Unexpectedly good service at local Mercedes dealer..

[Jim 2]

An anti-roll bar bush has split on my freebie Merc which means a horrible clonking noise on every uneven road surface. Rang around GSF/ECP today - nowhere had the part on the shelf so, in a moment of madness, thought I'd try the local Mercedes dealer.

 

Perhaps it was unfair of me but I really expected to get the cold shoulder. Not only was I looking for bits for an 18 year old car, but I was after a few bushes which added up to £12 - not like I was looking to get it in for an engine rebuild or something. They were very nice over the phone and put the bits aside for me (no payment required). I headed to the dealers at lunch time with some trepidation - especially when I rolled into the carpark in a rusty, tappety old W124 estate - and NOTHING else in car park was more than 3 years old. Strolled in to the dealer in my jeans, and couldn't have asked for more professional and friendly service.

 

After I explained the situation with the car the lady at the parts desk explained how readily parts were available, what they kept in stock and so forth - parts for cars up to 30 years old (!) readily available from Germany. I said I was hoping to work around the car replacing small / inexpensive bits and pieces and she said it'd be no problem - and that she cut her teeth working on W124's (which is what mine is) and that she'd be happy to help with any advice needed. My expectations of some suited snotty nosed goit looking down his nose at me and demanding a minimum expenditure of £100 was totally wrong!

 

On the strength of that, I'm seriously considering getting the old bus in for a bloody good service with Mercedes and a checkover to see what 9 years of 'bare minimum' service at the hands of my dads favourite garage has done to it!

[Philuk 0]

glad to hear you got some good service. really there shouldnt be posts on a rare occasion saying how good somewhere is but everywhere should be good and very few posts saying how bad somewhere was... lol

 

there is good palces out there, you just have to find em!

[zak 0]

its suprising the service you can get outside of a vw dealer, ive ordered parts from porsche Chiswick a few time and they are professional and extremely helpful in my experiance. Not always the case with vw but saying that my local dealership are really good on the parts side since im freindly with the parts guys.

[Supercharged 2]

Yeah, also heard good things about Merc but I guess they can afford to employ a better class of people but at least they realise how important the customer base is!

 

VW are usually pretty good but you often here of stories on forums with people given the run around with parts and especially for older cars... It's a shame some of the franchises are letting the brand down.

 

TPS are superb though, ordered a load of service bits just after lunchtime on Saturday and they were on my desk by 9am this morning, all correct and packaged fine.

[Sonicriot13 0]

Really nice to hear a story relating to good service from a dealership! :D The Merc garage near me is very good actually.

[vr6storm 0]

Jim please please please DO NOT put it in for a service at the Main dealer,regardless of how good they were to your small problem,they will bend you over a fair bit,my W211 E-280 CDi has been in my local Merc dealer 3 times for a service(joys of being a Taxi-driver now) and over 8months/42k miles I have spent £2k+ the cheapest service has been £500,always been quoted less when booking it in too but it has needed brake discs twice,once they even tried to tell me that they were corroded,which considering they had replaced the front brake discs just 25k miles previous and the car is used 6 out of 7 days per week would seem a bit strange,thankfully Mercedes paid 75% on a goodwill basis,but they should have known they were recently replaced

 

btw good choice with the W124 possibly the best built E-class,the missus's Dad had a K-plate 300D auto in the mid-90's and even with only 113bhp it was a great relaxed cruiser

[Adz The Rat 0]

I went into the Merc dealers in Blackburn last year to find out some info for my stepdad as he wanted to lease a new Merc.

I was in my work gear so steel toe boots, black combats, black dirty t-shirt (it was warm so had short sleeves on, tattoo's on display) and a black beanie hat.

As I walked in I noticed a new E63AMG so had a nosey around that, as you would.

A salesman came over to me and TBH I expected him to tell me to keep my grubby mitts away from the car but instead he was very helpful and polite, even asked me if I wanted any info about the car.

 

One of my mates works for Merc so have heard lots of stories from him about how bad the service can be, espcially from the sales team

[Leonard 0]

I used to get a similar if not even better service from my local beemer dealer.

 

Used to go in 9-10 years ago with my E30 316i Touring and they would treat me no different from someone that came in with an M3 or 7 series!

 

At service time they would offer me a 3 series coupe or any demo car I wanted as a courtesy car. Or I could have a lift back to my home or work (10 miles away). Or I could stay in their customer 'office' and work from there with free phone calls and internet until my car was ready.

 

Literally outstanding service!

 

Matt

[Wendy 0]

Similar stories from me.

 

The front reception desk may be good, but i have heard of many examples of the Service mechanics at Mercedes not having much of a clue. Obvioulsy each garage is different and you could have geninuely found a good one.

 

But again - labour rates will be high and as in all garages a car that is more than 3 years old is called a Old Dog and generally treated even worse than others. It is rare to find a mechanic older than about 25 in most dealerships, so what real knowledge do they have of older cars.

 

Better to find a specialist - I know the Mercedes dealership should be just that - but is rare either in my experience or friends.

 

Good Luck with what ever you decide.