Misleading advertising by Mercedes Benz
04-24-2006, 11:53 PM
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Misleading advertising by Mercedes Benz
Hi to all. I've just started posting about my S500/S550..firstly its an awesome car...i just have an issue with MB of Australia's advertising
I had heard about the Distronic Plus feature and decided to order it. It was a development of the old sitronic in that it could bring the car to a complete stop and use all the braking force...while the original distronic would not slow the car to a stop and used only 20% of the braking force. Furthermore it would step in to increase braking force if it detected you were on the brakes but were gaining to quickly to the vehicle in front. Considering i do a lot of motorway driving i thought it would be a great safety and convenience feature to have.
I received my car in early to mid april...and when i was going through all the features i noticed it had normal distronic. There was an article in the local newspapers a few weeks prior to receiving my car that distronic plus wouldn't be allowed in Australia as the 24Ghz radar interferred with the police radars used here. So i thought the car would be minus this feature when it arrived and i would be credited with the money. Howver I was pleasantly surprised when the car arrived and it had the distronic radar and thought the newspaper article was incorrect. However i was a bit surprised to see it also had the front parking sensors as i thought the new distronic plus radar functioned as a parking sensor in place of the parktronic.
At no stage was i told that the car only had normal distronic. I discovered this by myself. Subsequently the Traffic Authority confirmed to me that the 24Ghz radar isn't allowed.
When i looked at the catalogue of options for Australia, the code for the available distronic is 219....i did a net search and the code for distronic plus is 233. This latter code isn't listed on the ordering catalogue for Australia.
My displeasure extends from the fact that Mercedes Australia knew that Distronic Plus wasn't allowed in this market yet they advertised the feature. They display this feature prominently on the Mercedes Australia website without a mention that it isn't allowed or available.
Having used "normal" distronic i probably still would have ordered it...but i think i should have been informed of the exact system that i was paying for. It would have caused considerably less confusion for me when i was trying to work out why there were certain distronic menus missing from my command etc...and thank god i didn't try and wait for the car to come to a complete stop.
Just to give you another idea of my displeasure with MB of Australia...the car as i optioned it here cost $314,000 Aussie dollars (about $234,000 US dollars)...so it certainly wasn't cheap and i expected to get exactly what i paid for...and i paid $3900 (about $3000 US dollars) for what i thought was distronic plus.
I completely love the car and love all the features...i'm just a bit peeved to have been kept in the dark about the exact features i was ordering...surely mercedes australia could have notified its dealers and customers excatly which features are allowed/available in certain markets? Or do they expect that we should know all the option codes for every feature!?!!?
I had heard about the Distronic Plus feature and decided to order it. It was a development of the old sitronic in that it could bring the car to a complete stop and use all the braking force...while the original distronic would not slow the car to a stop and used only 20% of the braking force. Furthermore it would step in to increase braking force if it detected you were on the brakes but were gaining to quickly to the vehicle in front. Considering i do a lot of motorway driving i thought it would be a great safety and convenience feature to have.
I received my car in early to mid april...and when i was going through all the features i noticed it had normal distronic. There was an article in the local newspapers a few weeks prior to receiving my car that distronic plus wouldn't be allowed in Australia as the 24Ghz radar interferred with the police radars used here. So i thought the car would be minus this feature when it arrived and i would be credited with the money. Howver I was pleasantly surprised when the car arrived and it had the distronic radar and thought the newspaper article was incorrect. However i was a bit surprised to see it also had the front parking sensors as i thought the new distronic plus radar functioned as a parking sensor in place of the parktronic.
At no stage was i told that the car only had normal distronic. I discovered this by myself. Subsequently the Traffic Authority confirmed to me that the 24Ghz radar isn't allowed.
When i looked at the catalogue of options for Australia, the code for the available distronic is 219....i did a net search and the code for distronic plus is 233. This latter code isn't listed on the ordering catalogue for Australia.
My displeasure extends from the fact that Mercedes Australia knew that Distronic Plus wasn't allowed in this market yet they advertised the feature. They display this feature prominently on the Mercedes Australia website without a mention that it isn't allowed or available.
Having used "normal" distronic i probably still would have ordered it...but i think i should have been informed of the exact system that i was paying for. It would have caused considerably less confusion for me when i was trying to work out why there were certain distronic menus missing from my command etc...and thank god i didn't try and wait for the car to come to a complete stop.
Just to give you another idea of my displeasure with MB of Australia...the car as i optioned it here cost $314,000 Aussie dollars (about $234,000 US dollars)...so it certainly wasn't cheap and i expected to get exactly what i paid for...and i paid $3900 (about $3000 US dollars) for what i thought was distronic plus.
I completely love the car and love all the features...i'm just a bit peeved to have been kept in the dark about the exact features i was ordering...surely mercedes australia could have notified its dealers and customers excatly which features are allowed/available in certain markets? Or do they expect that we should know all the option codes for every feature!?!!?
04-25-2006, 08:40 AM
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Originally Posted by dr.skp.ortho
Hi to all. I've just started posting about my S500/S550..firstly its an awesome car...i just have an issue with MB of Australia's advertising
I had heard about the Distronic Plus feature and decided to order it. It was a development of the old sitronic in that it could bring the car to a complete stop and use all the braking force...while the original distronic would not slow the car to a stop and used only 20% of the braking force. Furthermore it would step in to increase braking force if it detected you were on the brakes but were gaining to quickly to the vehicle in front. Considering i do a lot of motorway driving i thought it would be a great safety and convenience feature to have.
I received my car in early to mid april...and when i was going through all the features i noticed it had normal distronic. There was an article in the local newspapers a few weeks prior to receiving my car that distronic plus wouldn't be allowed in Australia as the 24Ghz radar interferred with the police radars used here. So i thought the car would be minus this feature when it arrived and i would be credited with the money. Howver I was pleasantly surprised when the car arrived and it had the distronic radar and thought the newspaper article was incorrect. However i was a bit surprised to see it also had the front parking sensors as i thought the new distronic plus radar functioned as a parking sensor in place of the parktronic.
At no stage was i told that the car only had normal distronic. I discovered this by myself. Subsequently the Traffic Authority confirmed to me that the 24Ghz radar isn't allowed.
When i looked at the catalogue of options for Australia, the code for the available distronic is 219....i did a net search and the code for distronic plus is 233. This latter code isn't listed on the ordering catalogue for Australia.
My displeasure extends from the fact that Mercedes Australia knew that Distronic Plus wasn't allowed in this market yet they advertised the feature. They display this feature prominently on the Mercedes Australia website without a mention that it isn't allowed or available.
Having used "normal" distronic i probably still would have ordered it...but i think i should have been informed of the exact system that i was paying for. It would have caused considerably less confusion for me when i was trying to work out why there were certain distronic menus missing from my command etc...and thank god i didn't try and wait for the car to come to a complete stop.
Just to give you another idea of my displeasure with MB of Australia...the car as i optioned it here cost $314,000 Aussie dollars (about $234,000 US dollars)...so it certainly wasn't cheap and i expected to get exactly what i paid for...and i paid $3900 (about $3000 US dollars) for what i thought was distronic plus.
I completely love the car and love all the features...i'm just a bit peeved to have been kept in the dark about the exact features i was ordering...surely mercedes australia could have notified its dealers and customers excatly which features are allowed/available in certain markets? Or do they expect that we should know all the option codes for every feature!?!!?
I had heard about the Distronic Plus feature and decided to order it. It was a development of the old sitronic in that it could bring the car to a complete stop and use all the braking force...while the original distronic would not slow the car to a stop and used only 20% of the braking force. Furthermore it would step in to increase braking force if it detected you were on the brakes but were gaining to quickly to the vehicle in front. Considering i do a lot of motorway driving i thought it would be a great safety and convenience feature to have.
I received my car in early to mid april...and when i was going through all the features i noticed it had normal distronic. There was an article in the local newspapers a few weeks prior to receiving my car that distronic plus wouldn't be allowed in Australia as the 24Ghz radar interferred with the police radars used here. So i thought the car would be minus this feature when it arrived and i would be credited with the money. Howver I was pleasantly surprised when the car arrived and it had the distronic radar and thought the newspaper article was incorrect. However i was a bit surprised to see it also had the front parking sensors as i thought the new distronic plus radar functioned as a parking sensor in place of the parktronic.
At no stage was i told that the car only had normal distronic. I discovered this by myself. Subsequently the Traffic Authority confirmed to me that the 24Ghz radar isn't allowed.
When i looked at the catalogue of options for Australia, the code for the available distronic is 219....i did a net search and the code for distronic plus is 233. This latter code isn't listed on the ordering catalogue for Australia.
My displeasure extends from the fact that Mercedes Australia knew that Distronic Plus wasn't allowed in this market yet they advertised the feature. They display this feature prominently on the Mercedes Australia website without a mention that it isn't allowed or available.
Having used "normal" distronic i probably still would have ordered it...but i think i should have been informed of the exact system that i was paying for. It would have caused considerably less confusion for me when i was trying to work out why there were certain distronic menus missing from my command etc...and thank god i didn't try and wait for the car to come to a complete stop.
Just to give you another idea of my displeasure with MB of Australia...the car as i optioned it here cost $314,000 Aussie dollars (about $234,000 US dollars)...so it certainly wasn't cheap and i expected to get exactly what i paid for...and i paid $3900 (about $3000 US dollars) for what i thought was distronic plus.
I completely love the car and love all the features...i'm just a bit peeved to have been kept in the dark about the exact features i was ordering...surely mercedes australia could have notified its dealers and customers excatly which features are allowed/available in certain markets? Or do they expect that we should know all the option codes for every feature!?!!?
Let us know the outcome....
04-25-2006, 08:53 AM
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Originally Posted by dr.skp.ortho
Hi to all. I've just started posting about my S500/S550..firstly its an awesome car...i just have an issue with MB of Australia's advertising
I had heard about the Distronic Plus feature and decided to order it. It was a development of the old sitronic in that it could bring the car to a complete stop and use all the braking force...while the original distronic would not slow the car to a stop and used only 20% of the braking force. Furthermore it would step in to increase braking force if it detected you were on the brakes but were gaining to quickly to the vehicle in front. Considering i do a lot of motorway driving i thought it would be a great safety and convenience feature to have.
I received my car in early to mid april...and when i was going through all the features i noticed it had normal distronic. There was an article in the local newspapers a few weeks prior to receiving my car that distronic plus wouldn't be allowed in Australia as the 24Ghz radar interferred with the police radars used here. So i thought the car would be minus this feature when it arrived and i would be credited with the money. Howver I was pleasantly surprised when the car arrived and it had the distronic radar and thought the newspaper article was incorrect. However i was a bit surprised to see it also had the front parking sensors as i thought the new distronic plus radar functioned as a parking sensor in place of the parktronic.
At no stage was i told that the car only had normal distronic. I discovered this by myself. Subsequently the Traffic Authority confirmed to me that the 24Ghz radar isn't allowed.
When i looked at the catalogue of options for Australia, the code for the available distronic is 219....i did a net search and the code for distronic plus is 233. This latter code isn't listed on the ordering catalogue for Australia.
My displeasure extends from the fact that Mercedes Australia knew that Distronic Plus wasn't allowed in this market yet they advertised the feature. They display this feature prominently on the Mercedes Australia website without a mention that it isn't allowed or available.
Having used "normal" distronic i probably still would have ordered it...but i think i should have been informed of the exact system that i was paying for. It would have caused considerably less confusion for me when i was trying to work out why there were certain distronic menus missing from my command etc...and thank god i didn't try and wait for the car to come to a complete stop.
Just to give you another idea of my displeasure with MB of Australia...the car as i optioned it here cost $314,000 Aussie dollars (about $234,000 US dollars)...so it certainly wasn't cheap and i expected to get exactly what i paid for...and i paid $3900 (about $3000 US dollars) for what i thought was distronic plus.
I completely love the car and love all the features...i'm just a bit peeved to have been kept in the dark about the exact features i was ordering...surely mercedes australia could have notified its dealers and customers excatly which features are allowed/available in certain markets? Or do they expect that we should know all the option codes for every feature!?!!?
I had heard about the Distronic Plus feature and decided to order it. It was a development of the old sitronic in that it could bring the car to a complete stop and use all the braking force...while the original distronic would not slow the car to a stop and used only 20% of the braking force. Furthermore it would step in to increase braking force if it detected you were on the brakes but were gaining to quickly to the vehicle in front. Considering i do a lot of motorway driving i thought it would be a great safety and convenience feature to have.
I received my car in early to mid april...and when i was going through all the features i noticed it had normal distronic. There was an article in the local newspapers a few weeks prior to receiving my car that distronic plus wouldn't be allowed in Australia as the 24Ghz radar interferred with the police radars used here. So i thought the car would be minus this feature when it arrived and i would be credited with the money. Howver I was pleasantly surprised when the car arrived and it had the distronic radar and thought the newspaper article was incorrect. However i was a bit surprised to see it also had the front parking sensors as i thought the new distronic plus radar functioned as a parking sensor in place of the parktronic.
At no stage was i told that the car only had normal distronic. I discovered this by myself. Subsequently the Traffic Authority confirmed to me that the 24Ghz radar isn't allowed.
When i looked at the catalogue of options for Australia, the code for the available distronic is 219....i did a net search and the code for distronic plus is 233. This latter code isn't listed on the ordering catalogue for Australia.
My displeasure extends from the fact that Mercedes Australia knew that Distronic Plus wasn't allowed in this market yet they advertised the feature. They display this feature prominently on the Mercedes Australia website without a mention that it isn't allowed or available.
Having used "normal" distronic i probably still would have ordered it...but i think i should have been informed of the exact system that i was paying for. It would have caused considerably less confusion for me when i was trying to work out why there were certain distronic menus missing from my command etc...and thank god i didn't try and wait for the car to come to a complete stop.
Just to give you another idea of my displeasure with MB of Australia...the car as i optioned it here cost $314,000 Aussie dollars (about $234,000 US dollars)...so it certainly wasn't cheap and i expected to get exactly what i paid for...and i paid $3900 (about $3000 US dollars) for what i thought was distronic plus.
I completely love the car and love all the features...i'm just a bit peeved to have been kept in the dark about the exact features i was ordering...surely mercedes australia could have notified its dealers and customers excatly which features are allowed/available in certain markets? Or do they expect that we should know all the option codes for every feature!?!!?
04-26-2006, 04:59 AM
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That's a ****load of money for an S class. However, it's a gorgeous car. Welcome! Sorry to hear about your troubles. Have you spoken with someone at MB about this? That should be the first step.
04-26-2006, 06:08 AM
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Dr.Skp, I believe you have grounds to claim some money back as you did not receive the goods which you paid for. Unless the standard distronic costs the same as standard distronic then they should have credited the difference from the final payment. Don't let it lie. MB Australia is terrible in handling its customer issues so you need to put everything in writing and ensure they are addressed to the GM as well. A friend of mine had to jump through hoops to get MB Australia to give him a replacement W211 due to repeated brake failures and even then they eventually claimed they don't have any records of his issues. So, don't let sleeping dogs lie....go for the jugular!
04-29-2006, 04:44 AM
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Originally Posted by Le Burpor
Dr.Skp, I believe you have grounds to claim some money back as you did not receive the goods which you paid for. Unless the standard distronic costs the same as standard distronic then they should have credited the difference from the final payment. Don't let it lie. MB Australia is terrible in handling its customer issues so you need to put everything in writing and ensure they are addressed to the GM as well. A friend of mine had to jump through hoops to get MB Australia to give him a replacement W211 due to repeated brake failures and even then they eventually claimed they don't have any records of his issues. So, don't let sleeping dogs lie....go for the jugular!
Unless the standard distronic costs the same as standard distronic
