At times I have detected a form of arrogance when dealing with German car manufacturers. It could just be me or a German culture thing. Anyways it is not a good attitude for business. It hurts sales. In my case I never ask for unreasonable things. Plus it is rare I call in.

People from other cultures are guided towards similar behaviors when working for them I also think. As part of their training. Perhaps I am a little paranoid about this. Yet I do not remember a trace of this with the Japanese car companies.

All too often I have called in and the conversation seems to somehow go off the rails. Yet I did not initiate it. A simple question brings on a denial as the first line of conversation. Or a distraction from it. I got a dose of it from Volkswagon again the other day.

My question was simple enough. Can you tell me the original selling dealer of my recient purchase. So I can ask them what service is or is not due on the car. I assume they probably did them.

The answer was we cannot give you that information. I then asked them if they could contact the dealership and give me that information themselves. No that breaks our privacy act. We cannot do that anyways.

I formed a conclusion many years ago. These are call center people that are basically instructed to say no to almost everything in some fashion or other. Also the person went into the remaining warranty on the car that I already knew and had nothing to do with my request.

I really believe they are trying to get you into an argumentative state. I resist the bait. Why have so called customer service places when they tend to operate like this?

And the W163 keys. I recently asked at the dealer and they said all the others are not a problem but those are 100% gone forever.

When I first got the new to me '99 E300D I drove it to the dealer I bought the key from, the lot was full BTW no place to park my car so I ended up a half block down the street. It was obvious they had a LOT of unsold cars to move.
All I wanted was to run a VIN check to see if there might be some outstanding recalls on it. Just to be on the safe side.
I was asked if I bought the car at this dealership, I said no it was sold out of another city. I was told then they were not able to help me... grrrr
I went to he dealership where it was sold and they ran the VIN and promptly said no it was clear of any recalls or service campaigns. I had to drive another 60 miles to get that but I feel a dealer should provide a simple service like checking a computer which BTW took all of 30 secs after I supplied my VIN# regardless of whether it was sold there or not.

The first dealer BTW sent their manager who appeared to be a German speaking man, do they send them over from the Hinterland I wonder?
He was very polite and said it was company policy.
Like the other dealer that told me it was policy that I had to leave my car for two (2) days at their service dept. in order to have keys made for my '99 W210. Like sure, I was gonna let them have my car and also pay them $231 as an added programming fee on top of the $300 key fob cost then leave it in their damn hands for two (2) days while they ordered a key from who knows where? No way!

I feel strongly that Mercedes dealers policies should be unified and held to standard by the Stuttgart Franchisee folks!
Maybe they could level the quality and policies equally across the dealerships.
And I'm not Germanic but I get steaming hot over the way they handled this key business!

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

1996-1997 W210's can't get new keys. Only 1998 and up can.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

This is not related to electronic keys, but the old style MB keys and the attitude of MB dealers these days. I wanted to get some new keys for my 1982 300D, and so I went to the dealer and presented my title, and ordered keys. These are the large ones with black plastic...in 1 week, the plastic separated from both keys...I went back tot he parts counter, and they said there was nothing they could do. I pointed out this was a vendor QC problem...my keys from my 1969 280SL work great, plastic intact, as with older keys to my 80's S Class. Guy calls the parts manager, who says all he will do is sell me an extended warranty!! Yes, MB is not treating their customers well these days! I ended up pulling out the key stub, buying several key blanks with a wide end, cutting them, and them silver soldering them together to make one solid key! Geez!

The 97 W210 ( E class ) + C and SL uses a RFID chip in the key for anti theft, this is tied to a chip reader that is tied to the ECU. If the proper chip isn't read, the car will start then shut down after 3 seconds.

The clipped head non remote fob " pocket " key still has this chip and will open / start the car.

I don't think the 96 had a chip key and relied on the unlock fob to activate / disarm the starter interrupt.

Are you turning the key from the base or from the key ring hole end?

How stiff is your door and ignition lock mechanism? Can you turn it with 2 fingers?

Forum member renaissanceman, has billet aluminum key heads available on his site:

https://blenddoor.com/product/billet-aluminum-key-head/

Well worth every penny.
I'm a very satisfied customer.

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78 W116 300SD 'Desert Rose' new as of 01/26/2014
79 W116 300SD 'Stormcloud' RIP 04/11/2022

Alec, thank you!! That's an awesome upgrade for the early keys! Appreciate you kindly sharing...I'm ordering now...