The Great Big SPOT Thread

[mbabc]

Originally Posted by mac inger

It's not only in KY. Picked mine in LA today. Got check your local store

Mac's right.

I would check online in your area for any in stock. They list online at $99, but are actually $35 on clearance. Looks like you can't order one to your local store at $35, got to find it local or have a inmate/friend get one for you.

[SprintST]

Originally Posted by mbabc

Mac's right.

I would check online in your area for any in stock. They list online at $99, but are actually $35 on clearance. Looks like you can't order one to your local store at $35, got to find it local or have a inmate/friend get one for you.

I live in the Great Rainy North (Ottawa) but will check my local BB to see what kind of price they'll offer me. Do you know if it has to activated within a given number of days? I wouldn't be using mine until later this Fall.

UPDATE - No go on the local CDN store. $169 +13% tax = $190.97.

I'd be happy to Paypal any accomodating inmate the $$ and worry about shipping etc. after the fact. Any takers?

[WoodWorks]

Originally Posted by soph9

you can cancel your SPOT subscription 30 days prior to expiration or the renewal date...I just did last month...I have the Connect now and will sign up with a new subscription in the next 2 weeks....

You may want to give your new Connect a thorough pre-trip check-out, Leslie. I've had mine for a little more than two weeks now, and to say that it's been little better than useless (as is SPOT "customer support") is no exaggeration.

I've been using a SPOT 1 for two years now, so I'm familiar with the device's short-comings, but the Connect descends to a new nadir.

First, the bluetooth "connection" is a joke. On my iPhone it loses the pairing if you look at it wrong. Seriously, I have to re-pair it almost every time I want to do anything at all; start tracking, send a message, stop tracking, you name it. I can't think of a single time in the two weeks where I've turned the iPhone on and the device was still connected. Sometimes you can just go to the bluetooth settings on the phone and click on the device's name and it re-connects. But most of the time to you have to tell it to "forget" the device and then re-pair it.

The bluetooth connection to my car, on the other hand, is 100% reliable. It has never failed.

But more seriously, it only shows me 2 messages (out of a possible 14) as available unless I uninstall the app, then re-install it. And then the 14 are available just one time. Once I send a message, all but two messages disappear from the device. I've done this uninstall/re-install 6 times now to verify this. I've even reset the iPhone to factory set-up just to clear out any possible software/hardware conflicts.

Customer support has been no help at all. First, they promise to look into the problem, but never call me back. When I finally tire of waiting and call them again myself, they tell me that my ticket shows the problem as "resolved." So they re-open the ticket, but I still never have heard back from them. Not once.

Two days ago I tried the email route, but other than a boiler-plate "we have received your message" email in response, I haven't heard a peep from them.

This software doesn't appear to have been tested at all. And SPOT doesn't seem to have any concerns about it. I'm planning a long, off-road trip for June. But right now I wouldn't trust this thing to provide any emergency help at all, much less tracking or messaging. I'll downgrade back to my SPOT 1 and use it if they don't provide a solution soon.

Anyway, if I were you, I'd do some thorough beta-testing, Leslie. My Connect is definitely nowhere near ready for prime time.

[witttom]

My service was set to expire May-1. SPOT sent me a notice and said that my credit card was set to expire BEFORE my service date to to renew (Exp APR-30) and that I needed to update my credit card info. I never did, because I had no intent of allowing them to hit me with the full retail of another year of service.

I just checked my account online, and SPOT is showing in my billing history an "Advance Payment' entry for May-11 of this year. So I just turned on my SPOT and sent out an "OK" message. Yup. You guessed it. It worked.

They are now showing my renewal date as 04/24/2012. Sigh. It would appear that they have already hit me with the renewal.

So how can SPOT be charging my credit card $173.11, that expired April-2011??

Even though I now have a new credit card, new validation code, and a new expiration date... my last four digits seem to be the same as the expired card listed online. So I'm guessing my CC number is the same. Looks like they were able to charge my new card off that same number, without the new expiration date and the different 3-digit validation code. I do not see where I have given them permission to auto-renew (although I'm sure I must have), nor am I able to find where I can stop that from happening again. I can't seem to remove that card online, nor can I blank out any of the information for it.

This is all fairly frustrating, as I never would have paid $173 for the annual service again, considering the fact that I rarely use it.

[soph9]

GOOD ADVISE woodworks...I have the Contour camera too and the app is less than perfect...I will call SPOT soon....and hear what they have to say...thanks!

[jmcgilroy]

Add mine to the list of problems. I have to un-pair and then pair again each time I shut the unit off. I'm using a Droid X phone and have tried pairing both from the phone (settings) and from the SPOT app. Same results with both. The unit works but what a PITA.

[Bob]

WoodWorks, which model iphone do you have?

I have a 3g with new software update. I had the same problem, after a couple of calls to Spot (never anyone in tech support). A new message appeared on my account a few days later "spot QA do not remove" and a group with the same basic message. Everything seems to be working now all messages available and groups.

I just did a day trip from the Coast up to the Sierras and my tracking was much better than my old "1"

My current problem is I can't get to my "my spot devices" tab on my phone, when I have wireless or phone service. My phone crashes or locks up. So I can't make a change to my messages or groups. I did do a txt type message and that seems to work fine.

Bluetooth problem also, I have the app and the settings next to each other on the phone so it is getting easier to reset.

[WoodWorks]

Originally Posted by Bob

WoodWorks, which model iphone do you have?

iPhone 4.

Question for you, Bob: When you switched from your old SPOT to the Connect, did you do the service changeover yourself online, or did you call in and have them do it? I ask because I did the changeover myself, and when I did it that online feature had only been up and running for a couple of days. I'm wondering if something with my account went south on their servers during the changeover.

[DiscoDino]

I just called SPOT as I had the same situation where they couldn't retrieve the money as my credit card changed. The lady on the phone mentioned that they do NOT deactivate an account unless the user calls and asks them to. They automatically renew EVEN IF the payment hasn't gone through (weird, but ok)...

So basically I renewed and the date doesn't start from today, it starts from when I SHOULD HAVE paid them in early April...not the end of the world...

YMMV
Nadim

[Bob]

For some reason I couldn't do it online so I called and they said I had to open a new account. They closed my old account and started a new account with a new account number and new date, but all my personal info including CC was transferred over.
They said my acct would be charged for the new amount, but it could be a month for me to get a refund on my 6 months left from my old acct. Sure enough CC charged and almost a month later, no refund.
Can you access your spot page and make changes to your settings?

[WoodWorks]

Originally Posted by Bob

Can you access your spot page and make changes to your settings?

Oh yeah, everything's fine with my account on their web site. But for some reason the settings there don't stick on my Connect device. Like I said above, if I uninstall and then re-install the app on my phone, everything seems to be good (except for the brain-dead bluetooth "connection," of course). But once I send a message, or re-sync the settings, or start tracking, or do anything at all with the app, all but two of the messages disappear. They're still in my account on their web site, but the phone doesn't have access to them.

[dacrazyrn]

Are there any settings on your iphone to configure for that app? IE: In the Settings area
I notice a bunch of apps have them, but "the settings" are never mentioned anywhere when reading about the app and that sometimes they need to be configured

[motosaint]

Yes, I've been reading about problems with the Connect device on various websites. More issues with the iPhone than with Android it seems like, but I guess we can add that to the list too.

I'm more concerned by their lack of customer service people seem to be experiencing. It wouldn't be as bad if they were having problems with the device but made sure their customers felt that issues were being worked on and getting updates.

I'm going on a ride next month and would love to use this device for it.

[WoodWorks]

Originally Posted by dacrazyrn

Are there any settings on your iphone to configure for that app? IE: In the Settings area
I notice a bunch of apps have them, but "the settings" are never mentioned anywhere when reading about the app and that sometimes they need to be configured

Yeah, there are, both in the General settings and in the app itself. Trust me, the easy, low-hanging troubleshooting fruit has already been picked.

I'm getting more inclined to believe that my particular problem is a result of some snafu in the user-based account changeover that I did online. Since that feature was brand-new when I did it, I'm guessing that they hadn't yet ironed out all of the bugs.

But even if that's the case, they still aren't exactly falling all over themselves trying to resolve my issue, and their bluetooth implementation sucks majorly for all of us Connect pioneers.

[dacrazyrn]

The life and hassles of early adopters!!
This is one I will wait on this time. SPOT II is just fine.
Hell, I am still on a 3G (jailbroken though), waiting for the FREAKIN 5 to come out!!