Road Angel 9000 problems and their response (verbose)
Discussion
Hi all,
In short I bought a RA 9000 a couple of years ago, it's never worked very well and when I sent back for the second time recently I was basically told it wasn't repairable and that's that. I was promised a call back that never happened, so I guessed the MDs email and sent him an email on Sunday.
The reply is quite interesting - but I still feel pretty let down. Apologies in advance for the length of this post.
Would you be satisfied with the response?
From: Ian & Deb
To: graham.mackie@road-angel.co.uk
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 8:53 AM
Subject: Utterly let down by Road Angel
Hi Graham
I purchased a Road Angel 9000 device after my wife received a speeding ticket.
At the time it was new-to-market and the retail price which I paid was £499. I’ve subsequently paid the monthly sub. since then.
I’ve had intermittent problems with the unit from not long after I purchased it – it seemed not to charge in the cradle and it would switch itself off, but as we live in London and use it so rarely (only for weekends away/holidays) I was never sure it was a faulty unit or just me not using it properly. I returned the unit once but periodically experienced the same problems since then.
I’ve had a few conversations with your customer support team who suggested I return it again. The unit was set on my desk until recently and I finally contacted your support team to get it sorted. I was told to send it in - the unit was out of warranty, but also that it was noted on my database record that I was experiencing power-related issues when the unit was still under warranty.
I had a phone call from a young lady on the 16th October who told me that the power board was faulty, and due to the fact you no longer supported this device or stocked repair parts for it, it was beyond economical repair.
I was given two choices
- Pay Road Angel more money and receive a discounted ‘upgrade’ to a unit that has no sat-nav function as ‘RA are no longer in the SatNav market”
- Just accept the fact that I paid RA £500 three years plus £120 a year subs and now have nothing to show for it.
I was obviously a little disappointed to hear that such a recent model of yours is not supported – it’s only been available for three years or so, especially as it seems the product can still be purchased.
Your CS rep promised me a manager would call on Monday (9 days ago) and I’ve heard nothing since.
Graham - would you be happy with an organisation that treated you in this way and ever consider buying its products again?
I’m well aware I should have returned the unit sooner and it’s my fault the warranty period has expired, but I paid double the current price for the unit and it’s never really worked as it should. I still feel some discretion should be applied, and I certainly expect RA to honour its promise to discuss the matter further than the one call I have had.
I’d appreciated at least some escalated response please AS PROMISED – I’m an active member of a number of online motoring forums and would prefer not to have to spend time making my problems with RA a matter of public record.
Best regards
Ian
And the reply
From: Elaine Harries
Sent: 27 October 2009 12:07
To: Ian and Deb
Subject: FW: Utterly let down by Road Angel
Your email has been passed to me for a response in my capacity as Operations Director as Graham is currently away from the office. I would like to begin by saying how disappointed I am that you have had cause to express your dissatisfaction with our customer service. I can assure you that everyone at Road Angel group strives incredibly hard to ensure all customers receive a first class after sales service and I am sorry that on this occasion this has not been your experience.
Claire should have explained to you when she called the reason why as a business we moved out of the navigation market. Two companies called Teleatlas and Navteq who used to own 98% of the global navigation software market were purchased in 2008 by Tom Tom and Nokia. Despite repeated efforts we were unable to negotiate with them to produce up to date mapping for any of our navigation product range and we were effectively left with no choice but to move out of the navigation market and concentrate on camera locators. At the time you purchased this unit in 2007 we clearly were not aware of this and once it became public knowledge, it resulted in a dramatic reduction in the price of our remaining units. I can assure you it was certainly not in our interest to move out of this lucrative market and we effectively ran out of stock of this product earlier this year.
Since this happened, most of our customers have decided that it is not worth paying to repair their Nav 9000 if there is no possibility of obtaining updated mapping, which is why Claire offered you the option to purchase another product. However, we do have a small quantity of units available (currently being used to service our in-warranty customers), and I can replace this unit but I am afraid that as your unit is 13 months outside of its warranty period, there would have to be a small charge of £35 to cover the administration costs of doing this. You would also need to be aware that this would not come with any form of warranty as going forward we will struggle to find replacement parts.
With regards to your comment about not receiving a call back, I am absolutely furious that none of my managers had the courtesy to return your call. All my managers know that customer call-backs should be completed within 24 hours, regardless of whether we can offer a resolve or not and believe me when I say I will be speaking with all of them to ensure that this never happens again.
I accept that this probably isn’t the response you had hoped for, however if you would like to take up the offer of a replacement unit then please let me know and I will arrange for one of my team to contact you to arrange.
Finally - I and the rest of the Directors of the business welcome all feedback from customers whether positive or not and as a customer, if you feel that your experience has been so appalling then I have absolutely no issues with you sharing that with the on-line forums you subscribe too. I have made the above decision based on what I believe to be right for you as a customer and not because of the comments made in your final paragraph of your email.
Kind regards.
Elaine Harries
Operations Director
Road Angel Group
In short I bought a RA 9000 a couple of years ago, it's never worked very well and when I sent back for the second time recently I was basically told it wasn't repairable and that's that. I was promised a call back that never happened, so I guessed the MDs email and sent him an email on Sunday.
The reply is quite interesting - but I still feel pretty let down. Apologies in advance for the length of this post.
Would you be satisfied with the response?
From: Ian & Deb
To: graham.mackie@road-angel.co.uk
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 8:53 AM
Subject: Utterly let down by Road Angel
Hi Graham
I purchased a Road Angel 9000 device after my wife received a speeding ticket.
At the time it was new-to-market and the retail price which I paid was £499. I’ve subsequently paid the monthly sub. since then.
I’ve had intermittent problems with the unit from not long after I purchased it – it seemed not to charge in the cradle and it would switch itself off, but as we live in London and use it so rarely (only for weekends away/holidays) I was never sure it was a faulty unit or just me not using it properly. I returned the unit once but periodically experienced the same problems since then.
I’ve had a few conversations with your customer support team who suggested I return it again. The unit was set on my desk until recently and I finally contacted your support team to get it sorted. I was told to send it in - the unit was out of warranty, but also that it was noted on my database record that I was experiencing power-related issues when the unit was still under warranty.
I had a phone call from a young lady on the 16th October who told me that the power board was faulty, and due to the fact you no longer supported this device or stocked repair parts for it, it was beyond economical repair.
I was given two choices
- Pay Road Angel more money and receive a discounted ‘upgrade’ to a unit that has no sat-nav function as ‘RA are no longer in the SatNav market”
- Just accept the fact that I paid RA £500 three years plus £120 a year subs and now have nothing to show for it.
I was obviously a little disappointed to hear that such a recent model of yours is not supported – it’s only been available for three years or so, especially as it seems the product can still be purchased.
Your CS rep promised me a manager would call on Monday (9 days ago) and I’ve heard nothing since.
Graham - would you be happy with an organisation that treated you in this way and ever consider buying its products again?
I’m well aware I should have returned the unit sooner and it’s my fault the warranty period has expired, but I paid double the current price for the unit and it’s never really worked as it should. I still feel some discretion should be applied, and I certainly expect RA to honour its promise to discuss the matter further than the one call I have had.
I’d appreciated at least some escalated response please AS PROMISED – I’m an active member of a number of online motoring forums and would prefer not to have to spend time making my problems with RA a matter of public record.
Best regards
Ian
And the reply
From: Elaine Harries
Sent: 27 October 2009 12:07
To: Ian and Deb
Subject: FW: Utterly let down by Road Angel
Your email has been passed to me for a response in my capacity as Operations Director as Graham is currently away from the office. I would like to begin by saying how disappointed I am that you have had cause to express your dissatisfaction with our customer service. I can assure you that everyone at Road Angel group strives incredibly hard to ensure all customers receive a first class after sales service and I am sorry that on this occasion this has not been your experience.
Claire should have explained to you when she called the reason why as a business we moved out of the navigation market. Two companies called Teleatlas and Navteq who used to own 98% of the global navigation software market were purchased in 2008 by Tom Tom and Nokia. Despite repeated efforts we were unable to negotiate with them to produce up to date mapping for any of our navigation product range and we were effectively left with no choice but to move out of the navigation market and concentrate on camera locators. At the time you purchased this unit in 2007 we clearly were not aware of this and once it became public knowledge, it resulted in a dramatic reduction in the price of our remaining units. I can assure you it was certainly not in our interest to move out of this lucrative market and we effectively ran out of stock of this product earlier this year.
Since this happened, most of our customers have decided that it is not worth paying to repair their Nav 9000 if there is no possibility of obtaining updated mapping, which is why Claire offered you the option to purchase another product. However, we do have a small quantity of units available (currently being used to service our in-warranty customers), and I can replace this unit but I am afraid that as your unit is 13 months outside of its warranty period, there would have to be a small charge of £35 to cover the administration costs of doing this. You would also need to be aware that this would not come with any form of warranty as going forward we will struggle to find replacement parts.
With regards to your comment about not receiving a call back, I am absolutely furious that none of my managers had the courtesy to return your call. All my managers know that customer call-backs should be completed within 24 hours, regardless of whether we can offer a resolve or not and believe me when I say I will be speaking with all of them to ensure that this never happens again.
I accept that this probably isn’t the response you had hoped for, however if you would like to take up the offer of a replacement unit then please let me know and I will arrange for one of my team to contact you to arrange.
Finally - I and the rest of the Directors of the business welcome all feedback from customers whether positive or not and as a customer, if you feel that your experience has been so appalling then I have absolutely no issues with you sharing that with the on-line forums you subscribe too. I have made the above decision based on what I believe to be right for you as a customer and not because of the comments made in your final paragraph of your email.
Kind regards.
Elaine Harries
Operations Director
Road Angel Group
Good reply by HER in the circumstances. Take the offer - it must be worth £35 to get hold of a decent working satnav, even if there is no manufacturer support. If you don't want it, I bet you could ebay it for more than £35.
The info in the reply is interesting. Where are Garmin and the cheaper manufacturers, not to mention the car manufacturers, buying their digital mapping data?
Do people think Road Angel will survive selling pure camera warning systems?
The info in the reply is interesting. Where are Garmin and the cheaper manufacturers, not to mention the car manufacturers, buying their digital mapping data?
Do people think Road Angel will survive selling pure camera warning systems?
maturin23 said:
Would you be satisfied with the response?
I think given the warranty situation you mentioned, their response is fair, and a fair amount of good will is being offered by RA. I think it may be one of those things which you will need to either accept or buy another product from a different manufacturer.Personally, I'd thank RA, but then buy another product from an international organisation where you know there is a far higher chance of ongoing support. Nothing against RA by the way!
I've been pondering over this - so you all think it's acceptable that a company ceases to support a high value item such as this after such a short period of production?
It's not that it's broken or even that it's out of warranty, it's that I'm basically being told that they can't repair it because they don't stock any parts for it any more.
It's not that it's broken or even that it's out of warranty, it's that I'm basically being told that they can't repair it because they don't stock any parts for it any more.
maturin23 said:
I've been pondering over this - so you all think it's acceptable that a company ceases to support a high value item such as this after such a short period of production?
It's not that it's broken or even that it's out of warranty, it's that I'm basically being told that they can't repair it because they don't stock any parts for it any more.
What more could you expect them to do?It's not that it's broken or even that it's out of warranty, it's that I'm basically being told that they can't repair it because they don't stock any parts for it any more.
I'd accept their offer before they go out of business.
Can't see the problem here really. They are in a no win situation they cannot continue to maintain an out of date product its that simple. What would you have them do keep an unlimted supply of an outdated product incase a customers device fails?
I feel their response is perfectly reasonable. If you are unhappy get in touch with pogo and buy one of their nav.scamera units or a pure scamera unit. They come in at 2-250 and come with a very long warranty 2yrs iirc and are fairly bulletproof.
I feel their response is perfectly reasonable. If you are unhappy get in touch with pogo and buy one of their nav.scamera units or a pure scamera unit. They come in at 2-250 and come with a very long warranty 2yrs iirc and are fairly bulletproof.
I might be missing something here, but isn't it the case that the replacement RA won't have an up to date map and doesn't the reply say there will be no way of getting one?
My RA 9000 is just over a year old and the map is significantly out of date. So do I want to carry on paying £84 a year to update just the speed camera locations? Tom Toms are @ £100 to buy + £20 pa for camera updates. Does that not seem a better option?
My RA 9000 is just over a year old and the map is significantly out of date. So do I want to carry on paying £84 a year to update just the speed camera locations? Tom Toms are @ £100 to buy + £20 pa for camera updates. Does that not seem a better option?
Thought so thanks. I've got an old Tom Tom, the RA being all I could squeeze out of the dealer when I last changed the car, so I guess I'll go back to that with updates. Shame the hard-wiring connector for the RA won't fit the TT, but hardly a bit prob.
I think I'll go and drink my first £7
Cheers
I think I'll go and drink my first £7
Cheers
I recently had a conversation with RA about Sat Nav and was told about their move out of this market.
I think it's a shame they've been forced into this position because, to be honest, I only got a Sat Nav because it was an RA product and their camera database has never let me down.
I think they realise they'll lose loads of customers because TomTom now buy their camera database, I mean why would you spend £300 on a camera only device when you can get a european sat nav for less and get the same camera cover?
I think it's a shame they've been forced into this position because, to be honest, I only got a Sat Nav because it was an RA product and their camera database has never let me down.
I think they realise they'll lose loads of customers because TomTom now buy their camera database, I mean why would you spend £300 on a camera only device when you can get a european sat nav for less and get the same camera cover?
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