Hey gilly,

well, its been a long time. The player is still instaled, but still have not activated it yet. I called the autobahn again, explained my situation, and they said this time they will charge me 250 dollars!!!! What is going on here?!!? I am getting pretty fed up. I need to find a local shop that will do it for cheap, preferrable below 50 bux, or better yet, FREE!! so for now,,,its just dead weight. Damn dealers dont know anything. I wish there was someone out there in the bay area who could help...

thanks

Going back to an early post on this thread made me think that maybe you could ask the person who sold the truck to you if they can help get this done. Holy crap, it's only 10 minutes worth of work. 250 dollars, are they insane? Or maybe talk to the actual service manager instead of a service advisor. There must be a number of dealerships around SF, maybe try a different one?

Gilly

yeah i have called around. Another dealer in Palo Alto called Park Ave dealers is gonna charge me 150 dolllars. I called some small authorized places, but they said they dont have this computer and it has to be done at the dealer. The guy i bought it from is from the east coast. He just took it out of his 2001 ML.

GREAT!!! hahah..now im stuck. what a deal..

Anymore help is greatly appreciated..thanks

No, I guess your kind of on your own at this point, not much else I can think of. Well, a few ideas you should be able to think about, I'm sure you can think of your own too:
1. Bribe somebody
2. Find out if you may have a "friend of a friend" sort of relationship who is a tech in one of the area MB shops.
3. Drive through the back lot with a dozen Krispy Kreem donuts at about 8am and look for a tech wandering around looking for his next car to bring in.

This may be a good time to try something like this, when they may be quite slow and have a little Holiday Spirit left in them.
Maybe just driving in, telling them "Hey, get reasonable, this is only 10 or 15 minutes of your techs time, give me a break. I got donuts and a $20 bill for a tech to do this for me" may just get it done. Maybe we operate differently here in the Midwest though, maybe I'm out of touch with the mentality out there.

You can also try what I mentioned in talking with the service manager instead of an advisor. Mention that how this is handled may affect where your next MB is purchased.
When I mentioned talking to whoever sold the truck to you, I meant the TRUCK, not the CD changer.

Gilly

ohh hehe..
yeah the advisor that sold us the truck said 250!! well i might just try that "bribery" thing. Even though most of the people are tightwads, just looking for more money. I will keep you posted.

thanks for all your help gilly..take care and have a great weekend.

i would not be happy. find out what the flat rate is for reprograming and make the service advisor ( crap taker/tough job ) stick to it.

make him put the 250 estimate in writing so you can mail it the the dealerships owner. that might change the sa's tune ( no pun intended ) a salesperson is not at liberty to quote you a price for shop charges.

i am spoiled by mercedes benz of knoxvile aka knoxville motor company. no bs. ever.

Hey guys and gilly,
Guess what?!!?!? i finally got my dang changer acitvated. FOR FREE!!! woo hoo im so happy. I went back to my dealer...whom was going to charge me 250 initially. but this time i spoke to the MAster Tech who worked on my car before. He was so nice, he just said "Come on in, I'm pretty busy but i will take care of it for you. Don't worry."
I went in and gave him a bottle of nice wine for the new years and got my truck back in less than an hour. He even gave me the right clip to lock in the changer. What a guy. I guess the SA really dont know crap,,,except for going by the book.

Thanks ebay for the changer!! and my Master Tech!!

that kind of service makes me a mb customer. congrats and enjoy the new tunes.

yeah i know. But see what BS i have to go through!?!? It all depends on the person you know at the dealer!! Which is not right at all All customers should be treated equal no matter what! If i had not known the master tech...i would be a quarter grand less in my wallet.

oh wells..the changer works awesome!! Only 215 bux off ebay. It was 2 years well worth the wait:)