Kris

Good Sales Process, terrible aftersales

Very disappointed in the service from the Car Co. I bought a 2018 Mercedes CLS just before Christmas 2023. The purchase was great, they have some lovely stock and it's incredibly well presented. Muj was my sales person, he was very friendly and professional. Whilst viewing the car (before purchase) the drivers window switch was broken. Muj said thats a common fault and it will be replace before handover. Whilst driving the car home it appeared the window switch wasn't fixed, the start stop was not working and there was a fault with the parking sensors. The purchase was on the 20th December and I contacted Muj on the 26th December regarding the problems. He got me booked in with their Service Centre on the 12th January. Im not local to their service centre which is located on James Street, Bury. So I arrange time to drop the vehicle off and wait for call. After dropping the car off at 9am I was able to collect the vehicle early afternoon. I was advised the car needed a new battery (explaining the start stop problem) The window switch had been replaced and the wiring to one of the sensors repaired. When I went collect the car I noticed a scratch on the bonnet which wasn't previously there. The car had been valeted and must have been scratched whilst doing so. Granted this is hard to prove, but testament to the presentation of the vehicle when I bought it, it was like new. Good enough the Service centre arrange for the car to come back and have the bonnet machine polished, almost eliminating the scratch. Whilst driving the car home I could hear a new rattle from the engine bay. Pulling over I discovered two bolts were not put back after the work carried out. Not a major issue but consistent with the sloppy work and attitude from the company. The parking sense fault occurred once again on the same journey home. I got back in touch with Graham Banks of the service centre and booked the car back in for the 5th of Feb. I was reluctant to return to service centre given my previous experience but as this is their only centre I was given no choice. After taking another day off work and driving the Bury the car was 'fixed' Graham explaining that the sensors have corrosion around the contacts and needed rubbing down. As I drove home it became obvious the sensor were not fixed and the problem still occurred. After this second attempt of fixing the problem, bearing in mind my scratched bonnet and loose fixings I did not want to take another day off work and let Grahams technicians have a third attempt. I suggested I take the vehicle to my local garage who look after my fleet of commercial vehicles. Their response was; Hi Mr. McDonald, I have spoken to the manager regarding having the fault diagnosed locally, he has agreed that if there is a fault found with the Parking sensor we would cover the Diagnostic Fee. If, however, no faut were to be found this would be at your expense. If a fault is diagnosed please forward quotation for repair to this address for evaluation prior to repair being carried out , we will advise once received how to proceed. Regards Service Team My garage found the fault and diagnosed the issue as a faulty parking sensor. Requiring a new sensor and removal of bumper/headlamp to replace. They quoted £309.78 Graham and the management at the Car refused to pay this amount and asked me to return the vehicle back to James Street for the repairs. We had some back and forth with communication resulting in them agreeing to pay £150 plus VAT to the garage for the £309.78 repair. The offer was there for me to return the vehicle to James Street, but the vehicle should have had a PDI before handover. I would imagine if this inspection was done properly then the parking fault (which did have a fault code logged) new batter and broken window switch would have been discovered. I understand things can be missed and I have no problem in returning the vehicle for the repairs. However I was very disappointed with my initial experience at the service centre.