I put my 2548 mega space in for its six week check Friday night to pick it up Saturday morning. I arrived at 10.30 in the morning to find it still in the workshop they had had it since 4.oclock Friday. Just bringing it out now I was told, so I wandered over had a look round and found the fifth wheel handle loose the nut was undone?? No grease on the fifth wheel?? one brake light not working?? the service chap comes over to me and gives me the sheet saying all done no problems■■?
Needless to say I went ape [zb] he said the lad had cleaned the fifth wheel and forgot to regrease it the bulb had just blown and the handle must have come loose as he was reversing it
It goes back in on Friday for a new filter housing I have made it plain that I expect to pick it up without any new faults.
This company is a main dealer etc. for Mercs HELP
Language edit : If it needs stars it isn’t allowed …Denis F
funnyfut:
he said the lad had cleaned the fifth wheel and forgot to regrease it the bulb had just blown and the handle must have come loose as he was reversing it
all pretty standard excuses bet VOSA wouldn’t believe them if you got stopped though
We have been sorting out the R&M on the new truck, the midlands main dealer’s rep we have bought it off activly discouraged us from using their firm because of the quality of their work. He said he sent 2 seperate s/h trucks into the workshop for service on seperate days, and both came out with loose wheel nuts. We have now sorted it with the main dealer which the other 2 trucks use, just needs a bit of work re jigging every 6 weeks to get me up there.
It backs up the experience we had with their local branch to me, several jobs not done, and a full reline on front including drums without notifiying us. Funny as it only had a re line 2 services before. Need less to say we only use them now in a real emergency.
write and complain directly to mercedes benz uk and when you find the
answer innsufficent go one further and write to GERMANY direct,
IF after all of this it is still not the required answer, then sit and think
what if, you had not checked and drove away and put a trailer on the
pin-coupling and whilist you was driveing through a village with
children playing in the street it left the coupling and caused a tragic
accident with many fatalities, What happens then, SORRY if a vehicle
goes into the workshop, then the workshop has to DO its JOB the
rightway 1st TIME ,because you do that when you are working with the lorry,
It is part of the R & M contract
Our trucks are inspected in the open yard,
Most of the time they do not even drop the trailer. If I offer to drop it for them, they say, no dont bother mate, we can manage. All our trailers are inspected and serviced abroad in our own workshops.
They dont use a ramp, i have never seen them use a jack.
The only time you can grease your 5th wheel is when you do it yourself.
The only thing they seem to take an interest in, is any personal stuff you have left in the cab.
funnyfut:
I put my 2548 mega space in for its six week check Friday night to pick it up Saturday morning. I arrived at 10.30 in the morning to find it still in the workshop they had had it since 4.oclock Friday. Just bringing it out now I was told, so I wandered over had a look round and found the fifth wheel handle loose the nut was undone?? No grease on the fifth wheel?? one brake light not working?? the service chap comes over to me and gives me the sheet saying all done no problems■■?
Needless to say I went ape [zb] he said the lad had cleaned the fifth wheel and forgot to regrease it the bulb had just blown and the handle must have come loose as he was reversing it
It goes back in on Friday for a new filter housing I have made it plain that I expect to pick it up without any new faults.
This company is a main dealer etc. for Mercs HELP
Language edit : If it needs stars it isn’t allowed …Denis F
Makes me feel glad their salesman couldn’t be bothered to ring me back now!
My mate who bought a new motor from them goes to their other branch in Surrey now (where he used to go 'til they opened that one in Sussex)
It really is amazing what shoddy service some people put up with
you can’t do a 6 weekly check on the ground and still hooked up to a trailer
What about checking wheel bearings, Oil levels in the gearbox and diff
And as for the sales rep telling you to not use their own workshops, well thats crazy, and they must have some serious issues that need sorting,
Are you all talking about MB garages, if so I’d get on to head office at Milton Keynes
Most garages will do a reline without asking if the vehicle is on R+M or a service contract of some type, at the end of the day brakes are brakes, would you prefer a phone call at 2 in the morning asking if you want the brakes doing or just pick it up knowing its right,
You can always ask to see the old parts if you don’t believe them
The way my company works is if its safety related then do it, Worry about the bill later, Me personally I’d rather send a vehicle back out on the road safe,
And we have a list of people that request we ring them before chargeable work is done,
If your not happy ask for a copy of the service sheet, its a legal document that the mechanics have to sign, it will list all work checked and carried out then you have evidence to take to the manufacturer. And we have to sign to say the vehicle is safe to use,
I have written to both the MD of the garage and copied to Mercedes at Milton Keynes.
I know that if I was pulled by VOSA during the week it would be down to me, no excuses, what gets me is I had to point it out and the attitude was “so what”
If it happens again as I pointed out in my letters I will request an inspection by VOSA and make sure that the said garage are implecated. I worked hard for my O licence and no [zb] is going to make me loose it
Just a thought, but perhaps it’s time that commercial vehicle service workshops were made accountable to Traffic Commissioners, like operators are. After all, is it fair that you entrust servicing / inspections to an organisation when you are held accountable for their mistakes? There are some really good garages out there, but the bad and the average need a shake-up. Perhaps their being called to the equivalent of a PI would be a good idea.
I think this is an excellent idea GeeBee. It’s about time something like this was in place for Truck maintenance, can anyone think of any other industry, ie Rail, Aircraft, shipping where maintenance is not carefully regulated. Why is the most prolific form of transport in the country left largely self regulating?
Perhaps as drivers we and those that represent us should be banging that drum loudly.
Having had a Merc truck on R&M, the supplying Manchester dealer was totally useless, safety inspections had to be booked in a least two weeks in advance for a daytime only slot, some use when you are booked in at 08.00 on a weds morning and happen to be 200 miles away
After six months I moved to the Warrington dealer who had a totally different attitude, they had their workshop open 24hours from 06.00 mon to 14.00 sat, the truck could usually be booked in on a fri morn for that night/sat morn shift.
It all boils down to the people running the dealership, and how hungry they are for business.
Two days after my last unit & Trailer service/inspection, I had to be towed in to have the centre prop shaft bearing replaced. The bearing cost £60, the total bill was £480 ?
Would you inspect this to be picked up during service / inspection ?
spaceman:
Two days after my last unit & Trailer service/inspection, I had to be towed in to have the centre prop shaft bearing replaced. The bearing cost £60, the total bill was £480 ?
Would you inspect this to be picked up during service / inspection ?
spaceman:
Two days after my last unit & Trailer service/inspection, I had to be towed in to have the centre prop shaft bearing replaced. The bearing cost £60, the total bill was £480 ?
Would you inspect this to be picked up during service / inspection ?
I would, as a basic drive train part I would expect it to be a service schedule item. Whether its a visual inspection, bushes, grease, leaks, damage,etc or rolling inspection and also listening for bad bearings and feeling if its running hot depends on the service list and how thorough the garage are, not all have rolloing roads.
It doesnt surprise me about the shoddy workmanship…whe i worked for another company a couple of years ago…not only did he run a fleet of Scanias…but had a very good maintenance schedule with them along with the mot and 6 weekly service…more often than not the vehicle would be returned with faults it never had prior to going in the workshop…however…i collected the vehicle one monday morning from the workshop after its M.o.t. and service…i was running down the A303 later that day when i got pulled by the ministry it was the normal routine with customs…dss…etc…and an examination…lo and behold they found a loose front spring hanger and U.bolt and were going to issue a GV9…till i explained that it had just come from servicing…and an MOT…he was very red faced when i showed him the paperwork…but then explained that it was a normal problem with scanias…and that i couldnt leave until it was corrected…like i said in an earlier thread…they had an open fire for their barbeque…even though i was carrying class 3 hazardous…but i let them get away with that once they gave me 2 sausage rolls and a cup of tea after threatening them with putting the fire out…nice too they were…but they did however tell me that they would be keeping a close watch on garages that carried out preventative maintenance…especially main dealers…i pointed out that companies should not be held responsible for defects supposedly having been put right by dealers that people pay good money for…he did however say that it would be put on record…and my boss could argue with the bods at eastbourne…so what a waste of space…
bet VOSA wouldn’t believe them if you got stopped though 
