Independent Mercedes specialist or general garage?

[gre1591]

The Styners and Pendragons of this world are just money making machines run by accountants. They do not really care about the customer other than to make as much as possible out of them at every opportunity from the new car purchase experience to the follow up servicing.
Mercedes in their arrogant wisdom as well as losing their way on making “quality” cars have lost their way with choosing these conglomerate dealers and dumping the reliable small dealers with personal service that helped Mercedes gain their enviable reputation in the early years.
Hence the rise of the Indy, the good ones of which are taking us back to the personal quality service the original Mercedes dealers gave. Long live the Indy and may they go from strength to strength.

 

[mik100]

To add a little. I really think that a lot of people buy large expensive cars that are going for very little money and which look very atractive, but who do not realise or indeed do not have the means to run them and look after them properly. I have run Jags a Merc and Range Rovers for a number of years and find that I cannot escape one quite large finacial hit each year.
Mik

 

[gre1591]

You’re right of course it is amazing how many chick people you see living in average areas that have fallen for the top peoples car marketing ploys and have a 4-5 year old BMW Mercedes Jaguar or Range Rover in the drive thinking they have “arrived” .With luck they might have but invariably trips to dealers run into thousands and the whole ownership experience with some of these cars is not for people without very deep pockets!

 

[sparks72]

The Styners and Pendragons of this world are just money making machines run by accountants. They do not really care about the customer other than to make as much as possible out of them at every opportunity from the new car purchase experience to the follow up servicing.
Mercedes in their arrogant wisdom as well as losing their way on making “quality” cars have lost their way with choosing these conglomerate dealers and dumping the reliable small dealers with personal service that helped Mercedes gain their enviable reputation in the early years.
Hence the rise of the Indy, the good ones of which are taking us back to the personal quality service the original Mercedes dealers gave. Long live the Indy and may they go from strength to strength.

I agree,

I have the father in laws C200 Kompressor to take care of while he's away on holiday, some yobs have broken the rear badge, snapped off the front badge, some bad driver has hit the driver side mirror, smashing the plastic indicator lens, S-A-M unit is causing mayhem, the list is endless.

He took it to a main dealer somewhere (I won't say for obvious reasons)
in the London area, he might as well have let Monkeys loose on the car,
they asked him to pay for a S-A-M unit they had fitted but the car still wasn't right, in the end he got a refund & the car left the workshop in a worse condition than it went in, windscreen wiper doesn't work, tail lights stay on until key is removed etc, not to mention the rip off prices he was quoted! I've had to bring it up North for an independant specialist (we trust because of previous dealings) to look at, we've had a couple of our Mercedes at his garage in the past & everything was sorted at a reasonable price,
I'll never use a main dealers services again after the hassle we've had past & present.

BTW I'm new here, hello & thanks for reading my gripe!

 

[Cole@MBS]

Had to read that twice, thought i was in trouble there for a mo!!!!

 

[sparks72]

Had to read that twice, thought i was in trouble there for a mo!!!!

LOL :mrgreen:

 

[Alex Crow]

could be worse colin, you could have called yourself duovalve or ABC!!

 

[Cole@MBS]

could be worse colin, you could have called yourself duovalve or ABC!!

Or a lot worse!!!!!

 

[television]

could be worse colin, you could have called yourself duovalve or ABC!!

I am staying out of this one,,but I wonder what it would be like if S-A-M U-N-I-T was replaced

 

[LancsNeil]

Just read all your posts and advice, useful and informative as always so thanks everyone, it is great as a newcomer to Mercedes to have all of this help and I am really grateful!

Thought I would update youre my first service on my new car, picked her up last night after work and just wanted to say thanks to Hooded Claw for his recommendation of Gary at G.W Auto Engineers, my local Mercedes indie specialist in Fleetwood, I honestly cannot sing his praises enough. He was helpful, explaining everything to the technodunce that I am, went over my car with a fine toothcomb and apart from a rear n/side coil spring having snapped and needing a r/side RPM sensor replacing which I will be having done shortly, my car was given a clean bill of health, service was brilliant, price was excellent value looking at what some of the prices quoted on the forums for a 'B' service came to and he was a genuinely nice chap...I can see me becoming a loyal customer!

my car was returned to me running so much smoother than before and in tip top condition am so happy that I have bought what appears to be a solid, honest, well looked after car that I am hoping to get many many years of ownership from!

 

[van883]

Can anyone recommend a good independent in Nottingham?

Thanks

Van

 

[Captain_Pug]

Like so many things in life your cant tar the same market with the same brush just because one main dealer is poor another may great surely this will fall to the service manager at each establishment.

I have taken all my cars to the same 'local' garage since i have owned a car, not the cheapest establishment but honest and does a good job. However a recent failure with my C200 left my local lost to his own admission just did not own the software required to interigate the system well enough. So a trip to another garage that did have the necessary software left me a bit nervous. Luckily they were very good, diagnosed quickly backed up with a phone call to explain the dianosis and confirm they had approval from me before commiting to the work which was done the next day. Now admittingly they were not the cheapest however i got my car back on the road.

 

[andrewh1973]

Agree totally with the sentiments re Indy vs Generic vs Dealer.

I only use an indy Merc. specialist after having some huge issues with corner cutting on a B service at the main dealer (they did a B service but failed to change air filter or spark plugs - although the service book said it needed doing apparently "computer says 'no'" so they didn't do it!).

For the benefit of those who may need a reliable and sensibily priced specialist in the Manchester area (and since plugs from customers seem allowed here!) I'd recommend:

Mastertech Assist Ltd. Unit 3 Albert Street, Manchester, M43 7BA Telephone: 0161 301 2030.

Ex Mercedes Manchester staff, ****** helpful, know their onions and don't inflate their bills!

 

[rotaxman]

c320 low power,,,symptoms=maf..
local bodge boys says fault codes say needs new brain.
cost £1000+,,,
I checked here and replaced MAF from Ebay=19.99
car been perfect for the last 2 years now...
take your choice,,,but do your homework here 1st

 

[missy]

Mercedes Specialist Sheffield

Hiya , A decently priced place to use in Sheffield is B.J.Mason.He's in the Old Dairy on Broadfield Road in Heeley. 0114 2580923.Just the one mechanic but a mercedes indy and a nice lad.

 

[television]

Hiya , A decently priced place to use in Sheffield is B.J.Mason.He's in the Old Dairy on Broadfield Road in Heeley. 0114 2580923.Just the one mechanic but a mercedes indy and a nice lad.

Thank you very much and welcome to you