Timing chain, good advice or bad?

[jbach36]

My 24 year old car turned over 200k miles last week. I was previously told to have the timing chain replaced at the 200k mark. The conventional wisdom that I've read on this forum is to not just replace it rather than check, since you're going through all the effort to get to that area anyways.

I called a place that specializes in replacing belts and chains to have this done, and much to my surprise, he said unless you hear the chain rattling, especially on a cold start, don't replace it. He said ALL chains when they begin to fail, or the tensioner or rails begin to fail, you'll hear the chain starting to rattle. The rattle is the precursor to ALL chains needing attention. No rattle, no worries. He said he's seen some Mercedes go 300, 400, 500k before needing to change out their chain. He said he'd be glad to take my money, but if it sounds normal, there's no need to bring it in.

Good advice or bad advice? It was from a guy who specializes in it, so I figure he's seen and worked on enough of them.

1991 300d, 200,078 miles