franchised dealers

[alex290568]

Well, took my 2004 C270 Cdi to the main dealers this week as the engine management light kept coming on and the car kept going into limp mode. Waited for 2.5hrs whilst they put the car on the diagnostics computer and the result was "not sure whats wrong but it could be the cat". Not satisfied with the answer and the risk of £500 on a cat thats not required I elected to take the car to Delaceys in Brighouse. Did not tell them what the main dealers diagnosis was and 24 hrs later they have repaired the damaged turbo hose (£150) and problem solved!
So much for main dealer maintenance. I shall be writing to Mercedes direct to express my concerns!!
Any thoughts you lot?

Cheers, Alex

[petermansell]

I hate reading stories like this becuase it really undermines my confidence in the main dealers. Having said that I prefer to know of their weaknesess than not.

I've got to get new spark plugs at 70K miles and want to change the geearbox oil (not a straightforward task) and don't know whether to go via the main dealer or to my local specialist

[steve-V8s]

My experience both personally and with the company fleet is always go to a good indi. Ideally choose one where the proprietor directly benefits from you being a happy customer and then you probably will be.