farewell goodbye and thanks

[SPRINTERUK]

hi
i have from today monday 11th july have had to stop selling and exporting parts outside of the e.u

i have been informed by daimler via mercedes uk that is against our franchise agreement to supply parts outside of our market place

as our franchise means our dealerships i have to bow to this pressure

i would like to say a big thank you to you all, i have got to know some great people from around the world and will miss all the banter between our great nations

i hope i have helped quite a few of you with your sprinters with parts you could not get in your market place

i will still look in and offer advice were i can

once again thanks

all the best

chris

 

[BBlessing]

this is indeed sad news. your help on the forum and sending us parts that we had no access to otherwise is greatly appretiated. cheers!

bb

 

[jdcaples]

Thanks you, Chris, for all your help these last few years.

I hope you'll continue reading and contributing to the forum's knowledge base.

At least your muzzle wasn't fitted until we figured out how to harvest our own data cards from http://epc.startkeinfo.com.


For what it's worth, if you can provide feedback to regional management: we in the US and Canada consider this policy to be both unfortunate and deleterious to the Sprinter owners' support of Daimler.

Daimler is struggling to win market commercial vehicle market share in the US and Canada. The numbers of Sprinter sales vs Domestic commercial vans are undeniably in favor of the latter.

We live in a global economy. Daimler is a global company.

This policy should be revisited and revised.

US and Canadian dealerships are clearly not as well equipped to serve Sprinter owners as your dealerships & most likely other dealerships outside of our markets.


-Jon

 

[glasseye]

Yet another example of market manipulation and artificial scarcity created by global corporations for their own benefit to the detriment of their customers. Free trade my a$$.

 

[autostaretx]

Chris, thank you for all of your work on this group's behalf... having an intelligent European parts source unconstrained by the (oh, how to politely put this?) "limited access" mindset of the US and Canadian MB/Daimler management has been a godsend.
I did not make use of your services, but knowing of their existence gave me comfort in knowing that i had a "fallback" parts supply.

For the rest of us: this is merely one facet of franchise systems in general, and the each-country/area/company-on-its-own nature of many businesses.

In this particular instance, we're probably seeing the effect of this forum becoming "too visible" to MB USA's management.
Someone in the MB USA organization (be it some individual dealer who got told by a member that parts were cheaper by "grey market" importing, or someone in MB USA management who realized they're legally obligated to enforce their franchise clauses) told Daimler, who then talked to MB UK.
I fervently hope that Chris does not suffer a penalty for helping us.

good luck, Chris, and please tell us where in the UK to drop in and buy parts over-the-counter
--dick

 

[flman]

It sounds all fair to me, the US Sprinter dealers have overhead as well, I am sure a great deal of their revenue is generated through parts sales.

Why would they want to continue selling the Sprinter line for little or no profit?

 

[Deltapco]

Hypothetically........

In an emergency would you be able to take a Canadian order and ship to a UK address?

Dave

 

[katkak]

Sorry to hear this Chris, I havnt had to use your services yet but you were on my list of usefull people as I have a low milage 318 and may have picked your brains at sometime, and ordered service parts.
Although from what you say we should be ok in the UK is this right? Still a big loss to the lads abroard though.

 

[mean_in_green]

Nothing stopping Chris selling parts to EU based forum members. Who's to know what happens to the parts after that?

 

[Altered Sprinter]

Just Another Brick in the M.B Wall
Thanks My old mate.
Don't worry, be happy, where there is a way! Trust me...A new way will be found down under.
Richard

​

 

[autostaretx]

flman's points are valid, but what about those cases of "you can't get it here from the authorized distribution chain"?

An example would be the MB badging "kits" for the 2001-2006 T1N Sprinters...
MB doesn't sell them (in the US and Canada (i think)), Dodge doesn't, Freightliner doesn't.
So none of the in-US dealers are "losing money", since they're not willing/allowed to carry the product.
Is it an MB USA decision? How many individual dealers would have to request it (like 4WD) before the parts did become available?

Chris also served for those cases where the parts in question did not appear to be in stock anywhere in the US.
4 week waits at the dealers for parts versus a few days from the UK ... that screams of inadequate "backing" by MB USA for the installed base.

There are also dozens of purchase-options in the rest of the world that are not available here. Being able to add them as an "aftermarket" item (if one wished) is now much more difficult.

Some times the shoe is on the other foot... and backwards.
I deal with a US company (that recently moved its entire production facility to Mexico, but that's a different issue) that refuses to sell spare parts in the US. Their stance is "send the entire unit back to California for repair" (and the units range from small toaster-sized to 400 pound refrigerator-sized).
BUT.... they do allow their international franchised distributors (through their dealers) to sell parts.
So we have the stupid situation of US customers having to buy US-sourced parts from Australia or Germany to self-repair their US-made-and-sold gadgets.
(the company's franchise agreements prevent US or foreign dealers from selling complete units outside of their designated areas... otherwise grey market from-US units would wipe out the distributed dealers' market... but "parts" don't have that limitation.)

just wishin'
--dick

 

[jdcaples]

This community had a solution.

One or more bureaucratic parties broke it.


We don't have to call it "fair." It's not our problem if US / Canadian dealerships don't have a level playing field with their counterparts in other markets. Daimler can fix it, or Daimler can just legislate new rules and (or more aggressively enforce current ones) threaten to punish franchises in violation of the rules.

It's stupid. We don't have to be happy about it. We don't have to keep our opinions to ourselves. It's asinine, counter productive and above all irksome to the end users (the population that should matter most).

We will just adapt (and perhaps, eventually, take our business to manufacturers and franchises that take end user money and our end user satisfaction seriously).

-Jon

 

[sailquik]

Have to agree with Jon here.
Where are we going to go for parts that are available everywhere else in the Daimler
organization, but Daimler Vans USA cannot supply them (or even acknowledge that they
exist in some cases)?
Rather than learn from the UK/Euro commercial vehicle support model it seems that
the NAFTA Daimler organization wants to support Sprinters in the same manner as
MB cars/SUVs.
Sorry Daimler USA.... you are missing the point completely, and shutting off our
Sprinter sources that can get us what we want/need is definitely the poorest
of choices in dealing with this issue.
It's OK, you force us to go to the aftermarket as our first choice!
Until someone in the UK or Europe develops a "grey market" genuine MB parts pipeline
to the USA.
So, instead of changing to suit the market, Daimler has essentially forced us to
go elsewhere.
And this is a good business decision?...... I think not.
Roger

 

[Graphite Dave]

Mercedes marketing people are inept. They are spending a considerable amount of money trying to establish the Sprinter in this market. Then they make stupid decisions such as this one. If people have to go to England to get parts and support, that should give them a hint that what they have done in the USA is inadequate. They do not bring in the most economical engine, they prevent Dodge owners from accessing their web site, they do not support their vehicle when design errors have been made (hanger bearing etc.) with recalls and they let the electrical design folks destroy a good vehicle with very poor design choices. Looks like they do not know how to compete in the commercial market.
Thanks Chris for your support on this forum.

 

[jdcaples]

With no experience running region for an enterprise like Daimler AG, put any Sprinter-Source forum member could turn the Sprinter around in 18 months with enough Marketing budget.

1) Stock all the dealerships with enough parts to build a 2011 2500 144" cargo van from scratch using Marketing dollars; put all parts to make a 2011 3500 144" cargo van from scratch within 12 hours distance of every dealership

2) Using marketing dollars, put part numbers/catalogs for all the goodies available all over the planet in every US and Canadian store. Place an inventory in the US and in Canada where anything could be delivered in 12 business hours.

3) Using marketing dollars, give dealerships $3000.00 a month to invite all Sprinters in for a free scan - all 2002+ Sprinters in the USA & Canada - to find any latent issues, update firmware, provide hard copies of the current "lab results," as well as firm, fair pricing for urgent and preventative maintenance.

4) Using marketing dollars, offer fleet-owners steep discounts on replacing +2 year old Sprinters. Work up a "donation + discounted five year repair service" for charities that could use Sprinters for any altruistic venture (just keep MB Sprinter next to the charity logo).

You don't need a business degree to turn this around. All you need is 18 months, a blank marketing check and a position with the corporate clout to turn this cesspool into a park where no one fears sending their children to swim.

-Jon

 

[glasseye]

Well said, Jon.

Put the customer first, not the corporation, and success will be automatic.

For more on this, Google "The Cluetrain Manifesto"

 

[Colorado_Al]

Too bad. I'm sure the ingenuity of members here can overcome this small problem.
For example, there are many freight forwarding services that will accept your package at their address in the UK and forward the package to you anywhere in the world. It would cost more to have the item shipped to a UK address, and then ship to a USA address, but the shipping invoice would show a UK delivery.
Additionally, if any UK member wishes to help out, they could even make a small handling charge. Have your package shipped to them and they can use http://www.parcelmonkey.co.uk/
to ship to you anywhere in the world. still more expensive than direct from Chris, but less than a freight forwarding service.

I think there are plenty of ways that we can still buy from UK & EU. Just need to be creative.

 

[Oldfartt]

For those who wish to purchase items in USA and have them delivered to the rest of the world you can use IPSparcel.com . Guess who uses this regularly

Cheers

Ross

 

[Altered Sprinter]

The problem originated in Australia not the USA.
Deals are in the work's.
And that's all I'm saying.
Richard.

​

 

[jdcaples]

The problem originated in Australia not the USA.
Deals are in the work's.
And that's all I'm saying.
Richard.

Um, what problem?

Chris got his dealership in trouble for sending things to Australia, and that's the reason for Daimler AG to start business practices that reflect 1940?

What are you saying?

-Jon