Discussion
In October 2024, my company purchased an ex demonstrator GLC300e 4MATIC AMG Line Premium Plus.
The car is loaded with tech, in fact probably too much tech and from the outset displayed some odd behavior but never having owned/driven the latest incarnations from Mercedes I looked upon some of the initial issue as a little odd but perhaps normal.
The main issue centered around the parking sensors either not wanting to pick things up until I was almost about to hit an obstacle (this didn't happen as I could see things on camera) or being sat in traffic with no warnings being picked up, when the car in front moved away the sensors would sound as though I was about to hit the car or be hit, the head up display would illuminate red as though the car driving away from me was about to hit me and even car passing on the other side of the road would set them off.
Twice while parking in reverse the car performed an emergency stop that took me shutting the car down, getting out and locking it to reset things that then allowed me to complete the manoeuvre. At one point while sitting at home eating an evening meal the Mercedes Me app pinged me to say the car was involved in an accident yet the car was on my drive and hadn't moved for over two hours.
Constant tyre pressure warnings that when checked showed no issues with pressures. engine management lights illuminating and sometimes staying on for hours then mysteriously going out. Amber and red warnings about collision mitigation system failures, warnings about not using the car to tow with ( I never have towed with it).
In June the car was taken to my local Mercedes franchised service centre (not the one I bought it from) and they noted around 30-40 faults that they couldn't understand. This prompted them to wipe the cars software and reinstall it in the hope this would clear the issues.
A later business trip to Europe showed more issues and were witnessed by a colleague but the car never let me down.
The issues persisted and got worse, the parking sensor issue remained, but I saw more warning lights, a complete system shut down while driving (all screens went blank) and total illumination of warning lights in the driver screen. All of these happened at different times.
The car has been back with the same service centre since 29th August, Mercedes GmbH have been involved and a replacement of control unit for the sensors,cameras and safety systems was performed yesterday only to find this hasn't cured the problem. The next step I'm told is a complete interior strip down, dash out, carpet, roof lining etc. to try and manually trace a wiring break, lose connection of perhaps water ingress from ill fitted seal.
Two technicians have stated I might consider handing the car back to the supplying dealer under warranty, not fit for purpose, car cant be trusted etc.
Question: what would you do in this situation, has anyone handed a car back and what was the process and outcome?
The car is loaded with tech, in fact probably too much tech and from the outset displayed some odd behavior but never having owned/driven the latest incarnations from Mercedes I looked upon some of the initial issue as a little odd but perhaps normal.
The main issue centered around the parking sensors either not wanting to pick things up until I was almost about to hit an obstacle (this didn't happen as I could see things on camera) or being sat in traffic with no warnings being picked up, when the car in front moved away the sensors would sound as though I was about to hit the car or be hit, the head up display would illuminate red as though the car driving away from me was about to hit me and even car passing on the other side of the road would set them off.
Twice while parking in reverse the car performed an emergency stop that took me shutting the car down, getting out and locking it to reset things that then allowed me to complete the manoeuvre. At one point while sitting at home eating an evening meal the Mercedes Me app pinged me to say the car was involved in an accident yet the car was on my drive and hadn't moved for over two hours.
Constant tyre pressure warnings that when checked showed no issues with pressures. engine management lights illuminating and sometimes staying on for hours then mysteriously going out. Amber and red warnings about collision mitigation system failures, warnings about not using the car to tow with ( I never have towed with it).
In June the car was taken to my local Mercedes franchised service centre (not the one I bought it from) and they noted around 30-40 faults that they couldn't understand. This prompted them to wipe the cars software and reinstall it in the hope this would clear the issues.
A later business trip to Europe showed more issues and were witnessed by a colleague but the car never let me down.
The issues persisted and got worse, the parking sensor issue remained, but I saw more warning lights, a complete system shut down while driving (all screens went blank) and total illumination of warning lights in the driver screen. All of these happened at different times.
The car has been back with the same service centre since 29th August, Mercedes GmbH have been involved and a replacement of control unit for the sensors,cameras and safety systems was performed yesterday only to find this hasn't cured the problem. The next step I'm told is a complete interior strip down, dash out, carpet, roof lining etc. to try and manually trace a wiring break, lose connection of perhaps water ingress from ill fitted seal.
Two technicians have stated I might consider handing the car back to the supplying dealer under warranty, not fit for purpose, car cant be trusted etc.
Question: what would you do in this situation, has anyone handed a car back and what was the process and outcome?
Edited by BiggaJ on Thursday 11th September 11:20
My family and I have had a few Mercs over the years - something like 8 I think - and I've not heard of one exhibiting the number of issues you describe.
Most of our Mercs were older than your GLC (we've had 2 C-class, 2 E-class, ML, GL, EQC) however my ex-wife also had a GLC - it was 2nd hand but reasonably new (very low miles) and it was faultless.
My own 14yo GL does come up with electrical issues from time to time including the parking sensors going-off when there's nothing in the way. I think in this case it's a faulty individual sensor and it has been slowly getting worse from when I bought it at 38K miles (it's now at 138K miles). It has recently had all 4 ABS wheel sensors replaced over a period of 15 months as I kept getting warnings from the dash. Odd that they all failed within a similar timeframe but they weren't that expensive to replace.
Given the number of faults yours seems to have, I would reject it. My concern about modern cars is that they're so reliant upon the complexity of the tech, that it will only get worse. I love my old GL but I do pay out quite a lot annually to keep it running. It's a consistent annual cost but for a 2nd car, it cannot be justified by any rational means. In your case, it's a recent acquisition - get rid and buy another.
Most of our Mercs were older than your GLC (we've had 2 C-class, 2 E-class, ML, GL, EQC) however my ex-wife also had a GLC - it was 2nd hand but reasonably new (very low miles) and it was faultless.
My own 14yo GL does come up with electrical issues from time to time including the parking sensors going-off when there's nothing in the way. I think in this case it's a faulty individual sensor and it has been slowly getting worse from when I bought it at 38K miles (it's now at 138K miles). It has recently had all 4 ABS wheel sensors replaced over a period of 15 months as I kept getting warnings from the dash. Odd that they all failed within a similar timeframe but they weren't that expensive to replace.
Given the number of faults yours seems to have, I would reject it. My concern about modern cars is that they're so reliant upon the complexity of the tech, that it will only get worse. I love my old GL but I do pay out quite a lot annually to keep it running. It's a consistent annual cost but for a 2nd car, it cannot be justified by any rational means. In your case, it's a recent acquisition - get rid and buy another.
Mars said:
My family and I have had a few Mercs over the years - something like 8 I think - and I've not heard of one exhibiting the number of issues you describe.
Most of our Mercs were older than your GLC (we've had 2 C-class, 2 E-class, ML, GL, EQC) however my ex-wife also had a GLC - it was 2nd hand but reasonably new (very low miles) and it was faultless.
My own 14yo GL does come up with electrical issues from time to time including the parking sensors going-off when there's nothing in the way. I think in this case it's a faulty individual sensor and it has been slowly getting worse from when I bought it at 38K miles (it's now at 138K miles). It has recently had all 4 ABS wheel sensors replaced over a period of 15 months as I kept getting warnings from the dash. Odd that they all failed within a similar timeframe but they weren't that expensive to replace.
Given the number of faults yours seems to have, I would reject it. My concern about modern cars is that they're so reliant upon the complexity of the tech, that it will only get worse. I love my old GL but I do pay out quite a lot annually to keep it running. It's a consistent annual cost but for a 2nd car, it cannot be justified by any rational means. In your case, it's a recent acquisition - get rid and buy another.
Thanks, I did have use of an E class back in 2015/16 for about 6 weeks when my car at the time (Lexus) was shunted on the M6 southbound by an idiot that wasn't watching the road ahead. I have to say, I and my wife found the E class to be very uncomfortable, both getting constant back ache from it. We are completely different builds/height etc. but neither could get comfortable in it and I swore at the time I wouldn't have a Merc full time. The reason for picking the GLC 300e was purely down to it low emissions as a company car hence lower BIK rating. It's not as bad as the old E class in terms of comfort but its far from the most comfortable car I've owned.Most of our Mercs were older than your GLC (we've had 2 C-class, 2 E-class, ML, GL, EQC) however my ex-wife also had a GLC - it was 2nd hand but reasonably new (very low miles) and it was faultless.
My own 14yo GL does come up with electrical issues from time to time including the parking sensors going-off when there's nothing in the way. I think in this case it's a faulty individual sensor and it has been slowly getting worse from when I bought it at 38K miles (it's now at 138K miles). It has recently had all 4 ABS wheel sensors replaced over a period of 15 months as I kept getting warnings from the dash. Odd that they all failed within a similar timeframe but they weren't that expensive to replace.
Given the number of faults yours seems to have, I would reject it. My concern about modern cars is that they're so reliant upon the complexity of the tech, that it will only get worse. I love my old GL but I do pay out quite a lot annually to keep it running. It's a consistent annual cost but for a 2nd car, it cannot be justified by any rational means. In your case, it's a recent acquisition - get rid and buy another.
There is however, way too much tech on board.
My worry with modern cars is that the "hardware" - engine, gearbox, diffs, etc - are all massively over engineered and would last 500K miles easily but what will kill the car are the "systems" which are sometimes flaky when new and not up to the job, and despite costing a fraction of the hardware to manufacture, will end-up costing many times an engine to replace in the car.
Your note on seats... the most comfy one we've had was the ML. I was OK in the two E-classes. The C-class seats were too narrow across the shoulders, and my GL has that multi-way adjustable mechanism with massaging features none of which has worked since I bought it. It's comfy enough for me to do very long road trips so I haven't been minded to try and fix it in the last 100K miles... but there's time yet.
Your note on seats... the most comfy one we've had was the ML. I was OK in the two E-classes. The C-class seats were too narrow across the shoulders, and my GL has that multi-way adjustable mechanism with massaging features none of which has worked since I bought it. It's comfy enough for me to do very long road trips so I haven't been minded to try and fix it in the last 100K miles... but there's time yet.
Sorry to hear about your issues, these are sadly common problems with modern cars...
I personally have not handed back a car but I have seen it done a few times. My father handed back 2 faulty A6 Avant "ultra" and a Passat estate back in 2012-2014. These were due to faulty electrics, burning oil, rubbish MPG etc etc. At the time it was a bit of a fight until the second A6 had the exact same issues and he got all his money back (about 3 years of payments) and sunk that cash into a Merc CLS.
After about 10 years of happy mercedes ownership he also went through electrical issues with his latest GLE (2023 model) this was mostly regarding the drivers assistance programs not working, the steering assist randomly steering and the distance cruise choosing random speeds to set at.
This was a lot more of a fight, mostly due to the Agency model merc has switched over to. The technicians working on the car had replaces half the electric system, the windscreen, the radars, the softwear 3 times and written handbooks on what was the matters. He did eventually manage to hand back the faulty car for a partial refund.
During my time working for Merc I didnt come accross it often, maybe only twice in 7 years. One being my fathers car, the other being a 2.0 C43 that simply didnt work. The thing that made the biggest difference to all these cases was the car being away for more then/almost more than they were with you. If you are in a courtesy car, thats not what you are paying your PCP for. Therefore you are overpaying and you can claim for that money back. This is where a PCP does protect you a little!
Let me know if you need a hand, my father would be better placed to discuss his issues and the solutions. I remember it being stressful but in your case, if the techs are saying hand it back then they will support your side and write the statements confirming it.
Not a brilliant situation, but hopefully the outcome will be fair.
BB
I personally have not handed back a car but I have seen it done a few times. My father handed back 2 faulty A6 Avant "ultra" and a Passat estate back in 2012-2014. These were due to faulty electrics, burning oil, rubbish MPG etc etc. At the time it was a bit of a fight until the second A6 had the exact same issues and he got all his money back (about 3 years of payments) and sunk that cash into a Merc CLS.
After about 10 years of happy mercedes ownership he also went through electrical issues with his latest GLE (2023 model) this was mostly regarding the drivers assistance programs not working, the steering assist randomly steering and the distance cruise choosing random speeds to set at.
This was a lot more of a fight, mostly due to the Agency model merc has switched over to. The technicians working on the car had replaces half the electric system, the windscreen, the radars, the softwear 3 times and written handbooks on what was the matters. He did eventually manage to hand back the faulty car for a partial refund.
During my time working for Merc I didnt come accross it often, maybe only twice in 7 years. One being my fathers car, the other being a 2.0 C43 that simply didnt work. The thing that made the biggest difference to all these cases was the car being away for more then/almost more than they were with you. If you are in a courtesy car, thats not what you are paying your PCP for. Therefore you are overpaying and you can claim for that money back. This is where a PCP does protect you a little!
Let me know if you need a hand, my father would be better placed to discuss his issues and the solutions. I remember it being stressful but in your case, if the techs are saying hand it back then they will support your side and write the statements confirming it.
Not a brilliant situation, but hopefully the outcome will be fair.
BB
Thanks for the replies so far guys.
The car is wholly owned by the company, we paid cash with a trade in of another car. I don't dislike the car at all. The tech when working is great. I have the full massage seats but my Aston is more comfortable and the previous Lexus mentioned was infinitely more comfortable o long journeys but it's no deal breaker like the E class was. I have a new E class as a courtesy car but had to wait a week until one became available. Had I not had the use of another car I think I may be feeling less charitable but given I do and now have the courtesy car then I'm in no rush to get the GLC back.
The problem for me is the constant unknown with the car should I get it back after the next fix, assuming they can fix it ... the fact I am and have grown accustomed to ignoring warning lights, engine management lights etc. the fear is, one day that warning light might be real and I just brush it off as another foible thus rendering the car broken and me stranded, my only defense being it's always thrown warning lights and none have been real ... a boy who cried wolf scenario.
While it's under warranty and that others (in Mercedes) have stated I should hand it back, I think this is the time to do it.
The car is wholly owned by the company, we paid cash with a trade in of another car. I don't dislike the car at all. The tech when working is great. I have the full massage seats but my Aston is more comfortable and the previous Lexus mentioned was infinitely more comfortable o long journeys but it's no deal breaker like the E class was. I have a new E class as a courtesy car but had to wait a week until one became available. Had I not had the use of another car I think I may be feeling less charitable but given I do and now have the courtesy car then I'm in no rush to get the GLC back.
The problem for me is the constant unknown with the car should I get it back after the next fix, assuming they can fix it ... the fact I am and have grown accustomed to ignoring warning lights, engine management lights etc. the fear is, one day that warning light might be real and I just brush it off as another foible thus rendering the car broken and me stranded, my only defense being it's always thrown warning lights and none have been real ... a boy who cried wolf scenario.
While it's under warranty and that others (in Mercedes) have stated I should hand it back, I think this is the time to do it.
Update ....
The car is still in the garage near Farnborough, Mercedes Germany stated the problem centred around a control unit that looks after the parking sensors, collision mitigation, cameras, adaptive cruise etc. The part was ordered and fitted last week Wednesday. The same day I was given a courtesy car as the fix didn't work. The courtesy car a 2024 E Class Premium Plus has it's issues also, terrible wobble on the front under braking, I have informed the dealer but doesn't fill me with confidence.
The up shot is they keep taking it for test drives only to find the car performs without fault and then suddenly throws an error that they are finding difficult to trace. I'm now told the only option they want to have a go at is to strip the interior of the cart out completely, dash, seat, carpets, roof lining etc. to look for breaks in wires, loose connections or possible water ingress from an ill fitted seal or grommet.
In the meantime I have written to the supplying dealer to start the hand back procedure but so far no communication from them has been forthcoming which I am a little miffed at. A call to the sales guy I bought it from was met with 'this is above my pay grade and it's been handed to my sales manager' ... obviously the sale manager wasn't there for comment!!
The car is still in the garage near Farnborough, Mercedes Germany stated the problem centred around a control unit that looks after the parking sensors, collision mitigation, cameras, adaptive cruise etc. The part was ordered and fitted last week Wednesday. The same day I was given a courtesy car as the fix didn't work. The courtesy car a 2024 E Class Premium Plus has it's issues also, terrible wobble on the front under braking, I have informed the dealer but doesn't fill me with confidence.
The up shot is they keep taking it for test drives only to find the car performs without fault and then suddenly throws an error that they are finding difficult to trace. I'm now told the only option they want to have a go at is to strip the interior of the cart out completely, dash, seat, carpets, roof lining etc. to look for breaks in wires, loose connections or possible water ingress from an ill fitted seal or grommet.
In the meantime I have written to the supplying dealer to start the hand back procedure but so far no communication from them has been forthcoming which I am a little miffed at. A call to the sales guy I bought it from was met with 'this is above my pay grade and it's been handed to my sales manager' ... obviously the sale manager wasn't there for comment!!
BiggaJ said:
Update ....
The car is still in the garage near Farnborough, Mercedes Germany stated the problem centred around a control unit that looks after the parking sensors, collision mitigation, cameras, adaptive cruise etc. The part was ordered and fitted last week Wednesday. The same day I was given a courtesy car as the fix didn't work. The courtesy car a 2024 E Class Premium Plus has it's issues also, terrible wobble on the front under braking, I have informed the dealer but doesn't fill me with confidence.
The up shot is they keep taking it for test drives only to find the car performs without fault and then suddenly throws an error that they are finding difficult to trace. I'm now told the only option they want to have a go at is to strip the interior of the cart out completely, dash, seat, carpets, roof lining etc. to look for breaks in wires, loose connections or possible water ingress from an ill fitted seal or grommet.
In the meantime I have written to the supplying dealer to start the hand back procedure but so far no communication from them has been forthcoming which I am a little miffed at. A call to the sales guy I bought it from was met with 'this is above my pay grade and it's been handed to my sales manager' ... obviously the sale manager wasn't there for comment!!
I'd tell them to stop working on it, enough's enough and send it back to where you bought it from to get your money back it sounds like a bad one! If you keep given them the chance to fix it they'll keep stringing you along to keep the car. Escalate your customer complaint to head office etc. The car is still in the garage near Farnborough, Mercedes Germany stated the problem centred around a control unit that looks after the parking sensors, collision mitigation, cameras, adaptive cruise etc. The part was ordered and fitted last week Wednesday. The same day I was given a courtesy car as the fix didn't work. The courtesy car a 2024 E Class Premium Plus has it's issues also, terrible wobble on the front under braking, I have informed the dealer but doesn't fill me with confidence.
The up shot is they keep taking it for test drives only to find the car performs without fault and then suddenly throws an error that they are finding difficult to trace. I'm now told the only option they want to have a go at is to strip the interior of the cart out completely, dash, seat, carpets, roof lining etc. to look for breaks in wires, loose connections or possible water ingress from an ill fitted seal or grommet.
In the meantime I have written to the supplying dealer to start the hand back procedure but so far no communication from them has been forthcoming which I am a little miffed at. A call to the sales guy I bought it from was met with 'this is above my pay grade and it's been handed to my sales manager' ... obviously the sale manager wasn't there for comment!!
BiggaJ said:
Update ....
The car is still in the garage near Farnborough, Mercedes Germany stated the problem centred around a control unit that looks after the parking sensors, collision mitigation, cameras, adaptive cruise etc. The part was ordered and fitted last week Wednesday. The same day I was given a courtesy car as the fix didn't work. The courtesy car a 2024 E Class Premium Plus has it's issues also, terrible wobble on the front under braking, I have informed the dealer but doesn't fill me with confidence.
The up shot is they keep taking it for test drives only to find the car performs without fault and then suddenly throws an error that they are finding difficult to trace. I'm now told the only option they want to have a go at is to strip the interior of the cart out completely, dash, seat, carpets, roof lining etc. to look for breaks in wires, loose connections or possible water ingress from an ill fitted seal or grommet.
In the meantime I have written to the supplying dealer to start the hand back procedure but so far no communication from them has been forthcoming which I am a little miffed at. A call to the sales guy I bought it from was met with 'this is above my pay grade and it's been handed to my sales manager' ... obviously the sale manager wasn't there for comment!!
That interior will never go back in as well as from new. There will be rattles and squeaks as a result. The car is still in the garage near Farnborough, Mercedes Germany stated the problem centred around a control unit that looks after the parking sensors, collision mitigation, cameras, adaptive cruise etc. The part was ordered and fitted last week Wednesday. The same day I was given a courtesy car as the fix didn't work. The courtesy car a 2024 E Class Premium Plus has it's issues also, terrible wobble on the front under braking, I have informed the dealer but doesn't fill me with confidence.
The up shot is they keep taking it for test drives only to find the car performs without fault and then suddenly throws an error that they are finding difficult to trace. I'm now told the only option they want to have a go at is to strip the interior of the cart out completely, dash, seat, carpets, roof lining etc. to look for breaks in wires, loose connections or possible water ingress from an ill fitted seal or grommet.
In the meantime I have written to the supplying dealer to start the hand back procedure but so far no communication from them has been forthcoming which I am a little miffed at. A call to the sales guy I bought it from was met with 'this is above my pay grade and it's been handed to my sales manager' ... obviously the sale manager wasn't there for comment!!
Id personally start rejection.
I have a 17 plate merc amg gtc, mostly perfect but a persistent front left parking sensor issue whereby it goes odd off below 10mph worn nothing there. They've replaced sensors, control unit etc several times but to no avail.
Modern mercs are crap when it comes to electrics
Thanks for all the replies however, I do have a further update.
To clarify: I have already escalated the car issues to the supplying dealer on email and followed this up with a phone call to the sales guy that dealt with the sale. He has seen the email and passed my complaint to the sales manager, this was done a week ago and to date I have heard not a squeak from them. Rather disappointing to say the least, not even an email reply or call to say they are looking into it.
Having said this, the dealer that has been trying to fix the issues called me late on Wednesday afternoon to tell me they "think" they have got to the bottom of all the issues and after several test drives cannot get the car to replicate any of the faults. I picked the car up on Wednesday evening and it sat at home all day yesterday as I flew out of the country on business but today I am driving it and tomorrow and over the weekend it will get around 500-600 miles put on it, so this should give me time to assess how it performs and allow any gremlins of old to resurface. However, they have not yet resorted to stripping the interior out which was something else that concerned me for the reasons others have sighted in this thread.
I have told the dealer that I dont trust it and they agree, I also mentioned I had told the supplying dealer I want to start a return and asked if in the last week they had made contact with the dealer the car is with, to which the reply was "no", they've not heard from them at all.
My longer term plan is to pursue the car going back as it cant be trusted and once out of warranty (December 2026) any issues will be funded by me/my company which doesn't sit well with me, as I'm sure they will delight in taking my money to fix issues they couldn't fix when under warranty!!
To clarify: I have already escalated the car issues to the supplying dealer on email and followed this up with a phone call to the sales guy that dealt with the sale. He has seen the email and passed my complaint to the sales manager, this was done a week ago and to date I have heard not a squeak from them. Rather disappointing to say the least, not even an email reply or call to say they are looking into it.
Having said this, the dealer that has been trying to fix the issues called me late on Wednesday afternoon to tell me they "think" they have got to the bottom of all the issues and after several test drives cannot get the car to replicate any of the faults. I picked the car up on Wednesday evening and it sat at home all day yesterday as I flew out of the country on business but today I am driving it and tomorrow and over the weekend it will get around 500-600 miles put on it, so this should give me time to assess how it performs and allow any gremlins of old to resurface. However, they have not yet resorted to stripping the interior out which was something else that concerned me for the reasons others have sighted in this thread.
I have told the dealer that I dont trust it and they agree, I also mentioned I had told the supplying dealer I want to start a return and asked if in the last week they had made contact with the dealer the car is with, to which the reply was "no", they've not heard from them at all.
My longer term plan is to pursue the car going back as it cant be trusted and once out of warranty (December 2026) any issues will be funded by me/my company which doesn't sit well with me, as I'm sure they will delight in taking my money to fix issues they couldn't fix when under warranty!!
Further Update for those interested.
Had the car back for about 5 days. Over the weekend it displayed three faults to me via the various screens/warning messages. Informed the dealer trying to fix the issues who immediately logged into the car to tell me the car actually has registered 28 faults mainly communication errors from various parts of the car.
Once again the car will be going back to them and still to date no communication from the supplying dealer either to me or to the dealer trying to fix the issues.
Now spoken to a solicitor to apply further pressure.
For a brand of it's type, I'm amazed at the lack of response/empathy etc. however, the dealer trying to fix the issues shows the opposite side of the coin in terms of level of service, communication.
Further further Update: due to the lack of response from the supplying dealer, I have now instructed a solicitor to act on my behalf, I have copied them all my communication so far to which have been told I have been more than amenable, time now to start proceedings if they cannot respond to a legal letter.
Had the car back for about 5 days. Over the weekend it displayed three faults to me via the various screens/warning messages. Informed the dealer trying to fix the issues who immediately logged into the car to tell me the car actually has registered 28 faults mainly communication errors from various parts of the car.
Once again the car will be going back to them and still to date no communication from the supplying dealer either to me or to the dealer trying to fix the issues.
Now spoken to a solicitor to apply further pressure.
For a brand of it's type, I'm amazed at the lack of response/empathy etc. however, the dealer trying to fix the issues shows the opposite side of the coin in terms of level of service, communication.
Further further Update: due to the lack of response from the supplying dealer, I have now instructed a solicitor to act on my behalf, I have copied them all my communication so far to which have been told I have been more than amenable, time now to start proceedings if they cannot respond to a legal letter.
Edited by BiggaJ on Tuesday 23 September 14:16
Whilst my Mum's GLC isn't relatively new, we found as the battery started to go that it threw up all manner of warning messages which we knew weren't true - it can happen on a newer car that the battery is damaged it is hidden in the masses of error codes but they havent been diligent and checked the voltage output.
MrC986 said:
Whilst my Mum's GLC isn't relatively new, we found as the battery started to go that it threw up all manner of warning messages which we knew weren't true - it can happen on a newer car that the battery is damaged it is hidden in the masses of error codes but they havent been diligent and checked the voltage output.
This happens on my MY2011 GL. If I don't use it for a while, the battery depletes and for the first 50 miles it is likely to tell me all sorts of horror stories.MrC986 said:
Whilst my Mum's GLC isn't relatively new, we found as the battery started to go that it threw up all manner of warning messages which we knew weren't true - it can happen on a newer car that the battery is damaged it is hidden in the masses of error codes but they haven't been diligent and checked the voltage output.
Thats interesting thanks ... the car I have is a late model 73 plate with 4k miles on it when we bought it as an ex demo car. it now sits with 18.5k on it but the issues have been there from the start albeit, not having owned a Mercedes before (driven plenty inc. a 6 week period with an E Class back in 2017) but nothing of the new variety with the latest MBUX system, I wasn't aware the early issues were in fact issues but appears they were and have got worse. For instance, the parking sensors would be over zealous. I know from having owned,driven a number of cars, these things differ. For instance my 2019 Vantage to me has way too sensitive parking sensors that are also way too loud but this is normal for the car having driven a number of them.Latest update now is the supplying dealer has made contact with me, this was due to me chasing them again and actually going via one of their other dealerships, the one in Mercedes Benz World, Weybride. Anyhow, I have informed but not instructed a solicitor as yet, now giving them until early next week to sort a remedy out.
Further Update:
The car went back into my local franchised dealer for more work to be carried out. The dealer we bought the car from has now ignored two communication from my solicitor having ignored my calls and emails to date.
On Tuesday another 'sales manager' decided to get involved as the one that was supposed to be dealing with it went on holiday without a word on my situation. They have until the end of this week to sort things before we go to stage 2 as my solicitor states.
Suffice to say, if you live near Croydon (I dont but its where my car came from), don't trust the dealership in that area.
The car went back into my local franchised dealer for more work to be carried out. The dealer we bought the car from has now ignored two communication from my solicitor having ignored my calls and emails to date.
On Tuesday another 'sales manager' decided to get involved as the one that was supposed to be dealing with it went on holiday without a word on my situation. They have until the end of this week to sort things before we go to stage 2 as my solicitor states.
Suffice to say, if you live near Croydon (I dont but its where my car came from), don't trust the dealership in that area.
Interesting reading. I have a 2024 300d which around 3 months ago displayed parking error warnings, resulting in loss of parking sensors, reverse and surround cameras as well as integrated dash cam. They would all start to work again after varied timescales from 5 mins to 40 mins, like the software was continually trying to turn them on.
This all happened after an over-the-air update. It did not impact on the cars driving and just had to ‘old school’ while reversing and use mirrors.
Booked into the dealer and they are aware of a technical update around this issue. The software was reloaded and codes cleared. No loss of operation since then, although the error message has appeared on starting a couple of times but clears straight anway and full functionality is always available.
This all happened after an over-the-air update. It did not impact on the cars driving and just had to ‘old school’ while reversing and use mirrors.
Booked into the dealer and they are aware of a technical update around this issue. The software was reloaded and codes cleared. No loss of operation since then, although the error message has appeared on starting a couple of times but clears straight anway and full functionality is always available.
I think that cars have just become too complex too quickly for the systems to work properly and reliably and for the techs to build up knowledge and experience on them.
I also note that you bought it as an ex-demo. Having had to reject a couple of cars in the last 6-7 years ( a boxster that had a gearbox failure within 300 miles and a Clio that failed within 300 yards!) I wonder how many low mileage cars sold as ex -demo are actually repaired rejected cars. Without the previous owner s details on the v5 the seller can spin any old yarn.
I hope it gets resolved quickly for you. Trouble you can no doubt do without.
I also note that you bought it as an ex-demo. Having had to reject a couple of cars in the last 6-7 years ( a boxster that had a gearbox failure within 300 miles and a Clio that failed within 300 yards!) I wonder how many low mileage cars sold as ex -demo are actually repaired rejected cars. Without the previous owner s details on the v5 the seller can spin any old yarn.
I hope it gets resolved quickly for you. Trouble you can no doubt do without.
evojkp said:
Interesting reading. I have a 2024 300d which around 3 months ago displayed parking error warnings, resulting in loss of parking sensors, reverse and surround cameras as well as integrated dash cam. They would all start to work again after varied timescales from 5 mins to 40 mins, like the software was continually trying to turn them on.
This all happened after an over-the-air update. It did not impact on the cars driving and just had to old school while reversing and use mirrors.
Booked into the dealer and they are aware of a technical update around this issue. The software was reloaded and codes cleared. No loss of operation since then, although the error message has appeared on starting a couple of times but clears straight anyway and full functionality is always available.
Hmmm ... speaking to the dealer closest to my location that is trying to sort the issues out, they called me at near 6pm last night to say they have cleared all codes, reinstalled updated software and written patches to address the latest issues since it was last with them. Interestingly, they sent me an email with a list of fault codes and what mileage the faults were occurring. I have 11 pages of over 50 pages of issues being seen by the car. On page 6 there is a fault that was first seen at a little over 7,000km (the codes are kept by the vehicle in kms not miles) but converting this back to miles shows this fault was there before we bought the car. The same code reappeared at a little over 23,000kms. Jay the technician sorting my car out stated as part of the PDI, a list of errors should have been checked and rectified, this obviously hadn't been done before I collected my car.This all happened after an over-the-air update. It did not impact on the cars driving and just had to old school while reversing and use mirrors.
Booked into the dealer and they are aware of a technical update around this issue. The software was reloaded and codes cleared. No loss of operation since then, although the error message has appeared on starting a couple of times but clears straight anyway and full functionality is always available.
So a further nail in the coffin for the supplying dealer in Croydon in my book.
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