrontation of a stand-up argument and/or they’re a reflective personality and it won’t dawn on them until later that they’ve had their chips pissed on.

And I don’t think the issue here is the cowling damage either, it’s the attitude of the salesman, he could have quite easily said “we’ll order you the part and post it on to you and give you £50 off your next Mercedes service” and the OP would probably have been on here raving about the dealer but, instead, it looks like they’ve lost a couple of potential customers already..

And, just for the record, I’d have walked away from buying the car after roasting the salesman and his manager...

 

[Deleted member 37751]

The World Wide Web became a great leveler, and social media took into into overdrive.

Twitter is mostly a cesspool of division and hatred but it does come in handy from time to time.

And if it helps businesses create better customer experience journeys then I’m all for it, ultimately everyone wins.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

You’re saying nothing I don’t disagree with, it’s just that some people - Brits especially - tend not like the confrontation of a stand-up argument and/or they’re a reflective personality and it won’t dawn on them until later that they’ve had their chips pissed on.

And I don’t think the issue here is the cowling damage either, it’s the attitude of the salesman, he could have quite easily said “we’ll order you the part and post it on to you and give you £50 off your next Mercedes service” and the OP would probably have been on here raving about the dealer but, instead, it looks like they’ve lost a couple of potential customers already..

And, just for the record, I’d have walked away from buying the car after roasting the salesman and his manager...

Measure people on short term results, and that’s what they deliver. I bet the dealership uses the phrase “customer experience” but measures success based upon finance & insurance products sold. Ironic.

Of course we’ll never know but I suspect being a distance sale to a younger driver may have led the salesperson to think that there was little benefit in spending any more time than strictly necessary, as it won’t result in repeat business.

Ultimately though on this occasion it may affect the business he works for in some negative, albeit in a way that would be difficult to measure. However had he handled it well unexpected business may come to him personally.

I’ve had some shocking main dealer experiences, and some beauties. The best was the complete opposite of this - a very long term view on loyalty. I was only 16 and looking at a brand new Golf GTi - the salesman offered me a test drive.

When I said “thank you but I’m only 16” he said said “that’s OK because you’ll remember this and one day you’ll come back and buy something”. He was absolutely right.

 

[Piff]

Had a similar experience (previously documented on here) with MB Watford.
Went to view a 5 year old E Class estate, 6 cyl diesel, fully loaded.
Salesman agreed that any defects would be corrected and the car would be like new.
After mechanical & bodywork defects on collection they agreed to correct and their bodywork correction was abysmal.
Returning it to them again I had their sales manager on the phone saying I was expecting too much on a used car. I pointed out that their salesman had told me to expect the car would be "as new".
Full refund followed.
Not entirely convenient as I then had to locate a replacement car and theirs was the only car of that spec available at that time.
Ended up with an ex demo Audi A6 Avant which was similar on spec but decidedly full.

 

[uumode]

I've had good experiences from Mercedes Milton Keynes used, Mercedes Guildford new, and Mercedes Grimsby new (except for their insistence to purchase the below)

I've always inspected the car before parting with money though. The used car I got the valet person to redo the car three times in a particular area because it was still not clean.

Mercedes Grimsby and Newbury go in really heavy with selling insurance policies and car protection such as alloy wheel and tyre insurance, supaguard, and smart repair cover which I never take out.

 

[Deleted member 11979]

It doesn’t surprise me one bit that this happened to the OP, as has been said, these companies measure their success on instant financial results rather than actual customer care. It doesn’t help that a lot of the time, in the car industry, the staff turnover is so high that no one ever reaps the reward, or otherwise, of giving true customer service. All the ‘die beste oder nichts’, do they really think we believe that?

A good case in point is our Mercedes GL, bought with a full Mercedes service history, all documented on the on line history.

One day it went into limp mode, reason, completely clogged air filter, had been in so long it wasn’t letting enough air through. Then the car started ‘running out of diesel’ when the tank was still a quarter full, reason, completely clogged fuel filter that was date stamped 2011! The original on a 90k mile car. The previous owner had spent thousands with Mercedes having it serviced, had they actually done anything?

 

[bob6600]

And already got a response. View attachment 104422

Good start! Never takes long for a response on Twitter. Let's hope it moves forward quickly

 

[Deleted member 113659]

And already got a response. View attachment 104422

(Sorry to the OP'er for thread hijack. )

I received another tweet from MBUK requesting I contact CS again to raise the issue once more. I've just been on the phone to them (waited 30 minutes to be put through) and chatted to a lady. She said she will open another case and tag the old one into it (it had been closed) and get back to me by phone within 3 working days.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Measure people on short term results, and that’s what they deliver. I bet the dealership uses the phrase “customer experience” but measures success based upon finance & insurance products sold. Ironic.

Of course we’ll never know but I suspect being a distance sale to a younger driver may have led the salesperson to think that there was little benefit in spending any more time than strictly necessary, as it won’t result in repeat business.

Ultimately though on this occasion it may affect the business he works for in some negative, albeit in a way that would be difficult to measure. However had he handled it well unexpected business may come to him personally.

I’ve had some shocking main dealer experiences, and some beauties. The best was the complete opposite of this - a very long term view on loyalty. I was only 16 and looking at a brand new Golf GTi - the salesman offered me a test drive.

When I said “thank you but I’m only 16” he said said “that’s OK because you’ll remember this and one day you’ll come back and buy something”. He was absolutely right.

Dealer experience means a lot. I bought my current C350 brand new because of it. I’d gone into the dealership (MB Peterborough) several months beforehand when I happened to be passing on my way home after getting my CLK230K MoT done. I was wandering around looking at the used cars but didn’t see anything that interested me, so I popped into the showroom to have a look around the new car models, with absolutely no intention of buying.

A salesman asked me if I needed any help and I explained that I was just browsing on my way home from getting an MoT. He asked why I didn’t get them to do it and I told him that I got a good discount elsewhere. He told me that they would beat any Peterborough price for my next MoT. I jokingly asked if that applied to my Porsche too. He said yes. A few months later they did my Porsche MoT cheaper than anywhere else, whilst I had a coffee and idly browsed through a selection of new car brochures.

That was where I discovered the face-lifted C350 petrol that looked like just what I wanted, albeit expensive. I went over to a salesman (not the one I’d seen before) to ask him about it and ended up going home with a brochure and price list without having to endure any heavy sales pitch. I decided exactly what I wanted in the way of options then popped back to talk about colours and discounts, then ordered it.

That was 8 years ago. Nearly every year when I go back there for the service and MoT (still at the good price) that same salesman spots me and asks how things are. He remembers me and he cares. It’s fairly certain that I’ll be buying my next car from there.