I’ve been having a rather frustrating experience with Magellan GPS (Thales Navigation) as of late. Last Christmas, Marcie got me one of their SporTrak Color hand-held GPS units. I played around with it a little bit over the winter, took it on a couple of flights with me, etc, but I never really dug into the advanced features the unit is supposed to have in addition to GPS functionality (electronic 3-axis compass, temperature/barometric pressure logging, etc).
(more after jump)
Lately, I decided to play around with it a little more. First, I tried to ensure the compass was calibrated (according to the manual, it should be done with every battery change). No dice – calibration sequence froze on the first step. Reset calibration? No dice. Advanced manual calibration? Still no luck. Ok, strike 1. Next up, I take a look at the weather stuff – the geek in me figures it’d be interesting to see what the air pressure does on a flight somewhere. Turns out, the unit isn’t logging temperature or pressure data either.
So, I e-mail Thales tech support via the web, figuring this would be a straightforward warranty service, as the unit’s got either a 1 or 2 year warranty. Takes ~2 working days to get a response. In one of the e-mails, their customer service rep indicates that I’ll need a receipt in order to get the unit repaired. Naturally, I push back – who gets a full-fledged purchase receipt with their Christmas gifts? Gift receipts often don’t even have a description of the item – just a barcode for store lookup.
CSR tells me to go ahead and send the unit in along with a written statement indicating that the unit was given as a gift new in 12/04. So, I sent it off, and got an e-mail 5 days later telling me that the unit will need to be replaced at a cost of $130 + S/H. Ths unit has not been subjected to abuse of any kind – it’s spent most of its life in a padded case on my desk at home, actually!), so this is unquestionably a manufacturing defect.
The unit costs ~$200 new. I know CostCo as a policy caps their markup at 15%, so they bought it from Thales for no less than $170. The manufacturer markup on consumer electronics is more than 25%, so they’re trying to make a profit on defective merchandise.
But, I figured there was one thing I could try. I went over to CostCo, and they were able to print out the transaction record from their systems that shows when the unit was bought, purchase price, method of payment, etc. They can even see that Marcie bought a box of Honey Nut Cheerios at the same time. So, thumbs up to CostCo for helping me out on this one. I called Magellan to get a fax number to send the receipt to – spent 30 minutes on hold.
Fortunately, the transaction record was sufficient, and I got a new unit shipped back a week later. Still the whole experience just rubbed me the wrong way. Requiring a receipt is a dumb policy, especially in the day and age of Photoshop. I could have taken an existing receipt from CostCo, scanned it in, and edited in the right information. What’s even more irritating is that this makes me feel like Thales / Magellan doesn’t stand behind their products. It’s pretty clear that this was a manufacturing defect in the unit, as the compass/weather system most likely never worked in the unit, based on how I can see the heading update in the new unit while standing still now. Not only am I pissed off and not going to be a repeat customer, but I’m not going to recommend Magellan GPS units to anyone.
Note to Magellan, if you ever see this – here’s how this transaction should have gone:
1) Customer Service should have responded within 1 business day of my original contact. First contact was a waste anyhow, as all they did was request information I’d already provided in the web form (and was even in the body of the e-mail they sent me!), so in reality, it took ~5 business days to get an RMA issued.
2) If I say it’s a gift, take my word for it. I shouldn’t need to bend over backwards to produce proof of warranty. I was lucky that this came from CostCo, and that they could look up the purchase information in-store
3) Phone service – 30 minute hold times are unacceptable, especially without providing feedback as to how long I’d be waiting.
To their credit, once Magellan accepted my receipt as proof of purchase, the replacement unit was on the way within 2 days.
In short, customers should not have to jump through hoops, before or after the sale.
Instead of getting repeat business (because face it, I’m a gadget guy – someday I’ll probably want to upgrade to a better GPS) from me, I’ll buy a unit from Garmin, TomTom, etc, and recommend others do the same.
Just bought a Magellan Maestro 5310. The DVD in the box would not run on my computer, Msft XP, Called customer service said it was a microsoft problem and i needed a dll that was eliminated when I updated to srvice pack 3. Any ideas
Nice to find a place to post about bad customer service. I had ordered update software CD and a new window mount for my RoadMate 800. The window mount was for a different model of GPS, but they had my Roadmate 800 on the packing list. The CD would not work with my PC or my mac. My PC runs on Vista and I found out that the CD only runs on XP. Whatever, I thought I would call their customer support and process a return. Well, Magellan’s customer service phone number that was published on their site was disconnected. My email to customer support bounced back to me. I think maybe they could be going out of business. I’m looking at $120 for this stuff. The CD was $80. So, I am here blogging about my customer experience with Magellan. I’m now shopping for an up to date GPS with better software and support. I will try to avoid Magellan.
For ten years I was product manager in a company dealing with electronics.
after reading the most of this site I am speechless.
is it possible to be so rude I am referring to the ansver by:
helper Says:
October 17th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
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Well I think Ill join the club of: No Magellan Owner after purchasing one of their products and side products at a off season sale.
the unit ill use as an accurate speedometer and odometer and the cd’s Ill use as shooting practice fudder.anyone asking me for a gps (its afew) will get the answer
anything but Magellan.
THank you
Well after reading all the commits on this site i decided to toss mine in the trash and buy a nother brand.
I’ve been trying for almost five months to get my 4210 repaired. So far I’ve only got three weeks use out of it. It’s twice been replaced with refurbished units which have been defective. Trying to get the map update is the same.
Magellan units are great WHEN THEY WORK, but dealing with Magellan is like pulling your own teeth with tweezers.
ben, do you have the name/contact info for the current pres of magellan?
thanks,
marcia
mbar...@hotmail.com
Wish I would have read these posts before purchasing a Magellan. I just spent 30 days, 10 phone calls, 2 faxes, and 16 emails trying to get my 30-day map guarantee (software update). Today I called again and they finally processed my order, but they have none in-stock! Can’t a software update be a download?! For a service dept. of a technical company, they sure don’t know what they’re doing. Now waiting for my free ($10) DVD. Never buy a Magellan.
Karen: I hope your map upgrade works better than mine. After purchasing a miestro 3100 last Christmas I found that the map was so old it didn’t show a major bypass through My city which altered many roads and traffic flows. I contacted Customer Service and they told me I would be notified (yeah right) when the upgrade was available but it would cost me $40. I decided to keep the unit(wish I would have returned it) and wait for the upgrade. Last month I finally ordered it and it cost $80. But that is not the worst of it, the software has bugs in it and it won’t display POIs in some of the catagories like “shopping” and “public buildings”. My city is over 60,000 people with hundreds of stores and it doesnt detect any within 50 miles of here. After 2 1/2 hours of talking with customer service and tech support people I am no closer to getting satisfaction. Their response is basically “too bad, so sad”. A manager is supposed to call me back on monday to tell me if they will refund my $80 but up until now they have adamantly refused. I would bet my life savings the phone won’t be ringing on monday. I am also trying to put together info on who to call at thier corporate headquarters since they have been bought by MiTAC. If anyone has already done so, please post it and if I am eventually successful (eternal optomist) I will post back. Get a Garmin!!!!!
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No better CS with Garmin! 700 series has a known problem with loss of audio. I believe it should be a recall at this point. Beware! The last one I purchased had intermittent sound/audio speaker output loss right out of the box! I didn’t even have a chance to register it. I spoke with Garmin on the phone, they registered it and instructed me to ship it to them (at my expense) for an “immediate replacement upon receipt”. They lied. After a couple of days of my receipt of delivery which I tracked I told them the exact time they received it then received back an E-Mail stating it was not in their system and when received it would be a general turnaround up to 14 days for “repair”. OK so one hand does not know of the others promises but at the very least reimburse or supply free shipping of a defective POS! This is just a note to beware of what the manufacturer says as opposed to what the really do. I use to love Garmin products but the company seems to be going to the dogs.
Magellan’s satisfaction surveys must be for their enjoyment at coffee break! I can see nothing but failure for this company if they don’t get their act together.
GPS received as a gift after researching Magellan website. My location was given as Canada so I thought the specs listed would be for the Cdn unit. It stated U.S. maps were pre-loaded which is what I wanted for my long road trip there. Unit received with Cdn maps which I have little use for. Company would have sent me a CD with the maps for a hefty fee, but after all said and done, the cost would be close the the unit itself. Now I find out that the SD card will not accept any other version on the Cdn unit. Glad I didn’t waste more of my money. Store will not accept return as the box seal is broken. No other resolutions from this POS company. Buy anything else but Magellan!!
ok, more of the same but with a slightly different twist.
I own a Magellan 3000T which worked fine for about 18 months.
Now the unit will not charge because the female receptacle has become loose and fallen into the unit (probably a cold solder joint).
I called today to get an RA so i could return the unit for repairs. I was willing to pay for the repairs since it was 6 month out of warranty. They proceeded to collect all my personal information and then announced they do not do repairs but would be glad to accept the unit as a trade in on a new unit at an attractive price. I was played for the fool. I told them that they were dishonest and should have said that right up front when i called and asked for a Return Authorization for a repair of their unit. She responded that they were trained to read off a prepared script and had similar complaints in the past. I asked her if she had a “notes’ section on the computer, She said yes. I told her that not only i am not interested in trading in my defective Magellan product but that i would simply discard it, purchase a new one from one of their competitors and ensured them that I would pass their unethical and possibly illegal behavior (collecting personal identification information under false pretense and placing it in their internal database) to all my associates. She apologized and said she was just doing her job. These are predatory sales practices. Different states have different laws and regulations however, in this case they are using the telephone and that means federal jurisdiction. I really think they can be brought to heel and there are damages.
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT TRUST MAGELLAN CUSTOMER SERVICE !!!!
Has anybody figured out how to get this bloddy XL to get past the blue screen with just the XL Explorist logo displayed?????
Add me to the list. Maestro 4350 first died at 14 months. Figured a fluke. Bought another and it died at 4 months. Dealing with customer service now, that really can’t speak or understand the Kings English.
Unit just locks at Ble Magellan screen. Frustrating!
DO not buy MAgellan poor service and they broke after a month.
bought two and both unit are krap. all calls to customer was a wast of time.
Magellan just sucks! I have one that has NEVER worked right! I called CS and they told me i needed the home charger. I baught that and it did not help. 399.00 for the GPS and 35.00 for the charger. TOTAL junk! Do not waist your money!
Magellan’s satisfaction surveys must be for their enjoyment at coffee break! I can see nothing but failure for this company if they don’t get their act together.
GPS received as a gift after researching Magellan website. My location was given as Canada so I thought the specs listed would be for the Cdn unit. It stated U.S. maps were pre-loaded which is what I wanted for my long road trip there. Unit received with Cdn maps which I have little use for. Company would have sent me a CD with the maps for a hefty fee, but after all said and done, the cost would be close the the unit itself. Now I find out that the SD card will not accept any other version on the Cdn unit. Glad I didn’t waste more of my money. Store will not accept return as the box seal is broken. No other resolutions from this POS company. Buy anything else but Magellan!!
Images removed? I see red crosses
I bought a Magellan for use in Costa Rica. The problem is that there is no maps of Costa Rica in Magellan’s format.
Somebody know how I could adquire a Costa Rica map for Magellan.
Gave me the MEDION 40010871 Akku deepest love a MEDION 40011354 Akku girl missing MEDION 40022655 Akku National Palace Asus U3 Battery to climb the NEC op-570-74402 Battery
I recently received a Magellan Triton for a 25 year gift. Ok, it was free so I shouldn’t complain. I started to climb slowly on the GPS train but found the two AA batteries discharge very quickly, like in a week, even when it is turned off. Any ideas? I’m pretty frustrated and will recycle it and buy a Garmin if there is no fix or I haven’t done something stupid.
If you are not satisfied with it or it dose not fulfilling your requirement then why not you change it try for some thing which help you accordingly.
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