Great Customer Service from Magellan!

[+crockett3663]

A week and a half ago, I bought a used Magellan Expolrist 210 from a guy about 30 minutes away. Right from the get-go, I was having all sorts of trouble with it. I had trouble clearing out the memory from the guy I bought it from. I called Magellan and they walked me through the memory swipe, but then I was getting a message that said "Initiating Map Upload", and the unit would freeze up.

 

Today I called Magellan one more time to get some tech support. Suddenly the rep tells me "You know what? We're not even servicing Explorist units any longer, so what I'm going to do is ship you a new Triton 300 AT NO CHARGE!!!" I tell ya, the guy's message just about knocked me out of my chair!! I still can't believe it. All I have to do is send in my Explorist after I get the new Triton, and that's it!! I'm basically getting a brand new $150 GPS for the $80 I paid for the used one only one week ago!!

 

Today must be my lucky day!!

[drthtater]

I don't believe it.

[+briansnat]

Not to burst your bubble, but I'd wait until I actually received it before singing Magellan's praises.

 

Also with all the problems with the Tritons, there are a lot of people who might not consider an eXplorist for Triton trade to be a good one.

 

Hopefully you will luck out and receive your Triton promptly and it will work great for you.

 

Moving to the appropriate forum

[+JSWilson64]

I've done that too, woke up 2 weeks late with a great idea for April Fools...

 

[+gpsblake]

crockett3663,

 

That's good news. Just do us a favor though, when you receive the Triton 300, let us know.

[+crockett3663]

Admittedly I'm new to this whole GPS/geocaching thing, but I don't understand why you guys are all so skeptical. It's not as though I was talking to some idiot store clerk. It was a memeber of Magellan's tech support. He told me I should be receiving my new Triton within 7-10 days. He even gave me a transaction number to give them if I need to call them back with any concerns.

 

I'm guessing that there are people on here who are pro-Garmin and anti-Magellan, and vice versa. That's all well and good, but I just don't see the sense in the negative talk. From what I gathered from the phone call, I see no reason why I should be skeptical.

[+D0T-C0M]

Well Magellan is trying to do better I believe but they are a disorganized group for sure. I sent out my e600 for repair and it was an ordeal.

 

1- took 90 min to get an RMA (very frustrating) for my out of warranty e600 costing $102 flat rate for repairs.

2- after unit received by Magellan I called 10 days after for RMA status and they couldn't find my RMA in the computer. another 30 minutes spent giving them my customer ID # and RMA and address and so forth. Agent said he found it and I should receive a new e600 within 7-10days

3- Called again after 10 days and this time the agent tells me that they are sending me a new triton500 to replace my e600 and it should take 7-10 more days.

4. Call again after 2 days to make sure everything is still in progress only to find that they never created a work order to send me a new Triton500. Agent creates one on the phone with me and tells me it can take 3 weeks because units are back ordered.

5. I call 10 days after to confirm everything is still on track.

6. Last week I receive a package and inside is a brand new e600. I think to myself that this is weird and I was a little disappointed that I didn't get a triton(maybe this was a good thing hearing about the present bugs they have).

7. The following week I get another box from Magellan and inside is a brand new Triton500. I am thrilled. After playing with the Triton500 for a week or so I find that the unit works very well except the battery life is quite poor. I do love the suspend mode that this unit has which makes powering it up a breeze.

 

In summarizing, it was a very frustrating ordeal, I must have spent 3 or 4 hours on the phone with them that should have only taken a faction of the time. I think Magellan would do wonders in improving their customer support by bringing their call center to to north america instead of the middle east. The reps are very very hard to understand. Also their call center reps really need more training. From what I've seen they are a bit disorganized. It is ridiculous that it takes 90 minutes to get an RMA number.

Edited April 15, 2008 by D0T-C0M

[+crockett3663]

Well, like I said, I am new to this whole hobby and everything involved with it, so maybe I should take the concerns of all of you folks to heart. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope that all turns out OK. I'll keep you informed on how things are going.

[+jws2go]

Do not be discouraged by the forums. They are wonderful sources of information and a great place to exchange ideas and opinions, but, they are not always prophetic. I happily bought a magellan Roadmate 700 a few years back for the purpose of motorcycle routing. The forum discussions at that time were offering every assurance that the magellan would never hold up to the rigors of riding the handlebars of a Gold Wing, and that I should have gotten a Street Pilot III. The bad reports took the joy out of my new purchase. Sure enough, 130,000 miles and five years later I found it desirable to replace......the Gold Wing. Back injury coupled with age forced me to opt for a smaller bike. I still have the Roadmate. I hope it turns out to be a great experience for you.

Edited April 15, 2008 by jws2go

[+SWAK9802]

I sincerely hope it all works out for you. My experience with Magellan's Customer Service wasn't all that great. Every sentence spoken took 5 mins worth of "documenting", it took 2 shipments of the wrong part before they finally understood what a AAA battery adapter was, and a total of 2 1/2 months before sending me the correct part. All the while I was given new transaction numbers, customer ID numbers, tracking numbers, etc. It seems their tech support is a bit more organized and helpful than the other departments, but I'm really hoping I don't come across any other problems that require me to make the dreaded call again.

 

I like my Magellan unit, but that doesn't mean I have to like the Customer Service the company tries to provide.

[+Prime Suspect]

"I've got good news, and I've got bad news."

"What's the good news?"

'Magellan is sending me a Triton."

"What's the bad news?"

'Magellan is sending me a Triton."

 

[+D0T-C0M]

Do not be discouraged by the forums. They are wonderful sources of information and a great place to exchange ideas and opinions, but, they are not always prophetic. I happily bought a magellan Roadmate 700 a few years back for the purpose of motorcycle routing. The forum discussions at that time were offering every assurance that the magellan would never hold up to the rigors of riding the handlebars of a Gold Wing, and that I should have gotten a Street Pilot III. The bad reports took the joy out of my new purchase. Sure enough, 130,000 miles and five years later I found it desirable to replace......the Gold Wing. Back injury coupled with age forced me to opt for a smaller bike. I still have the Roadmate. I hope it turns out to be a great experience for you.

Don't get me wrong Magellan has great hardware, its the firmware and customer support that is severely lacking. Magellan might update their firmware in their units maybe once or twice during its life cycle if your lucky. Just look at the explorist line. They can't even get WAAS without another update and now they are obsolete (good thing the european firmware fixes this). Their customer support just plain sucks. They have to re-think that aspect of their company if they want to succeed.

Edited April 15, 2008 by D0T-C0M

[+TakeTheLongWay]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day....

[+briansnat]

Admittedly I'm new to this whole GPS/geocaching thing, but I don't understand why you guys are all so skeptical. It's not as though I was talking to some idiot store clerk. It was a memeber of Magellan's tech support. He told me I should be receiving my new Triton within 7-10 days. He even gave me a transaction number to give them if I need to call them back with any concerns.

 

Just do a forum search here on Magellan service or Magellan support and you'll see why there is such skepticism. I recall a thread a month or two ago where a guy had the exact same story as yours. eXplorist

went bad, Magellan promised him a new Triton in a week and he never received it.

[jim slim]

Just to let you know I had the same type of deal as you. My Explorixt Xl broke and the rep was going send me a triton 1500 for free. About 2 monthes and what seamed like 100 phone calls later I recieved my OLD Explorist back. It wasn't fixed, just put in a different box and returned to me. I got back on the phone with magellan and said that they would send out another explorist XL AND Trition 1500. I didn't get my hopes up though because of what I had already been through. I'm gald I didn't to, becasue almost 4 month later they finally arrived. The explorist didn't even work though. So, now I'm completely finished with magellan. They will recieve no more of my money.

[+julianh]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day....

And a non-functional GPS will give you your correct speed (as long as you don't move), and an absolutely accurate location (as long as you are located approximately 800 km SW of Lagos, Nigeria).

 

(0 deg E / 0 deg N)

 

Edited April 16, 2008 by julianh

[+gpsblake]

That's all well and good, but I just don't see the sense in the negative talk. From what I gathered from the phone call, I see no reason why I should be skeptical.

 

Many people have had horrible experiences with Magellan's customer service & taking months to get their units back from being repaired. When I first started geocaching 5 years ago, Garmin vs Magellan owners were about 50/50.. Now I would say that 19 out of 20 are Garmin owners in here. It didn't happen by accident or chance either.

 

The reason I want you to post when you actually receive your unit is to show that Magellan is trying to turn that horrible reputation around.

[CacheNCarryMA]

Count me as one of the former Magellan owners who now owns a Garmin.

 

I'm not surprised that Magellan has a surplus of Triton 300s piling up. The phrase, "they can't even give them away" is appropriate on multiple levels.

Edited April 18, 2008 by CacheNCarryMA