The Best or Nothing, I guess I'm Nothing.
My first experience with the Mercedes Benz dealership in St. John's was a mixed bag that ultimately left me disappointed. It started out well enough, I drove the 2.5 hours from my residence in rural Newfoundland to the dealership in St. John's and arrived at approximately 9:30 am on Monday, November 21st. Amanda was expecting me as per our previous phone conversations and had an excellent loaner car available (a C300 like mine). I had advised them when booking my scheduled service appointment that my car had a slight shimmy (vibration) from the front end. They promised to check the problem when they were doing my prepaid Service B.
I called at 1:05 pm to get an update and left a message with the Service Dept. My wife and I suspected that we might not get the car back until late in the day and were prepared to spend the night in St. John's with friends. I got a call back at 2:40 pm with some bad news, the shimmy was caused by a bent rim and a tire with a bulging sidewall. They could replace the rim with stock they had on hand but the tire would have to be flown in from the mainland at an extra cost of $52 in order to have it ready by the next day (Nov. 22nd). I agreed to the plan and told them to keep me posted.
I called the service dept at 12:22 pm the next day and got a return call at 12:42 with more bad news, the plane had mechanical difficulties and would be late. At 3:48 pm I called back and was told that the tire would not be in until tomorrow (Wednesday). We arranged to spend another night in St. John's.
At 10:52 am the next day I called for an update, good news, the tire was in and would be installed shortly. I called at 12:15 pm and was told my car was being worked on and should be ready in about an hour or so. We decided to drive to the dealership and wait there. After sitting in the lounge for an hour I asked Mark about the progress and was told it would be another hour to an hour and a half yet. Apparently they had to fly in a replacement cabin air filter that was part of the Service B and that had yet to be done. We are starting to get annoyed at this point and we left to get lunch. We came back to the dealership at 2:45 pm and the car still wasn't ready. At 3:15 pm the service was completed and we were asked if we wanted the vehicle washed and cleaned. I was astonished that in the 3 days they had my car this wasn't done yet. I requested a quick wash and told them we had to get on the road for our long drive home. We finally got on the road at 3:30 pm.
I understand that some of the delays were unavoidable and the Service dept has restrictions imposed on them by management. Obviously we were not a priority at this dealership. We got shuffled down the list in favor of other customers. I did not by my car at this dealership, I bought it in Winnipeg where I was living at the time. Maybe this factored in to my treatment, but one would think that a Mercedes customer would be treated the same at any of their dealerships.
Terry Stead