So I wrote this email to MB yesterday while in a meeting with some clients to keep myself awake:

Recently I leased a E320 W211 from Laguna Niguel in Southern California. I absolutely love the car and have been a Mercedes customer since my C230 coupe which I purchased in 2002. As far as looks and style go, there is no better car in the price range for my money and I won't hear about it.

The reason I am writing this letter however is not so much to praise the vehicle but to let you know why my next vehicle is likely to not be a Mercedes Benz.

Many of the features that this car is capable of performing are disabled or not available in the US and that is very aggravating.
For example:

1) Bluetooth
2) Sat Radio
3) DVD/TV (at least give us the option)

In addition there are many things that would make the car much more enjoyable:

1) Better software and more features in the command, a screensaver feature or maybe just a clock would be nice
2) Easy integration with other devices
3) Ease of upgrading stereo equipment
4) Standard 60/40 split rear seat
5) Better Nav software (street names not visible unless zoomed really close) (Nav retrofit still not available)
6) Radio preset scroll through steering wheel option (my c230 even had this)
7) Durable trunk interior and heavier trunk lid
8) Integration with more than just one outdated phone, should easily be available via Bluetooth
9) And better overall quality control

MB should get more involved with the Message Boards and understand why more and more people are leaving despite the fact that they still love the brand.

Americans I am sure (especially here in southern California) buy the most number of Mercedes Benz vehicles. And it seems only for us that the quality is diminishing.

I am sure this is not the first letter you have received and it won't be the last. But please consider making these features available in the US soon and improving on the currently available features.

Thank you
Sincerely,

TR


Today, to my surprise I received this letter:



Thank you for your suggestions. As you may know the features you suggest are either in research and development, will be available later this year or are not approved for installation in US version vehicles. Please refer to our website www.MBUSA.com for updates.

We appreciate your comments, please be assured we will share them with the appropriate areas of our company.

The opportunity for review is appreciated.

Sincerely,
Robyn Letz
Customer Relations

 

Sounds like a form letter to me. (the response one)

 

yeah but at least they read it to figure out which form letter to send me.

 

Tan,

Hey buddy - your letter looks just like mine! I should email mine, as I planned on sending it regular mail. What email address did you send it to? Maybe if I send mine, they will get the idea.


Thanks

 

Well, I went on the mbusa site and I went under contact us. And there there is really no catagory for this sort of thing. but under he customer section I did see a "general requests and comments" section which I used to send my letter.

http://www.mbusa.com/brand/container...dex.jsp&menu=0

should get you to the page where you can click on:

General Requests & Comments

I urge everyone to send a letter soon so we can let them know that we would really like these features.

Thats what these boards are for.

 

As did I on behalf of all our forum members given their collective response as to which non USA features they would want most. I went one step further by addressing it to the GM of product management for the E-class. By the way, I also extended an invitation to him and his staff to monitor our forums - he replied that they will. Funny thing though, shortly therafter the forum crashed and all documentation (i.e.: bulletins, fixes, etc.) was lost. Coincidence

Search the forums for "Non-USA E-Class features"

 

What we should REALLY write about is how they should improve reliability. But sure, having those features would be nice.

 

ABSOLUTELY! That's why I invited them to monitor our forums.

 

consider federal expressing a letter to the president of MBUSA. because of the way overnight envelopes are handled, it won't just get tossed into the pile, and someone might actually read it who has more authority then to just respond with a form letter.