B180 - is it a lemon?

[mhayhurst]

So we bought a very nice looking B180 1.7 Petrol Auto last week from a large but very smart-looking car supermarket. We did give it a short test drive and it felt fine.

First morning I drove it, after 10 yards or so it said "Transmission - Consult Workshop" and to cut a long and painful story short, it has basically done that on every trip out when it has sat cold, sometimes more than once. Turning off and on again, generally sorts it.

I had a bunch of hassle trying to get the warranty company to deal with it and in so doing I lost faith in the company and this particular car. Right now it sits outside my house awaiting collection by the vendor for a full refund (could yet be more of a saga).

Anyway, apart from this rather terminal issue, I do like the car and we had chosen the model after some consideration. Did we just get unlucky? I did also find some weird shimmy/shake when the car was pulling away, not the very first rolling from stop in auto but maybe from 5-15 mph, it felt like when you are driving on a grooved surface and the tracking line is slightly nudged? I've put that down to a deeper autobox issue, does that seem reasonable?

TIA, Mark

 

[LostKiwi]

Firstly there is no way you should have any hassle with returning it - you're fully protected by the Consumer Act for 30 days. During that period you are fully within your rights to return the vehicle for a full refund.
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

The shimmy may be transmission related or it may be tracking. Without driving its impossible to tell.

 

[mhayhurst]

Firstly there is no way you should have any hassle with returning it - you're fully protected by the Consumer Act for 30 days. During that period you are fully within your rights to return the vehicle for a full refund.
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

The shimmy may be transmission related or it may be tracking. Without driving its impossible to tell.

Thanks - I know I shouldn't have - I just have a feeling I might when it comes to getting all the money back into my account (it is to be hoped that I am wrong).

Thanks re shimmy Looking for another B-class ..

Mark

 

[LostKiwi]

Once you find one if it shimmys you should know your answer!

 

[Rory]

Not very familiar with this model but I don't think they have a conventional torque convertor auto, which Mercedes is pretty good at. If it's a CVT they are a known weak spot. Even the dual clutch DCTs aren't without problems.

 

[ajlsl600]

get shot of it back where it came from ,then try again , to be honest one can get this with just about any car these days. unlikelyto strike 2x on same model but be certain of warranty details in writting before going off with another. incl the return if not satisfied within yr legal timeframe rights, suggest you plan a good trip in the replacement so you have good idea of gremlins within 48 hr of purchase, or get a weekend try before you buy deal.

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

Just needs a TCU repair, nothing major there, most CVTs have to have it at some point. A good Indie should help you repair it under warranty should you decide not to return it.

 

[ajlsl600]

not a confidence inspiring start tho, and had it been well tested prior to delivery the issue may have been effectivly dealt with before hand. personaly i would not want it back myself, would no longer have any confidence in it.

 

[mhayhurst]

Oddly the vendor seems intent on having me have to take them to court - I really don't get it! They've refused the rejection and now we'll have to let someone else decide, the fact they so adamantly don't want the car back makes me even more concerned!

 

[peterws1957]

Pretty disheartening when sellers dont abide by the law. Dont know how much you paid but its fairly simple now to use small claims court - receipt of court papers usually concentrates the minds of these characters. Could always try your local Trading Standards as well. What a pain!

 

[alexanderfoti]

I agree with Peter. Should be a simple matter to file the claim online (Money Claims online). Should be very straight forward.

As other say, the CVT box is easy to repair and just needs a TCU repair. If it where me, I would get the car repaired and add it to the cost of the claim.

 

[mhayhurst]

Pretty disheartening when sellers dont abide by the law. Dont know how much you paid but its fairly simple now to use small claims court - receipt of court papers usually concentrates the minds of these characters. Could always try your local Trading Standards as well. What a pain!

Yes. I've been very diligent in keeping a paper trail and the reason we lost faith is that since getting terminally fed up last friday and telling them in writing we were rejecting the vehicle, we had no comms from them and were not able to reach anyone until someone called out of the blue on wednesday at 17:45 this week. I explained very calmly that we had lost all faith in the car and them and the warranty service and were exercising our rights to reject it. yesterday the sales manager finally got in touch and said they were refusing to accept the rejection. They claim to operate on very low margins and so I cannot see why they want the extra hassle of being taken to court (also are they really not bothered about a CCJ?) - they could just have said "I'm terribly sorry you had this issue, I can assure you it doesn't often happen. We'll take the car back and issue a full refund". They will fix it and sell it to someone else (although of course it now says it had another keeper for a short period). Doesn't make sense to me and has been enormously frustrating. needless to say the google review is held in abeyance right now...

 

[mhayhurst]

I agree with Peter. Should be a simple matter to file the claim online (Money Claims online). Should be very straight forward.

As other say, the CVT box is easy to repair and just needs a TCU repair. If it where me, I would get the car repaired and add it to the cost of the claim.

Well they offered to get it fixed but after completely ignoring us so we had to start balls rolling so sadly we're not interested now, want to get money back and look for another B Class...

 

[alexanderfoti]

Well they offered to get it fixed but after completely ignoring us so we had to start balls rolling so sadly we're not interested now, want to get money back and look for another B Class...

Whilst the situation you are in not ideal, and frustrating, especially considering the dealers unwillingness to adhere to their basic responsibilities, you are stuck!

If they don't want to take the car back there is not much else you can do.

 

[Frosty149]

Would suggest that this brinkmanship or bluff on the hope you will back down...
Stay resolute and add the costs of loss of amenity to your claim against them. The above advice regards repair makes sense too.

 

[peterws1957]

Of course they cannot refuse to accept the rejection, unless they are asserting that there is no fault. Are they maintaining that its a stored fault not deleted? Incidentally if you have not already done so I would take a photo of the dash warning as evidence. Mmm another keeper for a short time - tends to speak volumes I would say- are you able to contact this keeper?

 

[LostKiwi]

Oddly the vendor seems intent on having me have to take them to court - I really don't get it! They've refused the rejection and now we'll have to let someone else decide, the fact they so adamantly don't want the car back makes me even more concerned!

Have a chat to trading standards as well. Your consumer rights are what protect you and if they refuse to acknowledge that then trading standards need to know. Make sure you document every single communication with the dealer. If its a telephone conversation document it and transcribe it to an email and send it to them complete with dates and times. Start each email with "Per our conversation on {date}{time} we discussed.....
Don't put anything other than the conversation down. This serves two purposes.
1. It keeps your records accurate as to what was said so you can rely on them in court.
2. Forces them to reply if there is anything they don't agree with. If they don't reply its a tacit acceptance of your version of the facts.

 

[mhayhurst]

Of course they cannot refuse to accept the rejection, unless they are asserting that there is no fault. Are they maintaining that its a stored fault not deleted? Incidentally if you have not already done so I would take a photo of the dash warning as evidence. Mmm another keeper for a short time - tends to speak volumes I would say- are you able to contact this keeper?

That's the crazy thing - I have photos of at least a dozen occurrences, from the second time it happened to when I stopped using the car on Monday. I'm not driving my daughter-in-law's old renault that has a faint smell of vomit from years of family holidays for fun

 

[mhayhurst]

Have a chat to trading standards as well. Your consumer rights are what protect you and if they refuse to acknowledge that then trading standards need to know. Make sure you document every single communication with the dealer. If its a telephone conversation document it and transcribe it to an email and send it to them complete with dates and times. Start each email with "Per our conversation on {date}{time} we discussed.....
Don't put anything other than the conversation down. This serves two purposes.
1. It keeps your records accurate as to what was said so you can rely on them in court.
2. Forces them to reply if there is anything they don't agree with. If they don't reply its a tacit acceptance of your version of the facts.

Yes, TS and CAB have been enormously helpful and 90% of the comms are my unanswered emails.

 

[peterws1957]

That's the crazy thing - I have photos of at least a dozen occurrences, from the second time it happened to when I stopped using the car on Monday. I'm not driving my daughter-in-law's old renault that has a faint smell of vomit from years of family holidays for fun

Sounds like you have got a handle on it then. The first thing I would be tempted to do is get a call in to Trading standards or whatever they call themselves these days. Get past their central call centre and ask to speak to someone at you local authority unit. They still have an astonishing amount of clout and I suspect they will probably already be aware of the characters you are having to deal with. Best of luck with it all- life's too short to have to deal with shady car dealers. Sorry posts crossed!