Mercedes Dealer Has Ruined My Car

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Firststar

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Your Mercedes
Mercedes CLS320 CDi
My Mercedes CLS 320 cdi has always been serviced by a Mercedes Dealership in Barry Wales and it has Never had a Problem. As we Moved House 11 months ago I had to change to TAUNTON MERCEDES when my car required a service. On The Dashboard the car stated that it required a service A which is just an Oil Change, ( Well it was when my original Dealer Serviced it ) So I Took my car along to TAUNTON MERCEDES to have it booked on and was told that it needed a major service. I didnt agree and showed them that on its last service it had had Air Filters, Pollen Filters, Fuel Filters,Oil Filters & Oil, New Glow Plugs and So on.

They still insisted that it required a major service and given that the next dealer was quite a way from me I caved in and said ok.

It has been less than 500 miles Since my car has been serviced and it has broken down on me three times, on all occasions the car could not find a gear and just hunted up & down the gear box.

The car was recovered by mondial and taken back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

On the First Occasion they had the car for Five days and came back to me saying that the problem was caused by a build up of resistance against a fuse. The fuse hadnt blown but they replaced it anyway!

I asked what had caused the build up but I was told that they didnt know.

I asked them to Road test the Car again to see if this had cured the problem.

Later the same day I received a phone call from CHRIS THE SERVICE MANAGER OF TAUNTON MERCEDES who told me that the fault had reapeared and now the car had come up with Five pages of Fault Codes!

But they had found the problem it was an oxygen sensor on the gear box and they had replaced that and now the car was fine and I could pick it up.

I paid them £430 and went out to my car. As it was a hot day i went to open my windows before getting in and nothing happened so i went straight back in to TAUNTON MERCEDES and spoke to the SERVICE MANAGER who sent a mechanic out to look at the car.

His Response was "its nothing that we've done mate it must have always been like that. You will have to book it in to get it fixed".

I told him that they were working fine before it came in but he wasnt bothered.

I again went in to see the SERVICE MANAGER and said that they were working fine before it came in here but now they were not.

His answer was to get the five pages of fault codes out and he pointed out to me that the global windows was listed under one of the faults that had appeared after the second road test and they were not responsable for it.

Well I had no time to argue as I had to pick up my son from school and said that I would come back later on in the week and get this sorted.

Well how True were those words!

The Following day I took my wife shopping and low and behold the gearbox did exactly the same thing.

Again Mondial recovered the car and took it back to MERCEDES of TAUNTON.

They had it a further five days and this time came back that it was a sensor in the exhaust. They had replaced it and the car is now perfect!

No Mention of the windows at all.

Well I went and paid them again this time only £59.00 as the rest was a good will gesture.

My wife said that we would wait until we were near her brothers in wales and get the windows sorted there.

Well we drove out of the dealership had not travelled more than two miles and the ****** gearbox did it again.

Straight back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

This Time CHRIS the SERVICE MANAGER and I use the term Service lightly as The service was totally Useless.

This time he stated "OH it Must be something weve Missed, but unfortunately we havnt got a curtisee car herefor you to use so if you drive your car home and then get it recovered by mondial again you will get a car to use"

By This Time I was extremely annoyed but before I could say any thing my wife spoke out. ( now she is normally the quite type who doesnt say hardly anything )

" How is it that the car has just had a major service and less than 500 miles later it has five pages of faults and you are unable to fix even one of them yet you insist on still charging us, There was NOTHING AT ALL WRONG WITH THIS CAR UNTIL TAUNTON MERCEDS GOT THERE HANDS ON IT AND NOW YOU ARE JUST PASSING THE BUCK".



The SERVICE MANAGERS RESPONSE WAS "WE WILL KEEP HAVING IT BACK UNTIL WE CAN FIND THE CAUSE OF THE FAULT".

We took the car home and phoned MERCEDES CUSTOMER SERVICE, There Response was Bizare at best and downright couldn't give a Dam at worse and we were told that we should just get it recovered again back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

This is not what I expected. This is the worst experience of service I have ever had in all of my Thirty Years of Driving.

I purchased my CLS as it was a car I have wanted to own since it was launched. It ran beautifully until MERCEDES BENZ OF TAUNTON got there Hands on it and now I have lost all faith in the Car and the Brand.

MERCEDES BENZ CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NONE EXSISTANT and TAUNTON MERCEDES HAVE RUINED MY CAR



I am now going to sell my CLS fault and all and I WILL NEVER BUY A MERCEDES AGAIN AS THEY DONT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THERE CUSTOMERS!
 

Xtractorfan

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I think you should have a word with trading standards.. these people seem to be total cowboys.. Have you spoken to the Boss man at Taunton Mercedes..
As you say these people have no respect for any of their customers, they see them soley as money making opportunities..
 

drmw

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M6 Cab - prior to that, SL63 AMG, A-M V8 Vantage, SL55, SL500 and many more
What an appalling story. I can only make one suggestion.

You need to bypass the muppet service manager. I did some very quick browsing - the dealership is owned by City West Country (UK Holdings)

Managing Director – Mike Wickins – remains committed with his colleagues to delivering greater value by continuously improving service levels and the quality of the customer experience and together look forward to being of service to you in the future.
CITY WEST COUNTRY LIMITED
C/O MERCEDES BENZ OF EXETER
MATFORD PARK ROAD
EXETER
EX2 8FD
Company No. 04306194

Make him your target, rewrite your story above, make sure it is as factually accurate as possible, don't get emotional, don't add any gratuitous, unneccesary information but ask for his personal intervention.

He won't be able to ingore you and hopefully he will get the car sorted properly
 

brandwooddixon

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S63 Coupe 2014
That is truely appalling service.
It is obviously a dealership issue (by your admission your previous dealer was very good), as drmw says go straight to the top.

I would also look at redress through the county courts if you don't get recompensed as you should.

I'd also be a bit wary about "an oxygen sensor on the gearbox" as it's a daft place for an oxygen sensor!

Are the windows just not performing their auto close, auto-open routine? If the work otherwise then they will need resetting (probably due to the battery having been disconnected). Press and hold the window control at fully closed and then fully open until you hear a click on each occaision (usually about 2-3 seconds).

I would think that the gearbox problem was to do with a speed sensor (but I'm sure that others will come up with a probable cause.)
 

Mic

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MB SL500(2003), MB SLK320(2001), Volvo V70 XC AWD(2001)
My Mercedes CLS 320 cdi has always been serviced by a Mercedes Dealership in Barry Wales and it has Never had a Problem. As we Moved House 11 months ago I had to change to TAUNTON MERCEDES when my car required a service. On The Dashboard the car stated that it required a service A which is just an Oil Change, ( Well it was when my original Dealer Serviced it ) So I Took my car along to TAUNTON MERCEDES to have it booked on and was told that it needed a major service. I didnt agree and showed them that on its last service it had had Air Filters, Pollen Filters, Fuel Filters,Oil Filters & Oil, New Glow Plugs and So on.

They still insisted that it required a major service and given that the next dealer was quite a way from me I caved in and said ok.

It has been less than 500 miles Since my car has been serviced and it has broken down on me three times, on all occasions the car could not find a gear and just hunted up & down the gear box.

The car was recovered by mondial and taken back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

On the First Occasion they had the car for Five days and came back to me saying that the problem was caused by a build up of resistance against a fuse. The fuse hadnt blown but they replaced it anyway!

I asked what had caused the build up but I was told that they didnt know.

I asked them to Road test the Car again to see if this had cured the problem.

Later the same day I received a phone call from CHRIS THE SERVICE MANAGER OF TAUNTON MERCEDES who told me that the fault had reapeared and now the car had come up with Five pages of Fault Codes!

But they had found the problem it was an oxygen sensor on the gear box and they had replaced that and now the car was fine and I could pick it up.

I paid them £430 and went out to my car. As it was a hot day i went to open my windows before getting in and nothing happened so i went straight back in to TAUNTON MERCEDES and spoke to the SERVICE MANAGER who sent a mechanic out to look at the car.

His Response was "its nothing that we've done mate it must have always been like that. You will have to book it in to get it fixed".

I told him that they were working fine before it came in but he wasnt bothered.

I again went in to see the SERVICE MANAGER and said that they were working fine before it came in here but now they were not.

His answer was to get the five pages of fault codes out and he pointed out to me that the global windows was listed under one of the faults that had appeared after the second road test and they were not responsable for it.

Well I had no time to argue as I had to pick up my son from school and said that I would come back later on in the week and get this sorted.

Well how True were those words!

The Following day I took my wife shopping and low and behold the gearbox did exactly the same thing.

Again Mondial recovered the car and took it back to MERCEDES of TAUNTON.

They had it a further five days and this time came back that it was a sensor in the exhaust. They had replaced it and the car is now perfect!

No Mention of the windows at all.

Well I went and paid them again this time only £59.00 as the rest was a good will gesture.

My wife said that we would wait until we were near her brothers in wales and get the windows sorted there.

Well we drove out of the dealership had not travelled more than two miles and the ****** gearbox did it again.

Straight back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

This Time CHRIS the SERVICE MANAGER and I use the term Service lightly as The service was totally Useless.

This time he stated "OH it Must be something weve Missed, but unfortunately we havnt got a curtisee car herefor you to use so if you drive your car home and then get it recovered by mondial again you will get a car to use"

By This Time I was extremely annoyed but before I could say any thing my wife spoke out. ( now she is normally the quite type who doesnt say hardly anything )

" How is it that the car has just had a major service and less than 500 miles later it has five pages of faults and you are unable to fix even one of them yet you insist on still charging us, There was NOTHING AT ALL WRONG WITH THIS CAR UNTIL TAUNTON MERCEDS GOT THERE HANDS ON IT AND NOW YOU ARE JUST PASSING THE BUCK".



The SERVICE MANAGERS RESPONSE WAS "WE WILL KEEP HAVING IT BACK UNTIL WE CAN FIND THE CAUSE OF THE FAULT".

We took the car home and phoned MERCEDES CUSTOMER SERVICE, There Response was Bizare at best and downright couldn't give a Dam at worse and we were told that we should just get it recovered again back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

This is not what I expected. This is the worst experience of service I have ever had in all of my Thirty Years of Driving.

I purchased my CLS as it was a car I have wanted to own since it was launched. It ran beautifully until MERCEDES BENZ OF TAUNTON got there Hands on it and now I have lost all faith in the Car and the Brand.

MERCEDES BENZ CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NONE EXSISTANT and TAUNTON MERCEDES HAVE RUINED MY CAR



I am now going to sell my CLS fault and all and I WILL NEVER BUY A MERCEDES AGAIN AS THEY DONT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THERE CUSTOMERS!

That is a story of outrageous criminality....I would be chewing ''sweet breads''
off all and sundry until the bleeding ensured total satisfaction at nil cost to me.

Mic
 

Dosco

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W211
This just has to be one of the worst examples of customer service that has appeared on here. You have received some sound advice in particular drmw's comments and if you enjoy your car and are happy with it - other than this comedy of errors that is - don't just give up and sell the car but take a while to document the facts leaving out the emotive bits and go for them.

I doubt even the most hard core supporter of MB service could defend this dastardly display of superior attitude and overall arrogance let alone the failure to find and correct problems.

....and by the way welcome to the forum even under such circumstances.
 

moosehead

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Your Mercedes
C230/2005/2.5L Avantgarde SE Sport Pack Estate, SLK230/1999 and Volvo XC60/2017 AWD
Presumbaly this is a 7G box? As BlackC55 mentions maybe they changed the ATF or even upgraded the gearbox software and that has caused the problem. There have been several reports of electro hydraulic control unit failures on these boxes (mine was one of them). These boxes seem to be very fickle when it comes to having any work done on them (even an oil change) and you really need somebody who knows precisely what they are doing, ie. BlackC55. Apparently there is no dip stick and you have to refill them through the drain hole - what fun!
 

carnut13

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R231 SL400 & Audi A1 Sport
I am very disappointed, not to say angry and frustrated that I cant help other than give my sympathy and encouragement not to put up with this appauling service

Do write a strong letter of complaint as suggested above ( I personaly favour emails as they are on record and cant get "lost")

wait til Malcolm returns and reads about this:shock:

Go for it!!:twisted:
 

teddycatkin

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W107-SL W124-220te W123-230e W201 2.0
Well done for being brave enough to post the report--its bringing it to the attention of other readers (200 so far) who like me will stay well clear of Mercedes Benz Taunton !
 

carnut13

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R231 SL400 & Audi A1 Sport
Well done for being brave enough to post the report--its bringing it to the attention of other readers (200 so far) who like me will stay well clear of Mercedes Benz Taunton !

But aren't you in CHESHIRE cheese country, not CHEDDAR?:rolleyes:
 

Matt32AMG

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From new 2002 SLK32///AMG, 2007 CLK350 AMG Sport Cabriolet sold:-( Porsche RS60 3.4 :-)
My Mercedes CLS 320 cdi has always been serviced by a Mercedes Dealership in Barry Wales and it has Never had a Problem. As we Moved House 11 months ago I had to change to TAUNTON MERCEDES when my car required a service. On The Dashboard the car stated that it required a service A which is just an Oil Change, ( Well it was when my original Dealer Serviced it ) So I Took my car along to TAUNTON MERCEDES to have it booked on and was told that it needed a major service. I didnt agree and showed them that on its last service it had had Air Filters, Pollen Filters, Fuel Filters,Oil Filters & Oil, New Glow Plugs and So on.

They still insisted that it required a major service and given that the next dealer was quite a way from me I caved in and said ok.

It has been less than 500 miles Since my car has been serviced and it has broken down on me three times, on all occasions the car could not find a gear and just hunted up & down the gear box.

The car was recovered by mondial and taken back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

On the First Occasion they had the car for Five days and came back to me saying that the problem was caused by a build up of resistance against a fuse. The fuse hadnt blown but they replaced it anyway!

I asked what had caused the build up but I was told that they didnt know.

I asked them to Road test the Car again to see if this had cured the problem.

Later the same day I received a phone call from CHRIS THE SERVICE MANAGER OF TAUNTON MERCEDES who told me that the fault had reapeared and now the car had come up with Five pages of Fault Codes!

But they had found the problem it was an oxygen sensor on the gear box and they had replaced that and now the car was fine and I could pick it up.

I paid them £430 and went out to my car. As it was a hot day i went to open my windows before getting in and nothing happened so i went straight back in to TAUNTON MERCEDES and spoke to the SERVICE MANAGER who sent a mechanic out to look at the car.

His Response was "its nothing that we've done mate it must have always been like that. You will have to book it in to get it fixed".

I told him that they were working fine before it came in but he wasnt bothered.

I again went in to see the SERVICE MANAGER and said that they were working fine before it came in here but now they were not.

His answer was to get the five pages of fault codes out and he pointed out to me that the global windows was listed under one of the faults that had appeared after the second road test and they were not responsable for it.

Well I had no time to argue as I had to pick up my son from school and said that I would come back later on in the week and get this sorted.

Well how True were those words!

The Following day I took my wife shopping and low and behold the gearbox did exactly the same thing.

Again Mondial recovered the car and took it back to MERCEDES of TAUNTON.

They had it a further five days and this time came back that it was a sensor in the exhaust. They had replaced it and the car is now perfect!

No Mention of the windows at all.

Well I went and paid them again this time only £59.00 as the rest was a good will gesture.

My wife said that we would wait until we were near her brothers in wales and get the windows sorted there.

Well we drove out of the dealership had not travelled more than two miles and the ****** gearbox did it again.

Straight back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

This Time CHRIS the SERVICE MANAGER and I use the term Service lightly as The service was totally Useless.

This time he stated "OH it Must be something weve Missed, but unfortunately we havnt got a curtisee car herefor you to use so if you drive your car home and then get it recovered by mondial again you will get a car to use"

By This Time I was extremely annoyed but before I could say any thing my wife spoke out. ( now she is normally the quite type who doesnt say hardly anything )

" How is it that the car has just had a major service and less than 500 miles later it has five pages of faults and you are unable to fix even one of them yet you insist on still charging us, There was NOTHING AT ALL WRONG WITH THIS CAR UNTIL TAUNTON MERCEDS GOT THERE HANDS ON IT AND NOW YOU ARE JUST PASSING THE BUCK".



The SERVICE MANAGERS RESPONSE WAS "WE WILL KEEP HAVING IT BACK UNTIL WE CAN FIND THE CAUSE OF THE FAULT".

We took the car home and phoned MERCEDES CUSTOMER SERVICE, There Response was Bizare at best and downright couldn't give a Dam at worse and we were told that we should just get it recovered again back to TAUNTON MERCEDES.

This is not what I expected. This is the worst experience of service I have ever had in all of my Thirty Years of Driving.

I purchased my CLS as it was a car I have wanted to own since it was launched. It ran beautifully until MERCEDES BENZ OF TAUNTON got there Hands on it and now I have lost all faith in the Car and the Brand.

MERCEDES BENZ CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NONE EXSISTANT and TAUNTON MERCEDES HAVE RUINED MY CAR



I am now going to sell my CLS fault and all and I WILL NEVER BUY A MERCEDES AGAIN AS THEY DONT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THERE CUSTOMERS!

Just a horrific story you have recounted....I'm so sorry. :(
How you kept your hands to yourself beat me :mad: It's an absolutely shocking way to treat a customer :shock:
 

st4

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Disqualified driver
Its an utter disgrace and a demonstration of incompetance. Nearest MB dealers will be Southampton or Exeter. I'd take the car there next time.

Is it under warranty? I'd take up with MB UK, the director of the motor group and see how you get on.

Good luck.
 

AMGeed

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S204 C180K
Its an utter disgrace and a demonstration of incompetance. Nearest MB dealers will be Southampton or Exeter. I'd take the car there next time.

Is it under warranty? I'd take up with MB UK, the director of the motor group and see how you get on.

Good luck.

MB at Poole, Dorset has a decent rep. Also a branch in Dorchester but cannot vouch for their service. Both closer to the OP than Southampton anyway.
 

Matt32AMG

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From new 2002 SLK32///AMG, 2007 CLK350 AMG Sport Cabriolet sold:-( Porsche RS60 3.4 :-)
Its an utter disgrace and a demonstration of incompetance. Nearest MB dealers will be Southampton or Exeter. I'd take the car there next time.

Is it under warranty? I'd take up with MB UK, the director of the motor group and see how you get on.

Good luck.

Err you missed out Poole, Dorchester and Salisbury old chap, but then again never mind ;)
 

brianbrian

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Your Mercedes
w124 250D, SL129-deisel
Its an utter disgrace and a demonstration of incompetance. Nearest MB dealers will be Southampton or Exeter. I'd take the car there next time.

Is it under warranty? I'd take up with MB UK, the director of the motor group and see how you get on.

Good luck.

Mercedes Exeter, same owner ship as Taunton. Somerset. But I must say I use the Taunton branch, spares side and they bend over backwards for me. But admit have heard some bad experiences off the servicing side. Hope this helps
 

Cardinal Biggles

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Your Mercedes
CLS 320 (09) W219; C220D (07) W204
****** ell. Thats downright scary. On a CLS too. one of the best cars money can buy.

Change your dealer. Even if it means travel to another county. I had to do exactly that on a previous C class, and the time taken to get there was more than made up by avoiding repeat visits to the local one! The old dealer is still going, still bodging service, still giving poor service. How do they get away with it?
 

rhud

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A160 BlueEfficiency Avantgarde SE 2010
All very disappointing. There is evidence that MB are trying hard to improve - but obviously still patchy to say the least. A postcode lottery.
 
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