These days there has been one bad surprise for all Mercedes customers.
The Casa della Stella, in fact, launched the new app a few days ago Mercedes Me 2020, which replaces the previous almost homonymous Mercedes Me. This it allowed to control various parameters of the car remotely, as well as take advantage of various services regarding your car for free.
With the update, however, not only a more attractive graphics and new additional functions have arrived, on the contrary.
Mercedes-Benz has in fact decided to allow the use of the car's remote control services only by subscription, to be subscribed through the payment of micro-transactions.
Let's see the question in detail, and why it is important to talk about it in our opinion.
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Mercedes Me, the app that lets you control your star
For those who have never owned a Mercedes and did not know what Mercedes Me is, this application from the German company allows you to view various information about your Mercedes on your smartphone, both iOS and Android.
Available for all models of the House, from the small ones such as Class A and B to the luxurious Class S or Class G, the app allows you to check the km traveled by the car, the state of the mechanics and tires, the tank level and other information on the state of the car.
Not only. The application also allows in fact to perform very useful operations such as opening and closing the doors, turning on the lights, sending information to the navigator and locating where the car is in the world.
Until a few weeks ago, these services were free for all customers.
It was enough to create a personal account, link your Mercedes-Benz model to your account and voilà, here are the doors opened with a click.
Mercedes-Benz is not the only one to offer this system either: both BMW among the premium and Ford among the generalists, to give two examples, offer this service for free through customized apps, and the phenomenon is spreading more and more among the various brands.
With Mercedes Me 2020 everything changes
With the debut of Mercedes Me 2020, however, the music has changed.
Let's ignore for a moment the fact that the app itself is giving various problems to Mercedes-Benz customers between blocks and difficulties in logging in.
The app has just come out, let's give Mercedes and its developers time to correct the shot.
The less happy news of all this is that in the face of the aesthetic renewal of the app, the surprise was that of micro-transactions.
Since the launch of Mercedes Me 2020 it is indeed mandatory for all Mercedes-Benz customers to pay to use the services mentioned above, until a few days ago totally free.
The prices are not that low either.
They are not "one-off" purchases, but real annual subscriptions.
In fact, it starts from 39 euro per year for the package that allows you to remotely control the state of the car, close the doors or memorize the positions of the seats.
Same price, 39 euros a year, for real-time localization of the car.
Then we come to the 59 € to unlock online navigation and send coordinates from the phone to the car's navigator, and always 59 euros per year to take advantage of the automatic parking system.
All things that were free for every Mercedes-Benz customer, and now have to be paid for.
Like? Through microtransactions (not even so micro), to be carried out on another Mercedes app, Mercedes Services or via the Mercedes Me store website.
Both "shops" then connect to their Mercedes Me 2020 app, unlocking the purchased content.
Many will answer that to avoid shelling out this money it would be enough not to download the new Mercedes Me 2020, and stay with the previous one.
It would be a good idea if it weren't for the fact that the previous app has been deactivated, and is no longer usable.
In fact, when Mercedes Me starts, the app forces the download of the new Me 2020, which is almost useless.
Wasn't there another way?
At this point, many will answer that if you choose a premium brand like Mercedes-Benz then usually there should be no shortage of resources to "unlock" these services.
This is undoubtedly true, I don't think it's those 100 or 200 euros that change the month for a Mercedes customer.
Here, however, it is the principle that is a bit surprising.
Usually, when the houses decide to charge a free service before, they choose other ways to recover this money.
Between costs "diluted" in the coupons, or included in the purchase of periodic maintenance packages, there are ways to make this new payment in a more "elegant" way.
It is therefore surprising to see a company with such a coat of arms as Mercedes-Benz making such a sudden change of course overnight, demanding payment for previously free services, without having notified customers.
Or so it seems, from the dozens of negative reviews left by users on the App Store and Google Play Store.
Finally, this service is not only available to “modern” Mercedes customers.
By purchasing the Mercedes Me Adapterin fact, even the cars of the Star produced from 2002 onwards can take advantage of these systems.
Until now, the system has been offered free of charge to customers who want it. Now, we don't know if this is still true or not.
Mercedes' response? Late in arriving
We wrote and phoned Mercedes-Benz for clarification regarding the Mercedes Me 2020, Me Adapter and the whole question in general.
The Roman press office of the Stuttgart company, however, to date, after long waits, has not yet let us know its position regarding this affair.
As soon as we receive an answer, we will not be long in letting you know the position of the House on this matter.
Of course, the important things in the car world are different.
Attention to the customer in the after-sales, however, is one of the most important aspects to take care of for every house automotive, especially for one with such a great history and blazon as Mercede-Benz.
We are confident that we will soon receive an answer able to explain the position of the company.
A clarification in this sense is a must for all customers and for aspiring clients, who deserve clarity regarding all the services provided by the Stuttgart company.
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