It was going so well - until I attended my service.
So as per my post above I found out about the recall on Wednesday evening when I got a message from the dealership asking me to confirm my attendance and "check in" for my upcoming appointment. As you'll see in my post above the recall work is listed as being done at my appointment.
This was followed by a courtesy call yesterday afternoon from the service team at the dealership reminding me to take my driving license for the courtesy car they'd arranged. I took the opportunity to ask about the recall and she stopped me in my tracks with "yes.. before you ask we've got the parts. I've checked myself and we've got them ready" - We had a light hearted moment about her knowing what I was about to ask and she said everything was ready for my appointment.
For reasons I won't bore you with the dealership in question is 2.5 hours away so it was a 6am start for me and my wife to get to the dealer nice and early.
Albeit I now wish I'd stayed in bed!
When we arrived we were "escorted" (more like frog marched) to a check-in machine where we entered a few details and deposited the key with an abrupt "right, that's you checked in. We'll see you at 5 PM" - I stopped them in their tracks and said I'd got a courtesy car arranged and besides that, I wanted to chat with a member of the service team to learn more about the recall.
This prompted a sigh before they fetched someone from the service team and this is where little Miss Attitude enters the game. I asked what she could tell me about the recall only to be told "It's probably a software update". I said this wasn't correct and that from the little I'd learned I knew it was related to the rear axle flex disc which I believe was related to the prop and rear diff. Ultimately I wasn't sure so I wanted to be told more about the recall. For whatever reason this got her back up and she went into a 'rant' about Tesco Bread and nobody in Tesco would want to know why their bread was being recalled - they'd just comply and take the bread back.
When I pushed the issue she walked off for a few minutes before returning to tell me it was all irrelevant as "the parts are on back order anyway". I explained that not even 24 hours prior her colleague had specifically told me the parts were available and that my wife and I were making a 5-hour round trip but she simply stood her ground and stated "What can I say? It is what it is".
Not wishing to waste a whole day I left them to complete the service and used the courtesy car to waste a few hours visiting a National Trust site and some sightseeing.
When we returned I quickly realised in the whole drama that had unfolded earlier I forgot to tell them not to wash my vehicle and I found it had been washed by someone who clearly didn't give a cr*p and had somehow missed entire sections of the car and, even worse, put a fine scratch in the rear passenger door.
We cut our losses, got back in the car and made the long journey home vowing never to return.
I don't know if this is typical of Mercedes dealerships but this is the second terrible customer experience I've had in the last 6 months at two different dealerships hundreds of miles apart.
TL;DR - Took car to be serviced and to have the recall work done having confirmed the day before that the parts were in stock. Drove for 2.5 hours, recall parts weren't in stock and they didn't care less.
