Here is the deal
We decided to have a vacation in Germany. After one night out in Frankfurt my wife and I felt hungry so we went to a McDo drive-in after leaving the drive-in trouble started. The water light went on and I still had to drive approximately 5 miles. Temperature seamed as usual, we pulled over and I had a quick look under the bonnet I opened the cooling system to check the water level, brown coffee bubbled out and it was dark already so there was not much I could do. I had a few bottles of drinking water with me; I purred about 2 litres in and carried on driving hoping that this is the end of the story but before arriving home the light went back on again. (Just great) Next morning I brought the car to the closest garage Dr. Vogler Mercedes-Benz Partner Händler Bad Homburg Bad Camberg Köngistein Usingen Friedberg Butzbach Bad Vilbel Rosbach Büdingen | Standorte | Usingen which was about 5 miles away.
I knew that there is no chance heating up the engine in such a short distance. Well after one day Mercedes called and told us we need a new cooling system at 400,- euro + VAT. To be honest I was kind of glad that it’s only the cooling system! But I should have kept my mouth shut as Mercedes called again but this time with really bad news that the head gasket has gone (2500,- euro) but this time they were not really SURE as it could also be the cylinder head (5000,- euro). As you can imagine it was a great feeling - not.
After a few hours that same day Mercedes called again and told us the head gasket is gone. Well as I had no choice and rather let Mercedes do the job because of warranty etc… but I’ll get back to that later. After 2 days of repairs I had a new cooling system, radiator, and a new head gasket and many things more you should see the invoice it looked like a Christmas wish list.
It was expensive holiday. We asked Mercedes if the car is fit to drive back to England and they assured us that everything is top, well for nearly 2400 euros it better be. I have noticed myself that they didn’t change any pipes so we questioned them about it but they assured us everything is fine as the engine and cooling system was cleaned twice.
Our suitcases were packed and we were ready to go. The journey was about 750 miles. The car seamed ok she was running just fine trough Germany, Belgium, France. I stopped regularly for petrol. After leaving the Euro Tunnel the car trouble didn’t cross my mind anymore apart from the money!! And after approximately 450 miles on M25 the same light went back on - water!!!! It was the same story again. The temperature still the same and it was getting dark so I had to pull over the hard shoulder. I tell you I was never so scared in my life as traffic was quite heavy. I discovered that my cooling system is producing coffee again (oil and water). As usual when you need help you won’t get any so we spent about an hour at the hard shoulder on the phone to the Car Insurance, Breakdown Cover, Status Check, Personal Injury Claim, Car Loan with no luck at all. I had no choice then taking the next junction which was Potters Bar and we found a Tesco petrol station with to very nice and helpful ladies in, so I spent truly another 2 hours on the phone to the RAC with no luck at all just some dodgy music and an announcement that they are currently very busy but finally after the 2 hours I got in touch with some one who took all details etc… but we had to wait for another 2 hours, till someone turned up in an orange van well he admired the car and I didn’t have one good thing to say about it at that moment but it is not her fault(W140). He diagnosed that the car is not road safe and ordered us a breakdown truck to get towed to the next Mercedes Garage.
We had to wait another 5 hours and then he finally took us to: Mercedes-Benz UK - Passenger Cars
It was 1 o’clock in the morning. They didn’t refer us to a hotel or anything not to forget the hours we had to wait. Well at Mercedes Edmonton there was a security guard and I asked him at what time the first people are coming in the morning. He told me at 7 o’clock (strange that is a bit early but fine by me). We had to spend the night in the car and couldn’t switch the engine on as we did not know if we could or should. It was just great and at the beginning of March not the best weather. We slept for a few hours at the Mercedes forecourt.
The staff arrived from about 8 o’clock every single one just walked past us not one person asked if we had a problem or offered any kind of service, I bet Lada would have made more effort…. anyway by the time I got to talk to someone it was already 9 o’clock. (The whole night nothing to eat and most importantly no toilet to go to etc….)
So I kept cool and I sad to a woman from the Service Team: ‘Good morning, I had a breakdown last night … this is where she interrupted me and said "Sorry for the breakdown there is a minimum waiting of 2 weeks". Great service by Mercedes Edmonton - 5 Stars. After they began to listen to our story that we just had the car fixed and the same problem accured again they advised us to book in the hotel across the road and wait for them to repair the car. I thought they were joking. Not even a courtesy car or anything was offered to bring us home.
After a while they advised us to bring the car to a different Mercedes dealer about 10 miles away from Mercedes Edmonton to Mercedes Stratford Mercedes-Benz UK apparently they could look at our car the next day.
Only problem was to get the car over there. So I had no other choice than to call RAC, but they only come to you once per breakdown and as it was the same problem they refused to recover us!! Thanks RAC. So Mercedes Edmonton organised a breakdown truck at our cost. We wasted another 3 hours waiting around at Mercedes Edmonton. While waiting, one of the staff came over to us and asked for a cigarette. I thought lighting is going to strike me.
Anyway after the Breakdown truck arrived and charged us £90 for hitting every pothole in London we finally arrived as mentioned at Mercedes Stratford. It seamed they have common sense. They made copies of the invoice from Germany, the Service Manager hired us a car and ensured us that we do not have to worry, that they will have a look at the car straight away the next day and give us a call as soon as. Had to make a deposit of £50 for the hired car in case I get a fine etc… and I asked clearly how much the hired car is and we have been told by the Service Manger of Mercedes Stratford and the hire company that Mercedes will take care of the charges of the hired car! So we though we keep the car until our car is repaired. Wrong. After 2 weeks when we were enquiring about who the hell is then paying for the hire car we have been told that our car is 97 that means 1 year too old for Mercedes to pay for the hired car!! What?!?!?
After arriving home we had a few hours of peace. The following day of course we didn’t hear from Mercedes Stratford. The day after I called, they took my number and told me that I will receive a call back but they forgot to tell me which day. Finally I received a call about 7 days later, that I would have to pay £700 for them to investigate the damage on my car!! Still not a joke (I didn’t agree), meanwhile I received a phone call from Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Rental Cars at Everyday Low Rates the hire company that if I do not pay the bill of one week that they will report the car as stolen and that Mercedes is not going to cover for the charges!!
So I lost another £500.
Mercedes Germany tried to play innocent and the nightmare is still not over. After calling in everyday and wasting my time with Germany and Stratford of over 4 weeks!! Finally it came up that apparently one of the pipes where damaged and should have been changed £185. And Mercedes is not going to cover this cost either because apparently and this came from nowhere: Mercedes Stratford made a story up that I did not have the budget to get the car completely fixed in Germany, how cheeky of them. It is not true and even if what makes the difference at a bill of nearly 2400 euro to pay another £185. We have been also asked if somebody has done some sort of job on that car between Germany and England. Apparently it looks like dodgy job. We said all jobs on that car have been done by Mercedes-Benz.
5 weeks later I finally was able to pick my car up!! 2 flight tickets to London over £100 again. When arriving at Mercedes Stratford I kept cool paid the bill under protest.
When we walked out to the car I saw something strange with my boot lid. As I got closer I noticed 2 big dents in the back and when I looked closer my door frames where like burned with some sort of chemical or something. Instead of apologizing to me they said you car already has a scratch and that the dent on my car is from the inside (yes right the inside!!!), as if I had to accept it.
After talking to the same Service Manager the same B….. As mentioned earlier came out and offered me £40 to compensate me (still not joking), which obviously was not accepted and we arranged that I will send him an estimate. After arriving home I went straight to my local Mercedes dealer for an estimate. The repair for my Car was estimated at over £1600. After I’ve sent him the estimate, he didn’t get back to me.
Trading Standards sent a letter and email to the Service Manager of Mercedes Stratford. The response of him was:
We decided to have a vacation in Germany. After one night out in Frankfurt my wife and I felt hungry so we went to a McDo drive-in after leaving the drive-in trouble started. The water light went on and I still had to drive approximately 5 miles. Temperature seamed as usual, we pulled over and I had a quick look under the bonnet I opened the cooling system to check the water level, brown coffee bubbled out and it was dark already so there was not much I could do. I had a few bottles of drinking water with me; I purred about 2 litres in and carried on driving hoping that this is the end of the story but before arriving home the light went back on again. (Just great) Next morning I brought the car to the closest garage Dr. Vogler Mercedes-Benz Partner Händler Bad Homburg Bad Camberg Köngistein Usingen Friedberg Butzbach Bad Vilbel Rosbach Büdingen | Standorte | Usingen which was about 5 miles away.
I knew that there is no chance heating up the engine in such a short distance. Well after one day Mercedes called and told us we need a new cooling system at 400,- euro + VAT. To be honest I was kind of glad that it’s only the cooling system! But I should have kept my mouth shut as Mercedes called again but this time with really bad news that the head gasket has gone (2500,- euro) but this time they were not really SURE as it could also be the cylinder head (5000,- euro). As you can imagine it was a great feeling - not.
After a few hours that same day Mercedes called again and told us the head gasket is gone. Well as I had no choice and rather let Mercedes do the job because of warranty etc… but I’ll get back to that later. After 2 days of repairs I had a new cooling system, radiator, and a new head gasket and many things more you should see the invoice it looked like a Christmas wish list.
It was expensive holiday. We asked Mercedes if the car is fit to drive back to England and they assured us that everything is top, well for nearly 2400 euros it better be. I have noticed myself that they didn’t change any pipes so we questioned them about it but they assured us everything is fine as the engine and cooling system was cleaned twice.
Our suitcases were packed and we were ready to go. The journey was about 750 miles. The car seamed ok she was running just fine trough Germany, Belgium, France. I stopped regularly for petrol. After leaving the Euro Tunnel the car trouble didn’t cross my mind anymore apart from the money!! And after approximately 450 miles on M25 the same light went back on - water!!!! It was the same story again. The temperature still the same and it was getting dark so I had to pull over the hard shoulder. I tell you I was never so scared in my life as traffic was quite heavy. I discovered that my cooling system is producing coffee again (oil and water). As usual when you need help you won’t get any so we spent about an hour at the hard shoulder on the phone to the Car Insurance, Breakdown Cover, Status Check, Personal Injury Claim, Car Loan with no luck at all. I had no choice then taking the next junction which was Potters Bar and we found a Tesco petrol station with to very nice and helpful ladies in, so I spent truly another 2 hours on the phone to the RAC with no luck at all just some dodgy music and an announcement that they are currently very busy but finally after the 2 hours I got in touch with some one who took all details etc… but we had to wait for another 2 hours, till someone turned up in an orange van well he admired the car and I didn’t have one good thing to say about it at that moment but it is not her fault(W140). He diagnosed that the car is not road safe and ordered us a breakdown truck to get towed to the next Mercedes Garage.
We had to wait another 5 hours and then he finally took us to: Mercedes-Benz UK - Passenger Cars
It was 1 o’clock in the morning. They didn’t refer us to a hotel or anything not to forget the hours we had to wait. Well at Mercedes Edmonton there was a security guard and I asked him at what time the first people are coming in the morning. He told me at 7 o’clock (strange that is a bit early but fine by me). We had to spend the night in the car and couldn’t switch the engine on as we did not know if we could or should. It was just great and at the beginning of March not the best weather. We slept for a few hours at the Mercedes forecourt.
The staff arrived from about 8 o’clock every single one just walked past us not one person asked if we had a problem or offered any kind of service, I bet Lada would have made more effort…. anyway by the time I got to talk to someone it was already 9 o’clock. (The whole night nothing to eat and most importantly no toilet to go to etc….)
So I kept cool and I sad to a woman from the Service Team: ‘Good morning, I had a breakdown last night … this is where she interrupted me and said "Sorry for the breakdown there is a minimum waiting of 2 weeks". Great service by Mercedes Edmonton - 5 Stars. After they began to listen to our story that we just had the car fixed and the same problem accured again they advised us to book in the hotel across the road and wait for them to repair the car. I thought they were joking. Not even a courtesy car or anything was offered to bring us home.
After a while they advised us to bring the car to a different Mercedes dealer about 10 miles away from Mercedes Edmonton to Mercedes Stratford Mercedes-Benz UK apparently they could look at our car the next day.
Only problem was to get the car over there. So I had no other choice than to call RAC, but they only come to you once per breakdown and as it was the same problem they refused to recover us!! Thanks RAC. So Mercedes Edmonton organised a breakdown truck at our cost. We wasted another 3 hours waiting around at Mercedes Edmonton. While waiting, one of the staff came over to us and asked for a cigarette. I thought lighting is going to strike me.
Anyway after the Breakdown truck arrived and charged us £90 for hitting every pothole in London we finally arrived as mentioned at Mercedes Stratford. It seamed they have common sense. They made copies of the invoice from Germany, the Service Manager hired us a car and ensured us that we do not have to worry, that they will have a look at the car straight away the next day and give us a call as soon as. Had to make a deposit of £50 for the hired car in case I get a fine etc… and I asked clearly how much the hired car is and we have been told by the Service Manger of Mercedes Stratford and the hire company that Mercedes will take care of the charges of the hired car! So we though we keep the car until our car is repaired. Wrong. After 2 weeks when we were enquiring about who the hell is then paying for the hire car we have been told that our car is 97 that means 1 year too old for Mercedes to pay for the hired car!! What?!?!?
After arriving home we had a few hours of peace. The following day of course we didn’t hear from Mercedes Stratford. The day after I called, they took my number and told me that I will receive a call back but they forgot to tell me which day. Finally I received a call about 7 days later, that I would have to pay £700 for them to investigate the damage on my car!! Still not a joke (I didn’t agree), meanwhile I received a phone call from Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Rental Cars at Everyday Low Rates the hire company that if I do not pay the bill of one week that they will report the car as stolen and that Mercedes is not going to cover for the charges!!
So I lost another £500.
Mercedes Germany tried to play innocent and the nightmare is still not over. After calling in everyday and wasting my time with Germany and Stratford of over 4 weeks!! Finally it came up that apparently one of the pipes where damaged and should have been changed £185. And Mercedes is not going to cover this cost either because apparently and this came from nowhere: Mercedes Stratford made a story up that I did not have the budget to get the car completely fixed in Germany, how cheeky of them. It is not true and even if what makes the difference at a bill of nearly 2400 euro to pay another £185. We have been also asked if somebody has done some sort of job on that car between Germany and England. Apparently it looks like dodgy job. We said all jobs on that car have been done by Mercedes-Benz.
5 weeks later I finally was able to pick my car up!! 2 flight tickets to London over £100 again. When arriving at Mercedes Stratford I kept cool paid the bill under protest.
When we walked out to the car I saw something strange with my boot lid. As I got closer I noticed 2 big dents in the back and when I looked closer my door frames where like burned with some sort of chemical or something. Instead of apologizing to me they said you car already has a scratch and that the dent on my car is from the inside (yes right the inside!!!), as if I had to accept it.
After talking to the same Service Manager the same B….. As mentioned earlier came out and offered me £40 to compensate me (still not joking), which obviously was not accepted and we arranged that I will send him an estimate. After arriving home I went straight to my local Mercedes dealer for an estimate. The repair for my Car was estimated at over £1600. After I’ve sent him the estimate, he didn’t get back to me.
Trading Standards sent a letter and email to the Service Manager of Mercedes Stratford. The response of him was:
