Sleestack you may be able to help out on this.

Teleaid, I understand the subscription is about $250 for a year.

My question is, if you don't subscribe to Teleaid, and if you have an accident, will the operator still come online to see if you're alright and/or send emergency help? I think it'd be horrible if you pressed the Teleaid button in an accident and the operator says, "sorry, you didn't pay for your subscription agreement, we can't help you." I don't really care about the wrench button or the info button but being able to be located/having help sent automatically I would think is very important.

Maybe she would follow up with, "give me your credit card number and I'll call you an ambulance?"

 

If you don't subcribe, you won't get any help in an accident.

Unfortunately, they realize this is a key issue and they use it as a selling point. When they called to see if I wanted to renew my subscription, I said no. She said "But what if you were in a horrible accident and nobody knew?" I don't know about you, but that seems like it's almost a threat. If they think scaring people is a good sales tactic, they're wrong.

 

I am subscribing that and treat that as an insurance, just in case of an accident, I have someone to come rescue me. Other than that, I don't think I will ever use that service.

 

Newbie,

What if you didn't subscribe, you're in a horrible accident, and press the little red button for help. Would they just say, "screw you, you didn't subscribe?" Just seems counter-intuitive of all the safety features pushed by MB not to allow such a courtesy call if the equipment is already built into the car.

 

The problem is that it is not a courtesy but a service provided for a fee. If you don't subscribe I doubt there is a connection. You can't dial 911 from your house if you don't have a dial-tone. Don't be insulted by the tacky sales tactics, I think it's worth it. You won't be able to argue against it if nobody knows you're uncouscious and upside-down in a ditch. As an added bonus, last week my car was about to be towed, the tow-truck driver set off the alarm and tele-aid called my cell phone. I was out of ear-shot of the alarm but I was at least able to catch the driver before he took my car.

 

As a side note, I get a discount from my insurance company because of the anti theft feature of Tele Aid. The discount doesn't cover my annual fee but it does provide some peace of mind in the event of theft or accident. I, too, think of it as insurance.

 

I have the Teleaid in both the E55 and ML320 and I will continue to subscribe it after the first year free trial. I actually used the service 2 months ago; my ML320 window got stuck(broken switch) during a very cold day( 25-30* F) One push of the Teleaid button and the customer support came online. Within a few minutes I got a tech online and temporarily took care the jammed window. This happen when I was in Toronto Canada. Teleaid offers a good service and you never know when Murphy's Law will strike you. If you spend this much money for a Mercedes Benz, another $250/ year is a small price that will give you a peace of mind.

JohnAMG

 

I just called GEICO and asked them about a discount on the Teleaid system. They say they currently do not discount Teleaid, but they discount LoJack?! I inform him that Teleaid can perform the same function as LoJack (helps locate your car using GPS satellites) plus much more, i.e. if you're in an accident you get prompt medical attention even if you can't dial a phone, etc etc. however it is not currently recognized by GEICO as a safety device.

I asked about the discount on LoJack and it is 15% off your comprehensive, which for me is about $40/6 mths, $80/year.

I then asked the guy for GEICO's address to write a letter to them to consider accepting Teleaid as a LoJack-equivalent in terms of pricing discounts. He gave me the following address:

GEICO
Executive Office
1 Geico Plaza
Washington, DC 20076

I am planning on writing a letter to them to consider accepting Teleaid as a recognized safety device, bringing Teleaid's annual cost down to $170/year. This would encourage many more MB drivers to get it too. If you are a GEICO customer and drive a MB with Teleaid available, you should write to them at that address too. If you belong to another insurance company, you should write to them too if they don't provide an insurance discount. Maybe it'll become recognized as an industry-standard and then become accepted by all companies.

Once you write your letter, drop me a quick e-mail to let me know you've done so just so I keep a quick tally of our joint response, and pass this along. Hopefully the insurance discount will encourage more people to activate this important potentially life-saving feature.

Safet

 

When I inquired about getting an insurance discount, I thought it best to get my agent involved. I gave her a copy of the sales brochure for my car, which outlined the anti theft features of Tele Aid, as well as the window sticker which proved that my car had Tele Aid installed. I suggest you send such proof along with your letter.

 

Teleaid, Subscribe or Not?

Yes, I intend to subscribe, despite some glitches and shortcomings, such as perhaps easy disabling of satellite tracking as opposed to lo-jack.

MB invested a lot in the infrastructure development to provide the SOS features. It deserves our support to make it better and to bring down costs.

THINK: - $250 (the cost of one tire) is a small price to pay for this type of high-tech insurance, that deserves everyone's support, because it saves lifes.

 

Whatever- I live in a huge city and rarely leave by car, so I'm not concerned about being in a debilitating accident and not being found.

Let me explain:

I've used Tele-Aid on 4 seperate occasions before I chose not to renew. It generally takes about 10 minutes after pressing the SOS button to get anyone to answer, and the reception is horrendous- worse than many cell phones I've had. It's just as susceptible to zero-coverage zones as a cell phone, and therefore sucks.

In addition, before you guys go nuts over the ability to find your unconcious *** via satellite, the folks looking at the Tele-Aid computers have NEVER accurately located my car. When I've used SOS to call a tow truck, they always confirm the location, and it's often 5 or more blocks away! Not cool, in my opinion.

Clever idea, poor reality, waste of money in my opinion.

 

I thought it was cool that we get the first year free...
I will definitely subscribe after that.. even if I dont use it, peice of mind if my wife (which is rare ) drives it and is in need of the service..

 

I never had my Teleaid service activated and my car has always displayed "1 Malfunction - SOS not activated." I asked my dealer how to get rid of the malfunction message and they wrote "Tested SOS button. Passed Test. Customer should call 611 to connect service." 611??? That's the dang phone company access. So, I'm guessing the Teleaid service company pays a few bucks to the phone company to get nominal service for their embedded cell phones in order to connect up to Teleaid?

When I press SOS, I just mutes the radio and blinks for a few minutes before I get the standard "beep-beep-beep no service in this area" telco message.

BTW, does anyone know how to really get rid of the malfunction message?

 

I've cancelled my TeleAid subscription...........
1. I was stuck in Cape Cod. It took about 10 minutes for someone to come on line with TeleAid. It took the tow truck driver about 50 minutes to get to my car........becuase he didnt know where I was. He had to call me on my cell phone and get to me. So the locating function is useless.

2. If the car is stolen, the thieft can most easily disable TeleAid. Since it works on the cellular network, the antenna can easily be covered up or disconnected. Or if they park in a underground garage, I dont see how it can get a connection. People should never get this as a substitute for lojack.

3. If you are in an accident around the city, then anyone can simply call 911. But if you're in the boonies with no cell phone coverage, TeleAid will render useless if you're in an accident. Its also absolutely absurd that the SOS function wont work if you're in an accident if you dont subscribe. .:o

I cancelled TeleAid and I'm going to get lojack installed soon.....i think the cost is around $500.:o

 

I like Tele-aid for more than the emergency response stuff. I hope I never have to use it, but if I ever do, then I'm glad. And as some of you have posted, we have 50-150 thousand dollar cars. What's 250 a year.

At any rate, the Tele-Aid helped me wend my way through some construction zones near the San Jose Arena (whatever it's corporate name) to get to a Sharks game. Being from the Central Coast of CA, I don't know the bay area that well, so it was helpful because my nav map didn't have the updated construction confusion on it. Also, I scored a reservation for two at a good sushi restaurant. Oh well, that may just be excessive consumption.

I also have programed my car to receive stock reports and baseball and hockey scores. Now that's critical information in a car! :p

 

Your M-B dealer seem like a bunch of boneheads. You need to push the "i" button and that gets you to someone who can get you set up. I believe that your salesmen also has to fax in paperwork for the first year free.

 

Update. This is straight from the Teleaid/MBUSA Telemetric people:

Question: If the customer declines service how do we remove the "1 Malfunction" message from the IP?


Answer: The "1 Malfunction" message will always remain on the IP if the customer declines the service. Legally it must appear as an indication to the customer that the service is not activated. If you scroll down that menu, you can see it says, "Tele Aid Not Activated" if you need to clarify the malfunction message for your customer.

 

I'm of the mind set that if you spend the amount of $$$ to own the safest car on the market, and want to save a few bucks a year just because you don't think it's worth it, then let me tell you of my past experience!
A couple of months ago, while returning from a GTG in Nashville, TN, and returning back to Central Fl., I had a little mishap. After hitting a piece of tire on I-75 60 miles So. of Macon, GA. and spilling some coffee into the shifter, I pulled into a rest area to check for damage and turning off the key to go check my shorts, ( happened in a downpour while following a truck!!!); went back to clean up the coffee, only to find out that my car wouldn't shift into gear.
Make a long story short, used TelAid wrench ( waited about 2 mins. or less), got hooked into a Service rep. up in Macon, who sent out a flat bed tow truck and had me in the shop to replace the shifting computer first thing in the morning. Oh, did I mention that this all took place late on a Sunday afternoon?
I sure felt that it paid for itself with just that, besides the safety factor, and other features. There are three redundent back ups to the system to spoil would be theives ( and they know it!!), and when they reached me, they knew right where my car was located via the GPS.
Now the wrench and info service is only as good as cell phone service would be in that area, more of less, but the SOS feature is a beacon GPS type system used by commercial fishing boats and other offshore marine vessels, and is not effected by weather or cell phone access in the area you might be traveling in. Much better than lojack, which requires that Police cars have the proper locator system in their cars ( which usually they only have one such car even in large Metro areas) to even locate. SOS is activated when an airbag or other mishaps might take place in a possible theft and you call MB to report the stolen car ( after calling the Police first!). MB can activate the GPS remotely, or in case of a crash, is activates itself sending out the GPS signal.
Oh yes, the war was lost for the need of a nail!! Poor economics thinking to not keep your TelAid functional IMHO!
Your mileage may vary!
Smoke 'em if you got 'em........

Jim

 

I've been lurking but I figured I'd post too...

I agree with that as well... not only safety but convenience. I've used TeleAid a few times for mechanical and other issues (flat tire, etc) which justify the price IMO. No need to deal with changing a tire in the middle of the night on a rainy day or something -- the devil's advocate reasoning being that if you already have AAA or you don't mind doing it yourself, then you can do away with TeleAid, of course.

Plus there's also (if you're willing to pay for it) things like reservations and what-not. HOWEVER, I will agree with the people that say it's deceptive in some ways, as it only provides the service/assistance if there's cellular and GPS coverage (even though I can't remember the time I took my car somewhere where there was neither ), so the whole "upside down in a ditch" thing does kind of apply... and doesn't...

I think it's a good service that (when it works, and it has so far for me) gives you a couple of nice features for the price, and a bit of extra piece of mind.

BTW, I live in NYC and never had any problems with them pinpointing the location of the car, never had any long wait times for an operator (even on a Sunday) and don't have any problems with audio quality.

 

This is a tough call ...it like insurance.... You never know when you need it.

Personally, I feel if I have to pay(bribe) for their service which entails their care and attention to my safety and security(which I doubt), then they should at the very least demonstrate this concern and care by giving me an updated Command CD every year or so. This is so it may reduce the chance I may happen to get lost, or happen to drive off a bridge somewhere :-) Its a thin arguement, therefore my 2 cents worth.

Other than that...you won't see a single indication they care, except on your credit card bill. Even when you get into a wreck, you might be luck if the components are still working, and you're in cellular range. That would suck!!!

...but you gotta admit the CD is a good marketing incentive.

 

Redbrick,
I don't think any big corp. really cares anymore, as the "bean" counters have taken over and replaced morality in today's biz, but that's the way things go in this day and age; but I'd still rather have the "chance" of a speedy response by EMT folks than not!
Just to set the record straight, the SOS system goes off automatically in case of enough "crash" to set off an air bag, and if they can't reach you by the telco cell network, they send the 911 notice to the nearest response unit in the area of the crash; it doesn't rely on any cell phone signals, and the redundant system ( I think there are three units in each car), so the chance of a signal not being activated would be rather remote, or you're in such a severe crash that's it's a mute point and no need to hurry!!

 

CARJACKING FOILED

TeleAid Foils Carjacking, Saves Toddlers

Washington, DC.

 

I just did a no no, and copied a copywritten article from Curt's Newsletter, which, as a photographer, I shouldn't have done. I believe in copyright and I am sorry for the bad form that I used in this case; so to try and rectify my mistake ( maybe the admin folks can delete my mistake for my sake ?
Here is the link for the full article from the Post's web site.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...&notFound=true


Sorry Curt and fellow forum members

 

You can delete the plagiarized version yourself:

1. click on EDIT on bottom of post; and

2. click on DELETE.

Tnx for your high journalistic standards! ...a breath of fresh air.

 

Thanks Karl; done deal, and I'll try not to ever do that again!!

Are you aware of the Space Coast Beach Party next month? Details in Events, as I see you're another Florida resident!!

BTW, Curt's Newletter is a nice read and a lot of great MB info by a fellow that loves MB's ( and sells them in Houston); I've been reading his stuff for the last 3 yrs. now and is always entertaining, to say the least!!

He can be found @ http://www.curtrich.com/

Even found out about something that MB did for early Eclass buyers that I was not aware of concerning people that ordered Nav systems and didn't get the GPS units as promised. Seems that MB let early buyers replace their Eclass with a brand new car at no cost!!! One guy turned in an E500 w/ 10,000 for a new one!!!! I'm afraid I'm going to have to eat my words about the "bean" counters in my earlier post!! It seems that MB stills goes the extra mile in doing what's right! Details in Curt's Newletters in one of the past issues, I believe it was May or June.