The joys of being an Independent.........

[stickandrudderman]

A couple of months ago we fitted new strut top mounts to a customer's A class becuase of a clicking noise when steering.
Last week the car came back with the same issue.
We sent the car to Brentford for a warranty claim (it's necessary to submit the whole car in order to get warranty on parts) and they sent me an email saying that the noise was coming from the steering column, it was £1800 to fix it and we owed them £168.00 for diagnosis!
I asked for a breakdown of the £168.00 and was told it was for "road test and putting the car on a ramp to inspect steering column"
I replied that it took 10 seconds to diagnose a failed steering column and needed neither road test or ramp. In any case, they were not asked to examine any part of the car other than the failed top mounts. I suggested they go back and examine the top mounts and submit a warranty claim.
They replied, "As a gesture of goodwill we'll cancel the diagnostic charge. We have examined the top mounts and can find no fault, please come and collect the car".
We recover the car, confirm our original diagnosis, install new top mounts (supplied by them) and the fault is gone.
I sent an email advising of the facts and that I had video evidence of the before, during and after confirming the fault.
They replied "Thanks for the update, we stand by our diagnosis"
So, I've given the car back to the customer with the new top mounts FOC and swallowed the cost.
Why have I swallowed the cost? Because it's thanks to their incompetence that my business continues to flourish!
Thanks MB Brentford!

[reggie]

Take your custom elsewhere, More than one MB agent, Also report them to who ever, 

[Benz Dr.]

I read your post several times and I'm still not understanding why you felt complelled to do this work for free. I'm sure I'm missing something here but I just can't find it.

[mdsalemi]

Maybe things are different in Europe or UK, but why is someone  taking an under warranty car to an independent?  Makes no sense to me.  Take it back to the dealer that sold it, let them do the work and submit the warranty work to MB.

[reggie]

I think its just the parts that are under warranty, Not the whole car,  ,

[Jordan]

I can certainly sense your frustration with MB Brentwood in your post.  Some cannot, for whatever reason, admit they made a mistake or could possibly be wrong.  I also think I understand why you did it FOC, because this person will always come back to you for service, regardless of what car he is driving.  I have always used indepedents for service, regardless if the car is under warranty or not.  They fix the problem.  They won't put a bandage on it until its out of warranty.  Do you know if MB Brentwood is a corporate store or a private/franchise store?  I find the corporate stores are far more cooperative and much easier to deal with than the private/franchise dealerships.  I don't know if you have that distinction in the UK. 

[stickandrudderman]

I read your post several times and I'm still not understanding why you felt complelled to do this work for free. I'm sure I'm missing something here but I just can't find it.

It's called customer service!
The customer doesn't want to hear my problems, he just wants his car fixed and having had it fixed only two months ago by my company he certainly isn't expecting a bill.

Some background info:
The dealership is part of MB(UK)ltd, not a franchise.
Many years ago I used to work there as a tech and the people that run the service department are the people that I used to work with 25 years ago.
They are only a couple of miles from me and they don't like how much business they lose to me.
My relationship on a day to day business is exclusively with the parts department with whom I spend around £125000 per year. The parts department treat me well and I suspect that they will refund me the cost of the parts when I tell them what's going on.
Other dealerships are constantly courting my business but none are so close and cannot offer the rapid delivery three times per day that I currently rely on.
The last time this happened I took the trouble to protest in writing to head office but it was a waste of time.
I just view it as a cost of doing business. After all, the worse they treat their customers the more of them come to me!

[Benz Dr.]

I understand the customer service part. What happened to the parts you removed from the car?