Elvisfan0108

It’s not going away. Even Sirius Xm switched from an annual charge to monthly.

mikapen

Unfortunately, Subscription Services are more lucrative for the provider. It's the wave of the future and I guess I need to change, even though I really dislike it.
You can't buy Microsoft Office, you have to subscribe. YouTube has commercials, unless you subscribe. You can't go far in your Tesla, unless you subscribe.

Eaton

Mercedes services are currently offered as yearly subscriptions.

Elvisfan0108

You can go to Sams website and buy Office. No subscription needed. There is that option. There are other options available. Citizen Goods is another option.

mikapen

Oh, that's right. There was a lot of backlash and pirating, so MSFT reissued full Office in '19, and a limited version last year.
However, immediate updates are still only with a subscription.

Elvisfan0108

A little off topic. I have Microsoft office professional plus 2021. Full suite. No subscription.


FYI

mikapen

Unless you want updates, then a subscription is needed. Wash, rinse, ...... Subscription.

Elvisfan0108

You’ll notice it says Updates are downloaded and installed. There has been no mention of a subscription.

mikapen

Ok you win. There is no MSFT subscription. I'll tell my friends and ask for a refund. Important stuff.

zengshengliu

There are two different product lines for Microsoft Office. One is Office XXXX (year). This is a one time purchase, and include updates for the same version. There is another product line call Office 365. That one is subscription based, and contains all future version update as long as your subscription is active.
You can see here for more information.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/micr...products?tab=1

Now back to topic, I wish Mercedes can offer a "bundled" price with some discount. It would be nice if people want to purchase multiple (or all) and Mercedes can offer some kind of discount for the bundled subscription.

howardx

I agree. Even Tesla has a yearly bundle subscription for their Premium Connectivity. $100 a year or $10 a month.

MetaData1

Got the same email today for my 03/19 GLE. Wasn’t too surprised given a few of these services have an expiration date.

I’m most likely going to purchase the Remote Lock/Unlock and Remote Start features. These have become more reliable.

I’m interested in the dashcam addon too.

Lucky 777

I'm ok with subscriptions where you receive an actual product in real time like XM or Netflix. But using map updates as an example, I see no promise to actually update the maps. I'm not paying a yearly or monthly fee to get something that they may or may not provide.

superswiss

Map updates are provided regularly. There are at least two updates per year. Sometimes more. The trial period is there to decide if you wanna renew the map updates.

marchgroupinc

Repeated on another thread Mercedes Me Connect - Subscription charges
My renewal is up and Canadians are not being offered the "A La Carte" list of services any more. Must pay for all or get nothing. Is it the same in the US now too?
$250 per year. My remote start is a feature that was included when I purchased the GLS and now I have to pay $250/year to keep it and other features that were listed as standard equipment. How is that right? I understand if that was something we were made aware of when we purchased the vehicle but that is not the case here. I was grudgingly going to pay for a few features as the cost was not worth the fight but now this is not worth the cost to me.

GregW / Oregon

It's still ala carte in the US, AFAIK. I just renewed selected ones a couple months ago.

Elvisfan0108

I think the subscriptions were all listed as subscriptions on the sticker. There will be services I may continue.

marchgroupinc

On my order and documentation from Mercedes Canada states as "Standard Factory Options ..... 09U Vehicle Montoring.... 26U Remote Engine Start ..12U Concierge Trial) Remote Unlock etc. so if the intent was to provide a free trial of an option like Vehicle Monitoring or Remote Start it should have specified like it did with the Concierge trial as a trial or subscription. It only became a subscription later. I did not get the "Sticker" so I can't say what that had on it.

Elvisfan0108

when I get my car back, I’ll check. It’s being detailed right now.

Elvisfan0108

On my sticker it states Mercedes me connect with trial period. Subscription required after. It’s listed as one item.

Silverbird

Another Canadian who is pretty annoyed the new Mercedes Me renewal is an all or nothing $250 /year. I was really impressed last April when it was a la carte, so could get the option for the remote monitoring and door locking and not pay for the remote start I rarely used or nav updates I also rarely use.
This may backfire on them when I choose the $0 option.

th1ef

I chose the $0 option as well I ordered same a la carte as you last year and barely used them, nice to have but not nice enough for $250

nice surprise this year to see they are greedy forcing crap like valet mode and their ****ty gps, Apple car play is way better

Silverbird

Small update, I haven't renewed the Connect Services... on Thursday I received a "limited time offer until October 31" to save 10% if I renew. so $225 instead of $250.

Still no deal.

I'm curious if the renewal rates have been less than they planned as more and more of the Connected equipped cars in Canada are falling outside the free trial

th1ef

when is your expiry date?

mine is end of the month and I also got this super secret exclusive deal. I really don’t think I am going to renew, it is literally just to expensive and I only use the remote lock/unlock and engine start when it’s an emergency. 95% of the time my car is parked in my garage so I don’t use remote start and I only lock/unlock the doors if I forget my key at my desk when working which is pretty rare and would rather spend another 5 minutes walking back to my desk than spend $250 for a “sometimes” situation.

i don’t use anything else as I use CarPlay for everything.

Silverbird

My 3 year trial ended in April '22, I did a 1 year a la carte renewal, which expired April '23.

Interestingly, The phone app will still let me know the vehicle status (sunroof open, door unlocked, low battery, low tire, etc) but the only difference is now there isn't a slider to initiate a remote lock, I have to go to the car the old fashioned way... I can live with that, for as long as it lasts.