ST Forum: Lemon Mercedes Benz

no display name SG

Came across in the ST forum:

Stuck with an expensive lemon on four wheels

Published on Oct 3, 2011

MY FAMILY bought a Mercedes-Benz last year and within two weeks of the collection of the vehicle from Cycle & Carriage, the engine stalled.

Assuming that it was our unfamiliar handling of the car, we dismissed the problem until the Merc stalled repeatedly.

The new car was sent to the service centre many times. It was even checked by experts from Germany, but the stalling continued - it stalled eight times in a year.

When we asked for a replacement, we were told repeatedly to monitor the vehicle after each servicing.

We were promised that if the fault was not rectified, the matter would be brought to the attention of higher management.

When we finally met the senior manager, we were denied a replacement. He justified his company's stand by stating that the car should be repaired within the warranty period.

We were disappointed with the way the case was handled and it raised an important public issue: There is no law in Singapore to protect consumers like the lemon law in the United States.

I am now saddled with yet another problem, which has to do with the air-conditioning of the car.

Having paid so much money to own what we thought was a reliable marque, we have had more than our fair share of inconveniences, frustrations and time lost.

Where can we seek help?

Wendy Ng (Ms)

It would be interesting to see if there is a follow up or reply from C & C ....

Rednano SG

same case: http://sgforums.com/forums/1279/topics/439003

Loor SG

yar - i assume it's a carryover...

so if the car has been checked by so called experts mutiple times already and C&C refuse to officially replace the vehicle....yeah, I dunno if there's much you can do about it. Even for some countries with better legal protection against 'lemons', i think a large part of the required process/dispute is still quite grey anyway.

something mentioned in the other thread referred to it possibly being a car that someone had already found troubles with and got it changed with C&C and with the odometer being wound back. I hope this sure isn't the case because isn't that illegal?!

doing something mechanically with someone else/yourself is also risky, as it might totally void your warranty.

i dunno what others think, but i don't see European cars as reliable as those from Japan(minus the recent events with Toyota ). I associatd most of the European brands more with luxury, design and style than functional-reliability.

iveco SG

The only good Euro vehicles are buses.

Rock^Star SG

Sell the car and buy another mercs. After all, purchasing such marques is as easy as the the lighting up of one's money. No?

Loor SG

buy lexus lor

mancha SG

same case: http://sgforums.com/forums/1279/topics/439003

Seems quite common in sgF to copy and paste someone's problem and present it like its their own. This is worse than presenting their problems and saying its their friend's.

sexy girls SG

likely to be B class. B class has stalling engine problems

no display name SG

Another letter to ST forum against MB

Day their luxury car stalled on highway

MS WENDY Ng's letter on Monday ("Stuck with an expensive lemon on four wheels") brought back memories of a terrifying experience my family and I experienced recently with the Mercedes-Benz we bought in July last year.
The car stalled within six months of us taking possession of it. We were told that it was a software problem and the car was re-programmed.
In June, my family decided to go on a driving holiday to Malaysia. To ensure the car was in good condition, we serviced it one week prior to the trip. We informed the service staff about the long drive and told them to ensure that the car was in good order. We were assured that it was when we collected the car.
But while we were travelling along the North-South Expressway, the car stalled on the fast lane. We were surrounded by speeding cars and it was also dangerous filtering to the slower left lane because of the lorries.
The steering wheel was stiff but thankfully, my husband was calm enough to force-steer it to the road shoulder safely.
We were stranded for more than four hours before the car was towed to Ipoh in Perak. We stayed three days there waiting for the car to be repaired and had to forfeit our holiday bookings in Cameron Highlands and Penang.
The service workshop, Ipoh Motors, attributed the problem to a faulty fuel pump - the gist of which, we were told, being that the pump failed to deliver petrol to the engine, causing the car to stall.
Our confidence in the car was shattered as we drove back to Singapore, fearing a breakdown at any moment.
We sent the car to Cycle & Carriage here for further checks. Like Ms Ng, Cycle & Carriage refused our request for a replacement, claiming that such problems were repairable and did not warrant a replacement.
We felt hard done by and wondered how we could seek redress when there is no anti-lemon law to protect consumers.

Louisa Lee (Madam)

charlize SG

The rich have so many problems.

Haiz.

no display name SG

C&C reply to Ms Wendy Ng liao....

'Lemon' Merc was checked thoroughly

Published on Oct 5, 2011

THE car Ms Wendy Ng referred to in her letter on Monday ('Stuck with an expensive lemon on four wheels') belongs to her husband with whom we have been engaging regarding his feedback that his car experienced intermittent stalling at low speeds.

The car was never towed in and its onboard system did not have any record of these occurrences which would usually be captured if they happened. We conducted extensive road tests between July last year and April this year, to replicate the stalling symptoms but there was none, in tests by our service staff or jointly with the car owner. All necessary precautionary measures for the vehicle were carried out to the best of our knowledge based on the situation.

We have advised the car owner, if safety permits, to alert our technical manager should the stalling occur and not to restart the vehicle until our technical team arrives on site.

We have not received any feedback since May this year.

As for the owner's feedback about the car's air-conditioning, the unit is in our service centre for rectification and we are constantly updating him.

Gary Chan
Head, Mercedes-Benz Service Centre
Cycle & Carriage Industries

http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_719902.html

alize SG

Are you going without an air con unit now? How did they find an engine to run the air con pump?

Also how does C&C rule out a problem that occurs on average every 90 days? Will they extend your warranty if they fix it on day 364 / 99,999km?

Make them give you a courtesy car for every day your car is in repairs, as an incentive to fix this shit.

charlize SG

Some people should write in to complain about poor renovation works in their 10 million dollar bungalow.

That would make this car problem seem very small.

Loor SG

sounds tedious.

if they've already had a look and really can't find any problems and as mentioned, it only happens once in a while, then it seems to be going in a vicious cycle.

What about the proposal to notify them immediately, when it happens? i.e. call them straight after it stalls on the road.

mancha SG

A problem like this is hard to find.

Lets say a copper wire in some vital component is broken or not connected well. When it is cold there is contact, and everything functions normally. When the car is running and getting heated up, the copper wire get warmed up, warps a bit and at some point the connection is broken. The component fails, and the car computers shuts down. The car stalls and cools down, and the broken copper regains contact, and everything ok again. Infact everything is ok, except there, where it can't be found because it rectify itself.

lce SG

i would think that too much integrated circuits n electronics used in today’s cars. The failure of which is prone in higher temperature environment and also due to cost cutting cozin defects in producing precision parts.

the Bear SG

charlize SG

The rich eat goat cheese?

Or blue cheese?

iveco SG

A problem like this is hard to find.

Bloody electronics. Cars never had such issues in the good old days.