I'm a bit of a diesel fan and recently crossed over from the VW TDi world and purchased a 98 E300 Turbodiesel. Bought it from the original owner in excellent condition.

I had good luck with chip and flash tunes on my VW's, so I jumped right into a chip tune for my E300 through Speedtuning USA.

Once I installed my ECU returned from Oliver at Speedtune, I experienced a rough idle anytime in N or Drive and a stutter upon rev-down from about 1200 RPM back down to idle under all conditions.

It turns out that MBZ had a factory countermeasure to this complaint years ago, and it included an ECU swap. Oliver had noticed that I had a 99 model year ECU in my 98, and now after speaking to a service writer at Caliber Motors and after reading the following link, I knew the reason why. The ECU I had sent to Oliver had the updated part number to correct the rough idle customer complaints. Follow the link to see a short article in STAR magazine by Stu Ritter:

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/645/shake8xb.jpg

Suspecting that the new tune from Speedtune did not incorporate this update, I wrote to Oliver about this software updating and my cars history of having it done. His response was that he could tune out the rough idle by increasing fuel quantity settings, but that he would have to charge for a "custom" tune, an additional $200 on top of the $325 I had already paid.

My response to this was to request my ECU be returned to the previous, stock program. I didn't feel that the additional fee to have my car run satisfactorily was fair and I was much more interested in having my E300 run as nicely as it looked rather than having the extra 30HP or so at this point.

So with his verbal agreement to return the ECU to me by the time I returned from a two week trip, I shipped the it back off to Speedtuning. Days later I received a full refund through Paypal. So what is my complaint, right?

Well, now they are holding my ECU until I send them (like AMGAlex's experience with them) a payment of $375 in cash, money order or Western Union. Craigslist and Ebay have warnings not to do business with companies seeking payment like this. This request came from Jennifer (the owner) after they had tendered a refund through Paypal.

One more bit of context: Oliver relayed a story to me that he had a customer with a 99 E300 experiencing the exact same idle issue. The customer had the direction of a MBZ dealer that he would need the updated ECU (the one I have) to solve his problem. For whatever reason, probably cost (Caliber Motors in Anaheim wants $2300 for one and won't sell it over-the-counter) this customer of Oliver's tried the same Stage 2 tune I purchased from Speedtuning and it did not resolve his idle issue, according to Oliver.

Even having had that experience and mine, Oliver and Jennifer, AFTER having refunded the full amount told me their tune IS based on the updated software to address the idle and now I would have to pay them $375 for them to release my ECU that is now put back to the way it was before.

This is not acceptable to me, to have to pay more than originally, or frankly to have to pay at all, for services that I have rejected for good reason.

My E300 has been immobile in my garage for nearly a month now, and I have the counsel of an attorney who suggested I tell my story on internet forums. Everything I've stated here is in print on emails between Speedtuning USA and I.

I will continue to update the forum on my progress, if any, from Speedtuning USA.

Are you sure this attorney is working for you?

Sixto
87 300D

Not sure what you mean. There's no libel here and from my perspective it can only help and potentially save some heartache for others.

What does your attorney expect to accomplish by having you share this experience so broadly?

Sixto
87 300D

Well, that whole story sucks, sorry. Look, if you really have any chance of getting your ECU returned without a fee, you should find some documentation (online advertising?) stating that Speedtuning can do what you asked them to do. I don't know enough about it to know if they do or if they don't, but you see what I am saying. If they have some sort of guarantee that their work on your model's ECU will produce x, y and z results; then that is different than some generic statement about seeking to improving performance, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, if I were you, I would call this guy up and tell him that you want to try and make this right without dragging it into the legal system (although I can't see the cost of legal counsel saving you any money . . . I'm not even sure what the fee for small claims court would be for that amount). Give him two options: (1) he return the ECU without payment since he couldn't do what said he could - if he was aware of the problem he should have quoted the whole price upfront; or (2) he updates the ECU to incorporate the upgrades and you pay him $375.

If he rejects both, then you tell him that if he can't do one or the other you are going to the BBB and you will plan to unleash a hellfire of threads on online forums where the majority of his clients come from. I suspect your lawyer friend is thinking along the lines of #1 and his suggestion on spreading the word on online forums is to detract business from Speedtuning. That doesn't really help you though.

A final option might be to try to locate another ECU from a scrap yard . . . would probably involve a lot of calling all over the country and I don't know what you would pay for it in the end.

Hope you manage to get you car back on the road somehow.

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

Well, this is my favorite example of internet justice:

Charlie Wenzel: A Study in Arrogance and Stupidity

__________________
'82 300SD - Somewhere over 220k - Becoming reliable...

Post 27 is priceless!

Sixto
87 300D

Just spent the morning reading that thread, freaking priceless....

I figured anyone who hadn't read that would get a kick out of it.

__________________
'82 300SD - Somewhere over 220k - Becoming reliable...

This is very interesting. I was about to contact STUSA about a re-flash of my ECU. As I have a custom setup, my nightmare was that they would charge a outrageous fee every time they had to tweak it.

I had even considered inquiring about a dealership.

I will be VERY cautious now...

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Thank goodness for diesels that don't run on computers!

I love my 87. Tune it with a wrench.

__________________
Cheers!
Scott McPhee

1987 300D

Amen. I just got back from speedtuning the 240D . . . got it up to 65 . . . seems pretty well tuned up now.

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

I just spent two hours reading this. Shame on you Marv .

Glad to see that f*ups like Charlie at least got part of their due.
And I'd advise any Charlie-types not to mess with the folks at Pirate 4x4...

__________________
1987 300DT
2002 Ford F-250 7.3 Crew Cab Short Bed

Loving the idea of all mechanical injection myself! And Pirate 4x4 is quite the forum, I've heard for a while!!

I've had good luck with several different tunings in the past, but by far my favorite has been Rocketchip's based on my TDi VW experience. And Jeff does a tune for the E300 but I decided to try to save a hundred or so ducats...doh!

Off to Maryland small claims I go; it looks like unless I hear from them. $28 to file and $40 to have the sheriff serve Jennifer Bentson of Speedtuning USA.

Good luck, I think that you will prevail, for the most part Courts abhor a “seizure of property”, Speedtuning doesn't have a chance..

__________________
1999 Mercedes E300TD daily driver sold at 238K miles 106K miles were mine, rust worm got it :-(
2006 Mercedes CDI new daily driver! 56,000 miles May 2016 now 85,625 Apr 2018 and Apr 2019 101,000 miles Apr 2020 109,875. March 2024 135,250