MB con. artists ?

[Splatt]

The C class is 2 years old and not getting used much it had not had an intermediate service. It is the model which adjusts service intervals on varying use not on time. 2 years having passed it flagged up an A service and the car was duly booked in for this. At the garage they told me they had put the car details through the computer and that said it also needed a change of hydraulic fluid (understandable ) with a whole lot more, wheels off check discs and pads (7K on the clock) check chassis and body for corrosion ( Galvanised) plus this that and the other. I told them to visit the taxidermist, that the contract to maintain Mobilo was an A service as in the handbook and their computer could go and stuff it`s ram up it`s hard drive. They seemed a bit taken aback by this and we left with them muttering about me violating my terms with MB .
Does anyone else fell MB are playing us for suckers by trying to change a written service condition to our disadvantage.

 

[djb]

allways

then when something else goes wrong, I exepct mb good will to come up with the goods.


worked every time sofar.

 

[Rory]

2 years having passed it flagged up an A service

I'm surprised by that - normally the service flips to a B as it gets closer to 2yrs. It does the same if you do a lot of miles and the car runs to, say, 18K between services - it will flip to a B as the mileage increases. Some high mileage users report that their cars only ever have B service.

The A/B thing was based on the approx assumption that the car would be having a service every year. So an A service one year and a B service the next.

The other thing to bear in mind is that ASSYST is only ever a guide. I started off doing high mileage in mine and it did the A to B flip when it had done 18K miles and was a year old. However I told the dealer to only do an A service as I'd be back again soon and they cheerfully did that.

The absolute reference is the ESS - Electronic Service Sheet - system that your dealer used. They put in the cars VIN and mileage and it lists the work to do.

 

[dragon]

As I posted in another thread, there 8 levels of service from A to H, increasing from one hour to 8 hours. The higher the level, the more you pay for the services consider it currently £100 an hour, by the time it reaches service H you end paying at least £800 for a service.

 

[Splatt]

Rory

The absolute reference is the ESS - Electronic Service Sheet - system that your dealer used. They put in the cars VIN and mileage and it lists the work to do.

What !!! take off wheels and check for brake pad wear and and disc corrosion at 7,000 miles from new. It`s not as if I ever use the brakes.

 

[dragon]

Jump ship now or diy that what I did.

Dealers don't make much money nowsaday selling cars, they coup it back by offering services. I have been reminded several times to take it for MOT. You know what they are after in these lean times for business, doing unnecessary works. And this is Lancaster part of Jardine Matheson Group own by HSBC.

 

[television]

Isnt this whole thing like what Hawk put up where the service arrangements have been changed

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=37644&highlight=service

 

[psmart]

The servicing is a bit of a con! I locked in an 8 year servicing contract on the Prius at just over 120 pounds per service (which equates to years due to the low mileage). Only thing to pay is for wipers, tyres and brake pads! When the 3 year warranty expires on the engine (8 years on the drivetrain), costs a further 280 for years 4 and 5!
So, for 5 years motoring, its 120*5 + 280, or 176 per year, everything covered except brake pads, wipers and tyres!

The Prius is one complicated beast, so in comparison Mercedes are charging a lot, ie. The Service plus on the A140 costs 705 pounds per year!

On the C-Class, it was serviced every 2 years on the old Assyst, because it never did the mileage, seems like the new Assyst is a money spinner.

 

[whitenemesis]

Not sure how legible this will be....

 

[dragon]

I was told by a Merc dealer in Feb this year it not static but comes from the computer what services need to be done according to services A to H whether you got a 2001 or 2008 model. See this link

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=42274

 

[Splatt]

Isnt this whole thing like what Hawk put up where the service arrangements have been changed

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=37644&highlight=service

Service arrangements have changed for the vehicles manufactured after the date break point ,,as shown on Whitenemisis posted list. But they are not retrospective to vehicles like mine whose vin no is prior to the posted break point.

 

[whitenemesis]

Definately NOT retrospective!!

 

[dragon]

You just got done whether it before or after that date break point. Dealers are very hard press at the moment to survive. They just said it according to what the computer what services need to be done and they warn you beforehand x several hundreds pounds to do. I retracted and DIY but then you want the warranty to be valid with services done by dealers.

 

[television]

Service arrangements have changed for the vehicles manufactured after the date break point ,,as shown on Whitenemisis posted list. But they are not retrospective to vehicles like mine whose vin no is prior to the posted break point.

There has been quite a lot of complaints where MB have moved people over to the new system,, they tried it on my 2002 car that did very low miles

 

[dragon]

Argue with them if you wish or go somewhere else.

 

[whitenemesis]

There has always been a maximum time between services. If you don't do the miles then the time limit applies

 

[Splatt]

A serious proposition here. If you have a car like my A class which gets all the use and it only ever counts down from 10K even though it is running on fully synthetic. Why not run the car for say 4K and then reset the assist as per J Berks "how to "post and then get it serviced when it asks which should give 14K between services. It uses no oil between services.

 

[television]

There has always been a maximum time between services. If you don't do the miles then the time limit applies

Thats true,,,mine went 2 years at one point

 

[hawk20]

The C class is 2 years old and not getting used much it had not had an intermediate service. It is the model which adjusts service intervals on varying use not on time. 2 years having passed it flagged up an A service and the car was duly booked in for this. At the garage they told me they had put the car details through the computer and that said it also needed a change of hydraulic fluid (understandable ) with a whole lot more, wheels off check discs and pads (7K on the clock) check chassis and body for corrosion ( Galvanised) plus this that and the other. I told them to visit the taxidermist, that the contract to maintain Mobilo was an A service as in the handbook and their computer could go and stuff it`s ram up it`s hard drive. They seemed a bit taken aback by this and we left with them muttering about me violating my terms with MB .
Does anyone else fell MB are playing us for suckers by trying to change a written service condition to our disadvantage.

Personally I feel glad that after two years they do all the apprpriate checks. Lives depend on proper checks and maintenance.

Over a distance of 30k miles in the S class, I needed an A and a B service and the total cost inc vat was 2.26p per mile. Trivial when you bear in mind it includes free breakdown cover for me and wife (and any other driver) in UK and Europe.

I posted the costs of 3 years in my brothers A class and again servicing worked out at only about 2p per mile. The first set of tyres did 30k miles and after now doing 35k miles in total he still hasn't needed pads or discs.

 

[Rory]

What !!! take off wheels and check for brake pad wear and and disc corrosion at 7,000 miles from new. It`s not as if I ever use the brakes.

In a perfect world, and when I did my own servicing, they'd remove the pads, clean the calipers and regrease and refit the pads. The disks probably will be pitted though.