Broken Coin Tray is "Wear and Tear" according to Mercedes Dealer

[Dominic-Toretto]

I just had the misfortune of visiting my main local dealer. Bought a 2016 A45 AMG off them not too long ago, has less than 25k on the clock. The first time I used the coin tray, it broke and now does not shut at all.

Went down to the dealer after scheduling an appointment, and had to deal with the "manager" as he approves repair works. Anyhow long story short he tried justifying that the coin tray breaking is wear and tear, and thus not covered by warranty. How ridiculous is that, this is not the first main dealer experience I have had like this over the years. Why are main dealers always crap like this?

 

[Minstadave]

I had similar experiences with BMW, fighting warranty claims, unnecessary work recommended, there didn't seem to be any interest in providing a decent service which, at the prices they charge, stopped me going.

 

[Dominic-Toretto]

I had similar experiences with BMW, fighting warranty claims, unnecessary work recommended, there didn't seem to be any interest in providing a decent service which, at the prices they charge, stopped me going.

Yep, also had similar experiences with BMW. It's why I work on my own cars. Dealers seem to work against you, and then rush the work they do doing a poor job in the process.

 

[Rroff]

Always going to depend a bit dealer to dealer, personal experience, etc. but having had similar kind of experiences with big brand main dealers I was pleasantly surprised with Nissan in as far as the two main dealers in the South West at least are pretty reasonable, so far, when it comes to stuff like that.

In many respects still what you'd expect from main dealers, though generally reasonable price they did charge me £20 each for OEM air filters as part of a service when I can get a complete set of better ones for less than £10. But on the other hand went the extra mile off their own bat to resolve issues caused by the place (not Nissan) I bought the vehicle from.

 

[Kenai]

Because its cheaper to only do warranty work for the persistent people.

If you can fob 50% of the claims off and the customer just shrugs their shoulders and gives up you're quids in. Bonus is, you're not likely to lose out on sales long term because they're all at it, so you'll gain as many customers that were dissatisfied elsewhere as you lose.

 

[HoneyBadger]

I’d be asking the manager to put that in writing so I can take it further.

 

[Dis86]

I had similar experiences with BMW, fighting warranty claims, unnecessary work recommended, there didn't seem to be any interest in providing a decent service which, at the prices they charge, stopped me going.

Same with them. It's why, despite loving the idea of a 340i or m3 estate I can't face going back to the brand.

 

[kaku]

Like others have said all the dealers are at it, you just get some that are less worse than others.
A few years ago I had a main dealer try to tell me a blown turbo a month after buying a used car from them was firstly 'wear and tear', and then a 'consumable that needed replacing from time to time'.

I asked them what the manufacturer recommended as the replacement interval and ended up having to go direct to get it sorted

Absolutely awful people.

 

[adam cool dude]

Depends entirely on the dealership. I had a recall for a Suzuki which at the time was 12 years old and worth tuppence. They threw in a lunch and drinks for free while we waited.

 

[Steeps]

Had a dealer snap some interior/exterior trim parts when replacing some damaged glass due to an internal part failing, they claimed it wasn't possible to fix the window without snapping the parts and claimed wear and tear. Somehow they managed it fine when inspecting the issue before ordering parts for the job. Apparently they were not allowed to claim back anything cosmetic under the warranty and trim panels were cosmetic, they didn't want to pay for new parts they broke themselves. After a few weeks it was settled.

 

[Nasher]

By far the best one I've used is a Morgan dealer (I didn't buy a Morgan, nowhere near old enough for that yet). They just did it without question. They gave me a 6 month warranty as well instead of the usual 3 you get on used cars.

Toyota were good to me as well. Mazda were pretty poor.

 

[WorTortle]

I think it's more about the group the dealers belong too. Our local Toyota used to be great, since they've been bought out they're abysmal to the point of trying to sell me MOT based add ons for a cars first year service.

 

[Rroff]

Depends entirely on the dealership. I had a recall for a Suzuki which at the time was 12 years old and worth tuppence. They threw in a lunch and drinks for free while we waited.

The local Suzuki/Isuzu dealer here is part of the same group as the Nissan one - while the Nissan one were refurbishing recently I was using the Suzuki facilities and overall very impressed - however one of the sales people had a customer in, apparently a long standing customer with a fair size order book, and proceeded to BS him then was genuinely upset that he'd lost a long standing customer after the guy left non-committal and phoned up 10 minutes later to say they were taking their business elsewhere and I was just sitting there thinking you spent half an hour BSing him to his face and wonder why he went elsewhere?!?!

 

[Toothy1911]

Even if it's not covered by warranty, I'd expect a premium dealership like MB to do what they could for you. I'm pretty sure my Lexus dealership would buy and fit something like that out of their own pocket if needs be to maintain a good customer relationship.

 

[jamoor]

I had similar experiences with BMW, fighting warranty claims, unnecessary work recommended, there didn't seem to be any interest in providing a decent service which, at the prices they charge, stopped me going.

Yep

Total waste of time. I’d never own another car under warranty as it’s just a waste of time and money.
From 3 week long lead times to dubious customer service.

And there is only one workshop in my Area otherwise I had to drive 40 mile round trip

Lexus though. Much better

 

[Gaygle]

Yep, when I used to have a warranty I found that unless something big went bad and was easily replicable, the warranty was more hassle than it was worth. Sorting out smaller issues such as intermittent EML etc, would involve them wanting you to repeatedly bring the car back and leave it there with no courtesy car and you knew, a lot of the time, you could just fix it yourself for a few quid and have done with it.

In this instance it's probably just worth doing it yourself and getting a new one off eBay for £20

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392273360437

Or you could try leaving them a negative review on FB/Google. Many dealers monitor these and will actively seek to redress small issues like this if you remove your negative review about them.

 

[MagicBoy]

That's not really service befitting a 40k car. I'd get it in writing, then escalate to MB UK.

 

[robj20]

Agree with a few in here never buying a car that's in warranty again, just not worth it. Be low milage just out of warranty for me from now on.

 

[a1ex2001]

That's not really service befitting a 40k car. I'd get it in writing, then escalate to MB UK.

I escalated an issue to VW U.K. and they were useless kept saying the dealerships were franchises and they couldn’t force them to do anything. All I wanted was an admittance of what they had done and an apology. I didn’t ever ask for anything that would have cost more than a stamp!

 

[M1k3H]

I've escalated issues to Renault UK and Skoda UK when their dealers were refusing to play ball and in both cases issues were sorted immediately.