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GetSet

Smart Dealer experience

40 posts in this topic

Posted (edited) · Report post

I swear this stuff only happens to me.Had my A/C fixed last June, in March/April of this year, I noticed it's dead again so I booked an appointment. After months of rescheduling because of my busy schedule, I finally made time to take it Friday. My appointment was at 8:40am, I booked work off. I dropped the car of Thursday night, had someone take me home, and prepared a ride to take me to the car when it was done. I called them around 9am to ask what was happening with the car, and told them to tell me if all the work was covered because it just came off warranty in June but Mercedes was made aware I'd been having trouble for months. He says he'll call me back once they know.2 hours pass and no call. I assume that they just got started because it ended up being covered so they didn't feel a need to bother me since it would be free.More hours pass and my friend and I headed to Oakville to eat and go shopping since the car would most likely be ready by the end of the day, my last A/C repair took a similar aount of time. I decided to call again, maybe 1-2pm. I ask to talk to my service guy, but apparently he is busy. I ask about my car, and she says they are working on it. I ask for a call back (since no one has called me back since 9am) and she says he will.It's 2:30pm and say enough is enough and stop in at the dealer. MY car is parked outside, must be ready.I walk in and guess what I hear?"No, we got busy, we haven't got to your car"So I told him he better be kidding. No way I'm getting my car today, and I told him he better run and get me a car to drive ASAP. 45 minutes later, he comes out with a 2011 B200 and says they will call me on Monday.Am I crazy or is this just downright ridiculous??? How the hell can you not touch my car and then not tell me. I know full well they were not planning on calling me, I called head office and left a message for the rep who deals with that dealer.

Edited by Mike T

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Well you got a loaner car in the end so you were hardly messed up badly. I thought, based on the thread title, that they rented your car to some drug dealers who drove it into the bush and torched it.

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Well you got a loaner car in the end so you were hardly messed up badly. I thought, based on the thread title, that they rented your car to some drug dealers who drove it into the bush and torched it.

Sorry, I don't accept being ignored the whole day only to have my appointment pushed back without them telling me. They would have not told me and I would have been left without a car all weekend. The fact I had to go through all I did is ridiculous. I'm not sure what I'm not explaining properly here, this is UNACCEPTABLE.

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Posted (edited) · Report post

Well I would be pretty mad too if they did that to me, but things could have been worse.And don't worry. it doesn't just happen to you. ;)

Edited by Coast Steve

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Hi GetSetI to have had several issues when just taking Titan in for service. I am at a point though, as long as they give me a loaner and I do not have to beg, yell or rant to get one, then I am okay with them taking longer. At least they will get it done. I can never figure out why with all the staff they have working even at the reception area that they for some reason are never able to give you a call with an update especially if you have booked an appointment... sighTake care, drive safe

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I have to honestly say that the two dealers I've dealt with (North Van Mercedes and Boundary Mercedes) have always kept me apprised of how repairs were progressing and when the car would be ready. In addition, when a repair was going to take several days a loaner was provided without request.

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Posted (edited) · Report post

Dealerships do not bring the cars in by drop off time. If you were leaving the car for the day, they bring the cars in based on what time the car is to be picked up at. So, if you said you want it picked up at 3:00, they would bring in all the customer cars that were picking them up at noon, 1:00, 2:00 etc etc, regardless of what time it was dropped off at. If you want it earlier, tell them you want it at noon, that way your car is more likely to get in earlier. The only cars that go in right away are for appointments where the customer is "waiting" (which means waiting at the dealership) for the car to be finishedJust trying to be helpful.

Edited by MightyMouseTech

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Mighty you should maybe read the first post again. Their appointment was for 8:40 am that day and M-B never touched the car all day.

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Posted (edited) · Report post

Mighty you should maybe read the first post again. Their appointment was for 8:40 am that day and M-B never touched the car all day.

I read it fully. He stopped off at the dealer at 2:30, that is not all day. Unless he was sitting there waiting for it, 8:40 would just be the drop off time, really has nothing to do with when the vehicle goes into the shop. It is the pickup time that determines the order of the cars going in, not the drop off time. 80% of the cars being worked on during the day get dropped off between opening and 9:00 AM.That is just how shops work. Edited by MightyMouseTech

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HiMy experience with a MB dealer. I took my smart in for a 16,000 Km "B" service in the fall of 2006. I had a 10am appointment. I dropped the car off at the dealership at 9:50 am and told them I would be waiting for the car. The dealer is 100 Km away from where I live. After about a half an hour I informed the receptionist that I would be walking around the automall to kill time and if the car was ready before I get back then just give me a call on my cell phone. I walked around for about two hours and then had lunch at the local cafe. I got back to the dealership at around 1:10 pm. without receiving any phone calls. As I was going into the building I noticed my car was sitting outside in the same spot I had parked it in. Gee, I thought, it is finished and they forgot to phone me. I went in and asked the advisor how much was the bill and I was ready to go. The advisor told me that the car was not ready; in fact they had not started on it. I asked him how come. I had an appointment at 10 am and here it was about 1:15 pm. O he says, your appointment time only gets you in the line up to have work done on your car. If we don't get to it by closing time then you can bring it back in tomorrow as we do not give out loaners for smarts. I told him to give me my key, I am going.This experience gave me the incentive to find an independent smart mechanic.Roy

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Well, you're driving something. My car has been at M-B for about two weeks now. In 10 days, the license sticker will expire, so I'm hoping to get it back before then. I've never been offered a loaner, ever.Instead, I am driving my 1990 Ranger with 381K since my wife has the other car out of town. Hope this doesn't mean that the Ranger is about to be destroyed by an alien space craft, because I can't ride by bike right now.

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HiMy experience with a MB dealer. I took my smart in for a 16,000 Km "B" service in the fall of 2006. I had a 10am appointment. I dropped the car off at the dealership at 9:50 am and told them I would be waiting for the car. The dealer is 100 Km away from where I live. After about a half an hour I informed the receptionist that I would be walking around the automall to kill time and if the car was ready before I get back then just give me a call on my cell phone. I walked around for about two hours and then had lunch at the local cafe. I got back to the dealership at around 1:10 pm. without receiving any phone calls. As I was going into the building I noticed my car was sitting outside in the same spot I had parked it in. Gee, I thought, it is finished and they forgot to phone me. I went in and asked the advisor how much was the bill and I was ready to go. The advisor told me that the car was not ready; in fact they had not started on it. I asked him how come. I had an appointment at 10 am and here it was about 1:15 pm. O he says, your appointment time only gets you in the line up to have work done on your car. If we don't get to it by closing time then you can bring it back in tomorrow as we do not give out loaners for smarts. I told him to give me my key, I am going.This experience gave me the incentive to find an independent smart mechanic.Roy

Wow, OK, that is nasty. We always try and get cars in within 10 mins of the appointment time for a waiter appointment. I would have been furious too.

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I read it fully. He stopped off at the dealer at 2:30, that is not all day. Unless he was sitting there waiting for it, 8:40 would just be the drop off time, really has nothing to do with when the vehicle goes into the shop. It is the pickup time that determines the order of the cars going in, not the drop off time. 80% of the cars being worked on during the day get dropped off between opening and 9:00 AM.That is just how shops work.

My car was *out of warranty* (by 2 weeks) and I told them to look at at, then give me a quote. I told them I needed to make arrangements for a ride since the couldn't get me a loaner. I called them 4 times and not only did they lie to me about having been working on the car, they refused to return my calls.This is monumental ignorance and general disinterest in the Smart brand, if I was driving anything else, I wouldn't have had this problem, I'm 2/2 with MB dealers, wouldn't ever go back again, you can't treat people like this.

I have to honestly say that the two dealers I've dealt with (North Van Mercedes and Boundary Mercedes) have always kept me apprised of how repairs were progressing and when the car would be ready. In addition, when a repair was going to take several days a loaner was provided without request.

That's good to hear and that is the standard I expect, especially from a luxury brand which makes its name on keeping it's customers happy at all costs, or so I thought.

Well, you're driving something. My car has been at M-B for about two weeks now. In 10 days, the license sticker will expire, so I'm hoping to get it back before then. I've never been offered a loaner, ever.Instead, I am driving my 1990 Ranger with 381K since my wife has the other car out of town. Hope this doesn't mean that the Ranger is about to be destroyed by an alien space craft, because I can't ride by bike right now.

The dealer will always give you a loaner, just depends what they have, I always book appointments for when they can give me a car because I'm alone here in the GTA with not alot of people to rely on for rides all over the place during 9-5 when everyone works.

Wow, OK, that is nasty. We always try and get cars in within 10 mins of the appointment time for a waiter appointment. I would have been furious too.

I appreciate your input, but what difference is it if I'm waiting there, or waiting at home? I made it very obvious this needed to be done and I needed my car back.Either way, the dealer is doing the work for free, I get my car tonite. I will never buy or recommend Mercedes to anyone ever, which I'm sure most will just scoff at, because I'm just a lowly cheapskate Smart driverI've been perfectly level headed and respectful throughout all this, I don't want this to look like someone just ranting, fool me twice, shame on me. Edited by GetSet

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Hello GetSet,First of all, we apologize that we did not keep you updated through the day on the status of your vehicle and also that we were not able to bring your vehicle in until much later in the day despite your morning appointment time. As MightyMouseTech explained, vehicles in any shop will always be worked on based on the promise time to the customer (not by appointment time) as it is the only way that we can accommodate 50+ cars per day. This is not an excuse but simply a reality; with a late afternoon promise time, our dispatching system knows that even if your car comes in at 3pm we will still have an answer to you by the promise time of 4pm.Since your vehicle was out of warranty, a goodwill request needed to be made and authorized by the manufacturer (smart Canada); instead of telling you to take your vehicle and bring it back once we received authorization, we provided you with a Mercedes-Benz loaner at no-charge. We then contacted you Monday morning to advise that we were still awaiting authorization for repairs, and later in the afternoon advised that we had received the authorization and would have the car ready by the end of the day (5pm), which it was.We do not mean to minimize the level of your frustration with not having been properly informed on your vehicle, however we feel that your thread title exaggerates the inconvenience that was caused to you. Furthermore, we kept you mobile with a vehicle that is twice the price of yours at no-charge and we did this in the interest of demonstrating our commitment to good service. Things do not always go perfectly for us, but when we make a mistake we do what is necessary to recover and make things right for our clients. Now that your vehicle is fixed, we hope that you will continue to choose us for your future service needs as your business and continued loyalty is always appreciated.Sincerely,mboakville

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It was only a/c work right? Your car was still running/driving? It seems blown a bit out of proportion. I live far away from my dealer and yes it sucks when they cannot keep appointments or offer rides back or loaners, but life sometimes happens and thows dealers off their schedule. It does suck when they lie about working on the car though...

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I have taken the original poster's profanity out of the thread title. I also appreciate the input of the dealer concerned, which - as we all know - has a pretty good reputation here.If people have a bad experience with a dealer, a car or anything else, going off like a roman candle looks very immature. My advice is to sleep on it and maybe the anger will subside. I hope.

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I appreciate the input of the dealer concerned, which - as we all know - has a pretty good reputation here.If people have a bad experience with a dealer, a car or anything else, going off like a roman candle looks very immature. My advice is to sleep on it and maybe the anger will subside. I hope.

+1

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I just had my car into a Mercedes Midtown here in Toronto and the experience on a whole was awesome, minus the fact I had to rent a car, fault of my own booked it less than 24 hours in advance. However the advisor who took care of me, treated me as if I was driving a $500,000 Mercedes not "just" a smart. Thought I would give them another whirl because I was in a bind, car was on the brink of going into negatives and didn't want that on the Mystery Run, now I will be returning the car back there for every service. Heck I was quoted $375 for a B, was done with AC under warrenty for $280, good deal in my books :)I can understand the frustration, however the original post with the crude wording was a bit over the top, because as MikeT said"QUOTE (Mike T @ Jul 12 2011 - 03:20 PM) I appreciate the input of the dealer concerned, which - as we all know - has a pretty good reputation here.If people have a bad experience with a dealer, a car or anything else, going off like a roman candle looks very immature. My advice is to sleep on it and maybe the anger will subside. I hope." Brit, Mathieu and still a very happy little green car named Marty :D

Edited by Britsmart

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First of all, we apologize that we did not keep you updated through the day on the status of your vehicle and also that we were not able to bring your vehicle in until much later in the day despite your morning appointment time. As MightyMouseTech explained, vehicles in any shop will always be worked on based on the promise time to the customer (not by appointment time) as it is the only way that we can accommodate 50+ cars per day. This is not an excuse but simply a reality; with a late afternoon promise time, our dispatching system knows that even if your car comes in at 3pm we will still have an answer to you by the promise time of 4pm.

This fails to explain why after 4 calls I was ignored plus the fact your receptionist told me "they are working on it" when they weren't.

Since your vehicle was out of warranty, a goodwill request needed to be made and authorized by the manufacturer (smart Canada); instead of telling you to take your vehicle and bring it back once we received authorization, we provided you with a Mercedes-Benz loaner at no-charge. We then contacted you Monday morning to advise that we were still awaiting authorization for repairs, and later in the afternoon advised that we had received the authorization and would have the car ready by the end of the day (5pm), which it was.

I have no problem with how it was dealt after the fact but what I had to go through was a bit ridiculous, that's all.

We do not mean to minimize the level of your frustration with not having been properly informed on your vehicle, however we feel that your thread title exaggerates the inconvenience that was caused to you.

That is subjective and not for you to decide, I was hugely inconvenienced and that is all there is to it. I'm not satisfied with, oh we gave you an expensive car. It was the customer experience leading up to that which was laughable.I may have been a bit strong in by wording, I apologize for that. Edited by GetSet

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GetSet if you wish to be free from M-B service, save up and buy a M-B Star unit from China ($600-$700). A regular mechanic should be able to do the remaining work on your car. The last work I had done at Oakville I went in with a faulty alternator and came out with a leaking intercooler, seems too coincidental for me, so I won't be going back. I am ordering a Star unit this week.

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Question: Please explain a star unit to me.Comment: What would have ticked me off was the 'sorry, we got busy and haven't got to your car yet.' If she had an appointment that gives her job the priority..... in my book anyway.Ish.

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GetSet if you wish to be free from M-B service, save up and buy a M-B Star unit from China ($600-$700). A regular mechanic should be able to do the remaining work on your car. The last work I had done at Oakville I went in with a faulty alternator and came out with a leaking intercooler, seems too coincidental for me, so I won't be going back. I am ordering a Star unit this week.

Oh wow, that's unfortunate :(You can ask Glenn (Smart142) about my car, I brought it to him just a short while after a full B service to look the car over. I won't get into the things that weren't touched but the service itself took less than 2 hours, didn't think much of it at the time but he seems to think that is a bit too short and he finished up what didn't get done. Needless to say he will be doing all my work on my car from here on out.

Question: Please explain a star unit to me.Comment: What would have ticked me off was the 'sorry, we got busy and haven't got to your car yet.' If she had an appointment that gives her job the priority..... in my book anyway.Ish.

If you were quoting me, she's a he lol I agree regardless Edited by GetSet

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I booked an appointment online Friday for Monday at 1:00 but when I got there they said it had "failed". I found it strange that I got a confirmation as well as a reminder in my e mail. They told me that they were down three mechanics and to come back at noon the next day. It is quite a drive out of my way to get there as I both live and work near the 401, not the 403 or QEW, plus I had to kill two hours before going to work at 3:30. I figured they found me ugly because I was wearing swim shorts and a sleeveless T shirt and didn't want me hanging around their waiting area like that. Unfortunately there is only AC in the lunchroom at my work so that is as formal as I can get in weather as it was on Monday.I showed up at noon the next day dressed similarly but my T shirt had short sleeves this time. I did get satisfactory service but they wanted me to pay $1424 to replace the turbocharger because it was "noisy". I did have two cups of Starbucks, two bottles of water, and I brought home two bags of Earl Grey tea too!

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Question: Please explain a star unit to me.

It is the diagnostic tool M-B uses. It makes it possible to add TAN codes, check errors from all the systems(not just the engine), adjust the clutch actuator, do the transmission learn-in, etc.

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Hi All, Long time...I have never had a problem with M-B Oakville. I have two smarts, a 450 and 451. I have been taking my cars to this shop since 2006, which is before I was involved with the dealership. Now that I am retired (so to speak) I still take both my cars to M-B Oakville. If you ever have a problem with your service, or the people, make sure you contact Martin or Binny directly and let them know. They will speak to you and they will address any concerns. I read a comment here about being ugly, well I take the cake on that one. I show up with tie-die shirts and Birkenstocks (sometimes socks too). That being said, shit happens. Taking life a little bit more on the easy side is all you need. Build relationships, not walls.That's my two cents.Andy AKA SpaDogs

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