CD Changers

[Tel]

My CD Changer on my S Class packed up after three years and two months. I was told it was out of warranty and so I had it replaced by my dealer at a total cost of £413. Since then I have been told it was still in warranty. What is the truth and has anyone else had a changer with such a short life?
Tel

 

[Tel]

As no one has replied to this query I must be the only person to have had this experience. Can that be true?

 

[television]

As no one has replied to this query I must be the only person to have had this experience. Can that be true?

No this is not the case, some subjects are difficult to answer, owing to their specialized nature. It is not always clear as to what kind of answer is expected, ie were you asking if MB should have re embursed you for the incorrect infomation.

Malcolm

 

[Tel]

Thanks Malcolm for pointing out that I needed to be more specific. I am not asking for compensation. I thought that three years and two months for a changer seemed somewhat short and I wondered if an inferior changer was being used by MB. So, I asked if anyone else had had a problem. Also, I still don 't know if the warrenty on the changer is 'in' or 'out'.

 

[television]

Thanks Malcolm for pointing out that I needed to be more specific. I am not asking for compensation. I thought that three years and two months for a changer seemed somewhat short and I wondered if an inferior changer was being used by MB. So, I asked if anyone else had had a problem. Also, I still don 't know if the warrenty on the changer is 'in' or 'out'.

Point one, the changers are good by CD standards, life in a car is hard if you consider, viabration,condensation and temperture changes, and the laser's in genral hold up quite well, compaired to many. I do know the answer to the guaranteee, I think that a phone call to MB would be the only way to find out for sure. though most are Harmon Becker, the odd car comes through with an Alpine.

Malcolm

 

[Alfie]

Point one, the changers are good by CD standards, life in a car is hard if you consider, viabration,condensation and temperture changes, and the laser's in genral hold up quite well, compaired to many. I do know the answer to the guaranteee, I think that a phone call to MB would be the only way to find out for sure. though most are Harmon Becker, the odd car comes through with an Alpine.

Malcolm

An S class of that age will have an Alpine unit in it.

As pointed out these units are very reliable normally and I think your experience is unfortunate.

 

[jberks]

I've not had one fail over far longer periods, so I'd have to say you've been unlucky. On the warranty front, technically you were out of warranty, but I would have expected the dealer to attempt to get you some form of goodwill contribution from MB. My argument has always been that if they can't supply the part FOC, then ok, but don't add insult to injury by charging thenormal mark up on the offending component. This normally seems to equate to 50% or so as this is the amount MB seem to offer on goodwill contributions.
That said, it's been done now, so chances of getting anything after the event are slim.

 

[kell]

I have an E320 and the CD player won't eject the CD's. This happened one month after the warranty expired. My MB dealer has quoted £1000.00 for the repair!

 

[jberks]

I have an E320 and the CD player won't eject the CD's. This happened one month after the warranty expired. My MB dealer has quoted £1000.00 for the repair!

£1000 for what?? They aren't that much to have fitted after market. Plus if it went one month after the warranty expired I understood MB have a budget for 'goodwill' repairs for each customer. I'd speak to their service manager and be a bit obstonate. They have more leway that they're letting on. If you get nowhere, I'd call another dealer in the area (not in the same group though) and explain to the service manager that you're angry at your dealer for not fighting your corner and will be switching to a dealer who will. Competition is heating up between these firms so you can play them off against each other now.

Do remember that you don't have to go to your dealer. Most decent car audio shops have a repair centre that fix all these Pioneer, Alpine, Blaupunct etc systems when they go wrong. Your cd player is made by one of these firms so parts may well be available - assuming you even need any. Certainly worth a phone call.

 

[Bryann]

I had my CD changer stop after 2 months of owning the car, what I did was to eject the carriage, emulate loading the carriage by very carefully pushing a long thin screwdriver in the opening of the changer onto a small lever, watched what happened from there, it turned out to be the lever sticking that picks up the carriages that CD'S sit in, gave it a nudge and away we went, I cannot see where all the costs comes into play especially as they can be bought for a reasonable amount of money. I would think it takes no more than an hour to change one!

Bryan