Car serviced yesterday by MB main dealer

[Sheepshanks]

CraigyMc said:

Sheepshanks said:

You come across as an arse, TBH. You appear to have no idea how business generally, or specifically a dealership, works. And if it only takes 30 secs to fit the wipers then you didn't save them much by asking for them to be put in the boot.

How insightful. Thanks for your contribution.

There's none so blind as those who will not see.

[Sheepshanks]

Kinky said:

The service manager told me not to worry and that they were happy to do it.

I'm impressed that the Service Manager deigned to speak to you - the Mercedes dealer Service Managers are legendary for being unavailable and we had a issue with our Golf and it took VW UK 2 weeks to be able to speak to the dealer local dealer Service Manager. The girl handling the case said "I think he's avoiding me"!

[Kinky]

Sheepshanks said:

Kinky said:

The service manager told me not to worry and that they were happy to do it.

I'm impressed that the Service Manager deigned to speak to you - the Mercedes dealer Service Managers are legendary for being unavailable and we had a issue with our Golf and it took VW UK 2 weeks to be able to speak to the dealer local dealer Service Manager. The girl handling the case said "I think he's avoiding me"!

We had a great chat for about 30 minutes or so - holidays, drinking, food, kids, and football

In fact, I'm going to see him tomorrow (and the guy who did the work). Just dropping off a little thank you gift to both of them (bottle of wine, some choccys and a thank you card).

[lord trumpton]

berlintaxi said:

CraigyMc said:

This was the email exchange I had with one of the sales guys later:

Hi <SalesBod>,
  I needed to change the address on the mails you send me as they were causing a problem at work.
If you could cancel anything that is sent to me that would be very helpful.

  For the record, I probably won't be buying any cars from <BMWDealer> after your service department
attempted to charge me £13.40 to fit a pair of windscreen wipers to my car.

  This was utterly ridiculous on two grounds:
    (a) I asked for the parts to be put in the boot of the car, and
    (b) it takes less than 30 seconds for me to fit them myself. That's an hourly rate of about £1608.

  In terms of revenue, that's £13.40 up, and about £40K down (my last BMW was £38600).

Call it petty if you like, but they won't be having any business from me in future.
Voting with your wallet is the only way to get the behaviour to change.

Bet that had them quaking in their boots! Or more likely they thought pompous dick, deleted it and carried on signing up their next finance deal.

Any need for that?....No there isn't. Why not try making a point without insulting someone that you have never met - there's todays little challenge for you

[theboss]

This thread reminds me of the time I picked my car up from a dealership following a service, and had cunningly asked for wipers to be supplied but not fitted.

I think it was an E39 but in any case the wiper mechanism had a little latch to release the blade and I figured it would only take a few seconds to change them (as a heavy shower rolled in). So there I am triumphantly stood in the carpark with the old wiper blades promptly removed but getting into a right struggle with fitting a new one, ended up soaking wet and slipping a hand on the mechanism, skinning a knuckle in the process, whilst the techs no doubt laughed their arses off at my sheer incompetence.

The next time I had a dealer replace them on an E65 the bill was truly ridiculous, IIRC in the region of £70 inc VAT, owing (allegedly) to the large blades required.

Now I tend to just avoid looking at the bill.

[berlintaxi]

lord trumpton said:

berlintaxi said:

CraigyMc said:

This was the email exchange I had with one of the sales guys later:

Hi <SalesBod>,
  I needed to change the address on the mails you send me as they were causing a problem at work.
If you could cancel anything that is sent to me that would be very helpful.

  For the record, I probably won't be buying any cars from <BMWDealer> after your service department
attempted to charge me £13.40 to fit a pair of windscreen wipers to my car.

  This was utterly ridiculous on two grounds:
    (a) I asked for the parts to be put in the boot of the car, and
    (b) it takes less than 30 seconds for me to fit them myself. That's an hourly rate of about £1608.

  In terms of revenue, that's £13.40 up, and about £40K down (my last BMW was £38600).

Call it petty if you like, but they won't be having any business from me in future.
Voting with your wallet is the only way to get the behaviour to change.

Bet that had them quaking in their boots! Or more likely they thought pompous dick, deleted it and carried on signing up their next finance deal.

Any need for that?....No there isn't. Why not try making a point without insulting someone that you have never met - there's todays little challenge for you

Care to point out where I insulted him personally, I just commented on what their thought process probably was, big difference,next time I'll try and confine any insults and offensive language to thread titles only, much like yourself.

It is heartening to see you practice what you preach....

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by berlintaxi on Friday 29th August 09:53

[Atommad]

Alucidnation said:

Atommad said:

MajorProblem said:

I bet they adjust the drivers seat too, the bds.

I can live with that, it's obvious when I get back in, but the headlights you don't notice because they're always on Auto.

Maybe its the fact that they come on when they go in the workshop if they are set to auto??

And if you need other drivers to flash you, to tell you to put your headlights on in the dark, then you shouldn't be on the fking road.

Just sayin'.

Wow, you're a bit pumped up there aren't you.

The dealer turns the lights off as part of the procedure to diagnose problems and upload software to the car (according to the tech), not because they come on when they drive in the workshop. They simply don't then turn them back on when they've finished.

As for not being on the road, that's a bit of an over reaction isn't it? Lights are always an auto so you never turn them on, you come out of a well lit dealership onto the road before realising, that's not unreasonable is it?

[r129sl]

Mercedes-Benz of Newcastle upon Tyne have generally served my fleet of decaying old Mercs very well. I find them competent, enthusiastic and reasonably priced, although I have had to bypass the front desk to get this kind of service.

It is probably worth remembering that the practices of main dealers are geared towards the needs of 95% of their customer base. Unlike all of us, most customers know nothing about cars and have no real interest in cars: they just want a white car with privacy glass and bigger wheels than the one next door for the lowest possible monthly payment, preferably with the magic letters "AMG" on the boot lid, the floor mats and the instrument cluster.

[Sheepshanks]

Atommad said:

Lights are always an auto so you never turn them on....

That must explain the muppets who drive around on foggy days with no lights - they probably think the car will turn them on if needed, or they might even think it already has. Not sure which is worse.

[Sheepshanks]

Atommad said:

Lights are always an auto so you never turn them on....

That must explain the muppets who drive around on foggy days with no lights - they probably think the car will turn them on if needed, or they might even think it already has. Not sure which is worse.