pvrick

Despite working with the Mbrace call center at least ten times, I find that mbrace just doesn't work. Primarily the 3 GL coverage makes it too slow.

Is anyone using this effectively. Amazing that Chevy and Hundai can offer systems that work, but on $100k car it is 1980's technology.

Appreciate your comments

Rocketman

I gave up after a year! Useless internet and then MB dropped several things like street view for Google maps etc.. I'm unhappy with MB and I've a number of them over the years. When it is time to replace this one I will have to give serious consideration to other brands. I do love the car and it is a monster on the highways and I love that about it. Sad that they cant get a relatively small thing like the internet to work in a modern way.

MTrauman

Apparently I am the poster child for persistence.


I never gave up on using some of the MBrace app features. I know the tier 2 tech support supervisors and I know they probably scream when I call.


But I now use the internet radio daily and it works great. Mind you I have owned a '14 S Class since December 2013 and now a '16 S Class. I have spent a ton of time trying to get stuff to work. In fact, I think they use me as a beta tester for the driving journal since I use that feature daily as well and that finally works like a charm. As far as the wifi connection, I did give up on that along time ago since it is so slow that it reminds me of when I started to use the internet in the mid '90s--dial up speed that is.

Keadog

I don't know enough yet if their "remote start" app falls into Embrace, but it's atrocious. What a (bad) joke. I'm averaging 25-30% complete failure, and, when it does start the car, it takes almost 10 minutes to complete the cycle with a very fast LTE network. My Viper in my 2008 Tundra still starts the truck through hospital walls and up to 1/4 mile line of site with almost 100% instant success. It also doesn't limit you to 10 minutes of run time.
It's an OK car, but they certainly haven't won me over yet. This stuff needs to work, period.
My 2006 Silverado's OnStar worked in remote SE Nebraska, flawlessly. 2006!!!
Not impressed.

mrmotoguzzi00

The only thing they seem to have nailed is the calls i keep getting to continue the service... wifi is useless compared to my cell phone. Locating the car works occasionally but it's so slow I find the car before it does same with the remote locking feature... i can stand next to my wifi router and it's still iffy that it will work...

as an example i can get 8 screens from my home security app up and streaming in seconds...

sorry but Mbrace i pitiful, I wish it wasn't.

e55phil

What I like about mbrace is when I'm driving I can call them and ask them to send an address to my car. It's true that the address that they give me is not always accurate but it gets me within a quarter of a mile.

There are some other features such as helping you find your car when it's lost or stolen and notifying the authorities if you have an accident.

It's not perfect but I've used it a few times in a positive way. I don't pay for the Internet, I don't pay for the Internet radio option or maybe I do but if I do I don't use it but a few times of getting the address and saving the time when I'm running to a meeting is worth it to me.

It does take a very long time to connect and then you have to listen to some music and announcements which makes it even longer. I wish they would do away with that.

I wonder if anybody at Mercedes-Benz reads any of these postings or they could just care less?

platt-deutsch

You guys have experienced everything I have with my 2015 S550. I finally gave up. Dealer coldnt make it work, MBrace techs after 10 call I gave up. I cancelled the service. It comes to about $500.00 a year and is awful service. 3g internet in 2016 is stupid. I now use my cell phone to stream my music (Polka and German stations) with the tune in app on the phone and use the blue tooth to get it to the radio..Works perfect.
I have a spare mechanical key blade in my billforld and my wife has spare key fob in purse. I also have a extra keyfob with the battery removed that I hid inside the car. It will start and run the car in a pinch. Mbrace internet connection is a Joke and dealer and MB dont seem to care if it works or not.

Steinhart

good idea regarding keeping a spare mechanical key blade in your billfold, I need to do that, I threw my sport bag with the key fob in the pocket, in the backseat as I usually do, but then the doors locked when I touched the front door handle and I was locked out! I went inside the house and grabbed my wife's key fob but had I not been home it would have been a major pain

the car should not lock with the key fob inside the car, right? however periodically the key fob does not work at all until I press a button on it, it's like it goes dead or is not recognized, so maybe that's what happened and the car locked with the fob inside

and I too gave up on mbrace long ago, total waste of time and money for me

e_dasani

If your keyfob is in the backseat, then isn't it the same of having the keyfob in your pocket? presumably there shouldn't be a problem to either lock or to unlock the doors in this case by touching the door handles (as the keys would be detected to being within range)

I'm not quite following this since I haven't had this incident yet

Steinhart

correct, however periodically the key fob does not work at all until I press a button on it, it's like it goes dead or is not recognized, so maybe that's what happened and the car locked with the fob inside

platt-deutsch

The extra keyfob I hid in the car does not have batterys in it so it is not recognzed as being in the car. If I ever need it to start the car I will just pull the start button out and insert the fob and start the car. Does not need battery in the fob to start the car. As long as I can enter the car I am good to go.. The spare keyblade in my billfold will get me into the car.

jerome8283

I want a remote start option for my wife on cold winter mornings. Mbrace remote start doesn't cut it. It looks like I will have to revert back to midcityengineering. I had this on my 2010 E-Class and it worked great, http://www.midcityengineering.com/

listerone

I rear ended a car at a light (at 7mph) and the airbags deployed.I was 200 miles north of Montreal and it was -25F.About 15 seconds after the impact,still stunned by the smell of gunpowder,I heard a voice say "sir,are you OK?" It was mbrace.Having been slightly injured they sent an ambulance...without my guidance (didn't have the first clue where I was).

I'm a believer.BMW's offering 10 years of free BMW Assist played a big role (along with 45MPG Highway) in replacing my Bluetec with my current "d".

italiano

I just signed up but Im always getting data connection failed? Also the operator voice calls are very low grade quality, my cadillac ottar was a much clearer sounding phone call. Almost like the person was in the car. The mbrace center speaker is of very low quality. Im kind of disappointed. I have taken it to the dealer and they said everything is fine, yet as soon as I try it it says data connection failed. The dealer told me the servers go down from time to time. It seems likes it all the time. I haven't been able to use any features other than to call concerige services and they tell me everything is fine. I paid 2yrs upfront and so far I'm not impressed. I never had any issues with onstar. How do you connect to wifi hotspot? I can't seem to find it in the menu. I was told I have it but I can't find it which makes me think I don't have it. I have a 2015.

MTrauman

Unfortunately the dealers are really not involved in MBrace so they are not the ones to help you here.


You must deal with MBrace and their customer service is the worst you can find until you get so pissed off (I have been dealing with these people since December 2013) that they send you to tier 2 Tech support. Once you get there if they don't resolve your issue then it is time for a tier 2 tech supervisor. Over the past year I have talked to the three supervisors. I believe Scott has been the most helpful for me. I had a 2014 S Class and now have had a 2016 S Class for one year. I use my internet radio daily and it works flawlessly. You just need to be assertive enough that they get your internet radio and other internet features to work properly.


I now rarely get the data connection failed but if you get that warning then keep calling them until they get tired of you. They will then get it fixed. Like I said, worst experience ever here but if you want it to work be assertive.

MTrauman

Glad you had a good experience.


I had an excellent experience with MBrace emergency call services when I was forced off the road in my '14 S550 4matic and hit a tree at 60mph.


Talk about stunned! My car ran off the road and I ended up hitting a tree at 60mph and my car's front end lifted on top of a tree. MBrace was there to the rescue calming me down when I thought I was entering heaven--no joke here. I walked away without a scratch but MBrace calmed my down so I did not completely go into shock. One must have MBrace emergency call services. It could be the difference between life and death. And I am the type of person that said this type of severe accident will never happen to me. But it did.

italiano

Thank you for the reply! I appreciate it. That gives me a little more confidence. I spoke to 3 people yesterday and they all seem like they didn't know what I was talking about. They all just kept asking me how I liked the car. Then 2 them asked what dept the person transferred was from. I said "I have no idea". It was all really frustrating. A lot of hold time to the point where i said Ill call back tomorrow. The Mbrace rep insisted he would call me today on my cell to make sure it was working but I haven't heard form him yet. I will start writing down names.

Im curious, did Mbrace work with the dealer to get the issues fixed or is this something they did on their end?

MTrauman

MBrace controls this--dealers have nothing to do with MBrace except to sign you up when you buy the car.


The dealers try to help but MBrace Tech support are the people who fix the problems. So when you get connection failed, you call MBrace. Their first level of customer service is like what you stated. They say they will call back but 7 out of 10 times they don't call back. Which means you have to call and call and call to get these people off their --- and get you to tier 2 tech support. If two tier tech support cannot finally get you up and working then you ask for a supervisor. When a tech supervisor gets involved things start to happen quickly. I filled out a survey once when they sent me one offering for them to hire me as a consultant to fix their process within MBrace. It is one of the worst business process/mgmt. structures I have seen. It seems like every S Class owner seems to finally give up on MBrace because of the poor customer service. But for me I want these services to work so I keep working the system to the point that for about 6 months I have only had one small issue of a data connection failure and I called them and they reset the server. I use the internet radio daily and it is great!

italiano

Thanks! I just got off the phone with Mbrace after a 40min hold time for a tier 2 tech. She tells me that the Dealer never updated the system. This is craziness. They dealer said they did and everything was working. I picked my car up after hours, I guess I should have checked all of this at the dealer. Now I have to make a trip back. They sure don't make it easy for you.

On a side note I was told I do not have WIFI by the Tech. Yet I was told by the dealer I did, who is right? At this point Im starting to believe the MBrace Tech. If I do not have it, is this some that can be added? And Im assuming the MBrace uses old 3G tech, Is it possible to upgrade that to 4G as well?

docsout

Immediately canceled after 6 mos. trial.

italiano

Well, it took over a month. As MTrauman has said, you need to be persistent. Many calls to Mbrace and Dealer had it for a week the first time and 2 weeks for the second time. They finally fixed it everything and it now seems to work as it should. I've had no problems connecting. Most times it connects within a second and other times maybe 3-5 seconds. I tested the speed and got 1.75 Mbps down and .75 Mbps up not exactly fast but enough to make things work. BUT, I think it will be useless if anyone is sharing off the hotspot. I will try that next. I generally have 1-2 bars on the signal meter. Once I see 4-5 bars I will test it again to see if it gets better. I've streamed hd youtube vids without a glitch. I will say its pretty sad that one must go through this just to get something working that should be working in the first place. Im amazed as good as Benz is at building autos that this tech stuff would be a walk in the park for them.

Nice Ride

To my knowledge, they don't have a solution for adding Remote Start to a 2014 (222) Model.....

pjw1967

Not being snippy, but what do they "fix"? Are there settings that can be fiddled with to make it work? If the car can receive the signal, what do you set to make the signal function? I thought I might give it a try, but if it turns out to be a time bandit what's the point?

Nice Ride

Can you use your own phone for a Hot Spot for the car? Meaning, can you use the apps etc that come with the car, but use your hone for connectivity...

woppenhe

I have had the an S 550 for a month and pretty much have had the same story as the rest. However, I feel that part of the reason I bought the care was for the up to date connectivity. Mine rarely connects despite 5 bars. So I do not feel I have yet received my new car in working condition. The latest was that Tier 2 told me I had to buy the Entertainment upgrade in addition to the basic and security packages to get the internet apps. So they have a trial and I signed up for it. For some reason it take 48 hours just t make that change. IN the meantime the system will now not connect at all. The most frustration is that when it does not connect, I frequently cannot back out of that page without shutting down the entire screen, and sometimes without stopping the car, turning it off and on again. Intolerable. Even the MBFS has never connected from the car though I can access it from my phone and from any computer. All of us should be asking for compensation for the features we were sold but are not receiving. This problem has been going on since 2014, and the answers have not changed. 'Wait a month or two" Again intolerable for any car but especially for these. And Mercedes Me is no better. Rarely connects and starts the vehicle and it cannot locate the vehicle. ON the other hand, the Mbrace app--they one they keep saying is outdated, slow and miserable, works just fine. It is the new one that is really below everyone's standards. I am serious about asking for compensation. It is the only way to get their attention at this point.