Road Angel rip off

[northo]

Got a call from Road Angel recently to let me know I needed to update my yearly subscription. I didn't bother to renew given most councils are actually removing their speed cameras. 2 weeks later I got a rather curt letter saying unless I renewed "we will have no choice but to disable your unit".

True to their word, my Road Angel no longer works. I emphasize the word "my". I paid for the data, and they've removed it. I don't recall there being any mention of this in the instruction manual.

Fair, or terrible customer service?

[northo]

DaveL86 said:

northo said:

True to their word, my Road Angel no longer works. I emphasize the word "my". I paid for the data, and they've removed it. I don't recall there being any mention of this in the instruction manual.

I understand your point on principle, however surely the unit is close to usless without an updated database?

Not really - the data for fixed cameras and mobile cameras doesn't change much, and you can't really miss the average speed cameras. I will be buying an update, as I travel quite a lot and it's so easy to get caught out in urban areas. Just feel I've been scammed. Entirely my own fault, but that's how I feel.

[northo]

I've got speed camera info on my TomTom, but my car has Nav anyway and the Road Angel is definitely the best for alerting you to a camera's presence - the whole thing flashes red and Tiff Needel warns you what sort of camera it is. I often miss the TomTom alerts if I'm talking to someone or am listening to music.

[northo]

Targarama said:

How did Road Angel remove the data? I assume you connected to the PC and thus their site? In which you were asking for it. If you didn't connect your RA to anything then they wouldn't be able to do this surely?

Must be a SIM in the unit - it just stopped working, and I haven't connected it for weeks. Either that or the data expires.

[northo]

mad4amanda said:

What road angel unit is it? We used to have 3 an old RA 2 and 2 compacts both compacts have died and they say they are uneconomic to repair as the main board fails ! The old RA2 goes on and on though must be 6 years old and 4 years out of date but it works.
wouldnt buy another though now have a snooper saphire with lifetime subscription for £99

How do you rate the Snooper? I'd be interested to hear what the battery life and speed camera database are like.

[northo]

mad4amanda said:

northo said:

mad4amanda said:

What road angel unit is it? We used to have 3 an old RA 2 and 2 compacts both compacts have died and they say they are uneconomic to repair as the main board fails ! The old RA2 goes on and on though must be 6 years old and 4 years out of date but it works.
wouldnt buy another though now have a snooper saphire with lifetime subscription for £99

How do you rate the Snooper? I'd be interested to hear what the battery life and speed camera database are like.

database is very good , battery life not an issue as hardwired i do prefer the shape and colours , the only thing missing is when in alarm mode it doesnt show the speed limit just your current speed.

Are the alerts obvious/ visible enough? I find that you can miss the speed alerts on a TomTom.

[northo]

It's the dedicated detector. It did come up with a warning and then work, but now it doesn't. I noticed yesterday when I connected to my PC that it shows up as "reported as stolen".

[northo]

Renewed my subscription today and Hey Presto! - when I got back in my car the Road Angel was working again. Must be a SIM in it(or can they communicate with it via satellite?) If they can send information to the unit remotely, why are they charging an extra £150 for a "connected version"?

[northo]

Mattt said:

I suprised these units are still popular after the growth of Smartphones and TomToms with Speed Cam databases.

Smartphones can't really handle, calls, nav and alerts at the same time. The TomTom alerts aren't obvious enough. Hence the need for a dedicated unit.