Bad Service and Communication

I have a 2006 Mercedes c200K. I started having trouble with the key of the car. Finally when the key broke and I got stranded with the car not able to unlock and start, I approached Mercedes Benz Fountains in Pretoria and explained my situation to them.

By means of their Spares supervisor called Athen Davids, I was advised to buy a new Key from them, (which will be coded against the VIN number of the vehicle) and then the key will start the car.

I ordered the key on Monday the 3rd of May 2021, paid R3025-00 and fetch the new key on Tuesday the 4th of May 2021. I was told that i just need to take the key and open and start the car.

I could not open the car, nor start the car with the new key from Mercedes. When I put the key into the ignition, all i got was a message on the display of the instrument cluster saying "Key Teach-in in progress. Please wait" I have waited for some time and still nothing happened. I phone Mercedes Fountains and it took more than 30 minutes before I could get somebody to help me. Not one of the workshop staff answered their phones. Athen Davids was not available to help.

After a few fruitless attempts to speak to somebody, I got hold of somebody called Greg from the Admin department, which, while I was on the phone with him, tried to ask a few guys at the workshop and not one of them could give me a clear answer to the problem. At last somebody told Greg that according to him, I have to put the key in the ignition and wait between 30 to 60 minutes and then the car would start. Again, this was not communicated to be by Athen Davids.

I left the key in the ignition for almost 20 hours and still the same message was displayed and the key did not work. On Wednesday the 5th of May 2021 I contacted Mercedes again and spoke to Greg, which advised me that he thinks I must bring the car to them and book it in to check. Because he told me that it is not possible, because they only order a key and normally it works. They did not know or indicate to me why the key did not work the way they explained to me.

I arrange then with a towing company to load the car on a truck and the car was taken to Mercedes Fountains at a cost of R850-00 on Wednesday the 5th of May 2021. I was also informed by the Service advisor called Ilke after I booked the car in, that there was a Service Fee of R1800-00 to be paid should I decide not to fix the car with them. This was not communicated to me by Greg or by Ilke before booking the car in.

At around 11:25 on Thursday the 6th of May 2021 I received a SMS Message informing me that they are busy programming the key and that they would only be able to test after the key was programmed. (I thought the key was already programmed!!) I was told this would take some time.

At 13:37 I received another SMS Message saying that the programming is still in process and that it will still take some time.

At around 17:00 on the 6th of May 2021 I visited the Service department and I got to speak to Charles Nyland. He advised me that he was the Workshop manager. I explained my situation to him to which he replied that he know about my car being there, but he don’t know what is happening with the car or what the status of the car is. I explained to him that I was not happy with the way Athen Davids communicated to me about buying a new key and the process on setting up the new key. I also mentioned to him my unhappiness with the Service Fee. I told him that Athen Davids insisted that all I need to do was to buy a key and it WILL start the car. Athen Davids did see my old key and I did explain the situation to him. So Athen Davids was fully informed by me about the problem.

Charles Nyland informed me that he will look into the problem and asked me to phone him at 09:00 on Friday the 7th of May 2021. Just before 09:00 on Friday, Charles Nyland phoned me informing me that according to the workshop, the EIS unit of the car was faulty and that it need to be replaced. According to him, they are confident that the EIS unit in the car has been reprogrammed by private individuals and that the faulty key I was using was not an original Mercedes key. Again, lack of communication happened as this was not communicated to me by Athen Davids. Even after I have shown him my faulty key, he did not say anything else than informed me to buy a new key.

I told Charles Nyland that I don’t agree with him about the EIS and also told him that I don’t have R18000-00 to replace the EIS unit. That was the figures they quoted me. I then arrange for the car to be taken by truck again at a cost of R850—to a private Auto Electrician in Rietfontein in Pretoria on Friday the 7th of May 2021.

The Auto Electrician looked at the car and informed me that the way he sees this situation, he will need to reprogram the EIS unit to read the new key bought from Mercedes. Something he had done in the past and something that is very easily possible. I told him to go ahead and program the unit for the amount of R2500-00.

On Monday the 10th of May 2021 I was informed by the Auto Electrician that he can’t program the key supplied by Mercedes, because the key is faulty. H was able to program a aftermarket key to the original EIS unit in the car and this key is working 100%. This cost me R3680-00. He advised me to take the new key back to Mercedes.

I then contacted Charles Nyland informing him of this outcome and then request to please have my money returned as the key from Mercedes is faulty and not working. His words to me was that they will not refund me, because it was not their key that was the problem. He still insisted that the EIS unit is faulty and needs to be replace. I told him that this is unacceptable because if the EIS Unit is faulty, how on earth was it possible for the Auto Electrician to reprogram a key.

Here is the funny and strange part of this! Charles Nyland informed me that Mercedes do not program any EIS Units! They replace it, even if they are not faulty! How is this possible?? Earlier on the 6th of May, I was told via SMS that they are busy programming the key to test and check and to try and see why the key does not want to work! I thought they don’t program any keys! Was I taken for a ride by Mercedes?? Was I misinformed by Mercedes? Or did they just played me in the hope that I would buy a new EIS Unit which clearly was not needed to be done??

I asked Charles Nyland how is it possible for a 3rd party like an Auto Electrician to program Keys and EIS units and get it to work. Charles Nyland told me that the Auto Electricians is doing this illegal and that Mercedes don’t support this, as according to him, there are always problems with this keys and that they will stop working after a few usages and that it will cause other problems etc. The auto Electrician told me the only thing he did, was to program the aftermarket key to a new Slot on the EIS unit. According to him, the EIS Unit has 9 slots to be used for situations like this.

Obviously Mercedes does not know this or they just don’t care about the customer!!

Charles Nyland kept on insisting that they are right in the way they do business, that they will not refund me and that according to him, should I take this matter further in legal terms, Mercedes has lawyers which will protect them and help them! This reasoning is ridiculous and totally not within good Customer Service practices.

I told Charles that I will take further action and I also told him that they are only concerned about making money and that the customer does not count for them. I also told him that they are giving out false and unreliable information and that their communication to the customer is bad! I also told him that the workshop clearly doesn’t have a clue on what’s going on with EIS Units and Replacement of keys for Mercedes cars. I also told him that I will not refer anybody to them as they are clueless and they are providing bad service and support.

I want the money refunded for the key I bought!