[manishk123]

Having been a longtime Mercedes owner, I bought a new BMW 530D last year. I sent my BMW for its first service recently and the experience got me thinking about the stark difference in quality of service between the 2 brands hence thought of starting this thread.

My BMW experience was absolutely poor right from the start. Firstly no one from the dealership bothered to call even once till the service was overdue (as compared to Mercedes, where they start calling a month in advance). When I finally called for an appointment, I was given one 10 days later as I opted for the pick up and drop service. The car was picked up on the scheduled day and the service advisor called me a couple of hours later to inform the estimate. They wanted to change the AC filter even though I had no complaints with the cooling, hence I refused. The service advisor then told me since there was nothing else wrong with the car, they would change the engine oil etc and send it back. It was only when I told him that my front left tyre keeps giving a low pressure warning, did he bother to check the tyre and inform me that it was damaged and should be replaced. Also it was only when I asked him to check the wipers, did he inform me that left blade was damaged. This clearly shows that there is absolutely no kind of through inspection done to the vehicle and all the dealers are interested in is getting the car out of the garage after charging a hefty amount just for changing the fluids.

Moreover when my car was returned to me, it didn't feel at all like it had just been serviced. The floor mats were dirty, there were dirty finger marks all over the dash and the AC and radio had been left on by the driver who returned it. Whats more, the new car smell that my car had was gone. Unlike other auto companies, no one from BMW or the dealer has called me check how the service experience was. This clearly shows the attitude of the company towards customers.

Now compare this with the Mercedes experience, wherein the dealer will call you to take the appointment, do a through check of the car, list out all the things that are recommended to be done and send an estimate of the same. Once the job is done, the car is returned smelling fresh and clean, with the paper floor mats on the floor, making you feel like your car has been taken care of well. There is always a follow up feedback call and they are genuinely interested in knowing the customers experience.

BMW in that sense has been quite a let down. I would like other BMW & Mercedes owners to share their good or bad experiences here so that future buyers can take note.

[kumarsiddhi]

Well I do not have experience with Mercedes but on my current X1 which is a few months old I'm not at all impressed. Twice I've had to send the car for Tyre replacement due to puncture and it just takes too long to get it done. It's 2 days since I left it for car's first service (which is also paid) but every time I have to call to find the status. There are 2 issues in the car, the AC pulls smell from outside even with recirculation in Auto or Manual mode and the panel next to gear console is lose, but they have not been able to fix that in the first two instances when I left the car as 'Issues will take considerable more time'

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by manishk123

My BMW experience was absolutely poor right from the start.

Who is the dealer to whom you sent the vehicle to?

Originally Posted by kumarsiddhi

Twice I've had to send the car for Tyre replacement due to puncture and it just takes too long to get it done.

BMW doesn't fix the puncture and simply replaces the tyre. Would advise you to have it repaired like a normal tubeless puncture once the BMW Secure expires.

Originally Posted by kumarsiddhi

There are 2 issues in the car, the AC pulls smell from outside even with recirculation in Auto or Manual mode

German cars by design take in FRESH Air even when you set the HVAC to Re-Circulation mode.

Both my car X1 and Vento have the same thing. Reason being stale recirculated air is bad which is why after a certain interval fresh air input is required.

[androdev]

I also feel BMW should call to remind upcoming appoint as they may not know what's on iDrive but I am sure they know "max limit service date". Most cars are chauffeur driven and those guys miss the reminders on iDrive, etc.

BMW cars offer condition based servicing (CBS) and customers typically say NO to everything that is not required by CBS. This does not mean service person should not do a thorough check and recommend what is needed but it does create a bias in the mids of the dealer to be less pro-active. This does make owning BMW a bit cheaper

You will also see Mercedes customers complaining about too many jobs included in the estimate. Though the customer can always decline the jobs, most just accept whatever the dealer recommends. I agree with you, I too prefer the dealer doing a thorough check and recommending a list of jobs to be done and allowing me to decline unnecessary items.

Mercedes also has more mature processes in place. I notice this difference in all aspects of their after sales experience: the front office staff, pick-up/drop personnel, follow up calls, warranty/insurance claim processing, parts availability, involvement of MB technical team and escalations, etc.

However when things go wrong (beyond routine servicing), the local dealership and the particular employee you deal with matter the most. In this respect, it is a complete toss up between the two.

To conclude, Mercedes is relatively better organised but it is mostly cosmetics. They are nearly the same when it comes to stuff that really matters: reliability, cost of ownership, redressal of customer complaints, etc.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

German cars by design take in FRESH Air even when you set the HVAC to Re-Circulation mode.

Both my car X1 and Vento have the same thing. Reason being stale recirculated air is bad which is why after a certain interval fresh air input is required.

This I am not sure. They do not take fresh air in recirculation mode. However they turn on/off recirculation mode under certain condition which is different from letting fresh air when the AC is set to recirculation mode. For instance when you put the car in reverse, they turn on recirculation mode. The turn off recirculation mode when you drive for extended period in recirculation mode. If you are getting outside air when the recirculation mode LED is on, then it is a problem to be fixed. To complicate things further, BMW also has "automatic recirculation" mode that uses sensors to decide when to block outside air, etc. I don't use this mode as I want to be in control of when to block outside air.

[manishk123]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Who is the dealer to whom you sent the vehicle to?

Navnit Motors - Mumbai

[GTO]

BHPian Maverick5490 (who works at Infinity) is the only reason that I'm extremely pleased with BMW's service. Without him, BMW's service is not a patch on what I experienced at Auto Hangar with my Mercedes. There is no contest and I had posted the same on my ownership thread. This should be troubling for BMW as it's still not able to catch up, and now Lexus has arrived with exemplary service levels.

[manishk123]

Originally Posted by GTO

BHPian Maverick5490 (who works at Infinity) is the only reason that I'm extremely pleased with BMW's service. Without him, BMW's service is not a patch on what I experienced at Auto Hangar with my Mercedes. There is no contest and I had posted the same on my ownership thread. This should be troubling for BMW as it's still not able to catch up, and now Lexus has arrived with exemplary service levels.

Maybe next time I will try Infinity for my BMW. Cant get any worse I guess.

[AmGu]

Reviving this thread after a long time. I have recent example of BMW vs Mercedes in terms of their Mumbai dealers attitude.

I recently bought a used BMW. While I had got it fully checked before i bought it, the previous owner hadn't maintained the service history (I do have a bit of an OCD for maintaining full records). I wrote to BMW India asking if they can provide the same. They directed me towards the dealer - Infinity. I wrote to Infinity asking for details and attached the RC as proof that I am the current owner. They responded that they will only send those to the 'registered email ID' as per their records! I responded that the RC is proof of ownership, and they need to fix this, not expect me to go find a previous owner and request him to write to them. There has been no response to my mail from them!

I compare this with am experience with Mercedes a couple of years ago. My old C Class was requiring renewal of registration as it had crossed 15 years. The RTO demanded the original invoice copy. As I had bought this car from a company that had subsequently shut down i could not get the copy from them. I wrote to Mercedes India, they got in touch with the dealer, who located a physical copy of the bill (it was 15 years old and was not computerized back then) and sent me a copy. There was regular follow up from Mercedes India if my issue had been sorted out.

Mercedes service is clearly a class apart. My first experience with BMW service has been a huge disappointment. I will clearly have to look for a FNG to service my car.