Tomcat2048

It's my understanding that the touchpad does not actually replace the click wheel. It actually just replaces the number pad for station presets/dialing. The click wheel remains along with the new touchpad to enter letters/numbers.

sam9187

Tomcat - Do you have a PO number?

Tomcat2048

Not sure...my dealer just gave me the printout but he did show my vehicle in the system and it is labeled as approved. He said production on my car should begin on 05/01. I didn't really ask for a PO number.

sam9187

The reason I ask is that I have a similar printout with 5/1 being the order cycle decade and not the production decade. In my past experience there is no allocation without a PO number. Can you ask your dealer for a PO number. If they give you a PO number then it's a true allocation. MBUSA assigns a PO number as soon as they accept an order.

My dealer is telling me no allocations have been given yet but that I know differs from dealer to dealer.

Tomcat2048

Hmm...interesting. He showed me his screen and it showed that production was slated to begin 05/01. I just sent him an e-mail asking for a PO number. We'll see what he comes back with.

icebeam

Both will be on 2015. Take a look at leaked picture from MB.

Tomcat2048

Okay, so I found out something interesting. Apparently my dealer does have a PO number but he cannot share this information with me. According to them, it is against their policy to do so. He said that if I gave that information out to someone, it could potentially allow other dealers to pull that PO out of their inventory. Since this is a trustworthy dealer, I completely believe him. Does anyone have any additional input on this?

Terminator2029

I'm sorry but this smells like a first class BS.

Tomcat2048

Yeah...I'm not sure what to tell you. He reiterated that production on my vehicle will begin on 05/01 and that I can expect delivery between June 28 - August 1. Having never purchased a Mercedes before, I have no idea what their policies are with sharing certain information.

Terminator2029

The thing is that the estimated production date is not listed in Netstar as explicit start date. Instead, they use a notion of a decade. As such, the dates would look like 2014/05/1D, which represents the first decade of May 2014. This can be anything ranging from May 1st to May 10th provided the initial estimation still stands. Telling somebody that their production date is 05/01 whereas it is actually 05/1D would be unwise, or too optimistic.

Consequently, I would question the accuracy of information from your dealer. You should have received a print out from Netstar that lists all equipment (standard + optional) ordered and this has a PO number on the top. This was the case in both of my recent orders.

Tomcat2048

I did receive the printout from Netstar which I posted in this thread earlier. However, the sheet that he printed did not have a PO number on it.

Terminator2029

The print out you showed eariler is totally different from what I have seen to date coming out of Netstar. Are you located in the US?

Tomcat2048

Yes, that is the printout from NetStar, I saw him click print on the screen. I'm located in Florida. Page 2 (which I didn't post because it has some personal information) states the date the order was requested by me (03/10/2014), Order Cycle = 05/1, Schedule is blank, Comment = SOLD UNIT NEED ASAP, and then there's a part showing MB Representative with a name there.

oswiff

Just to chime in from my experience and what I have read on these forums:

- Tomcat - your order is certainly placed into the MB Netstar system, BUT it is just sitting in the order bank. While it shows your order is approved, it just means that your order meets the MB ordering guidelines.
Every order will have the order show a order cycle but it unfortunately isn't accurate. I experienced it myself and I know Jan8or in Canada also had the same experience where an order gets delayed for one reason or another. Nothing is set in stone until your car goes "red" in netstar which only your dealer can see. That means the car has a real date for production and no changes can be made. Until your order hits red, you are still just waiting.

For example, I placed my order in June 2013, I got a printout just like you from my dealer. Early September my dealer got the allocation and PO# from MB for my car. Unfortunately H10 trim wasn't available so I had to give up my allocation and go back to waiting. In late October I got another allocation and PO# and in November I got a decade (10 day periods in MB Production schedule). The build decade arrived and my build was still "yellow" in netstar. Finally after a week it went "red" but the build was delayed a month. The car was finally built as scheduled and everything proceeded as expected

The reason your dealer won't give you a PO# is likely because he doesn't have one.

I know there are people on the forums here who have placed orders for 2014 s63 and were bumped to 2015s.

Terminator2029

It appears that there could be multiple editions/versions of Netstar client software. Otherwise, it is hard to explain the difference in order confirmation format that we receive from our US-based dealers. As I mentioned, I placed my recent order myself using the legacy Netstar client that looks like a bit outdated Windows application. All print-outs that were produced by this software looked differently from Tomcat2048's example. My order confirmation listing all equipment did have a PO number in the header.

Bottom line - it does not matter how the printouts look like. What matters is that the information from the dealerships is accurate, truthful and reflective of the true situation.

Tomcat2048

Thank you for your input. My dealer assured me that my car would enter production at the beginning of May...I guess if this doesn't happen, I'll be a little upset. We'll see what happens I guess...waiting is the hardest part with any of this. I remember when I ordered my M5 in July of 2012...the 3 months I had to wait were torture...

oswiff

Best of luck, I hope you get it ASAP. I had to wait 7 months for my s63 and I waited 2.5 months for my ford raptor supercrew so I know how you feel.

I would love to own an m5 but living in the northeast it makes it hard to justify that car with the weather we get.

sam9187

I would agree with what others have said. I have placed multiple orders in the past year so consider myself well versed in MB order process. All of my orders have started out by entering them in Netstar and received a printout just like the one posted. The order sits there until MB accepts it and a PO assigned. My 2014 GL63 order sat in the system for 6 months before an allocation and a PO number was given. My 2014 S550 was allocated after the order was in the system for only a week. As I said my printout also has 5/1 as order cycle but from my past experiences I know better that there is no allocation until there is a PO number. If there is no allocation then there is no car and hence no production date.

sam9187

I would also like to add that I have never heard of a dealer not giving out a PO number to a customer. The interesting thing is that from now on anytime they give you a Netstar printout - the PO number is listed (if there is one). So are they not going to give you any printout until the car arrives?

Also it's not possible for another dealer to steal an allocation based on the PO number. In the Netstar system any dealer can look at another's allocation, inventory etc.

Any dealer has access to another dealer's PO any day so the only person they are hiding the PO number from is the customer.

LovinMercedes

Correct! I've personally sat by the computer and watched my dealer search for a car and they were able to search any dealer in the country.

MTrauman

I have posted some information that may be helpful to this conversation. My understanding is that MBUSA converted 2014 orders to 2015 MY S classes in early February. Any new order "MAY" not be accepted until May 1 with a PO number issued. The below information validates this by showing the S Class order bank opening up on 5/1/14. Not positive my information is correct but the below information is used in the fleet business to keep on top of production and order schedules.




Updated: March 6, 2014

Mercedes-Benz

Model2014 Fleet Final Order Due Date 2014 Final Production Date 2015 Order Bank Open Date 2015 Production Startup C-Class Sedan1/7/14TBD10/1/14**7/1/14**C-Class Coupe2/15/14TBD8/1/145/5/14CLA-ClassN/A*N/A1/2/1511/1/14CLS-Class8/1/14TBD10/1/149/1/14E-Class8/1/14TBD10/15/149/1/14E-Class Wagon 8/1/14TBD10/15/149/1/14E-Coupe8/1/14TBD10/15/149/1/14E-Cabrio8/1/14TBD10/15/149/1/14G-Class7/15/14TBD11/1/149/1/14GL-Class5/1/14TBD9/1/147/1/14GLA-ClassN/AN/A10/1/14**7/1/14**GLK-Class3/4/14TBD6/1/145/5/14M-Class5/1/14TBD9/1/147/1/14S-Class2/7/14TBD5/1/14**3/20/14**S-CoupeN/AN/A10/1/14**8/1/14**SL-Class (SL550, SL63 AMG, SL65 AMG)7/1/14TBD8/1/146/1/14SL-Class (SL400)8/1/14TBD10/1/148/1/14SLK-Class3/4/14TBD8/1/146/1/14Smart4/1/14TBD6/1/144/1/14 * CLA n/a for fleet ordering
** Order bank opening and production startup dates may vary by model configuration

MTrauman

Looks like my copy and paste job did not turn out well. In the "Stuff" in the copy and past is the S class production date of 3/20/14 and the order bank open date of 5/1/14. Sorry for the "mess" of a copy and paste.

Tomcat2048

So is this basically saying that the 05/01 production start date is accurate for 2015 models?

MTrauman

No. Production start date is estimated to be March 20th, 2014 for MY 2015 S Class with new orders being accepted by MBUSA as May 1st, 2014. My guess is that all the orders that were converted in NETSTAR from 2014 MY to 2015 MY order filled the slots until the 5/1/14 date. This is only a guess. The one certain thing is that production is estimated on 3/20/14. From the information that is available to dealers/fleet suppliers, it appears that orders will not be accepted in the NETSTAR system until 5/1/14 for new orders since 2/7/14.

sam9187

If new orders will not be allocated until 5/1 then certainly production cannot start 5/1. New orders cannot go into production as soon as they are allocated. Usually there is over a month period between allocation and production.

It's really hard to know what the truth is in terms of production of new orders but I would agree based on my experience and information on the net that allocations for new orders MY 15 s63s are not assigned yet.

Sales people will tell you anything to get a deposit and $5000 is a decent one.