It's not just Mercedes...

[Rob76]

LandRover dealers are legendary for being awful - remarkable really bearing in mind the price of the cars. I quite like Discovery Sport and occasional 7 seats would be handy, but there's no way I'm prepared to risk my sanity when both the cars themselves are pretty iffy and the dealer support so poor.

Id wait for the new 20MY Disco Sport; i have sat in one and the interior does seem much better than the current model

 

[thebiglad]

Well, 'the good old days' in the UK. Elsewhere:

WOW !!!!! Now that's what I call customer service. I wonder if my like Merc dealer would be interested to see that video ?

 

[Blobcat]

WOW !!!!! Now that's what I call customer service. I wonder if my like Merc dealer would be interested to see that video ?

It all has to be paid for...

 

[thebiglad]

Yes Blobcat of course you're right. But in UK it seems to me like we pay, but don't always get.

When I had a series of BMW flat twin motorcycles in Northampton I was treated really well with free coffee etc - yes I did buy quite a few bikes from them and they were good machines, but being treated as if you are valued helped the sales along too !!!

 

[Blobcat]

Yes Blobcat of course you're right. But in UK it seems to me like we pay, but don't always get.

When I had a series of BMW flat twin motorcycles in Northampton I was treated really well with free coffee etc - yes I did buy quite a few bikes from them and they were good machines, but being treated as if you are valued helped the sales along too !!!

I'll agree with the Bikes - what used to be "Rainbow" in Rotherham were very good, I did buy 3 x R1200GSA's off them...

 

[Rory]

It all has to be paid for...

I don't know how they do it in the US - if you look at that Lexus dealers website it's plastered with offers and discounts, including a very handy guide to the cheapest tyres you can put on the car before handing it back at the end of its lease.

 

[Blobcat]

I don't know how they do it in the US - if you look at that Lexus dealers website it's plastered with offers and discounts, including a very handy guide to the cheapest tyres you can put on the car before handing it back at the end of its lease.

We're probably paying for it...

 

[ajlsl600]

Yes Blobcat of course you're right. But in UK it seems to me like we pay, but don't always get.

When I had a series of BMW flat twin motorcycles in Northampton I was treated really well with free coffee etc - yes I did buy quite a few bikes from them and they were good machines, but being treated as if you are valued helped the sales along too !!!

these days,it seems you might get that once,at point of sale... then hard luck...

 

[peterws1957]

We visited the newly opened MB Stockport showroom this am, cos we were driving past. The Chinese have reportedly poured £60m into it. When I say it's large I mean it's gigantic - I've never seen a dealership so large(Brooklands excepted). 2 floors and a licensed bar, with a large fountain in the car park. Got there at 10.45, open at 10.00am on Sunday. Queue of customers outside, doors locked. One reluctant employee, who appeared to be on his own, finally came out and said that he had "no idea" when they would open... £60m well spent methinks.

 

[Frontstep]

WOW !!!!! Now that's what I call customer service. I wonder if my like Merc dealer would be interested to see that video ?

I used to go to a garage where they had a kettle occasionally biscuits and whatever other customers left.

A massage wasn't likely and a pedicure request would have been met with incredulity.

Your car got washed if it rained and the bill if you had to have one was from an old receipt book.

The place was busy and your car got fixed at a reasonable price.

The man who fixed it told you what he had done as you paid him in old fashioned cash.

It took about 6 minutes.

Now it takes me 6 minutes to "get someone from service" they have one of those capsule drink machines, border biscuits, daytime TV and the papers.

I long for the kettle it was quicker cheaper and it was fixed.

 

[goldy]

Well done Blobcat always a good feeling to use experience and common sense to save ££££.

Sounds mad I know but fitting new parts is the only way technicians can be sure of fixing anything nowadays and it certainly helps the bottom line and keeps the finance director happy.

The electric tailgate on my E estate creaked and groaned and stuck partially open not long after I bought the car what’s the odds that if I had taken it to a dealer for ‘diagnosis’ it would have required a new motor/gearbox assembly. In the event all it needed was copious amounts of oil on the (poorly designed) hinges to free it.

As you know Malcolm I can vouch for your thoughts here. Same issue as yours and every part replaced by the dealers didnt fix it. Your suggestion of oil did!
I have the email from Marshalls Mercedes saying they have no fix for it.
Master techs from 2 branches and all other techs no solution.
Cost me £4.99 for the squirty oil can, £4 for some oil and a quid for a can of Mr Sheen (as suggested by a neighbour mechanic).
All good 6 months on.
Fingers and toes are crossed permanently!!

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

As you know Malcolm I can vouch for your thoughts here. Same issue as yours and every part replaced by the dealers didnt fix it. Your suggestion of oil did!
I have the email from Marshalls Mercedes saying they have no fix for it.
Master techs from 2 branches and all other techs no solution.
Cost me £4.99 for the squirty oil can, £4 for some oil and a quid for a can of Mr Sheen (as suggested by a neighbour mechanic).
All good 6 months on.
Fingers and toes are crossed permanently!!

Pleased the tailgate is behaving itself automation is great when it works but can be very frustrating when it doesn’t and sometimes you question the need for it at all.

As an aside my honeymoon with the BMW has come to an end it’s going in for warranty work due to the Valvetronic system playing up. Having done quite a bit of research around the problem with the help of what’s out there on YouTube it appears the servo motor is the problem and possible the eccentric shaft it operates which in turn opens and closes the inlet valves. To say I’m amazed at the complexity of this system is an understatement so the journey of getting this fixed should be interesting and all on a car that has done 8200 miles and had two oil services... the mind boggles.... I’m just hoping the problem is purely the motor which is excusable I suppose

 

[goldy]

Pleased the tailgate is behaving itself automation is great when it works but can be very frustrating when it doesn’t and sometimes you question the need for it at all.

As an aside my honeymoon with the BMW has come to an end it’s going in for warranty work due to the Valvetronic system playing up. Having done quite a bit of research around the problem with the help of what’s out there on YouTube it appears the servo motor is the problem and possible the eccentric shaft it operates which in turn opens and closes the inlet valves. To say I’m amazed at the complexity of this system is an understatement so the journey of getting this fixed should be interesting and all on a car that has done 8200 miles and had two oil services... the mind boggles.... I’m just hoping the problem is purely the motor which is excusable I suppose

I had a Y reg Astra when I was 18. LUS820Y or Lucy as she was named. Windy windows, no power steering, central locking if an octopus etc etc. Engine died. Vacuum burst so new one on and sweet as. I actually fixed something! Now tuning a radio needs a laptop!!
Progress??

 

[Frontstep]

To think when the world is flooded with autonomous cars that take themselves off to be serviced (very occasionally) these glass palaces will be somewhat redundant.
Perhaps this is the last hurrah as the manufacturers seek to persuade us that an experience is essential to buy a car and have it serviced.

I think despite legislation to force us otherwise people will still want to buy their own car but trundling from showroom to showroom waiting to be patronised is something which I hope will be lost in history.

 

[MEMERC]

Wow so you are now £595.00 up and your friend happy ;-)?
Lexus were the only main dealership I have experienced to go above and beyond, I bought a 2 year old SC430 years ago from them and with that they even valeted it once a month for free between services while I sat drinking their coffee feeling like a celeb. They were the good old days when customers were looked after!
Mercedes SL500 R231

Which is why I wish Lexus still did a SLK style hardtop convertible because I would dump my SLK in an instance. Coming from an Audi & a Honda both brands eclipse Mercedes in terms of quality & dealer service. Sadly many buy a Mercedes because of the badge, the likes of Honda being far too down-market. I re-call a business colleague of mine whose snobby wife actually admitted to me that she didn't like her husbands new Mercedes because it was no longer fitted with the bonnet mascot which always reminded her of the superior nature of the car she was in.