Why oh why did I buy a Mercedes?

[flowrider]

I had two Omega's over a period of 11 years, serviced by various Vauxhall dealers, and I always found their service departments to be very good. Said that my last Vauxhall was sold in 2008... so things may have changed since?

I also have experience with a Kia dealer, a Renault dealer, and a Toyota/Lexus dealer.... i.e. one of each. And they were all OK. Not great, but OK.

It is very much dealer dependant but i think most of us expect a level of service from a premium brand to be a level above what we would get from a non premium brand. On the whole MB are ok but they do have hiccups now and then like all brands.

 

[cfoster]

Which Merc dealer was it as a matter of interest, MB in Southend (looks like you are Essex based?)? If it was I found them very unhelpful as well, went to look at an ML for the missus and turned up in her old 2008 C Class (E63 was at home in garage!), plus wearing jeans and t-shirt, he didn't seem interested in helping at all. Even when I mentioned a cash sale it didn't open his eye. Shame as I hate looking down on people and judging people but they seem to think that because they are wearing an MB shirt working for MB they are a cut above the rest.... he sells cars FFS wish they'd take a reality check!

BMW on the other hand were awesome for me when I had the M4. They even gave my son a sit on beemer, loads of other free stuff etc....

 

[merc85]

I had your experience cfoster with BMW in Colchester, We then went to Glyn Hopkin and bought a X-trail instead. There Aftersales though are useless

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I do find it strange when people criticise a single brand for poor service, unresponsivess, snootiness, rudeness, etc. Mercedes don't make a condition of the a dealer group taking a franchise. The dealer group doesn't it a condition of the dealership manager's employment, and in turn it's not a condition of employment for the people who customers interact with.

There are good and bad people in each dealership. There are good and bad dealerships in each group. There are good and bad groups operating franchises for Mercedes. And the same is true for the other brands.

Mercedes is a volume manufacturer, albeit at the premium end. I might expect marginally different experience to buying from a budget volume manufacturer, but not much. I might expect a more different experience buying from Bentley or Rolls Royce, in just the same way as shopping in Primark, Marks & Spencer, or Harvey Nichols.

 

[GeeJayW]

I do find it strange when people criticise a single brand for poor service, unresponsivess, snootiness, rudeness, etc. Mercedes don't make a condition of the a dealer group taking a franchise. The dealer group doesn't it a condition of the dealership manager's employment, and in turn it's not a condition of employment for the people who customers interact with.

There are good and bad people in each dealership. There are good and bad dealerships in each group. There are good and bad groups operating franchises for Mercedes. And the same is true for the other brands.

Mercedes is a volume manufacturer, albeit at the premium end. I might expect marginally different experience to buying from a budget volume manufacturer, but not much. I might expect a more different experience buying from Bentley or Rolls Royce, in just the same way as shopping in Primark, Marks & Spencer, or Harvey Nichols.

I think the basic problem here is that someone has bought a poverty spec A-Class and wants MB to provide the parts so he can 'up-spec' it himself.

Beyond selling a few parts (that may well be in short supply anyway) I don't see how this is in MB's interest in any way. Self installed options on the car could easily be seen by MB as being something of a liability (even if they are competently done by the customer, which of course cannot be guaranteed), leading to issues about warranty and serviceability going forward.

So MB have declined to supply said parts, the customer is unhappy and is whinging about it on an Internet forum. Not exactly unpredictable really.

 

[Delayed Steve]

I have to agree with Bobby Dazzler, I've never had a problem with car sales staff, my wife on the other hand likes to buy her cars with as much stress as possible!
When I brought my c class I went in the dealership in walking boots, jeans and a North Face coat. Oh and I even called him Mate!!!! I was treated perfectly, he wasn't bothered that I was paying cash although he did suggest Pcp and wasn't bothered that I had turned up in a Ford Focus..
I did the deal and everything was good, no problems at all.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I guess that MB realises that they will piss off a number of customers with this strategy but have run the numbers and realised that the percentage is small enough to be insignificant when compared to the aggro involved in dealing with such punters.

 

[Deleted member 131833]

I recently bought a cl500 2002 vintage and am bringing it up to my standards. I have had to buy several parts, all bought from Mb Dundee with no problems other than you have to twist their arm to get a discount.

Correct parts supplied within a day or two, no problems at at all with staff, very helpful.

Have you considered contacting MB head office, I think they would take a dim view if you were getting poor service?

 

[GeeJayW]

I recently bought a cl500 2002 vintage and am bringing it up to my standards. I have had to buy several parts, all bought from Mb Dundee with no problems other than you have to twist their arm to get a discount.

Correct parts supplied within a day or two, no problems at at all with staff, very helpful.

Have you considered contacting MB head office, I think they would take a dim view if you were getting poor service?

I don't think anyone would have problems getting replacement parts from MB for items that were originally fitted to the car. I could be wrong, but the issue here seems to be someone trying to purchase parts for options that weren't part of the original build....

 

[JBD]

You are partly correct. Except I have the auto box plus I gave the dealer extra figures when they needed them. So why would it hurt to take a little more money on some spare parts, not all Distronic related.

It also does not explain why all Mercedes dealers treated me like a piece of s*** until I mentioned I had the cash in my pocket.

There’s no long wait on factory order A Class, they’re the most common car sold through normal retail. Are you trying to fit a silver diamond grill or something?

 

[JBD]

If I read your other post correctly you are after Distronic? A Class Retrofit
Unfortunately MB appear to package this with their DRIVING ASSISTANCE PACKAGE @ £1,695 On configuring your model with this option you find it has to be combined with their semi automatic box@ a further £1600 totalling £3,295 !!! Now you can see that as a clever marketing exercise this means to get Distronic you need to spend £1,695- 3,295 on other stuff you don't necessary want. Mercedes almost certainly are not wanting to sell you kit to retrofit "DISTRONIC" your car at cost when they can extract more money from you when ordering. I suspect this may have something to do with it?

It’s not a clever marketing exercise, the system simply doesn’t work with a manual gearbox and it’s understandable why. It would just stall all the time [emoji23] Even if there was a way of Mercedes making it work, they sell so few manual cars, it wouldn’t be worth it.


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[markjay]

There’s no long wait on factory order A Class, they’re the most common car sold through normal retail. Are you trying to fit a silver diamond grill or something?

There's probably a waiting list if you are after an A-Class with the package that includes the in-very-short-supply radar sensors....

Buying a car from stock then retrofitting the driver aids may have seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[grober]

It’s not a clever marketing exercise, the system simply doesn’t work with a manual gearbox and it’s understandable why. It would just stall all the time

Even if there was a way of Mercedes making it work, they sell so few manual cars, it wouldn’t be worth it.


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Sorry wasn't disputing that Distronic requires the automated twin clutch manual box for technical reasons ----simply pointing out that in order to specify Distronic you will have to have spent at least £3,295 on the price of a basic model whatever the reason.
In terms of distronic- a form of adaptive cruise control [ACC ] this is available on manual cars from other makes. Often like ordinary cruise control its disengaged by pressing the brake or clutch pedals or simply disenagages below a certain vehicle speed. This might limit its " autonomous driving" aspect in heavy slow speed traffic but not the advantage it can convey in high speed driving where I feel its true contribution to safety is to be realised.
Cruise control and adaptive cruise control: the complete guide
A friend with a BMW M series 2 coupe experienced a similar problem when he wanted cruise control on his car with a manual gearbox [unusual spec on that model ] to be told when ordering his car by BMW it was unavailable. He bought the necessary switchgear/stalk from the automatic version for the steering column , that and a bit of coding at a local BMW specialist and voila. It was almost plug and play. I suspect that many electronic options in modern cars require very little extra hardware and a bit of programming to become fully functional. If so they are likely to be immensely profitable items for manufacturers and a source of increased revenue stream for them.

 

[JBD]

Sorry wasn't disputing that Distronic requires the automated twin clutch manual box for technical reasons ----simply pointing out that in order to specify Distronic you will have to have spent at least £3,295 on the price of a basic model whatever the reason.
In terms of distronic- a form of adaptive cruise control [ACC ] this is available on manual cars from other makes. Often like ordinary cruise control its disengaged by pressing the brake or clutch pedals or simply disenagages below a certain vehicle speed. This might limit its " autonomous driving" aspect in heavy slow speed traffic but not the advantage it can convey in high speed driving where I feel its true contribution to safety is to be realised.
Cruise control and adaptive cruise control: the complete guide
A friend with a BMW M series 2 coupe experienced a similar problem when he wanted cruise control on his car with a manual gearbox [unusual spec on that model ] to be told when ordering his car by BMW it was unavailable. He bought the necessary switchgear/stalk from the automatic version for the steering column , that and a bit of coding at a local BMW specialist and voila. It was almost plug and play. I suspect that many electronic options in modern cars require very little extra hardware and a bit of programming to become fully functional. If so they are likely to be immensely profitable items for manufacturers and a source of increased revenue stream for them.

We’re seeing less and less manual cars being sold. I’m rather glad mercedes are sticking to their guns with Auto’s and a lot of kit only being available on them. I can’t see manual gearboxes lasting too long in the market now, at least not in this part of the market


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[markjay]

Distronic is very different to cruise control...

Distronic needs to be able to vary the speed according to road conditions, which means shifting gears up and down as needed... you can't do that with a manual box.

Cruise control is a different story, once the driver shifts into the correct gear the cruise control's only engagement with the gearbox is that it needs to know what gear the car is in.

 

[grober]

Distronic is very different to cruise control...

Distronic needs to be able to vary the speed according to road conditions, which means shifting gears up and down as needed... you can't do that with a manual box.

Cruise control is a different story, once the driver shifts into the correct gear the cruise control's only engagement with the gearbox is that it needs to know what gear the car is in.

I very much doubt the "Distronic system" on an A class is anything like as sophisticated as the system on the S class you describe. Mercedes do use loose terminology. The "4matic" on the FWD cars is a different animal from the 4WD system on the RWD cars as only one example, so extrapolating from one model to another is making quite a few assumptions. I have no axe to grind in favour of automatic gearboxes over manuals or vice versa having driven automatic Mercs for years . That doesn't blind me to fact the automatic gearbox in the FWD chassis cars is a twin clutch automated manual type box rather than the conventional torque converter autobox.
Cruise control and adaptive cruise control: the complete guide

 

[markjay]

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[kianok]

Could just sack the idea and just drive in the fashion you were taught and try your very best not to crash into the car in front of you.

 

[grober]

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As far as I can make out Distronic in the A class is basically adaptive cruise control [ ACC] with no mention of the much greater S Class sophistication mentioned in this article involving satelite navigation /mapping data bases etc
Mercedes-Benz is building cars that know the road better than you do
Even then there is no mention of distronic control of the gearbox just speed control via electronic throttle and brakes. Of course any automatic gearbox may well change gear in reponse to throttle pedal demand and car speed but that's inherent in the box without direct control by the distronic unit. The point I'm trying to make is that for a Distronic of the simpler ACC type [ as likely fitted to the A class] an automatic box, while possibly desirable, is not a techical prerequisite as illustrated by the fitment of similar ACC systems in manual cars from other manufacturers. As such I see it as a marketing mediated decision rather than a technical one. Of course Mercedes are free to specify their cars how they want , just as potential customers are free to judge whether such expensive options represent good value for money or not.

 

[chrisk2010]

I have always received excellent customer service from Mercedes even as a 25 year old walking into Mercedes with a 10 year old W202 sitting with guys wearing expesive watches while i'm sat there in overalls on my lunch break looking like i'd been dragged behind my car on the way there to pick up a £70.00 torsion bar after they'd spent an hour diagnosing it for free. I was still treated with same respect as the guy opposite me with a 10 grand watch and offered a coffee and a car wash.

I can honestly say that the service i received from Mercedes is what made me buy two more which there badge on the front..... maybe that's just me.