Mercedes Benz lack of after sales customer service

Hi all,

I bought a Mercedes Benz GLS350 Diesel in November 2017. I had to take the vehicle to Stanmar in George, Western Cape, South Africa on numerous occasions for different issues.

• Firstly the car had a lot of lose components that caused rattling noises and it had to be booked in twice for this problem to be looked at. It is a little better, but not totally resolved. • Early this year (2019) the steering wheel’s supposedly “leather” started peeling off. Again I took the vehicle in to be assessed and enquired about the quality of this leather trimming. The dealership informed me that this was not covered in the warranty and they sent this to Mercedes Benz SA for a final decision on whether it could be replaced. The final outcome from Mercedes Benz SA regarding this matter was negative and that it would be for my own cost at a price of R40K.

I am speechless that such a big brand like Mercedes Benz with such supposedly high value products, can have bad quality like this and not even consider replacing it when clearly the problem is the quality of the “trimming” or component used in the manufacturing process. I don’t have to mention the price of this vehicle and I am disgusted that this can even happen and no one is prepared to walk the extra mile for customers buying this very expensive “quality” brand. Surely this expensive brand should have proper customer service and should be prepared make exceptions in reasonable cases like this.

I have always been keen on Mercedes Benz, but this time I am very disappointed in the brand and will not consider buying Mercedes Benz again in the future and will also not encourage friends and family to support this product.

I really feel like I must take this to the media, since no one seems to care.

This very same email was sent to Mercedes SA ('***') and Mercedes Germany('***') on the 6th of June 2019 already and to date I had no further response from either parties. I think a big & expensive brand like this should be willing to make exceptions in these type of cases and accommodate the customer.