Got give Magellan props...

[+redcoyote12]

So I had problems with my eXplorist 210 after only about 8 months, where I deleted some old geocache files which caused the whole thing to lock up.... and after a frustrating month of trying to email Magellan for help, and 3 calls to their tech people in some country in southern Asia (don't get me started)... I finally got approval to send it in for repair under warranty.

 

After a month of waiting and then figuring it was gone for good and swept under the rug somewhere, a 'like new' 210 shows up on my doorstep and powers up nicely.. and I swear it is MUCH faster and more accurate than the old one. It finds sometimes 12 satellites in under a minute, where my old one took around 3-5 minutes just to latch on to 4 for a position fix, and would sometimes lose them for a minute. (New firmware.. or a better unit?) So I gotta hand it to Magellan for making my life a little better...

 

Just wanted to pass on that story for those on the fence about their support, as I was.

Edited February 25, 2007 by redcoyote12

[+Trail Buzzards]

That has nothing to do with Magellan support. I do believe that they have good equipment, it is the less than exemplary tactics that have finally driven me away from them.

 

As you said, it took a month for you to get a refurbished unit sent back to you as a replacement for the one you sent them. What did they expect you to do for the month without your unit? Not everyone has a spare GPSr laying around waiting to be pressed into duty. I sent my eXplorist in for warantee repair twice. Each time I was without it for a month.

 

The latest straw was when I sent my eXplorist600 in for repair for the third time. It was out of warantee and they told me it would cost me $56. I was OK with that. But instead of charging me $56, they charged my credit card $181. That was three months ago and I still have not received a credit yet.

[+hukilaulau]

That has nothing to do with Magellan support.

I don't understand what you mean. Of course it has to do with support. So the score on this particular thread is 1 to 1. I've had good response the two times I've called for clarification. But the biggest test for me will be this: I lost my 500, which had DirectRoute on it. As we all know, DR is only licensed for one handheld, which sucks. i called to ask them if I buy a new 500 will they give me a new access code so I don't have to buy DR again. They said, "Sure!" I'll let you know if they follow through when my new 500 arrives.

[+webscouter.]

So I had problems with my eXplorist 210 after only about 8 months, where I deleted some old geocache files which caused the whole thing to lock up.... and after a frustrating month of trying to email Magellan for help, and 3 calls to their tech people in some country in southern Asia (don't get me started)... I finally got approval to send it in for repair under warranty.

 

After a month of waiting and then figuring it was gone for good and swept under the rug somewhere, a 'like new' 210 shows up on my doorstep and powers up nicely.. and I swear it is MUCH faster and more accurate than the old one. It finds sometimes 12 satellites in under a minute, where my old one took around 3-5 minutes just to latch on to 4 for a position fix, and would sometimes lose them for a minute. (New firmware.. or a better unit?) So I gotta hand it to Magellan for making my life a little better...

 

Just wanted to pass on that story for those on the fence about their support, as I was.

 

Wow, you were without a GPS for two months and call that good service? You are much easier appeased than I am.

[+redcoyote12]

Call me an optimist I guess.. My expectations were low so the fact that it came back after a month was fine with me. I don't think a month is that unrealistic when dealing with a corporation. Yeah, 10 days might have been ideal, but I can live with a month, given that it works great. Phone support was annoying mainly because of the language barrier, but they really tried to help, I admit. Email was the only really lacking thing.

 

I am not saying I am in love with the company, but I am satisfied this go-round.. and I never said the words "good service".

[+2happy2gether]

I dealt with Magellan customer support once when I had problems with my unit (500). I was redirected to the Canadian Repair Facility and had the unit back in my lap within 3 working days - repaired. When it went down the second time, I mailed the unit back to the shop, e-mailed both him and Magellan and a new unit was returned to me in 4 working days.

 

I am extremely impressed with the servcie that I have gotten from Magellan...more so the Canadian repair guy in Mildmay, ON. I've had no service interruptions to speak of and when it came to the crunch, they replaced my GPSr no questions asked.

 

NOTE: I have only spoken with Magellan customer support once; more like yelled...I was not impressed with their phone service "individuals". I will only e-mail my intent and send it straight through the mail now whenever I have a problem.

[+Trail Buzzards]

I don't understand what you mean. Of course it has to do with support.

 

When I said it had nothing to do with support, I was referring to his getting replacement GPSr that worked well. The support portion would be the one month that he was without it and the fact that they didn't communicate with him while it was gone to let him know when it would be back.

[+hukilaulau]

Here's the update on my latest dealing with customer service. I lost my 500 and wanted to use directroute on a new 500 without paying for it again. tech support was very helpful and their instructions would have worke perfectly... except that I apparently had a bad SD card. Which fooled me at first because I was able to download geocache files to the 500, but not map sections. Finally, in desperation I took the SD card out of my camera and put it in the 500. And then it worked fine!

But really the key factors for this thread are:

tech support knew what they were doing, you just have to listen closely to get beyond the language problem.

I got a live person in less than a minute on three calls over a 2 day span.

I had no problem getting authorization to use directroute in a second handheld under the circumstances.

 

I am an unabashed Magellan supporter!!

[+drbadskwerl]

I dealt with Magellan customer support once when I had problems with my unit (500). I was redirected to the Canadian Repair Facility and had the unit back in my lap within 3 working days - repaired. When it went down the second time, I mailed the unit back to the shop, e-mailed both him and Magellan and a new unit was returned to me in 4 working days.

 

I am extremely impressed with the servcie that I have gotten from Magellan...more so the Canadian repair guy in Mildmay, ON. I've had no service interruptions to speak of and when it came to the crunch, they replaced my GPSr no questions asked.

 

NOTE: I have only spoken with Magellan customer support once; more like yelled...I was not impressed with their phone service "individuals". I will only e-mail my intent and send it straight through the mail now whenever I have a problem.

 

Perhaps you'd like to PM me the email/phone number of your helpful Canadian contact?!