not so damn smart

<p> I bought my little smart cabrio from Richards Bay 2 years ago, but had not sent it to Mercedes as I know they are expensive. in March I decided it was time it had the proper service from the agents and I was having some problems.Towards the end of march, I made an appointment with Mercedes Umhlanga to take my smart car in- it had an oil leak , a flickering oil light and i was losing power.I could only see them on the 10th April, so was very careful that the car had enough oil, never got hot, and only drove 3km to work.</p> <p>the 10th arrives and my car is taken in - I am advised re diagnostic costing almost 1000 rand and that I would not be charged if I had the work done ,I am offered coffee and my little car disappears into the operating theatre type workshop.</p> <p>Later that day i think towards 12, I have a call from my service advisor who informs me that they had put the car on diagnostic, and test driven it ,the oil was ok and the sensors were ok, the flickering light meant that the engine had permanent internal damage, and they were not prepared to work on my car as they had no service history ( they knew that when they booked it in).</p> <p>well I was devastated.I went to pick it up and found they had charged me for the diagnostic to which I objected as I had not said I didnt want them to do the work. they eventually charged me 1/3 but would not give me the printout .I asked about the turbo or if they found anything out and he said the turbo was fine- dont let anyone say the turbo was at fault.</p> <p>For the rest of that week I tried to find someone in durban who understood smart cars, and was resigning myself to having a major bill if I could find a mechanic that actually fixed things instead of just changing parts til the problem goes away.</p> <p>Finally I took it to the mechanic that had done the odd small job on the car, and he warned me he didnt know enough about Smart cars, but was prepared to try and help me.</p> <p>Well he found that the flickering light was because the switch was faulty, the lack of power was because a hose on the turbo was cracked, and the oil leak was coming out of the pipe. The engine was fine, and I got the car back that night going well.</p> <p>Mercedes phoned to ask if I had a good experience, and i told them all the above, and they were going to call back but never did.</p> <p>So my experience with them was awful- and all I wanted was a proper service by agents for my car !!</p> <p>Do they actually fix things ?</p>