Iyse
Active Member
OK, so about 4 days ago I recieved the following from Eurocarparts:
2x Front brake discs
4x Front brake pads
2x Rear brake discs
4x Rear brake pads
2x Pad wear sensor
After getting home from a 9am lecture, I bring everything I need outside, chock the backs, jack and stand the front, off with the wheels and I try to locate the first nut on my way to removing the calipers. Once the search is over, out comes the manual torque wrench and I give it a good yank... Nothing. Once again, with a bit more force. Still nothing. After 20 minutes of desperately trying to get this nut off, I decide to give up, as electronic wrenches are probably better suited for this job.
Defeated, I call Mercedes of Coventry (which I always hate doing), go through to service and ask for my car to be booked in. Now, as I live quite a while away from Coventry, I naturally ask for a courtesy car, and as a Mercedes owner, one would expect nothing less. The guy I was speaking to obviously wasn't Enlglish, and had a very slimy way of speaking, almost as if he was patronising me without putting in the effort to do so. After 5 minutes of silence from the other end as he put my details in for the job to be done, I started to get a little annoyed.
"Is there a problem?" I asked, frustrated.
"I'm just putting your details in now." Surely it doesn't take more than a minute to book a car in for a brake replacement. I could picture him deliberately slowing the process just to piss me off as he sensed the tired angst in my voice.
The quote was £330 including VAT, which is £95 an hour for 3 hours. 1.6 hours for the front and 1.4 for the back. I knew it was going to be extortionate, so I bit the bullet and agreed to book my car in. Next came the courtesy car, and it seems that if you want to inconvenience Mercedes, they will do everything in their power to return to favour.
"If you want a courtesy car, we can do the job in 2 weeks."
"TWO WEEKS?!" I exclaimed, my anger growing. "What about without a courtesy car?" This wasn't an option, but I thought I'd ask nonethless.
"We can do it this Friday." The reply was again, slimy. I felt like I was talking to a perverts hotline.
Friday wasn't good for me, as I have visitors coming up on Wednesday and leaving Friday, so the next best option was to book for two weeks, and tolrate the constant flashing of the brake pad warning light for a little longer.
I was put on hold.
1 minute passed.
2 minutes.
3...
4...
At minute eight, I hung up, and thought to myself... There has got to be a better way of doing this!
I drove the the bottom of town, where I knew of lots of garage work due to the high density of boy racers in Leamington. The first garage I saw looked professional enough, and as I walked in I was greeted by a smily chap called Pete. It turns out he owned the place, and later showed me his SL500 with 20 inch rims. Nice.
"We work at £30 an hour including VAT here, so it'll be about £90 altogether."
Great, I though, but I cringed as he opened the diary to see when this cheap work could be done.
"And if you leave it with us now, we'll have it back to you at 5."
I was shocked.
I went about my daily business without a courtesy car for the rest of the day, and sure enough, 5 O'Clock rolled around and my car rolled off the ramps, new brakes and all. As I parted with less than a third of the money I would have spent at Mercedes, two weeks down the line, I got back into my car smiling, drove off, and then broke to test out this potential miracle that had befallen me. What a great feel it was. No ABS kicking in because the pads were so worn, the braking was smooth and precise. I know I'd have to bed them in, but for now, I was over the moon.
Just to refresh.
Mercedes: £330. 2 weeks to book.
Pete Scale: £90. 2 minutes to book.
I certainly won't be going to Mercedes any more if work on my car is needed.
2x Front brake discs
4x Front brake pads
2x Rear brake discs
4x Rear brake pads
2x Pad wear sensor
After getting home from a 9am lecture, I bring everything I need outside, chock the backs, jack and stand the front, off with the wheels and I try to locate the first nut on my way to removing the calipers. Once the search is over, out comes the manual torque wrench and I give it a good yank... Nothing. Once again, with a bit more force. Still nothing. After 20 minutes of desperately trying to get this nut off, I decide to give up, as electronic wrenches are probably better suited for this job.
Defeated, I call Mercedes of Coventry (which I always hate doing), go through to service and ask for my car to be booked in. Now, as I live quite a while away from Coventry, I naturally ask for a courtesy car, and as a Mercedes owner, one would expect nothing less. The guy I was speaking to obviously wasn't Enlglish, and had a very slimy way of speaking, almost as if he was patronising me without putting in the effort to do so. After 5 minutes of silence from the other end as he put my details in for the job to be done, I started to get a little annoyed.
"Is there a problem?" I asked, frustrated.
"I'm just putting your details in now." Surely it doesn't take more than a minute to book a car in for a brake replacement. I could picture him deliberately slowing the process just to piss me off as he sensed the tired angst in my voice.
The quote was £330 including VAT, which is £95 an hour for 3 hours. 1.6 hours for the front and 1.4 for the back. I knew it was going to be extortionate, so I bit the bullet and agreed to book my car in. Next came the courtesy car, and it seems that if you want to inconvenience Mercedes, they will do everything in their power to return to favour.
"If you want a courtesy car, we can do the job in 2 weeks."
"TWO WEEKS?!" I exclaimed, my anger growing. "What about without a courtesy car?" This wasn't an option, but I thought I'd ask nonethless.
"We can do it this Friday." The reply was again, slimy. I felt like I was talking to a perverts hotline.
Friday wasn't good for me, as I have visitors coming up on Wednesday and leaving Friday, so the next best option was to book for two weeks, and tolrate the constant flashing of the brake pad warning light for a little longer.
I was put on hold.
1 minute passed.
2 minutes.
3...
4...
At minute eight, I hung up, and thought to myself... There has got to be a better way of doing this!
I drove the the bottom of town, where I knew of lots of garage work due to the high density of boy racers in Leamington. The first garage I saw looked professional enough, and as I walked in I was greeted by a smily chap called Pete. It turns out he owned the place, and later showed me his SL500 with 20 inch rims. Nice.
"We work at £30 an hour including VAT here, so it'll be about £90 altogether."
Great, I though, but I cringed as he opened the diary to see when this cheap work could be done.
"And if you leave it with us now, we'll have it back to you at 5."
I was shocked.
I went about my daily business without a courtesy car for the rest of the day, and sure enough, 5 O'Clock rolled around and my car rolled off the ramps, new brakes and all. As I parted with less than a third of the money I would have spent at Mercedes, two weeks down the line, I got back into my car smiling, drove off, and then broke to test out this potential miracle that had befallen me. What a great feel it was. No ABS kicking in because the pads were so worn, the braking was smooth and precise. I know I'd have to bed them in, but for now, I was over the moon.
Just to refresh.
Mercedes: £330. 2 weeks to book.
Pete Scale: £90. 2 minutes to book.
I certainly won't be going to Mercedes any more if work on my car is needed.
.
just goes to show the extortionate rate large established dealerships are willing to charge to fund their image and glass palace-like showrooms, i asked for a quote on a main service from a dealer and got quoted the best part of £400 of which £280 was labour, so in reality a £120 job which is still an over-rated price for a couple of filters and fluids. my man on the inside charged £200 for the same main service and same day return.
