New MB Owner looking for some advice

[johnnyspice]

Hi Guys,

I purchased my 2013 CLS250 this weekend from Stratstone in Ayr after driving 160 miles north of Bolton to go pick it up. I'd put a deposit on it beforehand.

When I inspected the car, there was a clear indentation on the bumper that when pointed out to the salesperson, he apologised and offered to have a smart repair done by a local dealer when I get home.

One the way home, I noticed that the DAB radio wasn't working. I simply couldn't see the option and also I couldn't stream from my iPhone via Bluetooth after pairing. This got me wondering what else electronic doesn't work.

Also, when getting home (it had been raining) I then noticed a few scratches on the car that I was certain I hadn't seen at the dealership which were clear key marks. I don't know if they had temporarily covered these somehow but if they did, they'd done a great job. I'm going to assume there's nothing I can do here as they could claim that the car was scratched on the way home.

I called the dealer and explained about the electronics and he suggested I take the car to a local dealer as the car will be under warranty. I have just got back from there after leaving the car.

The guy got in the car with me, looked for the DAB option, couldn't find it and exclaimed that my car doesn't come with DAB. I told him that I had looked up my VIN number online and the car was certainly manufactured with a DAB radio. He was having none of it. So, in front of him, I put the Audio20 interface into engineering mode and showed him that I can adjust the DAB options from here. When he saw this he said he would run a printout of the car and see what options the car came with.

Upon returning he told me that the car did indeed come with DAB and he will take the car from me and take a look at it. I asked him to verify today that all the options the car supposedly comes with do indeed work and he begrudgingly agreed.

When I asked about bluetooth streaming he flat out denied that the car can do this. When I told him that my dads 5 year old fiesta can do it he just said that my car cannot and offered to sell me a £50 lead to allow me to play music. When I asked if a software update on the audio20 was available, he told me that I would have to pay for this if this was the case. I had got the Stratstone dealer in Ayr to confirm that they had updated the interface before I came to collect the car so if there is an update available I'll be quite annoyed.

To top it all off, the service guy told me that, as my warranty hasn't started yet due to only buying the car at the weekend, he would need to call the dealer that sold me the car in order to see if they will fund the fixes. If not, they will offer to have me pay for them.

All in all, I'm a little disappointed in my experience of buying from Stratstone and dealing with my local MB dealer. My other car is a 2 year old A6 and the service I've had through Audi has been wonderful.

I was wondering if anyone here has encountered similar issues? Can anyone confirm if I can stream music via Bluetooth from the car without having to plug it in?


Kind regards,

John

 

[LTD]

Don't know if it helps but I have a 2013 E220 with Audio20 and it can stream audio via Bluetooth from iPhones / iPods easily by simply pressing the CD button until the relevant option presents itself.

You will need to pair the device and select it for it to work though.

Good luck getting a resolve to your issues. If in doubt, can you return it as part of the purchase agreement ?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

My facelift 2011 C220 estate had Bluetooth audio so if a 2013 CLS, which is at least three models above a C-Class, hasn't then I'd be amazed.

Sadly sounds like you're simply experiencing pretty poor customer service, I'd be nailing down Stratstone Ayr because they sound as though they are happily passing the buck. Main dealers famously hate dealing with other dealers "warranty work".

I hope that you get it sorted.

 

[johnnyspice]

Thanks guys,

I just called them up and mentioned SPXs claim that his 2001 C class had bluetooth streaming and that also, when you go into the engineering mode, it does have optiosn for BT audio streaming in there.

Also, when you go to Home @ Mercedes-Benz Connectivity and put my car in there it definitely supports BT audio streaming.

I'm just a bit paranoid now that there might be other issues needing to be dealt with as the onus seems to be on me to prove there's something not working.

Thanks again,

John

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Shame it's got to happen but phone them up and tell the you're rejecting the car due to multiple issues, that'll get their **** in gear John.

 

[johnnyspice]

So in a weird twist I have just got a call from the dealer where I've dropped the car off.

Apparently, the DAB module has been undergoing a 4 hour software upgrade and it crashed at the last part.

They have asked if I can leave the car with them until tomorrow.

Should I believe this?

Kind regards,

John

 

[HB]

Other dealers can be total w4nkers when it comes to other dealers warranty work. I had this experience at Merc Glasgow. T0ssers the lot of them.

 

[johnnyspice]

The saga continues...

Got a call from the dealer today. They now need to replace the entire audio20 unit.

It's on order from Germany!

The guy said he was awaiting the documents from Mercedes Ayr to show they tested this. He suspects they never actually tested the car properly.

John

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Not a good start to your ownership John, sounds like it wasn't PDI'd properly...

 

[kvz2000]

I bought a new merc from them about 6 years ago and was not impressed with the sales people , I agree that main dealers don't ever seem enthusiastic about doing warranty work from other dealers. Dig your heels in this is your best chance to get any issues sorted

 

[Bonecho]

Seeing they are being paid by MB I can't see why that should be a problem.

 

[Contractor]

I don't know about a CLS but on my 2013 E class it could connect via Bluetooth but the two choices for media were play in order from the beginning or random play. The car came with a 30 pin Apple connector and using this with a lightning adaptor allowed me to pick and choose what I wanted. Unfortunately the adaptor was a bit sloppy and it kept losing the phone so I bought a £130 cradle but this only connects to power and aerial. Finally bought a lightning cable when it came out and worked great except that it's a two handed operation to connect.

 

[John]

I would have pursued the scratches too personally.

You should expect a certain level of quality when a car is bought from a main dealer - although your experience doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

 

[Delayed Steve]

Stratstones,Evans Halshaw and Quick's are all the same company and the internet is full of sites dedicated to complaining about them. Their aftercare isn't very good and yes your scratches probably were covered up with something.
They probably thought that you wouldn't take it back to them because of the distance.
Brought cars if them in the past never again.

 

[Palfrem]

I bought a Range Rover from a branch of Stratstones. They were useless.

 

[Bry865]

All Mercedes Approved Used Cars have a 30 day exchange option if your not satisfied with the car.

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Speak as you find...I must say I have used MB Ayr (Stratstone) for the past 5 years. In that time i have had no reason to complain, just the opposite in fact.
That does not mean that all Stratstone dealers are A1, just as bad service at one dealership means all Stratstone dealerships are bad.

 

[John]

Deleted.

 

[markjay]

I suspect they tried updating the software on the Audio 20, the update crashed, and bricked the unit.