i did take my car for the first time to the dealership here, it was pretty sleepy just one another owner here for maintainece, mercedes are not common here and even less people take it to authorised dealership and now i know why.
so as i drove into the lot before entering the workshop the service advisor came and received the car, and i kid you not spent half an hour just walking around the car and noting everything including each and every paint chip or scratch or mark, and then inside car running aircon on tested out each and very gadget inlacing all the adjustment sin electric seats, all the lights wipers, even whether all the screens and menus in the instrument cluster were okay, any nicks on the interior, even asked me to turn on the radio and then asked me to play a song through iPod as well just for the sake of it
apparently they do this to every customer, i was thinking probably they are just bored sitting around all day and finally a car comes and they kill time:P
then they took the car inside me following, i don't let the car out of my sight,
heres the workshop
as03 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
as04 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
as11 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
as12 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
as02 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
oh sorry to bust the bubble, these are pics from shahnawaz mercedes website, probably of karachi workshop
here how its looks actually
(this pic is from google)
i didn't take a lot of pics as was busy overlooking work but you get the idea
18240156 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
IMG_1968 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
IMG_1966 by Arzaam Bhatti, on Flickr
they say in a few months a new service centre which would be state of the art would soon be completed and shifted opposite metro near lahore airport
then they asked me to sign a deed stating that i would not hold them responsible for any work or any other problem that might arise as the result of the work that would be currently be carried out, and i would have to pay for any extra work encountered in full etc, there was a clause stating that if there are many malfunctions in the car first they would be fixed and felt away with only then would any work whatsoever will be carried out and i would pay the costs and there were similar clauses they had thought of every single situation, mostly they were saying they would undo any jugaar before doing any work on the car and owner would pay for everything.
but i am a law student myself and had a good argument about it and in the end made them cross out terms that did not apply to my car like it had no malfunction, and also told them how dare they label cars as grey import that is not imported from authorised mercedes dealership etc, anyways the deed signed was not on stamp paper and had no legal significance, can easily be contested.
the actual work carried out was good and quick and efficient, they had all the right fluids etc and everything was done in front of me, they in practice do follow service literature of mercedes and were very knowledgable so overall satisfied but its a big hassle don't know if I want to visit them for any big parts, they have absolutely no stock of spare parts and any part would be have to be imported from germany and will take 40 days with advance payment and only if the part is even available, so i think in the end for actual work the INH workshop is still better and they can arrange original and new part quicker and less hassle but for preventative maintenance these guys know better especially fluids availability.
most people stay away form shahnawaz i guess because of their antics and fuss but actual work done is good so far and price is fair given that they are only using proper and genuine parts and no jugaar unlike INH.
