I must say that ever since I got to know my Mercedes service advisor and mechanic my life has been much better because I entirely trust them. I never feel like I am being ripped off and I always know that they are doing the work they say they are going to do. It might be a few dollars more to get work done at the dealer but I think it is worth it. It is a great feeling.

Do you guys trust your service advisors and mechanics?

I had a bunch of problems with the car itself but my service advisor (Richard Hull @ Phil Smart) was excellent. I would recommend him without reservation.

As long as You Know a tech..remember the TECH is the one who does the work on the car..NOT the Advisor..Things WILL get done

Also Small Gifts go a LONG way to a tech..and ask for the same tech everytime
You will be AMAZED what can get done!

Mercedes has Cut Warranty times a LOT so Yes a Tip WILL go a Long way!

luxury1,
That's great that you have a good relationship with your SA and mechanic, and some other people on this forum and other MB forums have said the same thing.

At the dealer where I bought my car, there are many SA's and I've learned that although they are all "nice" people, only a couple of them know anything. I've never been allowed to speak to a mechanic directly. Also, when I started going there many times (all small problems when I bought the car), they would give me excuses of why I couldn't get a work receipt even though it's a state law where I live that a receipt has to be provided at the time of the repairs, whether warranty or not. I finally had to speak to the general manager and listened to his bull***** for a while. When he finished, I told him that if I didn't get all my receipts, I would be filing a complaint with the state's DA office. Well, I got all my receipts, and a bad memory from this dealership. They try and pull this crap so owners won't have any evidence for lemon-law buyback suits. Consequently, I'll never buy another car from these people and now that my car is out of warranty, I have two good indys to go to for repairs I can't do myself. This dealership proved to me that there was an obvious lack of integrity on their part.

Good luck with your dealer.

Regards,
paul...

An important life lesson is that you get what you expect.

I have a friend who thinks everyone's out to get him and he indeed regularly gets screwed.

Anyone who thinks s/he can operate a motor vehicle without dealer support is living in fantasy land.

I only wanted to be treated fairly -- nothing else. The good news is that besides the tow indys I have access to, there are a couple more dealers close to me I could go to if needed.

Regards,
Paul...

Unless you own a Toyota or Honda in which case you probably never have to see your dealer for service unless there is a recall When will MB reach that reliability scale?

I trust my dealer implicitly...oh wait a second, I work there.
As another poster said, it is the tech who does the work, not the advisor. Our customers are allowed to talk to a tech about the repair if need be,but we also have really good Sa's who are VERY knowledgeable and usually can answer any question thrown at them.
I have seen where we have had to "limit" access to our tech's as some people want to talk to them for a long time...a big no-no to a flat rate tech.
I think that the biggest injustice a dealer can do to a customer is to not staff the service area with people who know the product and if they don't have an answer make every effort to find it.
A service visit is not high on anyone's list of good times and should be kept in mind by all parties involved at the dealer.
It is a shame that so many people are unhappy with the way they are handled by the dealer as it gives us all a bad reputation that some of us don't deserve.
Just my .02

And lots of recalls there've been lately, too.

But really, who cares about Toyota and Honda?

Ditto.

I love my Honda. The S2000 is a great plaything/weekend auto-x/track day car.

If you guys are so shallow that the badge is all that matters - then I feel sorry for you. Lots of marques with less snob appeal make really great cars.

None of them were the inventors of the automobile.

You can believe that plenty of "we guys" know what's underneath.

I personally see the dealer for warranty issues, and my local independent shop (w/ Star Diag) for payment work.. I've got my 13000 coming due soon, so I'll be going there for the service wherein for the same price, I'll not only get the glorified oil change and inspection, but also a new Air filter, and new wipers... and for a little more I can flush any fluid I/we deem could use the flush..

Basically, I priced a full fluid flush, Engine, Trans, Brakes, Steering, Coolant, and Rear Dif along with a basic inspection with this shop for $500.... try to price that at the stealer!

I love my Benz too, but lets remember... "It's not who's first... its who lasts."


Unrelated to the above... I was out shopping for a car for my Son (Honda Accord Coupe w/ Nav & Ipod dock) yesterday, & this late in the season I told him I wanted him to order a car for me, because I wasn't goping to be flexible with options or color. His response was "Geez the management here always says "Sell what you can see. Don't go see what you can sell."

They ordered one for me, but what a concise and accurate statement.

uhhh... O.K.

I don't recall posting that Honda or Toyota invented the automobile.