Update 8/20.....got taken care of today. A new unit is on the way. Ms. Hates stepped up and did the right thing.

Update 8/19 here.....Finally made it to the lake this afternoon and the imaging is amazing. But the kicker is MY UNIT STILL HAS THE SAME FREAKING PROBLEM. GETS HOT AND WILL NOT RESTART. NOW THE POS WILL NOT EVEN BOOT UP WILL NOT TURN OFF WILL NOT DO SPIT!!!!




Long story as short as I can sum up....

Bought my first Humminbird products ever.

Helix Mega 12 SI DI G2N and Helix Mega DI 10 G2N

Install done very well by David at Shut Up and Fish

On Friday 8/3 as part of install, David and I got to play with the Helix 12 for about 10 minutes and it began overheating and bugging out.

Got shipping label from HB....sent it out Friday 8/3 and made sure there was a pick up after I dropped it off.....wish I had known they only set it up for ground shipping. I would have paid my own shipping to get it there quicker.

David thought I would have it back this week....early this week.

Package got to HB on Tuesday at noon. I called Wednesday to check what they had found and they told me to call Thursday....seemed bothered that I would call. She figured it would be fixed and on the way Thursday afternoon.

I called this morning to check on it to see if it shipped....I�m headed out of town and I wanted to make arrangements for a friend to pick it up off my porch. Still hadn�t shipped but they did know the screen had to be replaced. NOTHING LIKE HAVING A BRAND NEW UNIT WITH PARTS REPLACED. I would have liked to be offered a replacement. Still had no shipping information but said it WILL ship this afternoon and you will get tracking info sent to your email.

Since they close at 4:30pm I called at 4:25pm because I still had no tracking info.....they were once again bothered to be called. They still had no tracking info but said it was going out and I would have tracking info shortly.

Well here it is.....9:30pm and I still have no tracking information.

My biggest gripes are....
Bad unit repaired not replaced
Being told it would ship when it didn�t.....2 times so far

This was a big purchase for me so my excitement to get to use it last weekend and then hoping to use it this weekend is a huge disappointment.

Selling as many units as they do, they lose sight of the fact that for some people this is a major purchase/expense. An apology and expedited shipping would go a long way.

sorry to hear that. I just dealt with Lowrance and they weren't too quick either.

Lowrance customer service is the worst of any.Bought a brand new unit.Unit was bad right out of the box.2 day shipping back to Lowrance.After over a dozen phone calls and nearly a month waiting I finally received a new unit.

Should probably sell them and get Garmins.

Garmin and power pole are far and away the best customer service I�ve ever used.

Wow - I have had Humminbirds for years and worked with the service department many times. They have always been spot on and done more than expected at times. One time they sent me a complete unit with new transducer mounting brackets and GPS antenna to replace my unit that was a year old and still under warranty. Sounds like you caught them on a bad week or things are a changing. Better luck next time.

Never had any problems with Hummingbird Customer Service , they always went out of their way to help me .

HB customer service always been very good to me.
I will agree, I don�t think I�d want a new unit that already has had the screen replaced, just send me a new unit and let�s start over, IMO.

Where did you buy the Helix? Sounds to me like it was bad straight out of the box and could have been returned to the seller for immediate replacement.

To be honest, I never contacted Russell Marine.....I made the mistake of thinking Humminbird would take care of me. David thought the same.

Did you buy the unit from the company doing the install? If so, they should have sent you away with a working unit and taken care of the broken one. My experience with HB customer service has been excellent, Lowrance on the other hand, far from it.

Yes I would have returned to store I purchased from and exchanged for a new one.

Would only deal with manufacturer if store warranty was expired.

Good luck, hope this ends well for you.

Bought from Russell Marine and installed by Shut Up and Fish.

I didn�t contact Russell until today....my fault for thinking HB would stand tall.

Shut Up and Fish went above and beyond to help out.

I can't believe Humminbird didn't tell you to take it back to dealer, couple of year's ago when I got my first SI unit it would not boot-up, called humminbird and was told to take it back to Academy where I had got it from. Academy swapped it out no problem.

I�ve never had a bad experience with Humminbird personally. But, I�ve also never perceived I was �a bother� to them. Did they really tell you that you were �bothering� them?

Dougie, you are such a sweetheart I am sure you could never be a bother.

Me....on the other hand....I can be a complete a$$.

Sarcasm = When they said god you are bothering us with these phone calls....I mistakenly assumed I was bothering them. = Sarcasm

I didn�t go looking for trouble....I would much have rather my unit worked perfectly from the beginning. When it didn�t, I thought they would get it and check for an issue then send a new working unit since that is what I paid for. David Goodson thought the same.

When I get good CS I post and vice versa.

As originally posted....
Don�t tell me it will ship when it won�t
Don�t send me a refurbished unit when I paid for a new one

Wait what?

We need a sarcasm emoji. Of course they did not come out and say they were bothered but their tone was readable.

When you get your unit working all negative thoughts will disappear.

I generally only bother the people who are overly sensitive or live in a bubble and truly think the entire world revolves around themselves.

I once had a guy sell me a bunk trolling motor off of here and not once did I get on here and put him on blast.

Perfect example of how sweet you truly are.

I would have asked for customer service and asked for a new unit since it was bad out of the box.

You may have done that but did not say it.

I did not.....it took a bit for me to process that it is now basically a refurbished unit.

Russell Marine is working on a solution..:::hopefully he can help HB make it right.

HB is sending me a wonderful baseball cap to make things right....PITIFUL

+1

Why trash the whole thing for one faulty part? They diagnosed the screen was f'ed up and they put a new one on it. It is still new. You know this one has been re-tested for functionality and should be completely good to go. And it took almost 2 weeks to get it back from the day you sent it? Yeah, that is slow for Humminbird standards but that's still not outrageous. I had to send in two Solix's and a 360 unit in March to diagnose networking bugs and they were fixed and back on my boat the same week they were sent. Two different parts were replaced in those units and they've been perfect ever since, as I expect your new Helix to be.

Also, I'm no HB fanboy, I grew up using Lowrance and still think their products are superior in many ways. I never had a problem with the Lowrance units I bought, then the first HB's I got were faulty. HB fixed them and returned them quickly and they were very polite, friendly and transparent with me when I spoke with them. Like someone said, maybe you caught them at the end of a long week right before close and they were not performing at 100%. I know I've been there.

I personal have always had great service from HB...and honestly Garmin...now Lowrance...not so much. I hope you find a solution that works out for you...and I definitely hope this is not a sign of things changing at HB as far as customer service and its just a isolated issue

They sold an item that had an issue. That can happen to any company. They took it back, checked it out and repaired the issue. Other than the time it took for this to get done, what's your issue? It is still a new FF with the warranty of a new one not a refurbished. I'd rather they check it out completely and make the repair and know that I have a properly working unit than to end up getting another one that might have an issue. If you bought a new car and after driving it home found out the battery was bad you wouldn't expect them to give you another new car would you?

My opinion... If you contacted the seller they would likely have replaced it for you. Since you contacted the manufacturer, they did what they do with any warranty repair, they repaired it. Had it not been repairable they would have replaced it. The nice thing about 'Bird is that 4 years from now they will still repair it (for a flat fee) as opposed to one of the other companies that will tell you your only option is to "upgrade" to a newer one.

Johnson Outdoors Products, upon which Humminbird and Minnkota brands fall, has absolutely hands down the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. 4 Minnkota hargers in 3 months, 3 trolling motors, and 2 units sent in over the last 2-3 years, and never once did I have a positive experience with them. You would think a company of their size and "stature" would have this manufacturing process down. I understand that from time to time and company is going to have some issues, that's just business with manufacturing, but what I have gone through is absurd.

As he mentioned, it never seems like they care. And he's right, just about everything they sell is several hundred, if not thousands of dollars, so that should be kept in mind when someone calls in. Just some lady or guy always answers with the attitude that you are interrupting their day for something that the company they worked for did not manufacture correctly, or just plain doesn't work the way it should.

Two thumbs down for these guys.

would not take a new rebuilt unit

I wonder if the OP thinks that if it was a new car that had a problem very soon after buying the dealership should or would give him a new car? Or try buying a computer and it messing up first time out. Would Best Buy give him a new one? Nope and the funny thing he probably would even ask for a new car or computer.
Fisherman are the worst there is about expecting a product be replaced with a new one if it breaks.
Whether it be a fishing rod or a depthfinder.
I know this also if he wanted to pay for overnight shipping to and from Humminbird would turn the unit in one day. I have done it before.

I've always taken my stuff to Boris Marine, they handle all of the warranty rif raf with Humminbird and I get my products back quick.

Pretty simple....

I expect to be told the truth. I expect it to ship when I am told it will ship. I expect to be updated with tracking information which I never was.

I wrongly assumed their shipping label would be for fast shipping. They emailed it and said present it at FedEx....I should have checked the service but i didn�t. My main focus was being sure there was a pickup time after my drop off.

Yes....I expected a new unit because I knew if I had bought it at a retail location in the area....I would have exchanged it for a new one. I messed up by taking the advice of one of HB�s installers and instructor.

If you are willing to be bent over and you like to take it that way....up to you.

I will continue to be sour on HB and. Will take my business back to Lowrance or Garmin.

Believe it or not, I have had great luck with Lowrance CS. I only went with HB because of Mega imagining. I got suckered into the hype.

Every one has a bad customer service story for every single sonar or fishing company in the industry. Each one is the "worst customer service" story.

Could it have been handled smoother? Sure

Could you have been a more educated buyer? Yep

Always two sides to a story.

IMO, get whatever graph you want that fits your needs. Hope for good customer service and move on.

Part of what happens when you shop online to save a couple of dollars. It is much harder to exchange the product as that takes time also in shipping. I don't think that anyone is an authorized installer or trainer working for Humminbird so I wouldn't try to put the blame on him. Humminbird tells you up front that they will repair a bad unit unless it is not repairable and then they will trade it out. The decision and assumptions to go the route you did is on you.

Ok....so what are intending to do with posting this topic?

Steer potential customers away from the product?

Somehow influence the manufacturer to change their policies?

Just "vent"?

I hope it's the last choice, because the first two ain't happening.

I�ve always been a HB guy and have had great customer service, that being said I have no confidence in their tech support! I have contacted them 5 times recently with 2 separate issues... 4 of the 5 they were absolutely wrong in there diagnoses and explanation of set up and functions. Turned into 2 months of grief and about $250 in unnecessary expenses. Got better info off fishing forums!! I won�t call again for tech support, have no faith they would get it right! Just my two cents....

I will give you $500 cash for the Helix 12 "refurbished" unit when you get it back, so you get something for it and so when you see it, you will not be triggered into some kind of cosmic spinout...

LMK

I�ll toss it in one of your brush piles on Hubbard If you show me where it is!!!!

Update here.....Finally made it to the lake this afternoon and the imaging is amazing. But the kicker is MY UNIT STILL HAS THE SAME FREAKING PROBLEM. GETS HOT AND WILL NOT RESTART. NOW THE POS WILL NOT EVEN BOOT UP WILL NOT TURN OFF WILL NOT DO SPIT!!!!

That's unfortunate! I didn't read the whole thread, but I can guarantee if this unit is new and having that problem, I would be getting a brand new unit to replace it, at HB's expense.

I�d be on the phone with h�bird first thing in the morning askingvthem what they intend to do to fix their faulty equipment that they just �fixed�. Venting on here won�t do anything except make them less likely to help above and beyond their norm.
1 customer in 500,000 doesn�t matter in big corporations.

That stinks. I've had gen 1 Lowrance HDS units for 6-7 years now and they've never skipped a beat. No idea what Lowrance CS is like, but sounds like it couldn't be worse than HB.

I'd buy a Lowrance or Garmin if I got into the market today. No reason to deal with this mess.

That's mega bad

Spoke with Ms. Bates today and she stepped up and she is sending me a new unit.

Glad to finally have a resolution.

After your update, receiving the "repaired" unit still malfunctioning, you have every right to be royally pissed. Glad they're sending you a new one.

I will give you $750 cash for the new unit in the box as soon as you receive it.

I will assume all risks and that way you will not risk a meltdown, in the event the next one has issues as well.


#friends #helping #friends

How is it even possible for HB to repair a unit and ship it to a customer that doesn't work? A bit rhetorical, but...

$750 and one circuit of your Mother Hubbard milk run???

It hasn't been too productive lately.


In all seriousness this is disappointing, I have always had good service with HB. Hope they get you fixed up quickly

What a guy!