Well,
Having kinda drawn a blank on localish MB specialists I resorted to going to Tony Purslow - the MB main dealer in Basingstoke. For the record - I do have a local MB dealer (Greenoaks) only 5 mins away - but all I've ever heard about them from MB owners has been negative - hence my not calling them.
I called them Thursday to get a quote for a major 'B' service (£350ish) and some extra work - brakes, gearbox, temperature (£100ish). I was more than happy with this quote so I booked it for Saturday (yesterday).
They open at 08:00 and I arrived at approx 07:45. I was immediately greeted by Mike (asst. Service manager). There was no waiting round until 'opening time' (unlike Ford where I did have to wait - even though all the staff were there!).
He talked through what they were going to do, and asked for more details/info on the extra work I wanted doing.
I got a call at about 11:00 to tell me all was going well and that there was no problems with the car. The only thing of any concern was that the front pads had about 1-1.5k miles left on them. Did I want them replacing?
I arrived at 1:00pm to pick up the car where I was again greeted by Mike. We spent the next 30+ mins going through the service and all the work done, including comprehensive detail on the extra work I wanted doing. In addition - the engineers report highlighted 19 'problems' with the car. These were all along the lines of (front headlight chipped, OSF tyre worn on edge, electric aerial broken, rear wiper almost worn .... you get the idea - nothing major or serious.
Whilst we were going through this detail the car was being washed and valeted. In addition it was commented at the outstanding condition of the car for the age/mileage (9.5 years old and 122k on the clock with 1 owner from new).
The final cost came to £422 which I was more than impressed with and I came away a very very happy chappie, and fully 100% confident with the car - it just had a major service and no faults with it.
Bottom line - this is the 2nd best customer service I have ever experienced (2nd only to Fernhurst who serviced my TVR) and better by a long long loooong way from any other dealer I've experienced (BMW, Ford, Honda, Vauxhall, Mazda and Renault). The only other dealer who comes close is SGT in Taplow for my Alfa servicing.
I will have absolutely no hesitation in going back to them for future work and I do highly commend Mike for his customer service and attitude.
I don't know if £422 is expensive compared to specialists - but as we appear to have none localish (that's known about anyway) I'm quite happy to continue to deal with Tony Purslow - and the costs I certainly found acceptable - certainly for real peace of mind. Admittedly yes - it is more expensive than all the other cars I've had (TVR and BMW come very close) - but it's a quality brand and marque, and that can cost.
Having read through this and other forums regarding experiences with main dealers (some stories quite horrific) - I was dreading the whole experience, but I honestly cannot fault them on any aspect whatsoever. I also know that it's really only the bad stories that get highlighted and therefore creates a negative impression - but not in this instance.
K
The Kinkmobile