I have a smart Forfour 1.5 petrol owned since almost new with 95k miles - a great little car. The car recently suffered a failed actuator and stuck in gear while driving. Fixing the car has become a saga at Mercedes Tonbridge, with them overcharging, making errors of diagnosis, and giving back a car with a failed ECU but not accepting responsibility. The letter below tells what happenend, but am I being unreasonable to expect they repair the ECU considering it was fine when I gave it to them.

I would be grateful for advice thanks. Repair could be £1500!

In response to your letter of the 14.Feb.2014,..... The vehicle was discharged to you in normal running condition except that the actuator had failed. I have provided an independent report from a local garage who loaded the car onto the AA trailer as I stood there, only 30 minutes before it was brought to you. At that time you can read that the car had NO warning lights showing on the dashboard and the car started normally.

When I spoke to .... your service team leader, he states that it needed a new battery and disputed my objection of being perfectly fit for duty and less than 2 years old. After charging over night he rang to say the battery was perfectly ok and there was no need to change it. (Even though he was originally insistent and wanting to charge £181.00).

When I spoke to .... originally on 4th Feb he gave me a quote for the Actuator and fitting. I challenged the labour cost with you based on the number of hours needed. This email was sent dated 15.57pm and at this point there was no mention of ESP fault codes. The actuator was ordered and fitted on the morning of the 5th Feb but it was only when you emailed at 11.04 that day to confirm the lower agreed price of the actuator, that you informed me the ESP codes were showing as well, when they had not the previous day.

The car was returned to me with both traction and ABS light on the dashboard, neither of which were showing before as supported by the statement from the garage loading the car. I confirm that the actuator fault occured whilst driving and moving at about 30mph and that no warning lights were visible at any time - only that it did not change gear.

Bearing in mind that the car was delivered to you just 30 minutes after it left Sevenoaks with a single fault, I am supposed to accept that the car apparently gained a defunct battery - now eliminated - and a faulty ECU whilst in your care when it was not an issue beforehand. The extent of the fault codes only showed an actuator fault and no other. Whatever has happened has taken place in your tenure.

As suggested I have had an independent expert verify that the likely cause is an ECU failure. Your letter states you will not accept any responsibility for the added failure whilst in your care which I find unacceptable. As a result I am sending a copy of this letter to the After Sales Director Paul Thompson for his assessment. Whilst the car remains drivable it is obviously not MOTable so I will be looking for a rapid resolution and sincerely hope you will reconsider.