I purchased a new Benz E500 in 2004 two months ago I received a letter stating that the mercedes verions of onstar “teleaid” will switich digitial and carriers are not required to maintain analog cell towers after 12/31/07. so my teleaid will cease to function after that date unless I pay $1500.00 for a new digitial upgrade. question I beleive this should be paid for my mercedes not the customer. or they should have told me this in 2004 when i bought the car with the teleaid feature and then I could have gone without it. but i paid for an option that will not longer work in six months is their anything I can do to get them to pay?
The same is true of On-Star in my 2003 Chevy. THe difference is thatChevy provides the upgrade for $15, not $1500. I leave you to draw your own conclusions. 
I beleive this should be paid for my mercedes not the customer. or they should have told me this in 2004 when i bought the car
In 2004 they did not know this was going to happen. Likely no one knew. All this cell phone technology is changing fast, you just got hit with it. Frankly I think they should have figured out a better upgrade path at a far lower cost than they did, but they did not.
I’d like to know where all the outrage is against Mercedes on this board. On the old board the GM haters were ripping GM because of the discontinuation of the Onstar system.
The same arguments should hold true for Mercedes… wouldn’t they have known years ago that this was coming? Why did they continue to sell the features of this system when they knew it would be obsolete.
Please… where is the outrage???
Joe… Wait until MIKEINNH weighs in on this.
He was saying how GM knew years ago this was coming. I wonder if he will hold Mercedes to the same standard. I doubt he will, he will find some excuse to support Mercedes and contiune to rip GM simply because he hates GM.
You have no recourse other than paying the $1500. GM would have made you pay the monumental sum of $10 for the same upgrade on 2003 and later cars and trucks.
I suggest that you consider obtaining roadside assistance from AAA or your insurer and call on your cell phone when needed. We have it through our insurer and pay a nominal sum each year for it. That beats $1500 plus the monthly fee for Teleaid. The only way to beat them is to ignore them. Don’t cave in to their demands for $1500 when you can get a similr service for much less.
Actually, you can get roadside assistance for any benz by just calling the “800-4-mercedes” number regardless of the age of your car. Personally, I would not pay for the original service or the upgrade, just carry a cell phone. Just curious, what are they going to do for $1500, I assume they have to replace some hardware?
If it’s important to you, pay the $1500.
they replace the analog cell phone module conntected to the teleaid with a digitial one
I’d like to know where all the outrage is against Mercedes on this board. On the old board the GM haters were ripping GM because of the discontinuation of the Onstar system.
The same arguments should hold true for Mercedes… wouldn’t they have known years ago that this was coming? Why did they continue to sell the features of this system when they knew it would be obsolete.
Please… where is the outrage???
It would have been here a lot sooner if I’d seen this thread earlier. I don’t care who does this, it’s wrong. Yeah, I’m not a huge GM fan, and yes, I am a big Honda fan, but if Honda pulled this crap I’d nail 'em to the wall just as hard as I did GM on the old (very much missed) board.
I guarantee that they knew in 2004 that the changeover was coming. You have to tell the tech companies many years in advance that a changeover is coming to give them time to prepare for it. The television industry has known about the digital television conversion since 1995, and it’s not even going to switch over until 2009. Actually they’ve known since the 80’s, and it only became completely official in 1995.
You’re telling me that the TV industry got 14 years advanced warning, but GM/Mercedes was hit out of right field with less than 3? Gimme a break.
I’m not saying the salesman at the dealership knew it was coming, but the higherups in the company certainly did. And if they didn’t, it’s because some jerk at the company that makes onstar/teleaid decided to keep it secret, in which case a good car company would insist, in court if necessary, that onstar/teleaid pay for the upgrades. Either way, GM and Mercedes needs to go a lot farther to take care of their customers.
FWIW, this is the (limited) info on the MBUSA web site:
It doesn’t give any pricing for the upgrades. $1500 does sound a tad steep, but its hard to walk into a benz dealer service department without spending $1000 anyway. You just have to decide how much the service is worth to you. Maybe you can get a better deal by complaining to the dealer (especially if you’re a repeat customer), but I wouldn’t expect anything more than a token price adjustment.
Yeah, they probably should have told him before he bought this option (assuming the salespeople even know what’s going on). But we are only talking about $1500 here, about 2-3% of the cost of the car, about the cost of a routine maintenance service at the dealer. I agree it’s a PITA, and it’s likely to annoy a few customers, but most will just have it done next time it’s in for service and forget about it long before they go shopping for their next car. It probably would have made sense for them to offer this upgrade at cost, maybe $500, so no one would get upset. Lots of these cars are leased anyway, and the dealers will probably just end up doing this work when they are returned.
But we are only talking about $1500 here, about 2-3% of the cost of the car, about the cost of a routine maintenance service at the dealer. I agree it’s a PITA
No, it’s more than a PITA. It’s fraud, outright. They sold that car telling him that teleaid would provide roadside assistance. They didn’t say it would only do so for 3 years unless he agreed to company-planned extortion. His telestar didn’t break and he didn’t lose it, yet because of events that are out of his control, and completely in the company’s control, the company is forcing him to pay an extra hidden $1500 charge (which is pure profit, they’re making the cell modules for many, MANY times less than that) for a service they sold him in the first place.
that’s worse than a mild inconvenience, that’s fraudulent garbage.
that’s worse than a mild inconvenience, that’s fraudulent garbage.
OK if it really bothers you, you shouldn’t buy any more cars from them.
heh. Well, I like reliable cars myself and Mercedes isn’t exactly the top of the heap there.
I’ll stick with honda/acura/toyota/lexus myself.
LOL, so you’re upset with them, and you don’t even own one. Someone needs a new hobby.
My 2003 E-320 is not activated presently and I have never used it. As off a couple of days ago suddenly I got the maulfonction message and the SOS stays on. Took my car to the dealer and I was told it cost between $1500 t0 $2000 to fix it. This is without them even looking into the problem. I don’t need the Darn thing. I just want the sign to turn off. I was also told not to remove the fuse since it will disable the stereo system. Can anybody give me a suggestion. Upgradinf the system to digital and other costly remedies is not worth an option. Thanks
Mo
Honestly, I would be looking at the wiring diagram to figure out which wire to cut. If you’re not that adventurous, find a good independent shop to help you defeat the silly thing, it can’t be that hard.
Now I remember why I drive 20 year old cars.
Thanks for your advise. I am not very savy at car mechanics but I will try your suggestion. Meanwhile if anybody else has other ideas, please chime in.
thanks
Cansomeone please scan and post the letter they received from Mercedes on this?