My 2001 E55 is now due for it's A service. I have owned it 22 months, although still less than 8,000 miles.

I call up Downtown L.A. Mercedes, Service Department, and they ask me what time I can be there in the morning (later this week).
I advise I will be there no later than 9 A.M. I ask how long I should expect to wait. He replies "sometime in the afternoon". Well, then, about what time do you think that would be, I persist.
Oh, it's hard to say, blah, blah....

I know that the A check is not very involved. Not too much more than an oil change. WTFO!!

Is this what I should expect from a dealer? Maybe I should take it to an independent, but then I would have to pay, right?

 

The service itself doesn't take very long, but there are going to be people ahead of you, and that's why it will take a few hours. He was probably overestimating the time your car will be done. If you take the car in at 9, it should be done by noon, even sooner if you stay and wait for the car, then it becomes a priority.

 

Dave is right. Even before 9am peoplewill be lining up for service. This is typical for car dealer service shops.

 

Well this is my experience. The dealer I take my car to gives me an appointment almost immediately (usually next day) at whatever time is convenient for me. I then call the Customer Relations Manager and tell him I'm bringing my car in and to reserve a loaner for me (MB or Saab), if I choose to do this I usually give him a couple of days, its only fair. When I arrive at the dealer I am then put into the computer and there is a printout at the top which estimates when the car will be completed, suprisingly it is usually accurate within 2 hours.

On Tuesday the 18th I dropped my car off at 9:00 am and the printout showed it would be ready at 11:00 am the following day. This would have been correct except they had/have a major problem with alignment, apparently there is a backup because a car broke down on the lift and now they've fallen way behind. My advisor has called me twice so far apologizing and assuring me that as soon as it's done he will call me. Honestly, it's no big deal since I'm in a Benz anyway.

Although they are always packed they do an excellent job and there turn around time isn't to bad considering the number of MB's sold and there quality issues. I spoke to the Customer Relations Manager and he informed me that they have begged MBUSA to help them and have alerted them to the fact that they are not equiped to handle this flood of cars needing service do to increased sales in the last 5-10 years. MBUSA has been slow to respond.

The MB dealer/service network in America is not equipped to handle this explosion in sales of MB vehicles and we the consumers are the ones suffering.

 

Thanks all for your replies. I called the following day, and found out who my service advisor was. She was straight forward, and courteous, and assured me it wouldn''t take long at all to do the work. The day of the appointment, I showed up quite early, and met with the s.a., then waited for the car in the lounge. It was perhaps 1 hr 30 min, then good to go.

No input from the s.a, on what was done to the car, nor advice on bringing it back for B check. I decided to ask about the latter, since I already knew of items performed in A check.

When I got home, I looked in my Service Booklet where it states "Your authorized Mercedes-Benz Center will certify in the service booklet that all services have been carried out." - No where in the booklet is there evidence of any service done.

I realize there is a high volume of maintenance being done at these dealerships, and the service is no doubt excellent, however, when there is a Service Advisor, acting as go between, I suppose (what kind of maintenance training do they have?), there is NO interaction between the owner and the maintenance professional.

When the car is off it's warranty, maybe I would not return to the dealership just for this reason, irrespective of cost difference.

Again, I would really appreciate everyone's frank opinions on this subject.

 

Generally, the service advisor doesn't stamp your booklet unless you bring it to him/her to be stamped. The record of the service is in the vehicle's official history report now, and a printout of a Vehicle Master Inquiry will show the service was done.

 

They keep all service info in their computer, you get a receipt stating what was done in the car, keep that for your records, and if needed in the future ask them for a history print out on your car. My dealer know everything that has been done to my car, even before I bought it. (I got mine used from them directly and they do have the history of the previous owner, I was once offered to get it)

Ask them to give you a loaner and go back in the afternoon.

 

Thank you for all replies. All were helpful.

Hey Pocholin, the animated feature you got there is hilarious, but what exactly is he?

 

Thanks, it is a mexican character (my a comedian) he is saying "preguntame cab... pregumtame" equivalent translation "ask me you mother f....ask me"
the phrase is incomplete since he says it on TV, very funny indeed.