Just had Service B, dealer tried to charge $525 on top of service
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Joined: May 2011
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F30 335 xdrive, retired - W204 C63
Just had Service B, dealer tried to charge $525 on top of service
So when I bought my C63 almost 2 years ago, I also purchased a service plan for $1500 that included 2 service A and 2 service B plans, only later did I realize they weren't really giving me much of a deal because they always have coupons for 10% off those services.
of course they fed me the BS line of "it includes everything but brakes, tires, and alignments" which I believed.
Took it in for a Service B and on top of the $560 charge for that (which was covered) they wanted $225 for alignment, $99 for brake fluid change (which I thought would have been included) and $200 for Fuel service.
Now I know I will eventually need brake fluid but it seems a little early and a little high price (of course) my questions are 1) would you trust any place other than Mercedes with Alignment (since Mercedes charges double what most other places charge) 2) what the hell is fuel service? the guy was telling me they de-carbonize the fuel tank and lines... to me sounds like BS, I have never heard of anything like that and have owned a couple BMW M cars before.
of course they fed me the BS line of "it includes everything but brakes, tires, and alignments" which I believed.
Took it in for a Service B and on top of the $560 charge for that (which was covered) they wanted $225 for alignment, $99 for brake fluid change (which I thought would have been included) and $200 for Fuel service.
Now I know I will eventually need brake fluid but it seems a little early and a little high price (of course) my questions are 1) would you trust any place other than Mercedes with Alignment (since Mercedes charges double what most other places charge) 2) what the hell is fuel service? the guy was telling me they de-carbonize the fuel tank and lines... to me sounds like BS, I have never heard of anything like that and have owned a couple BMW M cars before.
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From: Alexandria, VA
07 E63 AMG, 10 C63 AMG, 07 E63 Designo, 07 E350, 09 C300, 07 C230
The service plan is a gimmick, yes you do save some money on a few things but not all.
You have to read the fine print, just like all contracts. I would trust another shop, if their primary job was alignments, like a higher end shop. The fuel service that your referring to, I believe is called an induction service where they clean out all the carbon buildup up if the intake pleunum, and intake and exhaust valves. Your fuel tank and fuel lines, have no carbon buildup. Carbon is a result of fuel being burned. I've learned to perform general maintenance myself, and I would only recommend this, if your mechanically inclined. Other than that, I would find yourself a good independent MB shop. And let them perform some of the more complexed tasks. I performed Service A & B, brakes pads & rotors, and fluids myself, as it's pretty straight forward.
You have to read the fine print, just like all contracts. I would trust another shop, if their primary job was alignments, like a higher end shop. The fuel service that your referring to, I believe is called an induction service where they clean out all the carbon buildup up if the intake pleunum, and intake and exhaust valves. Your fuel tank and fuel lines, have no carbon buildup. Carbon is a result of fuel being burned. I've learned to perform general maintenance myself, and I would only recommend this, if your mechanically inclined. Other than that, I would find yourself a good independent MB shop. And let them perform some of the more complexed tasks. I performed Service A & B, brakes pads & rotors, and fluids myself, as it's pretty straight forward.
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Joined: May 2011
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F30 335 xdrive, retired - W204 C63
How can you tell if Mercedes actually performed a Service B, any specific thing that would be easy to look for. Kind of worries me now because it was listed as a single line item on the work order just saying customer requested service B (after a list of other things they had to look at) and they didn't reset the service indicator, so I am wondering what if they really didn't perform a service B? Guess I could look at my wiper blades, those are supposed to be replaced, but what do new ones look like compared to old ones 
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 366
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From: Australia
E63S
Changing brake fluid at 2 years is as per the service booklet and pretty much consistent with most manufacturers' service schedules these days.
The fuel service is complete BS in my opinion. It is becoming a pretty common service department money spinner with a lot of manufacturers, and is pushed particularly hard on owners of diesel engined cars with forced induction where the workshop guys can pop off the cover to the airfilter and wipe off some greasy gunk from the intake manifold and say "see this is what we need to fight against"!! Not sure how many diesel MBs you guys have in the US but I suspect at your dealer they must be seeing a few and are now trying to con a few of the owners of petrol engined cars as well.
Another way of looking at it is that the MB service booklet for Australian delivered cars (and hard to see that the US would be any different) specifies a fuel filter change at 250000 km or 15 years for all of the petrol C and E class range!! Hard to see how this is consistent with a clean down of the intake side of the engine after just 2 years.
The fuel service is complete BS in my opinion. It is becoming a pretty common service department money spinner with a lot of manufacturers, and is pushed particularly hard on owners of diesel engined cars with forced induction where the workshop guys can pop off the cover to the airfilter and wipe off some greasy gunk from the intake manifold and say "see this is what we need to fight against"!! Not sure how many diesel MBs you guys have in the US but I suspect at your dealer they must be seeing a few and are now trying to con a few of the owners of petrol engined cars as well.
Another way of looking at it is that the MB service booklet for Australian delivered cars (and hard to see that the US would be any different) specifies a fuel filter change at 250000 km or 15 years for all of the petrol C and E class range!! Hard to see how this is consistent with a clean down of the intake side of the engine after just 2 years.
