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We've started this discussion forum to create a space for smartUSAinsiders to share with us at smart your thoughts, comments, questions and ideas.

We can’t promise you that everything will be answered all the time but what we can promise is that everything will be seen and we will address as much as we can.

We are looking forward to your thoughts, comments, questions and ideas - open your mind...

 

 

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Permalink Reply by jwight on September 23, 2011 at 5:37am

Back to the original discussion:

1. smart Street Tours?  Appear to be a thing of the past, which is too bad because IMHO the key to getting people to buy a smart is getting them into a smart in the first place.  If the street tours can't be done on a national level, push the dealers to do them locally.

2.  The Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC) - still waiting to see this opened up to US smart owners now that we are under M-B USA.  Are smart owners not considered as part of the Mercedes family now?

3.  Dealer locator on smart USA site.  Please return the interactive map feature!  Searching by ZIP code is fine when we want a local dealer, but if we're planning a road trip it's much easier to find dealers along the way by using the map.

4.  We've had a "new" smart center in Cincinnati for a couple of months now, although you wouldn't know it unless you really looked hard.  No signage, no communication with local owners, no blog on this site, no posts on SCoA, etc.  Mainly the sounds of crickets chirping.  I hope this is not representative of the newer smart centers since it's exactly the opposite of the support and interaction we had from the previous (non M-B USA) smart center in Cincy.

5.  On the smart USA site there's a link to smartusainsider.com, but on this site there's no link back to smart USA - can we get one?

Permalink Reply by Eric Angeloro on September 23, 2011 at 10:32am

Thanks for the feedback.

 

1. I will explore with our field teams and see what is possible and we might be able to support the drive events all of you host on your own.

2. Currently, this offered via an international service for $12 USD per year.  You can sign-up here: http://epc.startekinfo.com and click on 'Subscribe' in the top left.

3. We will be starting our initial design phase of the full site redesign before the end of the year.  National look-up is on the requirement list.

4. I can't comment on this other than to say I hope that improves.

5. I don't see why not. I can work on this one.

 

- E

jwight said:

Back to the original discussion:

1. smart Street Tours?  Appear to be a thing of the past, which is too bad because IMHO the key to getting people to buy a smart is getting them into a smart in the first place.  If the street tours can't be done on a national level, push the dealers to do them locally.

2.  The Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC) - still waiting to see this opened up to US smart owners now that we are under M-B USA.  Are smart owners not considered as part of the Mercedes family now?

3.  Dealer locator on smart USA site.  Please return the interactive map feature!  Searching by ZIP code is fine when we want a local dealer, but if we're planning a road trip it's much easier to find dealers along the way by using the map.

4.  We've had a "new" smart center in Cincinnati for a couple of months now, although you wouldn't know it unless you really looked hard.  No signage, no communication with local owners, no blog on this site, no posts on SCoA, etc.  Mainly the sounds of crickets chirping.  I hope this is not representative of the newer smart centers since it's exactly the opposite of the support and interaction we had from the previous (non M-B USA) smart center in Cincy.

5.  On the smart USA site there's a link to smartusainsider.com, but on this site there's no link back to smart USA - can we get one?

Permalink Reply by steve campbell on September 23, 2011 at 11:57am

Please, Please MB....please redo your commercials, or add new ones that at least show or mention the gas mileage that Smart gets (which hasn't been mentioned yet), please show some of the interior of the car, and how roomy it is, which also has not been shown, and above all, please do two things...mention the safety features and ratings of the car, and mention somewhere that Daimler builds this car (which also has not been mentioned). And please for God's sake.....revise the "uncar" to something more positive. And please don't do any silly commercials like the Fiat 500 with J LO. Even the Fiat commercials don't try to sell the cars features, nor mention them, nor it's gas mileage, etc, etc..

 

Permalink Reply by jwight on September 23, 2011 at 1:23pm

Eric, thanks very much for the fast response.

The problem with the EPC is not that we can't sign up (we can) but in entering a smart VIN - at present we can't.  I'm on the EPC with our E320 and it works as advertised but I'm still not able to enter the VIN for our 2011 smart.

As far as the drive events hosted (and attended) by smart owners, obviously we'd welcome participation  and support from DVI.  But those events are really for people who already own smarts; the Street Tours were designed to expose new people to the car.  I'm sure local owners would be willing to help out if their smart centers were to put on a "smart Drive" day in place of the national smart Street Tour program.
Eric Angeloro said:

Thanks for the feedback.

 

1. I will explore with our field teams and see what is possible and we might be able to support the drive events all of you host on your own.

2. Currently, this offered via an international service for $12 USD per year.  You can sign-up here: http://epc.startekinfo.com and click on 'Subscribe' in the top left.

3. We will be starting our initial design phase of the full site redesign before the end of the year.  National look-up is on the requirement list.

4. I can't comment on this other than to say I hope that improves.

5. I don't see why not. I can work on this one.

 

- E

jwight said:

Back to the original discussion:

1. smart Street Tours?  Appear to be a thing of the past, which is too bad because IMHO the key to getting people to buy a smart is getting them into a smart in the first place.  If the street tours can't be done on a national level, push the dealers to do them locally.

2.  The Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC) - still waiting to see this opened up to US smart owners now that we are under M-B USA.  Are smart owners not considered as part of the Mercedes family now?

3.  Dealer locator on smart USA site.  Please return the interactive map feature!  Searching by ZIP code is fine when we want a local dealer, but if we're planning a road trip it's much easier to find dealers along the way by using the map.

4.  We've had a "new" smart center in Cincinnati for a couple of months now, although you wouldn't know it unless you really looked hard.  No signage, no communication with local owners, no blog on this site, no posts on SCoA, etc.  Mainly the sounds of crickets chirping.  I hope this is not representative of the newer smart centers since it's exactly the opposite of the support and interaction we had from the previous (non M-B USA) smart center in Cincy.

5.  On the smart USA site there's a link to smartusainsider.com, but on this site there's no link back to smart USA - can we get one?

Permalink Reply by Eric Angeloro on September 23, 2011 at 4:30pm

Strange.  I will grab a VIN from a smart here and see if I get the same result.  If so, I will let my colleagues in Germany know.  If they don't find an issue, maybe there's some trick to it they need to teach us.  Stand by.

 

-E

jwight said:

Eric, thanks very much for the fast response.

The problem with the EPC is not that we can't sign up (we can) but in entering a smart VIN - at present we can't.  I'm on the EPC with our E320 and it works as advertised but I'm still not able to enter the VIN for our 2011 smart.

As far as the drive events hosted (and attended) by smart owners, obviously we'd welcome participation  and support from DVI.  But those events are really for people who already own smarts; the Street Tours were designed to expose new people to the car.  I'm sure local owners would be willing to help out if their smart centers were to put on a "smart Drive" day in place of the national smart Street Tour program.
Eric Angeloro said:

Thanks for the feedback.

 

1. I will explore with our field teams and see what is possible and we might be able to support the drive events all of you host on your own.

2. Currently, this offered via an international service for $12 USD per year.  You can sign-up here: http://epc.startekinfo.com and click on 'Subscribe' in the top left.

3. We will be starting our initial design phase of the full site redesign before the end of the year.  National look-up is on the requirement list.

4. I can't comment on this other than to say I hope that improves.

5. I don't see why not. I can work on this one.

 

- E

jwight said:

Back to the original discussion:

1. smart Street Tours?  Appear to be a thing of the past, which is too bad because IMHO the key to getting people to buy a smart is getting them into a smart in the first place.  If the street tours can't be done on a national level, push the dealers to do them locally.

2.  The Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC) - still waiting to see this opened up to US smart owners now that we are under M-B USA.  Are smart owners not considered as part of the Mercedes family now?

3.  Dealer locator on smart USA site.  Please return the interactive map feature!  Searching by ZIP code is fine when we want a local dealer, but if we're planning a road trip it's much easier to find dealers along the way by using the map.

4.  We've had a "new" smart center in Cincinnati for a couple of months now, although you wouldn't know it unless you really looked hard.  No signage, no communication with local owners, no blog on this site, no posts on SCoA, etc.  Mainly the sounds of crickets chirping.  I hope this is not representative of the newer smart centers since it's exactly the opposite of the support and interaction we had from the previous (non M-B USA) smart center in Cincy.

5.  On the smart USA site there's a link to smartusainsider.com, but on this site there's no link back to smart USA - can we get one?

Permalink Reply by Eric Angeloro on September 23, 2011 at 4:32pm

Pulse check: How many Insiders have and use the smart Drive App and Integration Kit?  We are investigating making a bigger deal out of it including a more formal home on smartusa.com.  Thoughts?

http://www.smartdriveapp.com/home.php

Permalink Reply by Russell Glissmann on September 23, 2011 at 5:04pm
Make the same app for Android and I'll be all over it!

Eric Angeloro said:

Pulse check: How many Insiders have and use the smart Drive App and Integration Kit?  We are investigating making a bigger deal out of it including a more formal home on smartusa.com.  Thoughts?

http://www.smartdriveapp.com/home.php

Permalink Reply by Jill Hobbs on September 23, 2011 at 5:16pm
I use the drive ap but do not have the integration kit in my car. It needs to be made more affordable and allow Smart owners to buy and install it themselves.



Eric Angeloro said:

Pulse check: How many Insiders have and use the smart Drive App and Integration Kit?  We are investigating making a bigger deal out of it including a more formal home on smartusa.com.  Thoughts?

http://www.smartdriveapp.com/home.php

Permalink Reply by jwight on September 23, 2011 at 5:29pm
No smart phone so no need for it at this point.
Permalink Reply by Kenny Andersen on September 23, 2011 at 8:24pm
so, if my 450 originally came from a market in Germany for instance, then I should be able to sign up and enter the VIN in and the EPC should take it?  Could someone provide Eric with a 450 VIN to check it out (I'm out of the country so don't have access to my smarties VIN).  Thanks.  Evidently some are able to order parts for their 450s from MB dealers, while others are not.  I'm guessing if we went in with the right part number and just asked for it, they would be more likely to help us order it.

Eric Angeloro said:

Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

2. Currently, this offered via an international service for $12 USD per year.  You can sign-up here: http://epc.startekinfo.com and click on 'Subscribe' in the top left.

 

- E

 

Permalink Reply by Kenny Andersen on September 23, 2011 at 9:08pm
It appears that the EPC is for USA products only.  Does MB have a similar site that us 450 owners could subscribe to?  Maybe something out of the UK?  Armed with the correct part number there are a myriad of ways we could get parts, including ordering them from an MB dealer.
Permalink Reply by Ryan on September 23, 2011 at 10:36pm

Since this thread is being quite lively lately.... figured i might as well ask in here.  Anyone, preferably on the east coast... even more preferably in eastern PA... happen to know where one might acquire rear brake shoes?  Freakin looked everywhere.  Smart Madness and eBay only seem to have the entire rebuild kit with the springs and cylinder and all that other crap for $160.... and last i checked, don't need all that to change the brake shoes.  Checked Advance Auto Parts, and they only have the front pads, along with Auto Zone and Napa Auto Parts.

 

As for the smartphone app/integration.... i have an in-dash nav system, and basically refuse to talk on the phone while i'm driving.... so i didn't really bother with it.

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