What do you think to this then?

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dnyclns

New Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
16
Car
C180 Saloon - AMG Sport Plus (2013)
Long post so no offence taken if you can't be ****d to read it!

My car has been getting a repeated error/warning plus limp mode kicking in. I popped in to my local dealership and asked if they could take it in and look at it. They said sure and gave me a date to bring it in a few days later.

As the car is under warranty I requested a loan car to which I got the response that there would be no chance under any circumstances that a loan car would be available for another three weeks. They said I could continue driving the car with the error for three weeks or bring it in to be fixed but not get a loan car.

Not wanting to cause any more problems with the car I took it in ASAP and sat there for three hours to be told they've cleared the error log and I can take my car. If the error comes back I should ring them and they'll organise bringing it in for a few days and getting a loan car.

Driving home from the dealership and the error comes on again. I ring up and they organise me coming in four days later with a loan car available (I thought none were available for three weeks???). I mention on the phone that the loan car would need to be a like for like (4dr saloon) and the response was "not a problem, we'll have a few cars available and not many of them are two door or coupes."

I took the car in again and signed a loan car agreement which lasted the day and was asked if I needed the car back at any particular time that afternoon which I found odd as I knew the car needed to be in over a longer period. I said "if the car is going to be ready today, don't rush it i can come back any time." to which they told me they'd ring me before the loan car agreement is up.

I go outside to get the loan car and it's a B Class. Not a like for like but I thought if it's only for the day and only I'm using it it's not a problem so took it.

At 16:55 I have still not heard from them about my car after ringing in myself already to chase it up but nobody available to chat. So I drive to the dealership (not wanting to turn a loan car in late) to discuss it all face to face.

When I get there they tell me that my car will need to be in for longer but couldn't give me a time frame and that I should keep the B class for now. At this point I explain that if we are using a loan car for an extended period then it will need to be like for like as mentioned on the phone. I also explain that my girlfriend isn't the most confident of drivers and she would need a car she is used to for her long motorway commute in the morning. This particular B Class was like driving a van and the accelerator was unresponsive causing the car to jerk in to action.

I was given two options, either keep the B Class or take my own car back untested/unfixed. I explained that both these options are dangerous. The lady dealing with me jokingly said, "but a car is a car." and I had to politely explain that to her and myself that may be the case but to a young, inexperienced driver it isn't.

I could tell their mood with me had changed and they were just totally p****d off with me as it was near their closing time. After being told twice that there are no other loan cars available to swap with they finally tell me they've magically found a C Class for me to use. I wasn't sure if they were just being difficult or not but I didn't care, I was just really appreciative that they'd manage to find a car and I didn't have to worry about my girlfriend driving an unfamiliar vehicle.

So I drive off to the supermarket from the dealership and about five minutes in to the journey the tyre pressure warning flashes up saying that the front two tyres are a bit off (yellow) and I just cleared it and thought I'll sort it at the petrol station at the supermarket. As the journey goes on the warning keeps popping back up and each time the tyres are lower and lower and two are on red warnings by the time I make it.

After a bit of googling to convert the recommended pressures displayed on the car in to PSI I notice that the rear drivers side tyre is at 48PSI! That's 15PSI over the recommended heavy load level and only 3PSI below the maximum pressure allowed by the tyre itself. When I walked round to the front passenger side tyre and put my fingers on the valve cap to start untwisting it, it started hissing instantly. It stopped as soon as I took my fingers off it.

By this time the dealership is closed so I decided to drive home from the petrol station as I live only 500 metres away. As I pulled up I noticed my dad was visiting so I told him to look at the tyre pressure warning on the display as I couldn't believe I'd been given a car in this way.

As I walked round to demonstrate the hissing on the valve on the other tyre the valve cap popped off with half of the valve still screwed in to it and the tyre went completely flat within a matter of seconds.

So now I'm thinking the following...

- What if that had happened at 70mph on the motorway.
- What if that had happened at 70mph on the motorway and my girlfriend was driving it.
- What are we going to do for a car tomorrow?
- How could I have been given a car that's not road worthy and quite frankly in an illegal state?
- Do they not do strict checks on the cars before they go out?
- It's always the drivers responsibility to make sure a car is road worthy before driving it but surely they have a duty of care to their customers and this is negligence?

I decided to ring Roadside Assistance (MB) who said somebody will be out to assess the vehicle and potentially recover it this evening and we will organise a complimentary hire car from Europcar for three working days.

Europcar ring me thirty minutes later and half way through the booking procedure they explain that due to instruction from Mercedes Benz they can't continue with the booking as the two drivers to be insured are not registered to the same address. They even quoted the instruction from MB over the phone to me.

It was now 21.15 so I phone up Roadside Assistance again and explain the above and they said that this isn't a Mercedes Benz policy but actually a Europcar policy and that my only option would to be hire a car out of my own money for a maximum of £100.00 per day and try to claim it back.

I then decided I would ring Europcar back again and challenge them on whose policy it actually is to not insure unless the drivers are registered to the same address and they admit it is a joint policy but under the instruction of Mercedes Benz. So I asked if I was to book a car now privately would this policy be enforced then and they couldn't give me an answer.

The man on the phone transferred me to his superior and said there might be some options available for me. Luckily the woman I was put through to was an absolute life saver.

Within 5 minutes of being on the phone and telling her the story she had over ridden the policy for me and told me there would be a Mercedes A Class AMG arriving at my front door within 45 minutes. I was so glad to be getting any car and had already decided now I would take the day off work to drive my girlfriend to work.

45 minutes later and Europcar turned up to the house with an E220 AMG! The recovery truck didn't pick up the other car until 07.00 this morning. They have taken it back to the dealership and I am yet to hear anything from them.

Anyway I don't know what I'm expecting to hear back from you guys about all this I just needed to write it all down and have a rant.

Sorry it was a long one.
 
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That sounds like a nightmare.
My car went on limp mode a few weeks ago with only 1600 miles on the clock,oh well these things happen. It was a Sunday afternoon so I rang MB roadside assistance using the button in the car and I have to say they were very good. They arranged for a technician to look at the car at home,it couldn't be repaired.So they recovered it to my dealer and got me a like for like hire car delivered ,all within three hours. The hire car was fifty miles away so the delivery took a hour.
So if I was you next time don't bother with the dealer just use the recovery people.
I'm sure others will have had a bad experience with MB assist but I speak as I find and I thought they were very good.
 
And the girlfriend can cope with an E-class but not a B-class........
 
And the girlfriend can cope with an E-class but not a B-class........

No she couldn't nor would she have driven the A Class as the original post says we were just happy to be receiving any car as I'd decided to take the day off work to drive her. This wasn't really an option (taking the day off) and has caused all sorts of problems in itself.

Mercedes A Class AMG arriving at my front door within 45 minutes. I was so glad to be getting any car and had already decided now I would take the day off work to drive my girlfriend to work.

My girlfriend is capable of driving any car but wouldn't be comfortable with her first journey in an unfamiliar car being a 75 mile commute during rush hour.
 
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Sounds like your having aright mere. Hope get a speedy resolve to the problems. And I'm sure it won't take your girlfriend to get confedant with the A Class, just don't put into sports mode unless you'd won't to scare the pants off her.
 
Long post so no offence taken if you can't be ****d to read it!

My car has been getting a repeated error/warning plus limp mode kicking in. I popped in to my local dealership and asked if they could take it in and look at it. They said sure and gave me a date to bring it in a few days later.

As the car is under warranty I requested a loan car to which I got the response that there would be no chance under any circumstances that a loan car would be available for another three weeks. They said I could continue driving the car with the error for three weeks or bring it in to be fixed but not get a loan car.

Not wanting to cause any more problems with the car I took it in ASAP and sat there for three hours to be told they've cleared the error log and I can take my car. If the error comes back I should ring them and they'll organise bringing it in for a few days and getting a loan car.

Driving home from the dealership and the error comes on again. I ring up and they organise me coming in four days later with a loan car available (I thought none were available for three weeks???). I mention on the phone that the loan car would need to be a like for like (4dr saloon) and the response was "not a problem, we'll have a few cars available and not many of them are two door or coupes."

I took the car in again and signed a loan car agreement which lasted the day and was asked if I needed the car back at any particular time that afternoon which I found odd as I knew the car needed to be in over a longer period. I said "if the car is going to be ready today, don't rush it i can come back any time." to which they told me they'd ring me before the loan car agreement is up.

I go outside to get the loan car and it's a B Class. Not a like for like but I thought if it's only for the day and only I'm using it it's not a problem so took it.

At 16:55 I have still not heard from them about my car after ringing in myself already to chase it up but nobody available to chat. So I drive to the dealership (not wanting to turn a loan car in late) to discuss it all face to face.

When I get there they tell me that my car will need to be in for longer but couldn't give me a time frame and that I should keep the B class for now. At this point I explain that if we are using a loan car for an extended period then it will need to be like for like as mentioned on the phone. I also explain that my girlfriend isn't the most confident of drivers and she would need a car she is used to for her long motorway commute in the morning. This particular B Class was like driving a van and the accelerator was unresponsive causing the car to jerk in to action.

I was given two options, either keep the B Class or take my own car back untested/unfixed. I explained that both these options are dangerous. The lady dealing with me jokingly said, "but a car is a car." and I had to politely explain that to her and myself that may be the case but to a young, inexperienced driver it isn't.

I could tell their mood with me had changed and they were just totally p****d off with me as it was near their closing time. After being told twice that there are no other loan cars available to swap with they finally tell me they've magically found a C Class for me to use. I wasn't sure if they were just being difficult or not but I didn't care, I was just really appreciative that they'd manage to find a car and I didn't have to worry about my girlfriend driving an unfamiliar vehicle.

So I drive off to the supermarket from the dealership and about five minutes in to the journey the tyre pressure warning flashes up saying that the front two tyres are a bit off (yellow) and I just cleared it and thought I'll sort it at the petrol station at the supermarket. As the journey goes on the warning keeps popping back up and each time the tyres are lower and lower and two are on red warnings by the time I make it.

After a bit of googling to convert the recommended pressures displayed on the car in to PSI I notice that the rear drivers side tyre is at 48PSI! That's 15PSI over the recommended heavy load level and only 3PSI below the maximum pressure allowed by the tyre itself. When I walked round to the front passenger side tyre and put my fingers on the valve cap to start untwisting it, it started hissing instantly. It stopped as soon as I took my fingers off it.

By this time the dealership is closed so I decided to drive home from the petrol station as I live only 500 metres away. As I pulled up I noticed my dad was visiting so I told him to look at the tyre pressure warning on the display as I couldn't believe I'd been given a car in this way.

As I walked round to demonstrate the hissing on the valve on the other tyre the valve cap popped off with half of the valve still screwed in to it and the tyre went completely flat within a matter of seconds.

So now I'm thinking the following...

- What if that had happened at 70mph on the motorway.
- What if that had happened at 70mph on the motorway and my girlfriend was driving it.
- What are we going to do for a car tomorrow?
- How could I have been given a car that's not road worthy and quite frankly in an illegal state?
- Do they not do strict checks on the cars before they go out?
- It's always the drivers responsibility to make sure a car is road worthy before driving it but surely they have a duty of care to their customers and this is negligence?

I decided to ring Roadside Assistance (MB) who said somebody will be out to assess the vehicle and potentially recover it this evening and we will organise a complimentary hire car from Europcar for three working days.

Europcar ring me thirty minutes later and half way through the booking procedure they explain that due to instruction from Mercedes Benz they can't continue with the booking as the two drivers to be insured are not registered to the same address. They even quoted the instruction from MB over the phone to me.

It was now 21.15 so I phone up Roadside Assistance again and explain the above and they said that this isn't a Mercedes Benz policy but actually a Europcar policy and that my only option would to be hire a car out of my own money for a maximum of £100.00 per day and try to claim it back.

I then decided I would ring Europcar back again and challenge them on whose policy it actually is to not insure unless the drivers are registered to the same address and they admit it is a joint policy but under the instruction of Mercedes Benz. So I asked if I was to book a car now privately would this policy be enforced then and they couldn't give me an answer.

The man on the phone transferred me to his superior and said there might be some options available for me. Luckily the woman I was put through to was an absolute life saver.

Within 5 minutes of being on the phone and telling her the story she had over ridden the policy for me and told me there would be a Mercedes A Class AMG arriving at my front door within 45 minutes. I was so glad to be getting any car and had already decided now I would take the day off work to drive my girlfriend to work.

45 minutes later and Europcar turned up to the house with an E220 AMG! The recovery truck didn't pick up the other car until 07.00 this morning. They have taken it back to the dealership and I am yet to hear anything from them.

Anyway I don't know what I'm expecting to hear back from you guys about all this I just needed to write it all down and have a rant.

Sorry it was a long one.

So to condense the story:
You had an EML come on and took it to the dealer who lent you a B-Class then took the EML off.

After driving off, it came back on again so you went back again and they gave you another loan car, this time a C-Class.

The C-Class had dodgy tyre valves.

The C-Class loses all air in tyre.

After toing and froing, you get an E-Class loan car to replace the C-Class with the dodgy valves.

That sound about right?
 
After toing and froing, you get an E-Class loan car to replace the C-Class with the dodgy valves.

That sound about right?

He got an A-Class, not E. His post appears to have been edited.
 
Still says they turned up with an E220 AMG :s
 
Hi, I originally edited my post to try and correct some spelling and grammar mistakes.

To summarise:

1. I took the car in for a fault but they refused to give me a loan car because there weren't any available for three weeks. I had to take the day off work to sit in the dealership just for error log to be cleared. Was told to ring up if it reappears to they can take it in for a longer period to investigate.

2. Error came back back on the drive home from the dealership. I rang up and they booked me in for four days later with the agreement of getting a like for like loan car. But they actually gave me a B class which I was happy with as they said they'd only need the car for the day again.

3. Nobody rang me so I drove to the dealership where I was told they'd need it longer and to keep the B class. For genuine reasons I requested a like for like swap of the B class loan car. After toing and froing and lots of huffs for over an hour from them they magically find a C class for me. I drive off happy.

4. Driving away from the dealership and I have issues with all four tyres, three are dangerously low and one is on the verge of being dangerously high. I pull over at home and one valve cap bursts and the tyre deflates instantly.

5. Mercedes and Europcar try to organise a courtesy car but they both were saying I couldn't get one because both drivers aren't registered at the same address. Both said it was the other's policy. Mercedes say I have to privately hire a car and hope I can be reimbursed but it's not guaranteed.

6. Manager at Europcar hears my story and organises an A Class to be delivered to my house however an E Class turns up. She overrides the insurance policy issue. I was happy with either by this point after the whole mess. THANK YOU EUROPCAR.

7. I have to take the day off work again to drive my girlfriend to work because we are not in a like for like courtesy car.
 
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Update:

I got a phone call this morning saying that no errors have been found during testing and I can pick it up. No mention of the issue with the loan car/tyres.

I go to pick up the vehicle and again they don't mention the loan vehicle. They tell me that it's been fixed but were very vague with details. I asked for a physical copy of the report detailing what had been done to the car and they refused. They said it's not their policy to give out this information in writing. I had to argue for a physical copy and questioned why I wasn't allowed to know in writing what had been done to my own property.

I asked them what they wanted me to do with the E Class courtesy car and they said to just leave the key with them. I knew I was okay to leave a Europcar at a MB dealer to be returned but I questioned whether they knew it was not a loan car from them but a courtesy car from Europcar because nobody had even commented on it whilst I was there. They said they knew about the flat tyre and they knew this was the courtesy car.

All they've done is reinstall the software in my own car and so far the fault hasn't come back. Only time will tell us if it's a true fix.
 
It sounds to me like you don't trust this dealer and they have identified this and, as a result, they aren't so keen to have you as a customer.

Stalemate.

Looks like you will be seeking a new dealer?
 
I will post the details of the dealership if they don't respond in a satisfactory manner once I have sent my complaint.

I would prefer to give them a chance to defend/redeem themselves first.
 
Quite a saga... did you get it resolved by the dealer to your satisfaction?
Who is the dealer?
And how old is the car that had the original fault?

Also... what is limp-mode? It sounds scary and presumably not an pukker technical term ;-)

EnEm
 
Sounds like a blooming nightmare... The more I hear of the problems with later computerised models the more I will cling to my W201 190 diesels... turn the key, start first time, aim at destination, get there, turn off. Repeat for next 20 years....
 

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