Mercedes just made me hate them

A bit of over-reaction for "a 25 cent piece of metal."

Kal

That may not be accurate.

I think it was Napoleon who remarked how men were motivated by virtually worthless bits of metal pinned to their chests.

I may not have those details exactly right.

In ant event, the marketing people should be smacked with a ruler.

Kalman Rub> A bit of over-reaction for "a 25 cent piece of metal."

(snipped horsewank)

hehehehehehehehhhe

F*ck me sideways with a beetroot!

If a 25 cent piece of metal is thta important dont buy a Benz!!!

Nige

You can go fornicate yourself with a 10 foot clown pole

Like I said, I won't be buying any more. What's left to seperate Benz from BMW? Nothing except for lower sales and not doing as well in the quality surveys. Benz really did die in 1992. Richard

I don't think it is. This is just yet another step Benz has taken towards turning into complete utter crap. They stopped caring about their products in 1992 and now they show they don't care about their customers.

"But if a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel what they lie under, and see whither they are going; it is not to be wondered that they should then rouze themselves, and endeavour to put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the ends for which government was at first erected; and without which, ancient names, and specious forms, are so far from being better, that they are much worse, than the state of nature, or pure anarchy; the inconveniencies being all as great and as near, but the remedy farther off and more difficult" - John Locke - Second Treatise on Government

This is just as applicable here as to government. Benz has made move after move in the direction of not caring and now this is the last straw, and it's not strange for people to be up in arms about this. I rather have nothing than have to deal with bullshit. Richard

Oh dear...

I only heard about this award in the USA through this NG. Didn't even know it existed before then. Can't say I have been bothered to check existence in Europe.

Between my dad and me we have been driving Mercs almost continuously both as company and privately-owned cars since the mid-sixties.

I think you have been cheesed off by the removal of something that you expected to obtain. Maybe this is just the trigger for you to do what you intended at some stage?

I agree with you that it (award withdrawal) is a stupid thing to do but it alone should not have an effect, everything else being equal. What other brands give out awards?

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

It's in Europe too...and everywhere else Benz's are sold

Between 1972 and 1985 my dad bought 5 Benz's. From longer ago that I care to know to 1972 his dad was buying Benz's, basically there was always a Benz in the family. My dad fully expected to replace our 380SE with the next gen S-class until he saw what the 140 was like. Haven't bought another Benz since.

I'd say this is the straw that broke the camel's back. I would have given Benz a chance if their cars ever started to get good again, but not now. As long as the awards system stays like this I'll never buy a Benz.

Granted none, but I think take away an award is worse than never having one, plus now what's left to seperate Benz from everybody else? They aren't clearly better than other similar cars any more, and now they don't show greater care for the customer either. Richard

What is a clown pole?

I never saw Ronald McDonald with a pole.

Yeah you never saw him getting jiggie with Burgie.

What would you do if you made a product that the buyers could brag about the quality by getting badges, then the quality of your product dropped so low that people no longer bragged? Only way out is to drop the badges. Problem now is all the old MBs with the badges, none on the new ones. Everyone now knows the quality is not there. If it were me, I would lower the requirements, send the badges on my own without being asked for them, in hopes people will display them.

Paul

Makes me wonder the real reason MB is stopping the mileage awards. I doubt it's the cost of the program. I would think it more likely that it's an acknowledgement that the cars they are turning out today aren't going to last like the ones in the past. Might be embarrassing to have customers asking why there are badges for mileages the cars are incapable of ever reeaching....

My understanding is they are not discontinuing the awards program, but have just stopped giving out lapel pins along with it. You still get the badge for the grill and a certificate, but no lapel pin. The program is still listed on the US website:

YES! Finally someone gets that I'm not talking about those things used by nautical types to split twine but that I'm referring to Cpt. Haddock's mansion. Hooray! I think you should go buy youself a cookie for this. Everybody else thinks I'm talking about a nautical tool Richard

Right, before you got different, ONE PIECE, badges (silver, gold, platinum IIRC) for each award, and if you were the original owner you also got a certificate and a lapel pin. Now everybody gets 2 piece badges so as you step up in levels you just replace the lower part saying how many KM and you get nothing special for being an original owner. Just as with everything else, Mercedes is skimping. Richard

Yuck.

Badges, we don't need no stinkin' badges.

Driving an older car in nice condition is enough of a badge for me. It's pretty obvious to anyone who cares that a 20 year old vehicle in nice condition has been around the block a few times and is being cared for...

Marty

There aren't very many original owners that keep these cars that long (understatement of the week).

Sorry you are PO'd about this, but if this is a make or break deal for you with an auto vendor, I recommend you seek professional help( and I don't mean a mechanic :~)

I have to agree - no, a 25-cent piece of tin is not reason enough to buy, or not buy a Mercedes. But that's not really the issue.

Here's the real issue: This is just one more symptom of a penny-pinching, cost-containment, corner-cutting mentality that has slowly permeated MB over the past few years. Figure it out - if the bean counters have cut corners on something so inexpensive to the coporate bottom line, then where else have they cut to the bone?

If you have a new Benz, you have my sympathy. It's not about the money - I can afford (most) of the new models. I just happened to become acquainted with Benz when they were a premier automotive company - not just a cost center that could as easily be producing discount home appliances.

Chrysler has brought a Wal-Mart mentality to the company that is entirely unsuited to the Benz automobile and it's market. Hope the stockholders are happy - but then, they're never dedicated to the company - just whichever company nets them a bit of profit six months down the line - when one company is trashed, they move their portfolio to greener pastures.

Conrad

This is nonsense.

Using this logic there would not be any quality companies that lasted. Which there are.

Cutting costs is what business is about. Maintaining standards is also important.

Time will tell if the Mercedes marque can continue to stand for something other then just overpriced garbage.

Personally based on what I see in this NG, mercedes is due for a revamping, with more attention to basic quality and less to ove-engineered bells and whistles.

This could ultimately make it a stronger brand IMO.

Companies that lasted - I'll buy that - QUALITY companies that lasted - For example? I have been utterly dismayed at the degradation of quality in most areas of the manufacturing community in the last 30 years or so. I still have a number of pre-historic products in my home that were a) evidently built by people who cared what they were doing b) built by companies that "lasted", because c) I have from time to time purchased newer versions of the same brand only to find that they have been cost-cut, out-sourced and obsolence-planned to the point that they are utter junk. I know this smacks of "old-fartism", which I certainly am capable of - but sometimes the old farts have a couple of things going for them - like experience and wisdom.

I asked for examples, so I'll give a a couple: My wife has burned out three of the new KitchenAid pro mixers in her catering business in the last two years - KitchenAid has been "improved" by outsourcing to, I believe China. She always has to fall back on my old, American-built KitchenAid.

Craftsman power tools. Crap for the most part these days. My personal experience includes a belt sander that keeps destroying it's bearing mounts for the rollers, a 1/2" "Pro" drill that died the first time I chucked up a 1/2" wood bit in it, and a circular saw that utterly burned up it's motor while under no significant load, cutting

I have an ancient Maytag that I keep trying to hide in my shed because it's so ugly - but every few years, I'm obliged to drag it out to fill in for another "new and improved" washer that's died in the middle of a family re-union (always on a weekend - how do they do that?)

Cutting costs - OK. Maintaining standards? Pure distilled horse-manure. You can replace standards with marketing easily with a young market that has been educated to believe everything should be disposable after three years. Whooopeee!!! I'm driving a Benz til the lease runs out!!!

As a purely objective experiment, discounting for accidents, lets see what the attrition rate of the current crop of Dodges, um, I mean MBs is compared to the mid-80's W123s after 25 years. I'll bet good money that the survival ratio is not even close. Do you want to put your money on that bet, or merely bet that

To quote my friend - this is nonsense. I have owned more vehicles than I care to think about. This has included Chevy Vegas and Cadillac ElDorados. I mention these two for a reason. At the time I owned them, I found NO significant difference in engineering between the Vega and the Cadillac. (OK, non-sleeved aluminum blocks on the Vega wasn't a reall cool idea), but mostly it was only more badly-executed bells and whistles on the Cadillac. Can you make a company profitable this way? You bet. Can you make a fine automobile this way? No way in hell.

Do I have a problem with all the plastic parts on my buddies ML? Nope. I don't care if you build them out of gingerbread - as long as gingerbread WORKS. I have a problem with shoddy, ill-fitting plastic parts that break.

I have no doubt that MB can "last" as a brand. But my argument is that sometimes a brand should represent more than the tri-star logo surviving on some cost-cut, out-sourced, marketing-above- engineering machine. It should represent the engineering and production values that established that marque. One can fail to recognize this, and still turn a profit. There will always be those who will jump at the MB name, just because of the reputation it earned at one time, but no longer deserves.

Ultimately the question is this. Can the current corporate culture continue to educate the consumer to purchase stuff that is worse than they purchased last year? I believe the answer is yes. So yes, MB will last - as a brand - as a stock exchange entity - but as a premier manufacturer af fine automobiles? That is the real question.

Sorry if I sound a little impassioned about this, but it's a bit like finding out that the girl you had a crush on in high school is now a hooker. Yeah, I'm sure she's making a living, turning a profit - but it just isn't the quality you fell in love with.

Cheers,

Conrad