david searle
Active Member
There doesn't seem to be much praise for MB dealers in this forum, so in the interests of balance, heregoes some.....
I turned up at Mercedes-Benz of Swindon on Tuesday in a 16 year old W124 260E and asked for 2 items from their spares dept. The first was a aerial mast (the old one got hit by a low flying tree), and the second was a wiper blade (the ones from Halfords don't fit the old W124 as the pivot is in the wrong place).
I was told that they had both in stock (£13 for the mast and £15 for the wiper blade - plus VAT), but there was an issue with the mast, as there were several different types, and they then offered to fit the mast for me. Wincing, I asked how much they would charge for this service, and they said they'd do it for free. In fact they would fit the wiper at the same time for free, and promptly drove the car into the service bay.
Unfortunately, after about 10 minutes, he came back and said the aerial wasn't a MB standard and he could only fit a new aerial unit (at a high cost) or I could get a cheaper one from somewhere like Halfords. Also, they had had a look at the wiper blade and decided that only a new rubber blade was required, and this is what they had fitted.
Total cost for this work - £6.13.
As this is the first time I've used a genuine MB dealer, I can only assume they all do work for free and charge very reasonable prices for what they supply. So why do people on this forum call them Stealerships?
I turned up at Mercedes-Benz of Swindon on Tuesday in a 16 year old W124 260E and asked for 2 items from their spares dept. The first was a aerial mast (the old one got hit by a low flying tree), and the second was a wiper blade (the ones from Halfords don't fit the old W124 as the pivot is in the wrong place).
I was told that they had both in stock (£13 for the mast and £15 for the wiper blade - plus VAT), but there was an issue with the mast, as there were several different types, and they then offered to fit the mast for me. Wincing, I asked how much they would charge for this service, and they said they'd do it for free. In fact they would fit the wiper at the same time for free, and promptly drove the car into the service bay.
Unfortunately, after about 10 minutes, he came back and said the aerial wasn't a MB standard and he could only fit a new aerial unit (at a high cost) or I could get a cheaper one from somewhere like Halfords. Also, they had had a look at the wiper blade and decided that only a new rubber blade was required, and this is what they had fitted.
Total cost for this work - £6.13.
As this is the first time I've used a genuine MB dealer, I can only assume they all do work for free and charge very reasonable prices for what they supply. So why do people on this forum call them Stealerships?
