Garmin/Magellan Reps?

[Guest prv8eye]

With 13,912 subscribers to the general Groundspeak forum and almost 5,000 to this one, wouldn't you think that Garmin and Magellan would, OPENLY, have company reps participating in these forums to answer questions???

People BEG, everyday, on this forum for information on the products they sell and they don't answer. (We know they're reading)

I can't imagine why any business would ignore such a huge number of loyal and potential customers.

I understand not wanting to turn this incredible forum into a battleground for salesmen.

Is that the reason they are not permitted to participate here or are they just missing the boat?

I'm not advocating SPAM, just response.

 

Gus Morrow

Oceanside, CA

[Guest ClayJar]

p. )

[Guest JasonW]

They're probably aware of this place, however they're also probably cogniscent of the fact that if they tried to make out that Garmin was better than Magellan (or vice versa) that they'd stimulate a hornets' nest of protest from the other (and the other manufacturers like Lowrance etc) and it'd end up being really negative publicity - whereas Joe Q. Public saying X is better than Y holds more equity.

 

Bottom Line (IMHO of course): They don't do it because if they did they'd turn more people off than if they just let it be.

[Guest exConn]

quote:

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Originally posted by JasonW:

Bottom Line (IMHO of course): They don't do it because if they did they'd turn more people off than if they just let it be.

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I agree with you that this could potentially be the case if they came here and tried to promote an "ours is better" mentality.

 

But, I think that a thoughtful representative who worked hard to inform and answer questions efficiently (without getting into the "ours is better" debate or advertising) could do a world of good for their image and by doing so indirectly market their product to an audience hungry for information.

 

I, like prv8eye, am also surprised that there are no company representatives here.

 

Of course, Magellan could not pay anyone else enough to give better information than ClayJar does about their products. I'm a happy eTrex Vista user, but you can't help but get wrapped up in the enthusiasm of ClayJar's comments...

 

-exConn

 

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http://www.LibertyUnites.org

 

[This message has been edited by exConn (edited 21 October 2001).]

[Guest exConn]

quote:

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Originally posted by JasonW:

Bottom Line (IMHO of course): They don't do it because if they did they'd turn more people off than if they just let it be.

---

 

I agree with you that this could potentially be the case if they came here and tried to promote an "ours is better" mentality.

 

But, I think that a thoughtful representative who worked hard to inform and answer questions efficiently (without getting into the "ours is better" debate or advertising) could do a world of good for their image and by doing so indirectly market their product to an audience hungry for information.

 

I, like prv8eye, am also surprised that there are no company representatives here.

 

Of course, Magellan could not pay anyone else enough to give better information than ClayJar does about their products. I'm a happy eTrex Vista user, but you can't help but get wrapped up in the enthusiasm of ClayJar's comments...

 

-exConn

 

------------------

http://www.LibertyUnites.org

 

[This message has been edited by exConn (edited 21 October 2001).]

[Guest Prime Suspect]

quote:

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Originally posted by prv8eye:

With 13,912 subscribers to the general Groundspeak forum and almost 5,000 to this one, wouldn't you think that Garmin and Magellan would, OPENLY, have company reps participating in these forums to answer questions???

People BEG, everyday, on this forum for information on the products they sell and they don't answer. (We know they're reading)

I can't imagine why any business would ignore such a huge number of loyal and potential customers.

I understand not wanting to turn this incredible forum into a battleground for salesmen.

Is that the reason they are not permitted to participate here or are they just missing the boat?

I'm not advocating SPAM, just response.

 

Gus Morrow

Oceanside, CA

---

 

I would much rather have the opinion of actual users than a corporate mouthpiece. IMO, it's bad enough that we already have one company that never misses an opportunity to plug their product in these forums. Let's not invite more. Besides, if you have a specific question that's best answered by a company, then ask them directly. I've both phoned and emailed Garmin with questions in the past, and they responded very quickly. If the response would be of interest to others, it can be posted here.

[Guest navdog]

quote:

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Originally posted by Prime Suspect:

IMO, it's bad enough that we already have one company that never misses an opportunity to plug their product in these forums. Let's not invite more.

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With regards to Topografix, Easy GPS and Expert GPS are products that are integrated into the website and it seems that everyone uses them wholeheartedly. I am sure nearly eveyone uses the download features to put waypoints into their GPSR's. Doing it manually is a pain in the butt! It is also nice to type a question into the forums here and get a timely reply from Dan.

[Guest Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Prime Suspect:

IMO, it's bad enough that we already have one company that never misses an opportunity to plug their product in these forums. Let's not invite more.

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Funny, I was actually thinking that was a GOOD thing. I gotta agree with Navdog. It's nice to see a company that seems to take a genuine interest in working with the people that use their product, not just sitting back and collecting the money.

I see this alot more in the jetski forums I frequent. Most of the aftermarket companies have a presence there, as well as quite a few dealers. Far from being a spamfest, it's a way of establishing a good relationship between the manufacturer and the customer. Not everyone calls or emails the manufacturer for every little complaint. I think most of the people here would post a question to the forum before going direct to the manufacturer. Wouldn't be nice to have someone at Magellan here to pop in and answer the Meridian Platinum barometer question?

[Guest prv8eye]

quote:

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. Not everyone calls or emails the manufacturer for every little complaint. I think most of the people here would post a question to the forum before going direct to the manufacturer. Wouldn't be nice to have someone at Magellan here to pop in and answer the Meridian Platinum barometer question?[/b]

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There ya go. Now THAT'S exactly the kind of thing I'm talkin about.

Not many people want to call a company, push the "if you want this, push that" buttons and wait for someone to come on the line, get transfered and wait again just to ask a question.

 

Gus

[Guest peter]

ing to not participate openly because of the likely consequences. I've participated on a number of newsgroups where a few people identified themselves as representing major manufacturers. Unfortunately, their posts became lightning rods for everyone with any sort of complaint about their products. When they responded and defended their engineering decisions, the thread rapidly descended into a flame fest that made everyone involved look bad.

Those newsgroups no longer have manufacturer reps posting openly, but they do apparently monitor since people who post about specific concerns sometimes get private email with suggestions or offers to repair defects.

[Guest Growley]

After spending 2 hours on hold to talk with someone, anyone at Garmin (I never did get to talk to anyone)it would be nice if they would poke their head up here every now and then.