SMALL IS NOT BEAUTIFUL I ash to comment on the
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reply from Vince Welsh, director of customer support, MAN Truck IL Bus (CM21-27 Oct 1999). He appeared to be writing on behalf of the truck industry in general and not just MAN. He made a point of explainl ng how franchised parts dealers carried huge amounts of spare parts in order that CVs could be kept on the road. I have not found this is not the case with Mercedes-Benz: I have found it doesn't have an effective customer services set-up and very few, if any, parts.
Does anyone think that having to wait for three days at a main dealer for something like a new radiator for a four-year
old, well-maintained truck can be justified? And what about having a truck off the road for FIVE WEEKS, the same truck
also awaiting gearbox parts?
Mercedes was informed that this vehicle represented one third of our trucks, but it declined to lend us a truck or to help in any way. But it was very quick to charge us £5,500 for its service.
Letters to M-B at both Stuttgart and Milton Keynes went unanswered. On the rare occasion we got a response on the telephone to Milton Keynes. the parts were always "coming tomorrow". After a few calls to MK the response was always "the person dealing with this is not on the premises, etc, etc".
I am convinced that had we been one of the "big boys" M-B's response would have been different. How can we get a response?
II Gee,
Castle Gresley, Swadlincote, Derbyshire.
• Mercedes-Benz replies: "The radiator repair occurred prior to a weekend and a service exchange unit was fitted on the following Tuesday. This does not reflect normal service levels in our network. The gearbox repair was delayed due to a misdelivery of parts. We took responsibility for this and our dealer offered Mr Gee compensation for his inconvenience. This was accepted and agreed by the customer and we believed the matter to be resolved."