Milton Keynes

[robertjrt]

I went on a day trip to Mercedes-Benz's Head Office in Milton Keynes to drop of a couple of Injunction Notification and while I waited had a look at some very nice metal in their atrium.

6.3 AMG's SL's, some on show, the others in the car park The new e-class and a lorry, something for everybody

All of them had very dark interiors, is black the new default colour?

 

[television]

I went on a day trip to Mercedes-Benz's Head Office in Milton Keynes to drop of a couple of Injunction Notification and while I waited had a look at some very nice metal in their atrium.

6.3 AMG's SL's, some on show, the others in the car park The new e-class and a lorry, something for everybody

All of them had very dark interiors, is black the new default colour?

I noticed a few years ago that the nice colours have all gone,,the only ones on offer in a 221 were black or brown and some other drab colour

 

[Xtractorfan]

Robert I like your style

 

[White230CE]

Pity it wasn't a search and seizure order.....

 

[Dosco]

Just love and I trust you enjoyed the moment

 

[robertjrt]

Yes, I did enjoy my "away-day". I had informed MB that I was coming to MK, but, did not reply to my letter.

The head of Legal did give me a few minuit's of his time and I was able to Serve the Papers. He did say, again, that I was free to take my car but, without an inspection, personally or otherwise.

One Injunction is to seek an Order from the Court to have my car Inspected and the other to produce the correspondence between Mondial/ the recovery company/Mercedes-Benz.

If, as I suspect, MB knew my car was "working" when it was delivered to MB Chelsea, well, that's a whole new avenue to go down. I do believe its called "Conspiracy to Defraud", a criminal offense. All I need is to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

The problem MB have, as I see it, is; I did nothing wrong.

All MB had to do back in November 2005 was to repair my car as per the Warranty and give it to me back, fixed.

 

[malcolm210]

Hi Robert,
I don't expect that you thought you would end up as a consumer champion when you bought your MB but well done for taking on MBUK. Lets hope they learn something from it. I suspect that the farce you are going through has more to do with MBUKs lack of experience in dealing with people like yourself who are prepared to stand up for what they think is right in true Brit style.

Customer care appears to be something in the car industry that is sorely lacking and obviously is not policed like it should be. If it was British Gas or any other organisation the media would be qeueing up to pilllorise them but motor traders appear to be able write their own rules.

If you take 'The Times' newspaper there is an article in todays issue that will bring a smile to your face. A musician travelling American Airlines had the misfortune to have to let his prized guitar travel in the aircraft hold and was unfortunately wrecked by baggage handlers, and to add insult to injury his complaints and request for compensation were dismissed. To cut a long story short his way of dealing with this was to write a song about this, and short video, and release it on U Tube. The effect has been dramatic, AA is now in a flat spin due to the bad PR and even the musician himself is starting to feel sorry for them.

Keep up the good work Robert and I hope that you soon have a satisfactory resolution to your not so good MB experience.

The only problem I see with owning an MB is the dealer experience, I'm sure the manufacturer didn't intend it this way. I'd be interested to know how the gerrman dealers treat their customers.

 

[malcolm210]

I do apologise the reference to an airline in the post above should have been United Airlines. Must be my age, lol.

 

[robertjrt]

I thank Malcom210 for the post. Yes, he is quite right, little did I expect back in 2005 when I drove my S500L from the shiny showroom in Chelsea that it would end up a life enhancing experience.

I was then taking a philosophy course with a view to read Philosophy at Kings, but, now, a law Diploma at the University of London beckons.

The problem Mercedes-Benz has is that they have no idea of whom they are dealing with and despite all that has gone before, continue with their futile efforts to dismiss my valid claim.

What MB do not seem to understand that I do not care that they, Mercedes-Benz have spent a lot of money defending my legal actions, well, so have I.

This whole drama started with a lie and as I object to people lying to me, especially stupid lies, I allowed MB to lead me down, what is evidently, a well worn path. Now it is my turn to play the game

The big problem MB has, as I see it, is; Once MB admitted in Court that I was not responsible for the damage to my car, a General Manager committing Perjury and the voluminous correspondence prior to the trial, how do they bring this action to a conclusion?

If eventually , as I hope, the Managing Director and/or CEO are arrested, charged, found guilty and sentence to imprisonment, Mercedes-Benz will look at what brought this situation about and change their policy toward their customers property whilst in their care.:evil:

Mercedes-Benz have over these past years has every opportunity to settle,
all I ever wanted was my car repaired and the money I had spent refunded, which I think is quite reasonable give the circumstances.

Mercedes-Benz obviously disagree

 

[Dosco]

Reading your story has prompted me to share the following, albeit I am not mentioning model, location or dealer involved as this was relayed to me by the owner during a very long journey some 2.5 years ago.

A brand new and very expensive MB with a lot of cylinders under the bonnet in exchange for a very large amount of money was collected new from the dealer with all the pomp and circumstance such a hand over involves. On the way home and after about 30 mins on the road the engine went into limp mode with a raft of warning lights on the dash.

Phoned the dealer who came out straight away removing car to the garage, after an hour or so "all is now well madam" Yes it was until the next day when it refused to start, called out again etc etc. This went on for the next month either failing to start or breaking down whilst on a journey.

After some six weeks with approx 3 spent in the dealers workshop, the owner said enough is enough I either want my money back or a new replacement vehicle.

That is when it all went pear shaped.

At this point I should mention that the dealer had loaned the customer the smallest car in the MB range "to be going on with" whilst they "sorted out the problems"

Dealer and MB refused point blank to meet either of the requests even after the local CAB had been in touch with them stating the customer had a right to expect the goods ie the car purchased in good faith to be of merchantable quality and fit for purpose which this item clearly was not and given the very short period of time he had had the car, supported by the minimal mileage covered, he was in his rights to ask for a replacement or his money back.

This argument went back and forth including threats from solicitors etc until some 9 months had passed by with the customer still in the same position except now the Dealer was threatening him with a large invoice for the 'loan car' threatening to take him to court if he failed to pay up.

He invited them to do just that, the case could not come soon enough however a wise employee must have spotted the rather large and deep pit that awaited them if they did pursue this course of action and about a month later without any communication a transporter arrived at the drivers company with a new car on the back, not just a replacement car but an upgraded version of the car - how lucky can you get

No phone call, letter or apology was ever received.

Having said all of that about MB our neighbour had the same sort of situation with a Honda and they never did replace his car.

 

[robertjrt]

Malcom210 wrote in his post about the musician who posted on U tube, well, a few minuit's ago it was on Breakfast with a expert opinions, all the usual, Human Rights, Data Protection, liable, slander, privacy came up, but, over 2 million hits and growing

Disco's post is yet another indication of Mercedes-Benz's arrogance toward's its customers and its "use" of hollow legal threats, the Tort Act.

Anybody who has ever been in business knows you will never please everybody, no matter how hard you try, but how you address the complaint is important to the business, no matter how large the business.

I would like to reiterate I have always been "reasonable", all I ever wanted was my car back, fixed and my money spent returned, but, it seems to me that for whatever reason MB wanted to prove something, what I have no idea, perhaps because they are Mercedes-Benz

It is no surprise that the Office of Fair Trading is, yet again, investigating the
motor industry. I can see an statutory authority overseeing the motor industry as is the water,gas, banks, waste,trains, boats, electricity, transport etc, etc.

Think about it, it must be the last industry that this Government has not regulated through a quango and Statutory Legislation.

It must be on the cards, large staff, swish offices, huge wages, gold plated pension, foreign "investigating" trips and all paid for by the "Industry" and of course, ultimately, by the motorist

Any nominations for Chair"person"? Jeremy Clarkson? Tiff Nedell? Margaret Becket? Television?

 

[st13phil]

First of all, I'd like to say that I admire Robert's tenacity and refusal to accept anything less than what is rightfully his. I always enjoy seeing large corporations paint themselves into a corner, and I think the Germans call the emotion I experience in these circumstances "schadenfreude". Anyway, to the point.

I think that the retail motor trade amply demonstrates a fundamental weakness of the UK's Consumer Laws in that the purchaser's rights are against the seller, not the manufacturer, of the faulty goods. That's why it's so darn difficult to get a faulty car replaced: unless the manufacturer plays ball with the retailer and reimburses them, the dealer (who probably made a few hundred pounds on the original sale) is saddled with a worthless asset that they will have paid many thousands for. The dealer of course has very little bargaining power with the manufacturer, and although they may have the right to reject faulty goods back through the supply chain to the importer or manufacturer they are unlikely to risk their ongoing business by doing so. Perhaps there needs to be some sort of different provision in law to take account of such arrangements?

 

[malcolm210]

Robert,
I do wonder whether the political route would be worth pursuing when your case has proceeded to a resolution. I'm sure your local MP would give you a sympathetic hearing. St13phil's comments are very interesting and if they reflect current consumer's rights I'm sure there needs to be changes made to consumer law.

I would also think about writing to the Office of Fair Trading, outlining your case and see what response you get. At the very least it will add weight to their investigations on the motor trade assuming they are conducting any at the moment.

 

[robertjrt]

Robert,
I do wonder whether the political route would be worth pursuing when your case has proceeded to a resolution. I'm sure your local MP would give you a sympathetic hearing. St13phil's comments are very interesting and if they reflect current consumer's rights I'm sure there needs to be changes made to consumer law.

I would also think about writing to the Office of Fair Trading, outlining your case and see what response you get. At the very least it will add weight to their investigations on the motor trade assuming they are conducting any at the moment.

Good advice. My MP is, err, The RH Frank Dobson, I'll give it a try

The Office of fair Trading do not respond, but, they do have a very efficient telephone system which sends you to Consumer Direct

I will have wait until the Judge gives Judgment on the Injunctions and to read MB Defense for the three Small Claims and then perhaps Plan C:evil:

 

[st13phil]

A related story, and one that underlines how critical the cooperation of the manufacturer is when it comes to faulty cars.

In early 2007 my wife ordered a brand new MINI Cooper S from a UK franchised dealer. The car was built to order (as are most MINI's due to the extensive nature of the options list) and was duly collected about 10 weeks later. It was thoroughly inspected by both my wife and I on collection and no faults were identified.

When the car was around 3 months old I looked at it in strong sunlight (it had been purchased in the late winter months) and realised that the metallic paint had a sort of "blotchy" shading effect which I later confirmed was only visible in strong sunlight and from certain angles. I called the supplying dealer and made an appointment to have the car examined by their bodyshop manager. When he inspected the car he identified a problem with the paint which he termed "flotation" which is where the metallic particles in the paint sort of align themselves in patches as the paint dries rather than staying randomly orientated. This is what gave rise to the blotchy shading effect. "Only one solution for that", he said, "a full respray". Needless to say I declined the suggested method of rectification on a new car and spoke with the Sales Manager. I was polite but firm, and made it very clear that this was not an acceptable solution. The Sales Manager was superb, explaining that my wife would have to reject the car if we weren't happy with it (I played dumb and avoided any discussion of legal rights, etc) but that before we did that he would involve the BMW Cowley plant in the matter. They in turn sent their own inspector to check out the vehicle.

Inspection duly carried out (at which the inspector conceded that the paint was not what would normally be expected, but also said that it was a "characteristic" of the particular colour), the Sales Manager once again advised me that if we were not happy with the car then we needed to formally reject, and if we did so that he had been authorised by the MINI plant to offer us a credit of the full purchase price of the car against another brand new MINI of equivalent or higher price. This we did, and three months later took delivery of another brand new car in a different colour.

It was clear to me that this resolution was only possible due to the cooperation of the manufacturer. Had that not been the case then I'm absolutely certain that I would have had a battle royal on my hands and may not have achieved a satisfactory outcome. As it was, the problem with the first car was fully resolved and my wife had almost six months motoring for free!

 

[malcolm210]

st13Plil,
With a justified claim thats the sort of responce that you would expect from the trader and manufacturer. Customer loyalty is obvoously high on their agenda and I'm sure you and your wife will consider buying another mini in the future. In fact knowing the parent company is B*W can't do them any harm.

As an aside I visited the mini factory in Oxford last year and was very impressed with the production/quality standards. A thoroughly good day out I would recommend to anyone.

 

[robertjrt]

Thanks for the last few posts

As far as I know, Mercedes-Benz Chelsea are part of Mercedes-Benz Retail UK, after all MBRUK were in Court and I served the Injunctions to MB at MB Head Office.

I remember in Court there was some discussion about MB UK and MB Germany but, the Judge was not having it. MB UK it was

 

[MarkF]

This brings back memories to the time in 2006 when we had the Freelander.
We bought this car a 05 plate from Land Rover at Chester as a 2 month old demo car, nice car and good spec with the sports kit etc on.
After 10 months and 4 replacement clutches the last straw was when the car was going rusty. Anyway I sent my wife in, not only did they buy the car back for full purchase price less £500 they dicounted a brand new Freelander TD4 by £1,500 and she even got them to change all the kit over from the old one plus the towbar for nothing. I missed all this as I was at work but she did say that the sales manager was almost in teas.
That I would love to have seen.
The Freelander lasted another 10 months and then I saw the light and bought the ML, never looked back since.