Update on my rattles - Inspection Day

[trapperjohn]

I couldn't agree more.

In two paragraphs, you've summed up exactly what Mercedes are all about right now.

Box shifting without a hoot. Good exposition MOCAS.

 

[davidjpowell]

. In reality, it's just a mass-produced car, built to production tolerances perhaps a little higher than the norm.

Perhaps this is what MB what you want to think. Nowadays I'm not convinced that the production tolerances are any higher at all, or the company defenders (oops meant customer service) is any better.

One of my bug bears in the UK is that no-one does customer service like it should be.

 

[SavMan]

May sound a stupid question as reading through the numerous threads would take me the weekend but has the OP (of a few separate threads on this subject) actually posted a video of the problem. Did see one video but it says of the type of rattles and that the car is actually a loan car and not the actual car?

 

[Charles Morgan]

I was given a lift in a friend's Mark VI Golf the other day. Refined engine (OK that is after an oil burner), quiet ride, and absolutely totally squeak free. It felt like it was hewn from solid rock.

 

[C43AMG]

I bet they wouldn't say that to an S Class customer.

I don't know any S-Class owner's ( and i know quite a few ) that suffer from rattles.

I do know a few that have had lots of different problems and i can assure you depending on which dealer you take it to they have the same ( you are doing us a favour buying a very expensive car ) attitude.

As i have had many S-Class's over the years i have built up a relationship with a particular manager and due to my job if anything goes wrong i need the car to be dealt with asap.

Mark i can understand your frustration, it would drive me mad if i had to put up with that aggravation, can you imagine my clients listening rattles and putting up with it, i don't think so..

 

[@MARK]

The OP has steadfastly refused to respond to any practical advice offered to him on this forum, and instead seems hell-bent on getting what he wants from MB - despite not actually having rejected his car.

I don't recall refusing the respond to ANY of the advice given however in previous comments.

Just because I haven't done everything suggested as soon as it was suggested.

After all, there is no point me getting the dash stripped by an independent prior to MB coming to inspect the vehicle. That only happened yesterday it's only now I can review the other options available to me.

You accuse me of being hasty and then call me out for not giving people the chance to put things right.

Can't have it both ways.

If that makes me a crank in your eyes, then I am really not going to loose any sleep over what you think.

 

[Palfrem]

My wireless only gets the Home Service

 

[C43AMG]

If it were me i'd take it to Alfie at Comand UK. They are very profficient at stripping Mercedes interiors and I'd ask them to find and cure it.

Great idea Greg

 

[C43AMG]

Wake up and smell the coffee, as our American cousins would say. MB aren't competing at the top end of the market these days. They're a "premium" mainstream manufacturer, competing with the likes of BMW and Audi - so they're selling cars at prices barely 1.5 times that of the Ford/Vauxhall horde. The days of hewn-from-solid over-engineering are long gone, and the marque's god-like status has been demoted to that of a mere mortal.

However, the general public still places the three-pointed star on a pedestal, and having recovered from the shock that they can actually afford one these days, they then expect it to still be some kind of paragon of integrity. In reality, it's just a mass-produced car, built to production tolerances perhaps a little higher than the norm. MB can't afford to go around pandering to every crank's obsession with a barely audible squeak. I'm amazed they've indulged this case as far as they have.

So you would put up with all the nonsense that Mark has had to put up with. Would you ?

 

[st4]

I don't recall refusing the respond to ANY of the advice given however in previous comments.

Just because I haven't done everything suggested as soon as it was suggested.

After all, there is no point me getting the dash stripped by an independent prior to MB coming to inspect the vehicle. That only happened yesterday it's only now I can review the other options available to me.

You accuse me of being hasty and then call me out for not giving people the chance to put things right.

Can't have it both ways.

If that makes me a crank in your eyes, then I am really not going to loose any sleep over what you think.

Try the Alfie at COMAND route but I reckon you're best just to sell it and buy a lightly used car that doesn't rattle.

 

[Paul/]

Wake up and smell the coffee, as our American cousins would say. MB aren't competing at the top end of the market these days. They're a "premium" mainstream manufacturer, competing with the likes of BMW and Audi - so they're selling cars at prices barely 1.5 times that of the Ford/Vauxhall horde. The days of hewn-from-solid over-engineering are long gone, and the marque's god-like status has been demoted to that of a mere mortal.

However, the general public still places the three-pointed star on a pedestal, and having recovered from the shock that they can actually afford one these days, they then expect it to still be some kind of paragon of integrity. In reality, it's just a mass-produced car, built to production tolerances perhaps a little higher than the norm. MB can't afford to go around pandering to every crank's obsession with a barely audible squeak. I'm amazed they've indulged this case as far as they have.

EXCELLENT presentation of all the key points that account for this issue and for the intensity of debate. I'd only change the penultimate sentence to "MB can't afford to go around pandering to every buyers dissatisfaction over a squeak" to take some of the emotion out of it.

 

[d w124]

Try the Alfie at COMAND route but I reckon you're best just to sell it and buy a lightly used car that doesn't rattle.

What if that starts rattling too

 

[Deleted member 37751]

After all, there is no point me getting the dash stripped by an independent prior to MB coming to inspect the vehicle. That only happened yesterday it's only now I can review the other options available to me.

Why have you not posted a video of your creaks and rattles, yet you have posted a video of the car you were loaned that rattled?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

So you would put up with all the nonsense that Mark has had to put up with. Would you ?

I am all for keeping Mercedes on their toes, but why has their been no footage of the OP's own car?

And then he seems to ignore any suggestions that are diametrically opposed to this seemingly endless quest for his version of justice.

 

[@MARK]

Why have you not posted a video of your creaks and rattles, yet you have posted a video of the car you were loaned that rattled?

Easier said than done to be honest. Trying to film whilst driving (apart from the legality) isn't not the safest thing in the world to do.

On the last video I took, it just so happened that my phone was not in the back of the car where it normally is and that I was able to capture it whilst driving along a fairly straight bit of road.

And then he seems to ignore any suggestions that are diametrically opposed to this seemingly endless quest for his version of justice.

As I just said, no suggestions have been ignored.

Getting an independent to strip the car and give MB the bill assumes that MB will just roll over an pay it. I don't think this will happen.

Besides, I can't start doing this until after MB and the dealer have had chance to inspect the car first (which only happened yesterday)

Trade in the car?

Sure, but without support from the dealer, this will leave me thousands out of pocket and I am not in the habit of throwing thousands of pounds away if it can be avoided (must be the Yorkshireman in me)

Some of the options being suggested are simply not open to me (yet) and as I said to MOCAS earlier, all of this needs to be played out over a period of time. Just because I haven't tried every suggestion as soon as it's suggested, does not mean I have discounted it or am ignoring it.

The real world tends to work in days and weeks not seconds and minutes.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Easier said than done to be honest. Trying to film whilst driving (apart from the legality) isn't not the safest thing in the world to do.

On the last video I took, it just so happened that my phone was not in the back of the car where it normally is and that I was able to capture it whilst driving along a fairly straight bit of road.

I'm sure you would receive more understanding if you could get a video of the rattles, otherwise how do we know how bad it really is?

Could the missus not sit there recording with your camera or phone?

 

[bpsorrel]

I'm curious Mark, where do go you from here? What's the plan now?

As you're aware, a lot of people think you should get the car fixed yourself (COMAND etc), sell it, try to do a deal on a different marque from the dealer group.... or do you intend to keep up the blog etc and hope MB cave in (unlikely I'd have thought...)

 

[renault12ts]

Where's Dieselman?

 

[@MARK]

I'm curious Mark, where do go you from here? What's the plan now?

As you're aware, a lot of people think you should get the car fixed yourself (COMAND etc), sell it, try to do a deal on a different marque from the dealer group.... or do you intend to keep up the blog etc and hope MB cave in (unlikely I'd have thought...)

So MBUK have made there statement clear. As far as they are concerned, it is case closed.

I have been forced to take this route because the dealer has (to now) stood behind them all the way.

Now however my attention is returned to the dealer that sold me the car. They have now stepped back out from behind MBUK and are again look at possible solutions to the problem and more importantly are talking again.

Going down the COMAND route is not as simple as it may first appear (although I have not ruled it out) but it in itself introduces problems and questions around future warranty work by the dealer. It gives them a good get out clause for anything in the dashboard area moving forward.

But I don't believe this is down to how the car is screwed together. I believe this is down to the materials used which means no matter how many times you strip the car down and put it back again and regardless of who does that, once the car has heated up and cooled down a few times, the problems will return.

This is what we have seen all along. The car has been "fixed", we have driven it away from the dealer in silence and within days (or even minutes on one occasions) the rattles start to return. Sometimes in slightly different places but return they do.

It doesn't help that it's often difficult to pinpoint exactly where they are coming from. By example, I was convinced yesterday that the main rattle (there are more than one) was coming from the top of the dash just below where the tax disk holder is. It was only when I swapped to the passenger seat that it became clear that it was actually coming from somewhere near the gear selector (or perhaps slightly higher near the heater controls).

The Dealer Principal did make some noises yesterday that suggest this is not game over yet and "we" may still come to a solution but again, this will not happen overnight so we have to be a little patient.

The blog stays as it acts as a formal diary of events. The story it tells may have a happy ending and the whole world will get to see how MBUK dug their heals in whilst the dealer looked after his customer. It may tell a very different story.

Cheers

 

[C43AMG]

I'm sure you would receive more understanding if you could get a video of the rattles, otherwise how do we know how bad it really is?

Could the missus not sit there recording with your camera or phone?

Can't you just take his word, that HIS CAR RATTLES. What is this third degree all about ?