Horrible Service

I am absolutely outraged by the service I received from Mercedes Benz Menlyn when I recently took my car in for a routine service. The service consultant, Obakeng, was nothing short of dreadful. He failed to communicate properly, withheld information about unauthorized modifications to my car parts, and generally displayed a shocking lack of professionalism.

I took my car in for a general service on Thursday, August 29th. By 1:00 PM, I had received no update on the diagnostic results. When I reached out, Obakeng sent me a quote, which I partially rejected, specifically the air conditioning items. I had previously brought the car in for air conditioning issues and was already informed of the problem, so there was no need for a redundant assessment. I requested a call an hour before my car would be ready and was told to arrive at the dealership by 5:30 PM.

Later, I received a call stating that a pipe needed replacement because it broke during the service. I approved the replacement and was also informed about a coolant line that needed to be ordered, for which I was asked to pay a R300 deposit, which I agreed to.

However, at 5:30 PM, as I was just a minute away from the dealership, I received a call saying my car was ready. Upon arrival, I discovered that this was not the case and ended up waiting another hour before the car was actually ready for collection and payment. Because it was so late, no mention was made of the coolant line or the unauthorized modifications.

The next day, while driving, my car began to jerk, and smoke started coming out from the bonnet. I called the dealership around 4:45 PM on Friday, explaining that I was stranded. I was told they don't work on Saturdays, but I could bring the car in that day, which was impossible because I needed to travel early Saturday morning—the very reason I had taken the car in for service in the first place. I had to tow the car to my brother’s place, the closest location to where it broke down.

On Monday, I informed the dealership that the car needed to be brought in again, and they expected me to arrange another tow. It turned out the issue was a leak in the pipe they had replaced. My anger stems from the fact that this problem resulted from a rushed, negligent job, and there was absolutely no communication at the time of collection that there might be unresolved issues. I was led to believe everything was fine, only to get stranded and then told, "sorry," after wasting money, time, and having my travel plans completely ruined due to their incompetence.

To add insult to injury, today I had to pay an additional R2.5k to replace a bottle they modified without my consent, along with the coolant line that suddenly didn’t need to be ordered and was miraculously available. While paying for the new part, I discovered that the connection, which had been leaking, was supposed to come with the part I purchased and had already been installed. This proves that the leak was a direct result of the rushed job they did. This entire experience has been nothing short of infuriating, and I am deeply dissatisfied and frustrated. I would never recommend this dealership to anyone. Their shoddy, careless work and complete lack of transparency have cost me both financially and in peace of mind.