Mercedes EV Owner Charged for Oil Change at Stealership

[Jackson_Slugger]

Australian Mercedes-Benz Dealer Caught Charging Electric Car Owner For Oil Change​

They topped up his blinker fluid, too.

IMAGE: ROMER MACAPUNO/DMARGE
Written by Jamie Weiss
A Melbourne Mercedes dealer has come under fire after a customer revealed that they charged him $445 for an “engine oil and filter change”… For his electric car.

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One of the many advantages of electric vehicle ownership is that EVs are far easier to service than internal combustion-engined cars. Not only do they have much longer service intervals, but the cost of EV services are generally cheaper, as they have far fewer service items that need attending to: you don’t have to worry about oil or oil filter changes, for example.
Well, in theory at least. One Melbourne-based Mercedes EV driver has taken to social media after he found that his local Mercedes dealer had charged him for an oil and filter change, despite the fact that – in case it wasn’t completely obvious – EVs don’t need engine oil and don’t have oil filters.

The owner, Matty, took his two-year-old Mercedes-Benz EQA-250 to the 3 Point Motors dealership in Epping, Melbourne for a full service on April 11. It was only after inspecting his invoice that he realised the mistake had been made, prompting the confused EV owner to even go out and check that his car was indeed an EV… It had him second-guessing himself.

“The problem is, this car is fully electric. They charged me to change the oil and oil filter on a fully electric car. Not hybrid, full electric. I thought I’d just double-check this – I’ve been driving this car for two years; let’s just check it again for the 14th time today – yes, it’s definitely electric,” he said in a viral video he posted to TikTok.
3 Point Motors has since said in a statement that it was an “innocent mistake” that occurred when a technician accidentally selected the wrong job code when printing the invoice for the luxury electric SUV, and have since refunded Matty.

This definitely smacks a bit of the old “top up your blinker fluid” gag… But really, it’s not that funny. Matty might have caught the mistake, but we bet there would be other drivers who aren’t quite as savvy who wouldn’t question such an invoice.

https://www.dmarge.com/australian-m...ht-charging-electric-car-owner-for-oil-change

 

[Finklejag]

“3 Point Motors has since said in a statement that it was an “innocent mistake” that occurred when a technician accidentally selected the wrong job code when printing the invoice”

The first thing I thought of. Nothing to see here, move along.

 

[Jetronic]

“3 Point Motors has since said in a statement that it was an “innocent mistake” that occurred when a technician accidentally selected the wrong job code when printing the invoice”

The first thing I thought of. Nothing to see here, move along.

Except, now everything on the invoice is suspect. What else is on there that they din't do, even if they should've?

 

[andrew_j]

A query of all EV models and the code for oil change would tell us really if “innocent” . Funny oops if innocent

 

[Astro14]

So, the guy pays the bill without reading it?

Then gets home and makes a video about it?

Maybe read your bill when it’s presented, dummy…

 

[PF52]

Fortunately the one and only time (yeah, sure!) they made this innocent mistake there was a savvy yet understanding citizen there to catch it and not some unsuspecting customer who knows nothing about cars and car maintenance.

 

[Marcozi]

Did they change the relative bearing grease?

 

[jeepman3071]

The owner, Matty, took his two-year-old Mercedes-Benz EQA-250 to the 3 Point Motors dealership in Epping, Melbourne for a full service on April 11. It was only after inspecting his invoice that he realised the mistake had been made, prompting the confused EV owner to even go out and check that his car was indeed an EV… It had him second-guessing himself.

Wow...

 

[joekingcorvette]

Ha! Let's just buy a car and determine months later if it's an EV, Hybrid, or ICE.

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

Except, now everything on the invoice is suspect. What else is on there that they din't do, even if they should've?

My sentiments exactly. How many lies does it take to make one a liar? It might be very interesting to see what else is on the invoice total....How can one be naïve enough to "miss" a $445 charge?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

So what is actually serviced on premium marque E cars?

Tire rotation and balance is obvious.
Windscreen wipers and fluid, maybe,
Lights and lamps. that is safely, Yes!
Cabin filter? surely.

Then I would guess periodic wheel bearing adjustment?
Brake friction material inspection? Absolutely.
Battery coolant? is this lifetime stuff?
High Tension cable integrity and connexion? Scary stuff.
Road test.

Maybe our longtime Tesla owners may chime in. Interesting.

 

[Jetronic]

Wow...

If you didn't put gas in it for 2 years, it's an EV at that point even if there happens to be an ice in it...

 

[justalubetech]

Not sure about the Benz but most electric cars have oil & a spin-on filter for the gearbox so not too much of a stretch.

Obviously for their own image the dealer is just going to publicly apologize, but the guy here sounds like a numbskull. Had to check after two years if he was driving an electric car, and just blindly pays a bill then makes a video about it? Alright

 

[PF52]

Obviously for their own image the dealer is just going to publicly apologize, but the guy here sounds like a numbskull. Had to check after two years if he was driving an electric car, and just blindly pays a bill then makes a video about it? Alright

I think that's just a certain amount of dry sarcastic humor injected into the article. Of course the guy knew it was an electric, but it's funnier when he says he went out to see if for some reason they stuck a gas engine in there too.

 

[JeffKeryk]

$445 for an oil change service? Heck, Tesla only charges me about half that! Now I don't feel so bad...

 

[BHopkins]

Except, now everything on the invoice is suspect. What else is on there that they din't do, even if they should've?

What is different from this invoice, and every dealer service invoice that all of us have ever received? Human errors happen. That is why all of us should glance over the invoice before handing over the plastic card. Or at the very least, after we get home and can look it over at our leisure.

Seems like this guy was trying to grab his 15 minutes of fame, while also entertaining others from a humorous irony, created by our current technological paradigm shift.

 

[Jetronic]

What is different from this invoice, and every dealer service invoice that all of us have ever received? Human errors happen. That is why all of us should glance over the invoice before handing over the plastic card. Or at the very least, after we get home and can look it over at our leisure.

Seems like this guy was trying to grab his 15 minutes of fame, while also entertaining others from a humorous irony, created by our current technological paradigm shift.

Unless you can see what the tech has written on his worksheet, and he's honest, you will never know. But since the tech didn't write anything about an oil change, the whole invoice must now be checked, also against the clock. Work that takes 2 hours can't be done in 30 minutes for example.

But I agree it should have been discovered at the reception, by BOTH the owner and the service writer

 

[PF52]

I bet if the "innocent human error" was made in favor of the customer instead of the dealership, you can bet it wouldn't have made it as far as this one did!

 

[jstert]

Ha! Let's just buy a car and determine months later if it's an EV, Hybrid, or ICE.

 

[PandaBear]

Shhhhh..... He meant to choose the 21 points inspection that cost $200.