[Jeroen]

This is a sad story and I know how that really spoils the experience you were looking for.

I see a lot of calls fro lemon laws, but as some other member already pointed out, lemon laws don’t necessarily get you a new car.

Here in western Europe we have quite good consumer laws and basically when a consumer product is found to be defective, the manufacturer/suppier has to fix it adequately. It does not mean it needs to be replaced. In some cases they might especially on small stuff. (e.g. an electric power drill that doesn’t work). But before they would be formally obliged to replace a whole car? Not sure about that. If anything they also need to be given adequate time to investigate and can come up with (different) solutions.

I would say, getting a replacement car, under these circumstance is entirely up to the goodwill of Mercedes. I have seen a few post about getting the engine replaced. Not sure if that will solve anything. This doesn’t look like an engine problem to me. This is something related to the various electrical/electronic systems.

Which is very concerning is that MB doesn’t seem to able to diagnose what the real problem is.

Of course, if this happened to me, I would like to have a replacement of the whole car. But if that is not going to happen, I would like to see a very detailled description on the diagnosis. What has been done, why do they think replacing an engine, or whatever part, is going to fix it permanently.

If there is anything that would restore my faith, to some extend, it would be somebody that can talk me through in detail what happened and what they are doing to fix it permanently. As long as they can’t you should assume they are just following hit/miss approach. Simply because they lack the proper diagnostic competencies.

If they can’t properly diagnose, without any doubt find the real problem once and for all, clearly articulated, written down, not just verbally, I would still insist in getting a replacement car.

if they can’t find the root cause, the problems will continue.

Good luck

Jeroen

[evilminstrel]

Keep everything documented. You may want to sue them sooner than you think!

[Hayek]

Am somewhat surprised at everyone rushing to conclude the Mercedes is obliged to replace this car. (Assuming it is one incident reported by two joint owners). Of course, someone who has spent over ₹1 cr on a car may feel he deserves a replacement for any major defect. But there would be no legal obligation, either in India, or any other market for the company to provide a replacement.

Under such circumstances, rather than resorting to bluster and threats, working with the dealer to request for a replacement (or an extended warranty on the engine or even the entire car) would make more sense. Going back to the original post, they seem to have offered both an extended warranty and guaranteed buyback - which seems reasonable to me. It is disappointing that Mercedes is suffering such problems in a brand new flagship product of the GLE range. But hopefully, they will resolve it. Best wishes to the owners and I do hope that you reach a sensible accommodation and have many miles of pleasurable motoring with this car.

[vineetg84]

Since the car is almost brand new,the dealer ought to give the customer a complete new replacement car from the company.Factory fitted car is always better than the faulty parts being replaced in the workshop.
Buddy it would be nice if you could use twitter as a medium and tweet about this incident by tagging the dealer and the company and insist on a brand new car replacement.All the best

[viXit]

Imo although a new car should be given, the warranty seems like the sweeter deal.
With Mercedes, you never know when something might go wrong again.

Better to have an insured flaw than an uninsured one(since it’s a complex German)

[GTO]

Received the following update. Have asked owner for more details:

Firstly would like to thank you on the advice we have received from your online platform for which we had written an email initially, hereby we would like to confirm that Mercedes Benz have taken real good care of us in terms of customer relationship and satisfaction with good gesture.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by GTO

Received the following update. Have asked owner for more details:

I guess your ask for information has been on the change of tone by the owner. Clearly the original post (especially the content in bold below) doesn't ally with the latest update given.

I have always believed that owning a Mercedes Benz is a matter of pride and status, however this incident has left me to think that the star has no value, customer relations and satisfaction do not matter to Mercedes Benz any more and what matters is to negotiate, bargain and offer freebies to convince me on managing with the defective car. Having said that, the experience of the last 10 days has been extremely disheartening, more so I never expected this from a global brand like Mercedes-Benz.

This email is my last effort to seek a deserving resolution to the issue and all the embarrassment, grief, harassment and mental trauma caused to me.

A case of Mercedes Benz customer support team telling the owner to post a "positive" update, I guess. Or maybe the OP decided to just initially put up an extra bad picture of his case just to get eyeballs on this thread, and by then from Merc-Benz.

[ruchiragrawal]

Thanks a lot for this post GTO. And thanks a lot Turbanator for referring me to this.

I was in the market for a GLE 400d or 450. This thread is really concerning to me. I guess it is going to be some other car now.

I'm guessing that, since the GLS 450 has the same drivetrain as the GLE 450, would it be plausible to think that GLS could be just as unreliable? Or is it just a one-off thing?

[rkw]

Originally Posted by ruchiragrawal

Or is it just a one-off thing?

I would like to see it as a one-off case. MB is known for its quality & reliability.

[Youngindus]

I'm curious about what the resolution finally was. I was reminded about this, when yesterday Crompton Greaves replaced my few months old Storage Water heater after its water tank leaked, instead of only replacing the water tank.