Merc/BCA trying it on with lease charges?

[carburettoricing]

C Class returned two weeks ago, 31500 miles UNDER the allowance (coronavirus + moved closer to work) so there is a *lot* more positive equity in this car for MB than they planned on there being.

27k done in 3y 3m.

BCA collection guy noted that apart from a small scuff on bumper and repaired road chips to front, it was excellent condition and that he'd be surprised if there were any charges on it.

Got a letter today demanding

£30 for the bumper scuff - no problems, I caused it, I'll pay it
£35 for an insecure sill cover - you what!?
£325.50 for a scratch to piano black plastic door trim - you what!?!?!?

There was no evidence, just an invoice. I'm on hold atm with MB who emailed me the inspection report with the following images -

1) Insecure sill - what exactly is the issue here? £35 to push a panel in 5mm with your hand until it clicks fully back into the £0.05 plastic clip? There's nothing in the return standards/charge matrix, linked below, about charges for panels that don't need "replacement, plastic welding or painting".

https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/passengercars/bein...

https://tools.mercedes-benz.co.uk/current/passenge...



2) Door plastic panel - again, what exactly is the issue? The long white line to the right is a reflection of the seat belt in the back. £325.50!?!? Cheap plastic piano black trim that scratches as a result of someone just looking at it? Really?




Been on the phone for 45 mins with the defleet department who have noted my issues with the above and escalated to the complaints department for review.

Just wondering if anyone had been through similar extortion and had any advice?

I put it to them that this is completely disproportionate, not outside fair wear and tear (if any!) and that given it was not recorded as damage at the time of collection during a forensic examination by the collector, it is likely this was caused during the 2 weeks it's been sat in a warehouse in Manchester parked door to door next to other collected cars being crawled through by inspectors?

That complaints review is 'final', as in no further recourse for appeal, barring making a formal complaint to a financial ombudsman, which I'm not happy with either as it feels like it'll just get stonewalled/whitewashed with a final decision and no further communication.

As a result of something service related early on, and now this, MBFS have done a fantastic job of ensuring I'll never go near Merc ever again.

Edited by carburettoricing on Wednesday 4th August 15:08

Edited by carburettoricing on Wednesday 4th August 15:11

Edited by carburettoricing on Wednesday 4th August 15:12

Edited by carburettoricing on Wednesday 4th August 15:14

[carburettoricing]

About 19p/mile. Not in the first call, I have just called back to a different department to get the email for the complaints team as I want to formally set out in full all of the above, at the moment they are only working on bullet points taken by the first guy. I mentioned it then in that second call and the guy said probably not relevant tbh. Despite the fact there's more significantly more mileage left in the allowance than I've actually used i.e. I've paid MBFS for >2x more than I've used.

[carburettoricing]

@Chucklehead yes mate that is one of the points I'm making. It was very thoroughly examined at collection, photos and videos taken (which conveniently I haven't been furnished with) no issues raised then, the bloke said it was in really good nick.

What I am concerned about is the 'final' nature of their decision, the only recourse being the financial ombudsman, which is why I'm now writing a formal letter to set out my reasons for dispute, directly referencing their own return standards. If I was a business owner issuing demands for payment, having a 'final' decision as the first and only step in a dispute resolution process following a complaint being made, and following that final decision tell customers pay up or fck off to the government regulator, I'd be pretty embarrassed about that quality of customer service. The sort of thing I'd expect from a dodgy private parking firm.

[carburettoricing]

Anything I should add/remove?

[carburettoricing]

First guy on the phone said Merc apparently don't abide by the BVRLA standards and instead have their own.

[carburettoricing]

@Sc0thland - hero, thanks for that!

@timbobalob - cheers. If they try to continue the shakedown post receiving that letter above I certainly will go through the ombudsman, as well as the usual public pressure options like the Whatcar helpdesk. I've read that letter back a few times, looked at the pictures BCA took at the second inspection and just laughed. This is absolutely absurd. £360.50 for nothing, it's infuriating.

[carburettoricing]

Northernboy said:

Remember, you’re bound by the contract, not by what they fancy trying to charge you with.

If they aren’t holding a deposit of yours then my suggestion would be politely to say that the damage wasn’t recorded at handover, you didn’t do it, so won’t be paying, and that they’ll need to take you to court if they want to take it further.

I've said as much in that letter, but will react like you suggest if the supposedly 'final' response is indeed the stonewalling whitewash I'm anticipating.

FWIW said:

+1
It’s not necessary to get into a lengthy discussion with them about it.

ETA: I hope you’ve cancelled your direct debit.

Edited by FWIW on Wednesday 4th August 17:53

• Very* good shout, just done that. Thanks.

[carburettoricing]

There is no excess, I've paid for 31500 miles I've not actually used haha.

[carburettoricing]

sakie said:

I'll keep watching this space for any further updates from carburettoricing but its utterly disappointing that Mercedes Benz have started to act like a shady car rental company.

I sent them a modified version of the letter I posted earlier in the thread midweek and still await a response despite politely asking for confirmation of receipt. I'll keep you updated.

[e-mail]

I've already prewritten a covering letter for the financial ombudsman, an email to the whatcar helpdesk (public/social media pressure) and some notes for what I'd need to get across during the consultation meeting should I need to seek legal advice, so I'm good to go immediately just in case they want to continue to behave like a backstreet car salesman.

[carburettoricing]

clockworks said:

With the current high prices that most fairly new cars are fetching, why would anyone send their car back at the end of the lease - especially one that had only done half the contracted mileage?

I would've thought that most cars like this would be worth substantially more than the balloon payment (or whatever it's called). Why not just get a bank loan, buy the car, and either keep using it, or sell it to WBAC or through Wizzle? Should be quids in.

Or am I missing something?

I wonder if there's a market for one of the car buying groups in contacting lease car drivers just before the car's due to go back, and making them an offer?

For something to do with tax reasons (so they claim) it is not possibly to directly buy the car at the end of a lease agreement.

[carburettoricing]

I won.

Fair play to Merc writing off the £35 bumper scuff as a gesture of goodwill, I would have been happy to pay that as that particular damage actually existed.

[carburettoricing]

sakie said:

I called them up and they said that the first inspection is just to determine the road worthiness and second inspection is the real one. The collection inspector did a good 45 minutes forensic inspection which definitely wasn't just checking road worthiness.

I've told her no other damage was there at the time to collection other than the wheel damage and how can I be responsible for something that was not there at the time of collection but she kept saying that the purpose of first inspection is not to note the damages which I don't believe is true.

From the horses mouth!