MG has a broken service plan site, or is trying it on at the moment.

[Roger001]

I just tried to set up a service plan for my car on MG's website. The listed costs for 4 years of services and 1 MOT are £870.09 (which you have to add up by hand), but the provided payment breakdown is shown as £922.89.

Once I provide my address details, I get to select how I wish to pay (monthly by DD, in full by card or DD), but the only option that can be selected at the moment is monthly by DD.

Has anyone else had to deal with what seems to be a currently broken website that when it comes to the quoted pricing, is likely to be breaking the odd consumer protection law?

 

[Roger001]

OK, it's clear that they are trying it on

As part of the process, once you have entered your address details MG's systems generate an email that includes a PDF quotation. Included as fine print is "Management Fee of 44 x £1.20" with no detail regarding what this is for, and the speed at which this email was delivered means that I would have set up the DD well before I had any indication of being charged this fee.

Elsewhere, there is fine print that states "The service plan could be paid in full by a single BACS direct debit payment", but without any detail on how to do that.

 

[Martinonline]

As far as I can remember the first price is that of the services and the second includes the handling charge for the firm that handles the payments - for my 3 year plan it is 34 months at £1.20.

 

[Roger001]

As far as I can remember the first price is that of the services and the second includes the handling charge for the firm that handles the payments - for my 3 year plan it is 34 months at £1.20.

As it seems from the quote provided in the email, at a later time. The issue is that there is no transparency regarding this fee at the time of purchase, or even any indication that it exists, unless someone manually totals up the costs shown on the website.

 

[Kenp1]

I think the service plan is pretty poor. The Kia ones I had before meant you could use any dealer and were cheaper than the individual services. The MG plan seems to be linked to one dealer and there doesn't seem to be any cost benefit. I wouldn't bother.

 

[Roger001]

No, the MG plans are nationwide (or at least that is what I have been told), but they are just assigned to your nearest dealer. Which is a cheeky way to share your personal details with a third party without needing to get approval first.

 

[Kenp1]

I assumed you were locked to a dealer as you had to pick one. Where does it mention it being for any dealer?

Even if it is for any dealer i don't think it is worth bothering with just because of the price.

 

[Roger001]

When I saw the possible lock, I called the number shown as part of the DD setup page, which is for the company that maintains the service platform. As it stands, contact info is lacking on that site, with the MG number shown on some pages just being the support desk of the software company that operates the site for them.

The price is not bad if you need the AA cover, which I do. I also plan to move home in the next 12 months so I do not want to be tied to a dealer.

 

[Kenp1]

I thought you just needed to get the car serviced at the dealer to get the AA cover, I did't think it was linked to the plan. I could be wrong as the lack of detail on the website is pretty bad.

 

[Roger001]

To be honest, I'm not that sure, as you say, the site is something of a mess, and today I was expecting to just spend a few minutes getting a plan in place so that I could get on with other things. I've only gone down this rabbit hole as the 2 columns on the cost page did not seem to match, and so I started to work out why.

 

[salty]

I thought you just needed to get the car serviced at the dealer to get the AA cover.

You do.

 

[Tight Git]

I think the service plan is pretty poor. The Kia ones I had before meant you could use any dealer and were cheaper than the individual services. The MG plan seems to be linked to one dealer and there doesn't seem to be any cost benefit. I wouldn't bother.

My 3rd service was about £40 cheaper than my dealer quoted and they wouldn't match the price quoted in the MG website despite it being them that did the service!

The service plan also guarantees no increases in price so will come in cheaper even after the small monthly admin charge.

 

[Kenp1]

My main problem is the complete lack of clarity on how it works and sneaking in the admin fee and trying to hide it.

To make it attractive for me there has to be some major savings, it just doesn't seem tempting enough.

 

[bedsev]

Whilst it may be similar cost to doing in individually, I like it as it spreads the costs over 3 years rather than paying all together (although you do pay for the first one in a lump)

 

[Kithmo]

I found the cheapest way is to buy the service plan at the dealers and pay up front, there's no admin/credit fees if you pay the whole amount up front.
The savings come into effect later on when the price of individual servicing increases in the following years.
In 2023 I paid £435 for three services and the first MOT, which I think is a bargain when you look at today's prices.

 

[Traincrew56]

I just tried to set up a service plan for my car on MG's website. The listed costs for 4 years of services and 1 MOT are £870.09 (which you have to add up by hand), but the provided payment breakdown is shown as £922.89.

Once I provide my address details, I get to select how I wish to pay (monthly by DD, in full by card or DD), but the only option that can be selected at the moment is monthly by DD.

Has anyone else had to deal with what seems to be a currently broken website that when it comes to the quoted pricing, is likely to be breaking the odd consumer protection law?

My service plan is with my mg dealer. 3yrs + 1st mot £562.

 

[JonnyG]

What are the current individual service prices like at the moment ? It does seem to vary between dealers but I'm sure there was a leaked cost schedule on here somewhere previously.

 

[Martinonline]

I baulked at a 4 year plan because of the cost of the 4th service. Perhaps I should have gone down that route.

Has anyone had one or bought a new service plan after a 3 year one?