I never started a controversial topic, this could be the first.
We have ML350 with HK stereo and CD changer, navigation system, leather, etc.. It is now 4 month old and has 8K miles on it. We like this SUV - well designed, very comfortable to drive and to ride in, nice interior and exterior. Dealer was generally OK with resolvig few problems we had.
Around 2K miles CD changes failed, and was replaced by dealer under warranty. Failed CD changer was sent by dealer to MB factory in Alabama, along with my 6 CDs inside. People at delership explained that they need to send CD changer with CDs inside in order for factory to do failure analysis, otehrwise it is not covered under warranty. They did not know how long it will take long to get CDs back, but they were apologetic, and was quite certain it take long time to get CDs back...Some of the comments by dealer made me think that this is not all that unusual, and happens on other MB models.
Two month later we got a package from Alpine with 6 CDs, and some paperwork. One of the papers is a screen print-out titled "Customer Service Functions". Screen has 20 boxes or so with information typical for this type of screen. Now the interesting part, the are two boxes with following:
Factory Warranty: N
Wty Void: Physical Abuse/Tampering
WOW. Somebody at Alpine or at MBUSA is thinking that the reason CD changer failed is that customer tampered with the unit!!! Further they are ignorant enough to send this to the customer!
Now, do you think the couse of the problem will be fixed if customer service believes the customer did it? IMHO this is a classic case of denial. It also shows poor vendor selection (Alpine) and/or vendor management by MB plant. I think this is a main reason why the quality of MB cars is what it is.
BTW all the returned CDs were clean, and we obviously did not do anything with failed CD changer other then used it for its intended purpose.
We specialise in car audio in the UK and it is standard procedure to send them back to the manufacturer of the cd changer when a cd jams up.as it is a pain to get them out, it takes ages loads of little screws etc and voids the warranty if touched by anyone other than them. How they know why its jammed also baffles me and they have nothing to gain sending you a report that does nothing but cause unrest.Main thing is you got your discs,sometimes they go "missing".
Bri
Well, I appreciate getting CDs back, and I agree with your comment that this is a standard procedure.
Main point I was trying to make was that paperwork that came with CDs suggests that there are people working at MB plant who are:
a. In denial about quality problem.
b. Blaming customer (tampering, etc)
c. Ignorant enough about customer relationship to include such paperwork with returned CDs.
d. Will not resolve the root cause of the jammed problem since they probably think "customer did it".
e. Unlikely to get MB quality to the level of Toyota or Honda. (unless attitudes change)
f. Engineers at MB design great cars (ML350 is a good example). Yet unless MB selects quality suppliers the overall quality of cars will not match the best.
Bottom line, today most of the car important subassemblies are outsourced to suppliers. OEMs should learn to manage suppliers, or suffer consequences such as poor quality and damage to brand reputation.
Alpine is regarded as one of the best car audio suppliers in the business so no problems there,However i cannot speak for the quality of the people employed by MBUSA but obviously they aint keeping you happy which cannot be right
Bri
MB factory in Alabama shouldn't have had a thing to do with it. They do not build the changers nor do they service them. They only have them shipped in and installed there. As far as the tampering thing, it's just a cop-out. i don't think they intend to do anything about it! I would continue to press the issue!
I think I would put it down to a bad experience the good thing is your changer was replaced .dont let something like that spoil your enjoyment unfortunatley life throws up these kind of issues
Bri
I am not upset at all. The problem was fixed under warranty (the changer was replaced). I was just amused at an arrogance of customer service people(not sure Alpine or MBUSA). The point I was trying to make is that with at such level of arrogance (or maybe ignorance) at MBUSA the quality of cars will never become as good as it should be. I like Mercedes products, just wish the quality was better.
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