False service record from main dealer
Discussion
Bought a 15K miles two year old C350 off a main dealer forecourt in Salisbury. When I collected it I got a Service record printout showing a B service had been done the day I collecetd it and the next service was due in 1 year or 15K miles. This was explained to me by the hand over guy. It now seems the service record was wrong and in fact the service was done some months earlier.
Dealer(as has been my experience with them) doesn’t give a stuff and suggests I ignore the service due message for four months.
I wonder if fiddling the Digital Service record on used cars is a common feature at Merc dealers, seems to me that not having a stamp in a book allows them to falsify whatever they think they can get away with. Having found the service history has been falsified I begin to doubt the mileage as well.
Question is am I being unreasonable by getting cross over this ?
Dealer(as has been my experience with them) doesn’t give a stuff and suggests I ignore the service due message for four months.
I wonder if fiddling the Digital Service record on used cars is a common feature at Merc dealers, seems to me that not having a stamp in a book allows them to falsify whatever they think they can get away with. Having found the service history has been falsified I begin to doubt the mileage as well.
Question is am I being unreasonable by getting cross over this ?
Edited by steve-V8s on Friday 12th October 09:59
All Mercedes Dealers when selling a used car, The service light should not show for 3 months or 3,000miles, which ever is sooner.
If you have a 2 year old car, Mercedes keep a digital record of all the service info, called DSB Digital Service Book. which customers can get hold of from the dealers.
I can check all if any services and history of the car if you want.
just send me the Full Reg or Chassis number.
If you have a 2 year old car, Mercedes keep a digital record of all the service info, called DSB Digital Service Book. which customers can get hold of from the dealers.
I can check all if any services and history of the car if you want.
just send me the Full Reg or Chassis number.
Yes the “Digital Service Record” is indeed the issue here. When I collected the car they gave me a printout from the DSR duly stamped by the dealer showing it had been serviced the day I collected it with the next service due in 1 year or 15K. Handover guy pointed out the next service date on the form. This tallied with the story as I remember it when I agreed to buy the car which was I couldn’t collect for a few days as they had to service it first. It turns out however that the actual service was performed some months earlier.
Was surprised when the service due message popped up in the display and the dealer called me with dire stories about the car needing various things including brake fluid. I have now managed to obtain the internal invoice from service to sales for when the car was serviced (and the brake fluid was indeed changed ) which shows a date some months removed from the one on the DSR they gave me.
Initially I thought it may simply have been a mistake but the response from the dealer has got me thinking that perhaps it was deliberate fib and is perhaps it is common practice. If my mileage was higher they would have got away with it as it would have fallen due because of miles rather than date so I would not have spotted the difference
Support from the dealer has generally been appalling right from the point I handed over the money. I have plenty of experience of other, more lowly brand dealers with the company fleet cars and they look after us so much better.
Was surprised when the service due message popped up in the display and the dealer called me with dire stories about the car needing various things including brake fluid. I have now managed to obtain the internal invoice from service to sales for when the car was serviced (and the brake fluid was indeed changed ) which shows a date some months removed from the one on the DSR they gave me.
Initially I thought it may simply have been a mistake but the response from the dealer has got me thinking that perhaps it was deliberate fib and is perhaps it is common practice. If my mileage was higher they would have got away with it as it would have fallen due because of miles rather than date so I would not have spotted the difference
Support from the dealer has generally been appalling right from the point I handed over the money. I have plenty of experience of other, more lowly brand dealers with the company fleet cars and they look after us so much better.
Its a shame that your story comes from a MB perspective.
We have a Honda Jazz as the wife's commuter car - nice cross country run of 17 miles each way. Second Jazz we have had - the first being the excellent CVT gearbox - the current being the ''so-so'' iShift (but it was in the ''desired'' pink colour).
The reason we are looking for an older 'B' class, outside the dealer network (using our usual MB specialist), is the fact that the local Honda dealer is a ''robber''. Did us once with the old CVT Jazz - trying to extort money again now (but suddenly gone into hiding when asked to confirm costs and work required). Sadly all the nearest dealers are in the same dealer group now - we need to travel nearly 100 miles to find a reliable family owned main dealer.
But 'B' class - are the CVT's reliable or are there issues ? And I would prefer a petrol - especially given all the general diesel stories I hear, irrespective of manufacturer - injector issues and the rest.
We have a Honda Jazz as the wife's commuter car - nice cross country run of 17 miles each way. Second Jazz we have had - the first being the excellent CVT gearbox - the current being the ''so-so'' iShift (but it was in the ''desired'' pink colour).
The reason we are looking for an older 'B' class, outside the dealer network (using our usual MB specialist), is the fact that the local Honda dealer is a ''robber''. Did us once with the old CVT Jazz - trying to extort money again now (but suddenly gone into hiding when asked to confirm costs and work required). Sadly all the nearest dealers are in the same dealer group now - we need to travel nearly 100 miles to find a reliable family owned main dealer.
But 'B' class - are the CVT's reliable or are there issues ? And I would prefer a petrol - especially given all the general diesel stories I hear, irrespective of manufacturer - injector issues and the rest.
Think I understand how the service record is wrong, reading between the lines this is what happens :-
Dealer buys car and puts it in the workshop, they service the car if required but “forget” to complete the Digital Service Record. Then it goes on the forecourt and the sales people have a go at shifting it, eventually some sucker comes along and hands over his cash. At that point they “remember” to complete the service record. This explains how the service record supplied with the car and the actual service date can be rather different, in my case by several months.
Having been caught out they have now retrospectively altered the date on the Digital Record. Bring back service books with a rubber stamp I say.
Have no experience of the B class but suspect the product is OK provided you steer well clear of a main dealer when buying or servicing it.
Dealer buys car and puts it in the workshop, they service the car if required but “forget” to complete the Digital Service Record. Then it goes on the forecourt and the sales people have a go at shifting it, eventually some sucker comes along and hands over his cash. At that point they “remember” to complete the service record. This explains how the service record supplied with the car and the actual service date can be rather different, in my case by several months.
Having been caught out they have now retrospectively altered the date on the Digital Record. Bring back service books with a rubber stamp I say.
Have no experience of the B class but suspect the product is OK provided you steer well clear of a main dealer when buying or servicing it.
Is the car exactly 2yrs old?
There's a few slightly odd things in your story but they all might be correct.
It's most unlikely they'd have done the brake fluid early, and it's unusual for a dealer to service a car before it's sold (no point in wasting money on it if it's going to be sent to auction etc). It's also unusual for someone like an MB dealer to sit on a car for months - they usually move them pretty quickly.
Does the service history show the 1st year service (an A service) OK?
There's a few slightly odd things in your story but they all might be correct.
It's most unlikely they'd have done the brake fluid early, and it's unusual for a dealer to service a car before it's sold (no point in wasting money on it if it's going to be sent to auction etc). It's also unusual for someone like an MB dealer to sit on a car for months - they usually move them pretty quickly.
Does the service history show the 1st year service (an A service) OK?
According to the Digital Service Record it had an A service at an earlier date but I have no other paperwork to prove that. Having learnt that the dealer can apparently enter any old date they like and change it retrospectively the Digital Record seems useless unless supported by an invoice.
Seems to me that the two things to learn from this are :-
Don’t trust the Digital Service Record.
Steer well clear of main dealers.
Seems to me that the two things to learn from this are :-
Don’t trust the Digital Service Record.
Steer well clear of main dealers.
Deva Link said:
Is the car exactly 2yrs old?
There's a few slightly odd things in your story but they all might be correct.
It's most unlikely they'd have done the brake fluid early, and it's unusual for a dealer to service a car before it's sold (no point in wasting money on it if it's going to be sent to auction etc). It's also unusual for someone like an MB dealer to sit on a car for months - they usually move them pretty quickly.
Does the service history show the 1st year service (an A service) OK?
The main dealer I used to work for (not MB) used to service every sales car when it arrived on site. The reason for this is that before a car can be put on sale you have to have it health checked to ensure that it is safe for a customer to test drive. There's a few slightly odd things in your story but they all might be correct.
It's most unlikely they'd have done the brake fluid early, and it's unusual for a dealer to service a car before it's sold (no point in wasting money on it if it's going to be sent to auction etc). It's also unusual for someone like an MB dealer to sit on a car for months - they usually move them pretty quickly.
Does the service history show the 1st year service (an A service) OK?
The service dept would charge sales about £100 for a health check, therefore it was the managements view that as we would end up servicing it anyway and paying again, it was more cost effective to have it serviced on arrival which included a health check.
This obviously leads to the problem that the OP has experienced. We sometimes had cars in stock 6 months before they were sold, but they would have only done perhaps 50 miles in this time. So 6 months after delivery the service light would glow.
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