Hello everyone

My Dad bought his S-Class brand new last year in July. We have just taken it into MB because the Air-Con has stopped working (and it's really hot here believe it or not!).

We thought they would fix it under warranty but they say it will probably just need re-gassing at a cost of £135 +vat!!!

The lady said "do you use the aircon regulary?" we said yes - and she said "oh, the gas has probably run out". Another example of ****ty DC/MB customer service.

We have never needed any aircon system re-gassed in the past on any MB - let alone one still under warranty.

Does anyone have any advice or experience to share?

Cheers

__________________
Oliver

the only reason that a 1 year old A/C system would need to be recharged (regassed as you say) is if it had a leak. I don't think you could use your A/C enough in 1 year to use up all the freon. I would take it back to the dealership (maybe a different one) and talk to the service manager about it.

Thanks for the reply. This is what I thought. Just to make things even worse, they say if we need a replacement car while it is being repaired we will need to wait about a month!!!

All this after spending £60k - Great.

Jeremy Clarkson was saying on Top Gear this week that his new Ford GT40 had a problem with it's immobiliser. He took it to Ford and they gave him a Ford Focus TD as a replacement

And when he got it back - it still didn't work properly!

__________________
Oliver

I'd be in search of a different dealership that has better service. When you buy a 60K car you expect a little better service than that! Especially at only 1 year old.

Did you read Gavin Green's commentary on his Mercedes experience in the issue two months back? Purchased a problem car ( C-class ) that had a PDI paper stating defects only to be found after he drove it home

Didn't Mercedes want to take over all the UK MB dealerships a few years back and the owners rebelled?

I'm not sure exactlt what happened with the whole dealership thing - but as far as I understand, the only authorsied dealers are 100% owned by Mercedes now.
From what I can see it's made a big difference to customer care. On Top Gear again last week they were saying how the Mercedes ML came at the bottom of a survey of ALL cars - not because of build quality but because of the service they recieved from dealers.

__________________
Oliver

Got the car back today. They didn't charge for the a/c problem. Apparantly it was something to do with a bad temp sensor or something.

But they say the car is leaking fuel out of the high pressure fuel pump, so that needs sorting ASAP.

Also, a cable seems to have gone missing (see other post).

Cheers

__________________
Oliver

I know of an M-B dealer (not naming names or being specific) that would constantly recharge at no cost a malfuntioning A/C on a friends car always saying that she used her A/C too much.

Inmediantly after the warranty runned out, the next time she took the car to be recharged, they slapped her with a US$3,000 bill for a broken evap.

It is obvious that your dealer is trying to hide something major and just buying time so they can later shoot you with a major repair bill.

I will definitely take the car to another dealer and if nothing happens, I will pay for a test at a good independet shop and then go back to Mercedes.

__________________
A. Rosich
CL 500, 1998
S 500 L, 1998
E 320 T, 1995 [Sadly sold ]

O.P.,

(I am being UNREASONABLE)

Y'all have the opportunity to transport the offending vehicle back to it's
"Point of Manufacture"

(AND risk being detained by the statspolizi)

FOR raising unholy hell with the root of the problem.



Demand to meet with the regional representative in person!

Failing that , find out Mercedes U.K. headquarters ,and start telephoning

No joy from the Anglecanized Mercedes "Reps" ?

Call Deutschland (They all speak english).

I'm sure you guys are right about the aircon, but I don't really think I have much of an argument with Mercedes at the moment - according to them they found the problem and fixed it under warranty.

I suppose I could go elsewhere to check the problem out, but to be honest, I'm trying to kick my dad into putting an order in for a 2006 S-Class (petrol this time I hope)!!!

Just hope these are built like they were in the good ol' days! Just imagine buying a W126 brand new and having the aircon break, and the fuel system spring a leak in year 1?!!?!?!?

__________________
Oliver

FYI, refrigerant is not depleated by using the A/C. The only way a system would ever need recharging is if there is a leak. Don't let them bull**** you.

__________________
1989 300 SEL that mostly works, but needs TLC

They said that the freon level was ok, but aircon had shut down because of a temp sensor. We didn't get charged anything so I think it's turned out ok.

By the time it's out of warranty we probably won't own it anymore anyways.

__________________
Oliver

Well, the ETS (evaporator temp sensor) has been known to occasionally fail on these cars. If it was on it's way out, the compressor would engage for merely a matter of seconds, and then kick out. Leaving you to deal with sweltering outside air no matter what mode the system was in.

__________________
1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

Some good unsolicited advice:

Stay away from the new W221 at least for two years!

Remember early 1991-93 W140s and early 1998-00 W220s. They all were a piece of crap.

The first two years of production of ANY Benz are horrible, and more so the highly advanced models like the S-Class.

__________________
A. Rosich
CL 500, 1998
S 500 L, 1998
E 320 T, 1995 [Sadly sold ]