I bought my EQS 450+ back in April '22, and over the last year I've had 3 "glitches" where either the car went inexplicably in turtle mode or wouldn't start. All corrected themselves after a reset or just leaving it alone for a couple hours. I've worked in IT for 25 years, pretty obviously to me that it's computer related. Shouldn't happen with a $100K+ car, but 3 times in about 14 months spread out pretty evenly, I figured there would be some software update that would come out and fix it. Only to find out later than unlike my Tesla for the previous 5 years, Mercedes is either unable or unwilling to update their main software at my convenience and requires me to bring into into their service center.

OK so fast forward to last month, hit my 20K "maintenance update", so I scheduled the appointment and when I did I made sure they had it listed that I needed a software update (I was still on release candidate software from what I could tell). Thankfully I took screenshots each time, and they could see the error code history in their systems so there wasn't much debate on the software needing to be updated. I was first in the bay for a 7am appointment, and at 10:30 they tell me they're going to need to come back as there was a problem with the Mercedes servers and the update kept timing out. So 4.5 hours spent (it's 30 minutes each way) to essentially get my washer fluid topped off. They rescheduled me a month later to bring it back in for the update.

I got the link to review and I left an honest review...not happy with my time wasted and the apparent lack of EV knowledge still at the dealership. Wow that got their attention, I received no less than 3 texts from the service advisor saying how the bad review only affected her and would I consider changing it? I told her I thought she was personally very nice, but my experience with the center was subpar and when my issue was resolved I'd be happy to write a more positive one. Then I get a call later from her manager asking what she can do to "make it right" and convince me to give a better follow up review. I told her if they could update my car soon than one month from now, that would just about do it. She agreed, they actually had a valet drop off a replacement car and took mine in. Now we're nearing two weeks since, and nothing...I reach out last Wednesday (1 week in), I could tell the car hadn't been touched since the first day in from my MercedesME notifications, and she admitted it hadn't been touched yet, that the loaner process delays things a bit, and they only have a few technicians who work on EV's...

Is the technology really that bad on Mercedes than in 2 weeks they can't run what is in essence an iPhone update? Or is my service center that incompetent? Or...do I have unrealistic expectations?

 

I would lemon it. If they had three attempts to fix it and it's still not working then it's a lemon.

Contact a lemon law attorney.

 

appreciate the reply, but think you misread...I haven't brought it in until just 2 weeks ago. I had a couple computer glitches over the past 12 months that severely limited or prohibited me from driving, which I'm 99% sure being updated on a more mature software platform will fix. My issue is that it's been almost two weeks for them to run this update and apparently it's incredibly arduous and needs a "specialist" from Mercedes. One uninformed guy (a different service advisor) even told me some updates take "46 hours" to run...I may be wrong but pretty sure the onboard computers have less storage than a high end smartphone and unless they're running them off a 56K modem, I don't know any somewhere update in the world that would take that long to run. As an aside, I sell enterprise storage for a living, so I'm a little sensitive to a service advisor FUD.

 

They lied to you for (their) personal financial gain. It’s customary and part of MB dealers’ playbook on page #1. MB service dept employees unfortunately lie quite often.

Sorry to hear about the software difficulties and hope you receive the speediest trillion possible.

Blaming “MB servers” is as old an excuse as the AS400 servers MB uses. Any repair that is not related to a nut or a bolt is blamed on “servers”.

MB dealerships are clown circuses.

 

I would try another dealership. There are 5 MB dealerships here in the Houston, Texas area and the one closest to me is stellar in service. They are family owned as are their other 6 dealerships here in Texas and the family pulled in 1.1 Billion last year. The service advisors text me constantly with updates and explain any delays, such as a part being shipped from Germany, and always ask me if there is anything they might do different. We also use this family’s Cadillac dealership which is just as good.
P.S.- Last year when I sold them one of my SL550’s they had one of their sales staff give me a ride 35 miles home no questions asked.

 

Agree. This sounds like a dealership issue, not an MB issue. This would never happen at my dealership.

 

not like this matters but what courtesy vehicle did they provide you?

 

I despise generalizations like this - I bought my first Mercedes in '71, and have never caught anyone involved in servicing my cars to lie to me, or failed to fix a problem.

 

You should use the MB service facilities that I have had the misfortune to use. Catching SAs in their lies is pretty humorous, if you are not the SA.

No offense intended: maybe you have been lied to by SAs over the years and haven't known it. Or you knew it and didn't care. Or any number of other scenarios.

Variation in dealer experience is the very textbook definition of poor quality: variation in outcome. MB produces, sells and services low quality products and services. This thread is the latest log on the fire.

 

Got it. All I can say is that who troubleshoots it makes a difference. I had an issue with our E63S a while ago where the ambient lighting glitched. Took it to my local dealer twice. They failed to solve it. First visit they did a software update. Second visit they changed the lighting strip. Took it to a second dealer and they solved it in an afternoon - issue was neither software nor strip, but the wiring harness.

 

With this: “Variation in dealer experience…” you have just completely contradicted the post I took exception to.

Good lord, please deliver me from fuzzy thoughts.

 

I left that point out because I didn’t want to pile on, but I was told I was going to get another EV, guy dropped off a cla, which for me at 6’5” and two teens at 5’10”+ in the backseat wasn’t going to work. The guy dropping it off said he only found out halfway there I was supposed to have an EV. I drove it back later in the day and swapped it for a 580+ suv

 

I would try another dealer. I just had one of my EQS's MBUX software updated to version 3.0x. I thought I was going to have a problem convincing my service advisor to do the work based on other threads in this forum. He surprised my by telling me if MB updated the software, they should do it whether there are problems with the car or not.

The first day, the service tech could only get to a 47% download. My advisor told me and asked to keep the car one more day. He blamed the bandwidth at the dealership and wanted to get the car connected to MB servers at 7AM before more use of the internet started up. That did the trick.

Your car may need an update to other submodules in the car. One of my cars did two updates remotely. The other did not. My dealer did them for me for that car. Bottom line is that the service department makes all the difference in one's ownership experience.

 

Blaming “MB servers” is as old an excuse as the AS400 servers MB uses. Any repair that is not related to a nut or a bolt is blamed on “servers”.

Love the AS400s.

 

If MB is using AS400 as servers, are they using Pentium or Celeron chips in their EQS?

 

I see glad they made it right at least with the loaner. so from others who chimed in, apparently the update is downloading and stopping? That must be frustrating.

 

I guess the key thing is to find someone that takes pride of their work and is passionate, and not there only for a pay cheque.

 

Z80 micro running TRSDOS.

 

Couldn't agree with you more. In my experience for the last 2+ years, MB dealerships are no better, and maybe worse than less expensive cars. The employees at the two local dealerships that I have been to, have very little experience with their product and seem to want to avoid dealing with warranty issues, especially when it comes to software problems...of which there are many. I have owned three other S class mercedes and had good service before, but this one...2019 S 560 will be my last.

 

well just to follow up, they told me after 4 weeks the car was ready. I asked which software version it was on out of curiosity, and the service advisor had no idea what I was talking about. I sent her a screenshot of the EQS rental I had and she then took one of mine, still on the 250.xxx code. I then proceeded to email the owner, the service manager, the advisor and gave them a full recounting of the ridiculousness I’ve been dealing with. Service manager called me later in the day, told me MBUSA doesn’t allow software updates and I proceeded to tell how ridiculous that was…long story short, next day he calls me back, tells me mercedes has a major update release scheduled for end of July, made an appointment for early August for me to get my car updated. Honestly as long as my car doesn’t inexplicably not work between now and then then great, I’ll have the latest and greatest. If it does…look out. I will lose it.

so yea, I think I’m probably done with Mercedes and this dealership after this experience. Shame too, because the car could be great if I wasn’t on their original release candidate software.

 

Sounds like a horrible experience. Had an EQS for a while (don't ask) and I know for a fact that they performed 5+ SW updates in 60 days. My advisor was amazing with communication so the first thing I would do is switch advisors if you are staying with that dealership. That will have a huge impact on your experience. Most dealerships from any brand right now have a dedicated EV specialist/s and they are the only ones to work on EV's. Manufacturers are hugely focused on customer experience with their EV lines as they try to win back marketshare from Tesla.

 

“Mercedes doesn’t allow software updates”. What a bunch of crap that is. I knew a software update was available for my car and asked my service dept to perform the update. At first they balked and said need a specific reason so they would get reimbursed by corporate. I promptly said this was my 7th Mercedes I’ve bought from them (all high end cars) and I would really appreciate it if you did the update. It worked. Service advisor wrote up that I was having intermittent problems with MBUX not working and performed the update. Apparently they got reimbursed and I got the new software. So it’s patently not true that Mercedes doesn’t allow updates. Tell them you’ve been on the forums and everyone’s getting updated. Otherwise if possible look for a new dealer.

 

Why in the world would MB not want their customers to have the latest software updates possible? The EV competition is getting fierce so would not customer satisfaction be a top priority? I just do not understand….

 

The past few posts underscore the luxury (not) corporate product support and dealer experience MB is known for. In other words: rubbish.

 

The sad fact is that majority of the car buyers outside this forum don't care about software updates. Most don't know about MBUX or what version their car is running.
The most verbal group demanding software updates are ex-Tesla owners.