GPS - bad experience with Lowrance (bought Iway 500c through Newegg)

Author

bad experience with Lowrance (bought Iway 500c through Newegg)

Alan Wright

2006-06-11, 5:48 pm

First of all, there is a problem with buying through Newegg. They will
not handle returns of defective merchandise from Lowrance. They do
this for a number of manufacturers, and in the future I will not buy
anything
from Newegg that they will not replace themselves if broken. Maybe
this is a red flag about the quality control of the devices in question.

Anyway, I bought a IWay 500c from them, and within a couple of hours
of taking it out of the box, it stopped working while I was learning to use
it at my kitchen table. It would no longer power on.

Since Newegg refused to replace it, I spent hours trying to get Lowrance
on the phone. In addition to a very long hold period, I was cut off from
two calls before I got through on a third. I wasted about 2 hours this way.
After going over the problem they agreed I should return the unit to them
for
replacement. They did not offer to pay for return shipping, nor to send out
a
replacement prior to receiving mine back. They said they would take 10-12
business days to turn the unit around. (This is horrible service in my
experience.)

After I sent the unit back (same day as above), they received it 3 days
later, and then held on to the the unit for the full 12 business days before
sending back a replacement. Towards the end of this time I sent them
an e-mail asking for the status of the return since I felt they should have
gotten me the replacement sooner. A few days later I received the new unit,
which had taken the max allotted time for turnaround. Then, to add insult
to
injury, they later sent a reply to my earlier e-mail which claimed that they
had
sent the unit back to me in only 3 business days! The truth was that they
had
let the unit sit in receiving for 10 days before even looking at it, and
only
started counting the turnaround time from then! Ridiculous!

Personally I will not buy another Lowrance product for quite some time,
and only if I hear their service has greatly improved. I just hope my
replacement holds up long enough to use it a while, as I've recently
heard of other people replacing their 500c several times before they got
one that would keep operating.

Alan

P.S. When it was too late, Newegg did offer to allow me to return the
unit to them for replacement. They also credited me with $10 for return
shipping to Lowrance. I will still prefer retailers who will replace items
which arrive defective or immediately fail. Most will, including some
with better prices than Newegg. Also, I posted a review (not too nice
about the QA and service problems, of course, but I was fair in describing
features I like) of this product on Newegg. They censored my review. Jerks.

Nate

2006-07-24, 10:33 pm

Well, Alan...you've had the replacment unit for a month now. How's it
working?

Everyone needs to slow down and enjoy life. 12 days is not a long time in
comparison to your life expectancy.

Add me to your database of 500c owners who opened the box and found a
wonderful unit with no problems whatsoever.

Nate

"Alan Wright" <alan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3IOdnXg8spbX1xH
ZnZ2dnUVZ_tydnZ2d@gi
ganews.com...
> First of all, there is a problem with buying through Newegg. They will
> not handle returns of defective merchandise from Lowrance. They do
> this for a number of manufacturers, and in the future I will not buy
> anything
> from Newegg that they will not replace themselves if broken. Maybe
> this is a red flag about the quality control of the devices in question.
>
> Anyway, I bought a IWay 500c from them, and within a couple of hours
> of taking it out of the box, it stopped working while I was learning to
> use
> it at my kitchen table. It would no longer power on.
>
> Since Newegg refused to replace it, I spent hours trying to get Lowrance
> on the phone. In addition to a very long hold period, I was cut off from
> two calls before I got through on a third. I wasted about 2 hours this
> way.
> After going over the problem they agreed I should return the unit to them
> for
> replacement. They did not offer to pay for return shipping, nor to send
> out
> a
> replacement prior to receiving mine back. They said they would take 10-12
> business days to turn the unit around. (This is horrible service in my
> experience.)
>
> After I sent the unit back (same day as above), they received it 3 days
> later, and then held on to the the unit for the full 12 business days
> before
> sending back a replacement. Towards the end of this time I sent them
> an e-mail asking for the status of the return since I felt they should
> have
> gotten me the replacement sooner. A few days later I received the new
> unit,
> which had taken the max allotted time for turnaround. Then, to add insult
> to
> injury, they later sent a reply to my earlier e-mail which claimed that
> they
> had
> sent the unit back to me in only 3 business days! The truth was that they
> had
> let the unit sit in receiving for 10 days before even looking at it, and
> only
> started counting the turnaround time from then! Ridiculous!
>
> Personally I will not buy another Lowrance product for quite some time,
> and only if I hear their service has greatly improved. I just hope my
> replacement holds up long enough to use it a while, as I've recently
> heard of other people replacing their 500c several times before they got
> one that would keep operating.
>
> Alan
>
> P.S. When it was too late, Newegg did offer to allow me to return the
> unit to them for replacement. They also credited me with $10 for return
> shipping to Lowrance. I will still prefer retailers who will replace items
> which arrive defective or immediately fail. Most will, including some
> with better prices than Newegg. Also, I posted a review (not too nice
> about the QA and service problems, of course, but I was fair in describing
> features I like) of this product on Newegg. They censored my review.
> Jerks.
>
>
>

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