Mercedes Benz UK, Managing Director

[Brummie_Dave]

I have a genuine greivance with my new E-Class. This is not being adequately resolved by either my local dealer or someone at Head Office in MK asigned to the case.

Anyone know the contact details, including name of the MD. I would like to take my case to him personally by name.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[John Bowles]

Call customer care on 0080017777777

Can you tell us what is wrong with the car?

 

[The Editor]

Dave,

Can you share your problems.. I am VERY interested as I am just about to take the plunge and order a new E myself !!.

If you prefer you can private message but I thing for the benefit of the forums you should post the problem.

Many thanks


Mark

 

[blassberg]

Maybe it's the name in here

http://www.carpages.co.uk/mercedes_benz/mercedes-benz-s-class-03-02-05.asp

Would appreciate if you could advise problem, how you have attempted to resolve it to date and what the outcome is.

 

[grahamo]

I also have an E class 320 petrol. The gearbox is very rough at low speeds my passengers complain I have not been able to get it resolved. It has been back seven times. What is the problem with your e and what model is it

 

[Brummie_Dave]

Would rather not post anything specific on a public site in case it prejudices my case. However, I can say that it is a simple manufacturing defect that has resulted in poor performance and cost me in my pocket.

What is absolutely appalling is the manner in which the whole thing has been handled. I have been truly shocked by the extremely poor post-sales service. Hence the need to take things to the MD. If he's not interested, my lawyer will take it forward.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[John Bowles]

E320 Avantgarde petrol

Dave

What model and year is your?

Can you e-mail me to: eclassmerc@hotmail.com and what is wrong with your car.

I too have an E 320 petrol with a similar fault as grahamo with the addition of a steering judder and awheel wobble when driving at 60mph - 2,000 rpm. Pleaase read my forum (steering dampers, any info please) eleventh down from this post.

John

 

[SLinKyjoe]

Dave

We understand your reluctance to post anything here but please let us know how you get on so others may learn from the situation you find yourself in. If you dont mind that is.

Thanks

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Hi Editor....

I can say the MB approach is to avoid repairing problems under warranty. The cars are no worse or better than others, but they never admit to a problem. try a split exhaust at 4k....wear and tear...try two total brake failures [65k, 73k]...wear and tear despite the same cause. Interior trim bits falling off all over the place at 5-7k, they could not fix them. The customer service is very poor and in my experience you practically need to sue them just to get warranty repairs.

A few of my friends have got rid of MB and bought V6 diesel Jaguars and swear they will never go back.

As for me, I will wait until MB show some serious commtiment to customer service besides improving factory quality.

 

[blassberg]

I can say the MB approach is to avoid repairing problems under warranty.
split exhaust at 4k....wear and tear...
two total brake failures [65k, 73k]...wear and tear despite the same cause.
Interior trim bits falling off all over the place at 5-7k
A few of my friends have got rid of MB and bought V6 diesel Jaguars and swear they will never go back.

As for me, I will wait until MB show some serious commtiment to customer service besides improving factory quality.

I've just ordered my 3rd Benz.
My perception is that Benz quality suffered during the cost cutting age
My perception is that Jaguar had the same long before then
Jag seemed to have turned a corner and needed to do so
Jag dealers actually complain about the lack of service and repair work on the S-Type and JD Power results are excellent
I have been fortunate maybe but my ML (diesel, ergo Austrian) has been fine for 105,000 miles.
I have friends who have been burned by Benz quality
I believe its much improved
So I've ordered another

 

[John Bowles]

It has been a while for this post. Could you please update us on the situation you are in or results with MB.

2 years on, I am still in dispute. The engineers have said that there is a fault and they do not think it can be rectified the sales person said that I should ask for my money back but the management are now saying the steering judder is a characteristic of the E class.

I wrote to Wilfried Steffen's home address in Virginia Water expressing my situation and dissatisfaction with the service received by his team, challenging him on his promise to resolve customer satisfaction issues as reported on Whatcar.com (http://whatcar.com/news-article.aspx?NA=213064). I also enclosed copies of the independent engineers report supporting my claim.

You would think he would have the courtesy to reply. I phoned his office to ask for a reply and spoke to his PA (Lesley), she assured me that she would pass my concern to Mr Steffen and would call me back, but all I got was the customer care team calling me.

It starts at the top and the team operates under his leadership.

It is clear that DC and MB don't care, it's simply "We've got your money, we can't fix it, tough".

 

[OlafMaxwell]

You should not have a steering judder.

I go back to what I said about Jaguar. Yes, they had their problems and i know a few people who had them at that time. What they all found was the dealers were honest with them and kept the cars running, found and fixed whatever went wrong. I had the same experience with Fiats, in all cases the dealer was extremently helpful and would even ring to tell us of known problems so they could be checked out. The fixes did not come free but were discounted. Mercedes should adopt that attitude instead of playing hardball.

 

[benzburner]

Fiat support is actually good. My mother's 4yr old stilo which she bought as a 2yr old was recently fixed by the dealer FOC (airbag sensor, front suspension mountings and door panel).
The dealer kept telling her "that's a common fault, and it's out of warranty". My father actually sent a rant e-mail to the MD and expected that to be the end of that. Customer support rang him back offered to fix what ws wrong...simple.

 

[Apial]

I had a Fiat Coupe, and I can assure you that dealer service is generally poor. Used cars are worth more if the have a full service history at a Fiat specialist.

 

[benzburner]

I had a Fiat Coupe, an....QUOTE]


i presume it's gone. as i've said, the dealers will fob you off but fiat uk will probably look at it differently. this was our experience anyway

 

[david arthur]

E.class problems

I also have an E class 320 petrol. The gearbox is very rough at low speeds my passengers complain I have not been able to get it resolved. It has been back seven times. What is the problem with your e and what model is it

I have had a problem with my E class since new in 2003 an E200. Gearbox again which is well documented on the forum. THE CAR HAS COVERED 19,000 MILES NOW and the problem has only just been rectified. I hope. But being as the car was coming up for its first M.O.T i thought i would take it to an independent test centre early. It did pass with a warning that the gearbox was leaking probably a gasket. I rang and booked in for warranty work to be carried out. Later that day the dealer rang to say they had found the sump gasket was the problem and had rectified it and also replaced the bottom swivel ball joints as it was a recall service item. I'm not surprised about the gasket as the gearbox has been of more than a tarts knickers. Also the rear tyres need replacing Sir. Strange as the day before it had only passed its test. So i passed on that one. Built like a tank i think not probably one dug up from the first War.

 

[hawk20]

I have a genuine greivance with my new E-Class. This is not being adequately resolved by either my local dealer or someone at Head Office in MK asigned to the case.

Anyone know the contact details, including name of the MD. I would like to take my case to him personally by name.

Any help would be appreciated.

Try this link. Ammunition for you and the name of the MD etc
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2006/04/01/mfmerc01.xml

 

[John Bowles]

I have now received a letter from Neil Williamson, managing director DC Retail Ltd, with an ultimatum asking me to accept the offer of Gary Morris (Customer Support Technical Manager) test driving my car, stating that the outcome of his further evaluation will be their final decision.

I find it bizarre to receive such an unfair request considering that Mr Morris initially and still maintains (conversation last week over the phone) that there is and never has been anything wrong with the car.

 

[jberks]

How about a compromise?
He drives your car and you test another. If what they say is true, and it's a charctertistic of the E then you'll find exactly the same issue in a new one. If there is a difference then get him to explain it. I know how you feel, I've had a dealer tell me that a fault on my last car was 'normal'. I just replied that the fact a lot of E's have the same fault is not an excuse! (ended up being fixed outside the dealer network).

I am interested in this 'judder'. I have more vibration through the wheel and seat than I expected. I originally put this down to set-up but have recently had the tyres replaced and everything reset and balanced, yet I still get more vibration over 50mph than I feel is reasonable. It could be that the tracking is still out as it wasn't done at the dealer and there are special procedures for E's that after market fitters aren't equipped for, but the idea that it is a 'characteristic' concerns me. I am also not certain how much vibration to expect. My previous mercs were elegance models. This is an avantgarde with the additional sports set-up and wider tyres so I guess more 'feel' is to be expected but I am fairly sure that the loan cars I had before buying this one didn't have any vibration and one of those had the same suspension.

 

[hawk20]

I have now received a letter from Neil Williamson, managing director DC Retail Ltd, with an ultimatum asking me to accept the offer of Gary Morris (Customer Support Technical Manager) test driving my car, stating that the outcome of his further evaluation will be their final decision.

I find it bizarre to receive such an unfair request considering that Mr Morris initially and still maintains (conversation last week over the phone) that there is and never has been anything wrong with the car.

You have several options other than just accepting and trying to persuade. You could get the AA or RAC to drive your car before they come from Mercedes and then show Mercedes the independent report.
Or you could write to Merc and say happy to oblige and accept results of a test driver but prefer they choose someone who has not already said there is nothing wrong. Say to them it's like granting an appeal but saying that the appeal will be heard by -guess who?- the judge who tried the original case. Nice one Cyril. Bit like a Blair enquiry eh?
OR if they insist on their man or nothing, try for their man plus your man from the AA/RAC at the same time.

By the way, I did over 12k miles in a 2004 E 270cdi and there was no steering judder whatsoever. Just like silk. What there was, was a slight vibration in the wheel which was intermittent and came from a fuel pump when it was on etc. That can't be got rid of, apparently. But no judder.

The Merc claim I love is if you complain your engine uses too much oil. Somewhere (in the handbook?) they say oil consumption can normally be 0.8 litres per thousand KMS. I think that's about 800 miles to the pint in English. With that consumption most would think they shortly needed a new engine. The 12 Mercs I have had hardly burn oil at all between services at most 6000 miles per pint. So 800 to the pint just ain't normal -but it cuts complaints!