I received my SPOT 2 today and here's the update....
IT WORKS!
A big thanks to everyone here for rattling the cage and Mike Costa at SPOT. He made sure I had a new messenger and keep me updated everyday. Took it out of the box, updated my profile and within a few minutes I was tracking and sending messages. Also the SPOT 2 is very compact, almost half the size of the tracker and the extra features come in handy. No more guessing what mode you in. My old SPOT tracker was defective, no question about it. Just in time for the Marble trip too (hopefully wx corporates).
In the end I'm happy and I think I just dealt with a few bad eggs at SPOT. They made things right and it ended up working out in the end.
I couldn't have done it without you BCP! Thanks
Original Post:
1st off, SPOT customer service is terrible! If you happen to call 1-866-OK1-SPOT, expect to hold for 5-15 mintues, and then get someone like Mark, who doesn't care about you and your problem with his product.
So, here's the whole story. All I wanted for Christmas was a SPOT. Katie, my fiance, purchased one for me from Big 5 Sporting Goods and I had the joy of opening it on Christmas Day. It sat in the box for about 4 months until April 20, when I signed up for the basic plan and the GEOS service. I set up my profile on SPOT and was anxious to see little footprints start appearing tracking my progress.
It wasn't until 2 days later that my first track went through. I sent an OK message multiple times throughout the day, and finally one made it. Not amazing, but hey, it works. (I even went to the trouble of calling SPOT for the first time to see if I was doing things properly, and they sent me a detailed email about how to send an OK message, which I studied profusely.) So, I then sent a few more messages, and about 1/5 went through. Once again, not great, but it works. Even though I didn't have full confidence in the product, I figured it would be better to take it along on the BCP Caveman fly-in in case of an emergency. Even though it wasn't 100% reliable, it still worked enough that if I went down, it would do more good than sitting on my kitchen counter at home (or so I thought). And no cell service for 4 days, my family and friends could still see I'm ok, even if only 1 or 2 went through a day.
That morning I sent a message from my hangar, it went through. Great. I sent a message every hour or so from there on out. In total, a few messages went through, one at KGJT and one at mexican mountain. The last message went through on a hike in a canyon just north for the airstrip at mexican mountain. Then the thing completely STOPPED working since that message on May 5th. Thanks Tim for flying up and checking on me from Durango, and to all the guys tracking me here. But yeah, mine seems to make people more nervous than anything. My family and friends were freaking out too and I was lucky enough to call Katie at KCNY to tell her I was OK. (Total times I tried to send a SPOT message on the trip - est 30 times).
Now, I've called SPOT twice a week since the trip. They have given me the round around every time and it wasn't until I threatened to tell my story to every living soul on earth that they upgraded me to tracking. Tracking is a great feature for a working SPOT, but mine is NOT working. I have tried to send both tracking and OK messages every day since the trip (yes, I am that persistent!) and have achieved nothing. I have even went by Big 5 to see if I could exchange it, and JR the manager at Big 5 said no problem at all (finally some progress). But, with none in stock in the area, it was determined that there was a Big 5 recall on the SPOT. That was last night.
So, on my last nerve and fed up with spending endless amounts of time messing with my tracker and on the phone with SPOT, I called them one last time to see if they could help. Mark sent me through the basic questions and had me trying to send a message (no joy). After 10 minutes of getting nowhere, I told him about the possible easy fixes I have been told to do (new $3 lithium batteries, take them out and put them in, turn it off, turn it on, turn if off agian...) and those didn't work. I was told previously that I could get my money back and Mark's reply was "well why don't you?!", to my reply was "I need a product like this and can I talk to your supervisor about my problem". He said his supervisor would tell me the same thing he told me, which I replied "that's fine, I still want to talk to him". Mark, then explained to me that a supervisor doesn't answer phone calls right now and that he would have to call me back about my problem. My reply was "really!?, when can I expect a phone call concerning my problem", Mark's reply, "I don't know, could be a while". That was the end of the conversation.
So, here I am, sitting here today, about ready to scream. Mark's only help was to go to the SPOT website, fill out the warranty paperwork, send it in for them to test it, and if they can find an issue, they will replace it (like my word doesn't mean much). Now I'm spending MORE money on packing and shipping this product, and hopefully within a few weeks I can have a working SPOT. I'm sure you can express in my joy, especially when I was hoping to use this product on some upcoming flights, a camping trip, and a solo 14er climb next week (Yes, I'm the person that really needs a SPOT and its service).
This spot has already put me (and Katie) back about $215.00 and it has been nothing but a headache. I'll keep you updated on how this turns out. I'm all for giving people/companies a second chance, but this has gone to far in my opinion. Until something changes, SPOT will be bad mouthed about their faulty product and TERRIBLE customer service to everyone that will listen.
I just want to be the guy that uses and loves his SPOT (like so many of you!). All I want is a new working SPOT.
Matt
