Free MB Dealer Servicing

[teabag]

In May this year I bought my W220 S350 with 42,500 miles on the clock as an MB approved used car from MB Stockton on Tees, as part of the deal I obtained free servicing for two years or 24,000 miles.

Two weeks ago "Assyst" told me that the "B" service was due in 900 miles so I popped in to MB Stockton to arrange a date for the work to be carried out.

I told the service receptionist I would like to arrange for a service and gave him the vehicle details which he entered into his PC.

"Yes Sir" he said, "it looks like your car is due for a B service, we have a fixed price of £399 for this work, but there may be additional work required dependent on the car's age and current mileage."
He then entered the mileage of 49,211 and came back with "The vehicle will also require Spark plugs, Air filter, Fuel filters, Pollen filter and a change of Brake fluid, we also need to check the condition of your flexible drive couplings. this work will cost an extra £632.13p which will be a total cost of £1,031.13p plus any other items such as brakepads which we may discover require replacing." Then "How would you like to pay for this Sir?"

The look on the guy's face was priceless when I told him I would not like to pay for anything as the work was covered under the service contract which I then pushed across the desk to him.
He excused himself and disappeared into the office behind him for a few minutes. When he came back, he said everything appeared to be in order and asked when I would like to book the car in.

I was given a courtesy Smart while the car was subsequently serviced last Wednesday without any cause for extra cost and they even replaced the interior rear view mirror under warranty as they discovered a fault with the auto dimming system which I was not even aware of.
The car has also been booked in to have the wheels refurbished under warranty as the paint is flaking from both rear wheels.

They have reset the service indicator to count down from 10,000 miles, so the next service will probably be due in about 8 months at around 62,000 miles when hopefully, I should also be able to have the transmission fluid changed under the service contract which will run out at 66,500 miles.

Who says main dealers are there to have your pants down? not I, but believe me after this insight into their servicing charges, it will be back to the Indie when the warranty and service contract run out.

 

[Blobcat]

The only thing that appears incorrect is the distance until next service. If the correct oil has been used it should be a longer period and probably 12,500K miles.
But apart from that "well done" a great result

 

[television]

That was a nice story,,thank you teabag

 

[jberks]

Yes, a truly lovely feeling when they quote a horrendous bill and you say 'thats fine crack on with it - I'm not paying'. I had it with a warranty claim. It will be £1200 sir - thats ok, bill it to MB.
That service was especially nasty one. It has pretty much every time and mileage based extra known on it, I imagine the next one will be closer to £200 worth. But you're right, an indie will be a lot more sensible.

Extras are getting silly on servicing now. You can't tell what the bill will be. In the old days each service consisted on basically the same list. Ok maybe a cam belt at 50k etc but that would be it. Now its a basic service plus ...... all of which can tripple plus the original price.

 

[teabag]

The only thing that appears incorrect is the distance until next service. If the correct oil has been used it should be a longer period and probably 12,500K miles.
But apart from that "well done" a great result

Yes, I thought it should have been set to 12,500 miles but I'm not complaining as it will ensure I will get the next service in before the contract runs out after 24,000 miles

 

[teabag]

The only thing that appears incorrect is the distance until next service. If the correct oil has been used it should be a longer period and probably 12,500K miles.
But apart from that "well done" a great result

The service sheet tells me they used Mobil 1 so it just looks like a mistake when they reset the counter.

 

[st4]

Good result. Hope you helped yourself to free coffee's too

 

[teabag]

That service was especially nasty one. It has pretty much every time and mileage based extra known on it, I imagine the next one will be closer to £200 worth. But you're right, an indie will be a lot more sensible.

Fixed price for the next "A" service should be £299 but I'm expecting the ATF change to flag up after 60,000 miles.

I'm also expecting the front brakepads to require replacing around that time but I may get my Indie to change them before the car goes in for service.

 

[teabag]

Good result. Hope you helped yourself to free coffee's too

I didn't have time for coffee as I was already late for work

 

[television]

The service sheet tells me they used Mobil 1 so it just looks like a mistake when they reset the counter.

Yes and they are doing it all to often now,,only this time it could backfire

 

[roadhog]

I didn't have time for coffee as I was already late for work

There's always time for coffee! Especially free coffee!

Good result with the free service, was it your idea to include it when you bought the car or did the dealer offer it?

 

[teabag]

Good result with the free service, was it your idea to include it when you bought the car or did the dealer offer it?

I was haggling for the next service "B" which was due in 6,000 miles to be done free of charge, when the dealer came up with the idea of waiting one more week until 16th of May for delivery as MBUK had a promotion giving 2 years free servicing on any car bought during that weekend; the salesman is still looking for his hand.

 

[roadhog]

I bet he won't do that again in a hurry.

 

[teabag]

I bet he won't do that again in a hurry.

I hope he does when I buy my next one.

 

[Rory]

"Yes Sir" he said, "it looks like your car is due for a B service, we have a fixed price of £399 for this work, but there may be additional work required dependent on the car's age and current mileage."
He then entered the mileage of 49,211 and came back with "The vehicle will also require Spark plugs, Air filter, Fuel filters, Pollen filter and a change of Brake fluid, we also need to check the condition of your flexible drive couplings. this work will cost an extra £632.13p which will be a total cost of £1,031.13p plus any other items such as brakepads which we may discover require replacing." Then "How would you like to pay for this Sir?"

The look on the guy's face was priceless when I told him I would not like to pay for anything as the work was covered under the service contract which I then pushed across the desk to him.

That sounds partly like my experience with ServicePlus - I was regaled with a list of things that needed doing. The service advisor visibly slumped when I said "ServicePlus" in response to the "how would you like to pay?" question. In my case, remarkably, it turned out that none of the extra work was needed on my car!

My car came back with Assyst correctly set to 13K - another remarkable occurance considering that most seem to come back at 10K.

By the way, the auto transmission fluid change is a one off at 4yrs/37.5 K miles. The 60K figure is Kms.

I think you've done well getting all that work done - many manufacturers these days will only do the basic servicing, anything else they regard as additional work. A SEAT dealer wouldn't even include a brake fluid change on my daughter's car - I had to pay for that.

 

[teabag]

That sounds partly like my experience with ServicePlus - I was regaled with a list of things that needed doing. The service advisor visibly slumped when I said "ServicePlus" in response to the "how would you like to pay?" question.

Yes, it's impossible to describe the look on the guy's face.

QUOTE=Rory;402863]By the way, the auto transmission fluid change is a one off at 4yrs/37.5 K miles. The 60K figure is Kms.[/QUOTE]

I've already discussed this with Blobcat and Television, I will take it up with MB Stockton tomorrow.

Thanks for the comments

 

[television]

This subject has been quiet of late. going back to 2006 and 2007 many dealers or most did not accept this changing of the fluid, and would not do it. So is this the odd dealer out who does not know yet of the changing of the fluid

 

[Rory]

I've already discussed this with Blobcat and Television, I will take it up with MB Stockton tomorrow.

*IF* it's needed, then it ought to have been done before you got the car.

I say *IF* as I see your car is a 2005 but it depends when it was built (and whether the requirment to change is the same as on other models).
My car is a facelift W203 and was registered in Oct 04 and probably only built very shortly before that. The requirement to change the ATF came in a few thousand VIN numbers (probably a week or so production) after mine, hence they wouldn't do it.

 

[teabag]

I hear what you are saying Malcolm, but I cannot find any reference to the ATF change on either the electronic service sheet downloaded by myself or the sheet provided by MB Stockton (Syntner) for the vehicle at 4 years or 50,000 miles, is it possible this recommendation has been revised to happen at 60,000 miles.

 

[television]

I hear what you are saying Malcolm, but I cannot find any reference to the ATF change on either the electronic service sheet downloaded by myself or the sheet provided by MB Stockton (Syntner) for the vehicle at 4 years or 50,000 miles, is it possible this recommendation has been revised to happen at 60,000 miles.

This is something that just has evolved.. I have no info from MB on this subject other than it was part of assyst some years back, and if an owner wanted to go over to assyst then the transmission fluid was changed at 40k miles and once only. During 2006 I was on several forums including the 2 big USA ones and the same subject were then coming up there as well as the UK. As before it caused lot of questions and the deletion of the torque converter drain plug in 09-1999 made it near impossible to change all the fluid in the box,,and the drain plug on the sump would only empty ½ of the fluid. Since then one or two people devised ways to drain the converter, that was undoing the cooler pipe and pumping it out, and later spinning the engine. Some dealers have adopted this practice but most will only change half.

I do not think that one can insist on the change,it is like brake fluid,, it says in the book change it every 2 years, but it never gets done on any service, you have to ask for it