Dealer damaged my ECU

[mike1024]

Hi Guys

So sorry to start my membership with a problem.

I own a 2010 ML350 Sport and it has been fun riding it until recently. Last week it wouldn't close the boot (electric one), wouldn't open the doors with the fob and burglar alarm was going off intermittently.

So I took it to a dealer in London who said that they need my car to be there for a day or two to upgrade the software.

A day later I had a call from customer service, informing me that during the software upload, their computer lost connection with server and it had burnt the ECU and I won't have my car for a few odd days (no guarantee given when the car is repaired).

I am now so dissatisfied with their service and feel gutted that a year old car has to be damaged by so called experts.

nonetheless, this has caused a lot of hardship for me as the courtesy car they gave is a small B class with no Comand, heated seat, Sat Nav etc.

What do you think I should do?

Should I complain? if I did what would I get? is it worth it?

Thanks for your thoughts and sympathies

 

[bahram]

No harm in asking for a bigger and better loan car whilst they have yours for repair. If I was you I would ask them.

 

[television]

Hello and welcome,, sorry to hear of your plight, the number one rule when doing this is to have a good back up power supply, without one the car battery can go flat and that is the end of what ever they were trying to program.

This is something that should be standard practice for a MB trained fitter

 

[Cole@MBS]

Sorry to say but they do have to deal with these things, I lost the network while flashing a control unit while at my old dealers, not only the once!!! It does wipe out the said unit, the only cure is a new one!!!! It sounds like they have kept you on the road, ok, not a ML, but still, you have wheels, I don't have a lot of love for the dealers but these things can and do happen........

Welcome to the forums.......

 

[television]

Sorry to say but they do have to deal with these things, I lost the network while flashing a control unit while at my old dealers, not only the once!!! It does wipe out the said unit, the only cure is a new one!!!! It sounds like they have kept you on the road, ok, not a ML, but still, you have wheels, I don't have a lot of love for the dealers but these things can and do happen........

Welcome to the forums.......

That is another way of seeing it,, maybe I am just too hard and always think the worst

 

[Cole@MBS]

I thought that when I read you post Malc, it's the Internet connection loss which kills the update, it happens quite a bit in the dealers...........

 

[toby1]

It could've been worse - at least you're not paying for it. And I wouldn't call a B Class "hardship"

 

[mike1024]

SEriously my dilemma is that the B Class seats are way to small and uncomfortable for me. I know you may disagree but even three days long driving has done my back.

I'm also heavily relient on Sat Nav and without it I am as lost as ever. I am not going to buy a satnav now, but at least they could have change the courtesy car to a better one, given the fact they caused the problem in the first place. When I asked they said we are sorry, we don't have any!

But the thing that annoys me really is the ignorance for the customers, I have had 4 mercedes over the past 8 years with the same dealer, so I thought at least I have some loyalty.

I am now going to complain to them, copying MBUK and ask for change of my car, as I really don't know what else has been done to my car.

This car was first serviced in April and they didn't even change the keyfob batteries and I had to do it a week after that. Since then all the above intermittent issues have happened.

I am really annoyed. That's all I can say

 

[jberks]

Mistakes happen. My dealer lost a locking wheel nut and broke my windscreen. Not the end of the world. They subsequently sorted it and it didn't cost me anything, so no harm done.
I'm struggling with the "lot of hardship' bit. A new B class isn't exactly slumming, but, if the car they've lent you is unsuitable then I would demand they swap it for something appropriate. I once took my E class in and as the C class they had reserved for me wasn't available, they handed me a smart loan car. I explained that my daily commute was 100 miles over the pennines so sorry, no, not in a smart and certainly not for the 2 weeks it was booked in for (bodywork)..
10 mins later they handed me the keys to the service managers shiny new E320cdi. I guess he went home in a smart. But that's his job.
So, go back in, explain reasonably why what they've lent you is unsuitable and tell them that as your car is going to be in longer term, your can no longer manage and they need to find you something closer to what you have.
If they don't have something in the loan car list (and they should have a wide range of cars) then speak to the service manager and ask the loaded question, what do you drive?
Another option may be a claim on your Mobilo. That assures you of an equivalent vehicle. So if the dealer really can't find you something, tell them to get you a Mobilo loan car.

 

[ALFIEBEARD]

SEriously my dilemma is that the B Class seats are way to small and uncomfortable for me. I know you may disagree but even three days long driving has done my back.

I'm also heavily relient on Sat Nav and without it I am as lost as ever. I am not going to buy a satnav now, but at least they could have change the courtesy car to a better one, given the fact they caused the problem in the first place. When I asked they said we are sorry, we don't have any!

But the thing that annoys me really is the ignorance for the customers, I have had 4 mercedes over the past 8 years with the same dealer, so I thought at least I have some loyalty.

I am now going to complain to them, copying MBUK and ask for change of my car, as I really don't know what else has been done to my car.




Firstly can I say I now own a Jaguar XF because I lost faith in my Mercedes dealer
But I am sorry to sound a little harsh, but I am sure your dealer did,nt set out to cause him and you all this hassle .

I work in the electronics field and carry out reprogramming on a daily basis and it has been known for us to get an interuption whilst loading the new software and the unit bites the dust,

I can honestly say its a crap feeling having to inform the customer of what has happened, let alone the costs to us thats involved in putting things to rights.

As for changing the keyfob batteries, I would,nt expect them to even check these UNLESS you metioned a keyfob problem to them prior to the service

Coming to the loan vehicle I also would not class a B class as a poor loan vehicle, there are plenty of B class owners on here who would argue that fact.

My advice would be to chill out and express your feelings to the dealer and ask for a more suitable vehicle, because in my opinion if you go in all guns blazing you may end up on a loan bike!!.

Just my opinion thats worth exactly what you paid for it.

Alfie B

 

[whitenemesis]

Mistakes happen. My dealer lost a locking wheel nut and broke my windscreen. Not the end of the world. They subsequently sorted it and it didn't cost me anything, so no harm done.
I'm struggling with the "lot of hardship' bit. A new B class isn't exactly slumming, but, if the car they've lent you is unsuitable then I would demand they swap it for something appropriate. I once took my E class in and as the C class they had reserved for me wasn't available, they handed me a smart loan car. I explained that my daily commute was 100 miles over the pennines so sorry, no, not in a smart and certainly not for the 2 weeks it was booked in for (bodywork)..
10 mins later they handed me the keys to the service managers shiny new E320cdi. I guess he went home in a smart. But that's his job.
So, go back in, explain reasonably why what they've lent you is unsuitable and tell them that as your car is going to be in longer term, your can no longer manage and they need to find you something closer to what you have.
If they don't have something in the loan car list (and they should have a wide range of cars) then speak to the service manager and ask the loaded question, what do you drive?
Another option may be a claim on your Mobilo. That assures you of an equivalent vehicle. So if the dealer really can't find you something, tell them to get you a Mobilo loan car.

AFAIK once your car is at the dealer Mobilo has no responsibility to provide anything.

 

[stumpy]

Correct. If you had broken down at home or on the road then Mobilo kicks in. They are still not obliged to give like for like cars though. They just get you mobile and that normally means an A or B.

Like for like loan cars are a moot point and it comes down to what the dealers can afford to run, and where the customer is expected to draw the line. I once had a B180 whilst the SLR was in for a week. I didn't mind too much apart from the fact that it had less than 3 miles of fuel in it, and the service from Merc was also up to their usual carp standard. They can't be expected to supply me with an SLR for gawds sake.

In your case I feel you need to go back and politely ask for something more comfortable, able to carry the dog etc. Basically you need to demonstrate that your life is being adversely affected by this situation. Whatever you do, don't come across all snobby about it. You should expect a repair in a timely fashion but knowing how bad Merc are with parts supply you may not get it, which strengthens your case for something more suited to your needs.

 

[toby1]

As a back pain sufferer myself, I agree it can't be very pleasant if it's causing you grief. Hopefully if you explain that to the dealer they will find you a car with more appropriate seats

 

[AdamG]

I thought that when I read you post Malc, it's the Internet connection loss which kills the update, it happens quite a bit in the dealers...........

I'm surprised they rely on an internet connection while flashing.

Surely it would be better to download to the hard drive then flash or am I missing something? Is it a security thing?

Adam

 

[whitenemesis]

I'm surprised they rely on an internet connection while flashing.

Surely it would be better to download to the hard drive then flash or am I missing something? Is it a security thing?

Adam

This is exactly what the Mobilo tech told me they do, for exactly the reasons discussed here.

 

[Roxie]

I have no idea who or what is to blame in this case but SCN coding has been very tempermental this month. I think the main server in Germany has had some problems.

 

[mike1024]

Ahh forgot something else! The B Class I got given is a week overdue servicing! and it keps beeping and flashing in the instrument cluster. Surely they should give a car that is serviced.

The problem is that they have caused a problem in my car, not me. The guy who called was really polite explaining the situation and said we would do whatever it takes, but when I ask for a car with Sat Nav he just blatantly said we don't have any, not even saying that we look for it.

One other thing is that I need the boot space for a lot of confidential stuff that I carry and I cannot fit them in a B Class at all. As someone helpfully mentioned about this above, I am going to ask them politely to change the car.
With regards to the keyfob, my previous SLK, SL and C class when were taken for annual repair the batteries were changed automatically.

From your expert mind, what does it take to change the ECU? the guy said that they have to open the chasis of the car and it is very complicated?

And in future, being on the cars log book, would it reduce the price if I were to sell it?

Thanks

 

[star]

Sorry to say but they do have to deal with these things, I lost the network while flashing a control unit while at my old dealers, not only the once!!! It does wipe out the said unit, the only cure is a new one!!!! It sounds like they have kept you on the road, ok, not a ML, but still, you have wheels, I don't have a lot of love for the dealers but these things can and do happen........

Welcome to the forums.......

+1, last week, MB servers were hit and miss, so we didn't carry out any updates. It is a worry that due to no fault of ours we may be liable for control a ecu because their network crashes. i have spoken to MB and they are trying to improve the situation??? We can claim off MB but its long winded.

 

[television]

From your expert mind, what does it take to change the ECU? the guy said that they have to open the chasis of the car and it is very complicated?

And in future, being on the cars log book, would it reduce the price if I were to sell it?

Thanks

There will be nothing in the cars log book that anyone could access, so do not worry on that front.

 

[Christian]

I thought that when I read you post Malc, it's the Internet connection loss which kills the update, it happens quite a bit in the dealers...........

BT crap connections, right !?