Desperate - problems with Tomtom Go 910

If I am breaking group etiquette by posting what amounts to a complaint

against Tomtom, then (a) I apologise, but (b) I do so only out of
desperation. The story is as follows:

26 July 2006: I bought a 910GO (abroad, regrettably, so not possible
to return immediately to retailer, as I would have done in my own
country.)
It worked perfectly for two days and then started (a) not to
find/maintain connection with satellites and (b) to 'freeze' on. As
soon as possible, I contacted Customer support, who told me to reset it

with a paperclip. This worked, but the fault recurred -
intermittently, though. Stupidly, I believed their suggestion that the

unit would 'settle down' and din't send it back. I din't try to use th

unit again until:
12-14 August, when it repeatedly refused to find satellites (as
before), so:
15 August: I returned it to Tomtom
26 August: it was returned to me apparently untouched, i.e. the screen

was frozen and the unit was unusable, from first switching on and no
amount of resetting could get it to work. Accordingly,
28 August: unit again returned to Tomtom
13 September: unit returned to me with (again) no sign of repair
having been done - i.e. exactly the same faults as above, from first
turning on. I had no choice and:
26 September: unit yet again returned to Tomtom
Early October: my account showed that the unit had been sent back to
me, but I received no email confirmation and therefore:
19 October: rang Tomtom support. They told me that, because of a
great deal of work and because 'things have not been going well,
frankly', the unit had been sent from the Netherlands to a new plant in

Scotland. They (the Scots, apparently) reported that they had sent the

unit back to me. Further investigationrevealed that it had -
apparently - been sent to an address in a town 200 miles from where I
live, three weeks ago. When I asked them whether they were saying that

they had lost my unit, I was told that it 'seemed likely', but that
nothing could be ascertained for at least two working days and, no,
there was no one I could talk to to voice my complaint or confirm that
they would eventually replace the unit - I had to write (I have done.)


Summary: I spent =A3500 on a piece of equipment which worked for a
couple of days at best, which has been with Tomtom for 7 weeeks, during

which time they have twice returned it untested and faulty at first use

and now, it appears, lost it. There is no point in descending to
insult, but I have never encountered an organisation whose employees
seem so utterly unconcerned to engage with customers and, in two cases
(I have the details), positively enoy being rude and difficult.


Clearly, I am going to make the biggest fuss I can, through any
channels and media I can, but I am under no illusions as to how
successful I will be. That said, I certainly undertake to post an
update in the event that Tomtom responds (favourably (I hope, but
faintly.)) Meanwhile, any advice would be very welcome.

Sorry to hear about all your troubles PAB-- I do know TomTom is doing
this mount replacement program for the 510 and the 910, maybe you could
suggest to customer service that you get a replacement becasue of the
problems you've been having? I'm sure they would accommodate your needs.

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 10:41:25 +0100, PAB wrote


What exactly do you mean by this? Have you actually compared Tomtom's
products to other manufacturer's such as Garmin, Lowrance etc.?

Just interested...

--
Mike Lane
To contact me replace invalid with mike underscore lane

No, frankly: was a throwaway remark, based on euphoria at fact that Go
is actually working and, as far as I'm concerned, the unit is perfect
for what I want (i.e. street-level mapping of UK and France.) The
implication of your post is exactly right: anyone who wants to buy a
GPS system really ought to spend plenty of time researching the options
available (more than I did, certainly!)
Best wishes

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:08:19 +0100, PAB wrote


Fair enough :-)

--
Mike Lane
To contact me replace invalid with mike underscore lane