better late than never?

[James-G]

I'm looking for advice in a matter concerning the purchase of a Van for my Business, I ordered from Mercedes Benz in Holland.

The Van was ordered April 7th 2007 and I was told there was a 3 to 3.5 months wait involved (i already found this to be excessive), the delivery time came, so I contacted the dealer and it was explained that there were production problems, On September 13th they agreed to give me a van until mine was ready (I was under the impression that this was a courtesy van and neither signed or agreed verbally to a payment) They also gave me a signed and stamped letter saying that the ordered van would arrive in October.

I have recently received a letter saying that the van will definitively arrive December 20th and now yesterday a bill for 2,700euros for the use of the courtesy van from September 14th until December 6th.

I have incurred many extra costs through van rentals etc along the way, but I had nothing other than a verbal agreement that it would be approximately three months, however I have it on paper that it would arrive in October and it didn't and then a bill from Mercedes for dates after this period.

so has anyone had a similar experience to this? did anyone manage to sue Mercedes and win?

This has been a very bad experience for me, I've really had my hands burnt by them and my business has virtually been run into the ground because if this.

:-(

 

[jberks]

I would certainly tell then where to put their bill and that if they want someone to pay for the loan vehicle then they should approach Mercedes Benz.
It is perfectly reasonable to assume that the loan van was provided as a compensation until yours arrived. This is compounded by the fact that they did not ask you to agree to or signt sign a hire agreement. With those 2 things alone I suspect they will be hard pressed to make the charge stick.
Additionally, as they are in breach of contract having signed a letter to state a previous delivery date, you are perfectly within your rights to cancel the agreement. If nothing else, this should be sufficient of a lever to make them drop the charge.

I do wonder though, in these cases, whether the bill was a mistake? Have you asked them? Not on the same scale but after an unfortunate break down on the day of delivery, the salesman agreed to fit a £50 cassette holder to my C class. I got a bill a few weeks later. Rang, explained and they dropped it. Perhaps, Your van rental should have been billed to the sales department. Sometimes, bills that should be handled internally, get sent to the customer so make sure this isn't a simple mistake.

 

[James-G]

Thanks for your input, I'm going to see them personally tomorrow, hopefully I'll get across my points and they wont just throw up a wall, really they don't have a leg to stand on as regards the bill, but i'm a one man business and they are the mighty Mercedes.