Marcum Customer Support?

[VTMatt]

Kind of irritated right now for a few reasons.  One being my LX7 charger no longer works, and two being Marcum has never returned any of my calls, ever.  I got the unit at the beginning of this year, and my second time on the ice with it, it was acting strange, and then kept dying on me.  My screen was going bonkers in 20 FOW with no other flashers in sight.  Turns out, the battery connections were very loose.  I called them while I was on the ice because I was pissed.  Left a long, detailed message with my name, numbers, model, telephone # to reach me at (said I needed to speak with someone ASAP)  Days went by, no phone call whatsoever.  I brushed it off and didn't pursue further because I'd figured out the problem(s). 

Well, Sunday night when I came home from fishing, I plugged my battery in to charge and the green light never turned red.  No juice coming from the connector on the charger, ugh.  Called them immediately on Sunday night, left another detailed message saying that it was imperitive I got a replacement charger since I was going to be using it the following weekend.  Left my number a few times in the message saying I would greatly appreciate a call back as soon as someone heard the message.  Well, now it's Thursday night and I haven't heard back from them.  I ended up cutting and modifying the wired and attaching them directly to the battery, so problem is solved(for now) but still, what's with their customer service dept?  Called them on two different occasions with no call back, ever. Anyone experience the same non-existent customer service from Marcum?

[3300]

yes. they seem to be too busy to make return calls. i never got one when i left messages with them or emails returned. so what i did and had to do a few times for a few different reasons is hammer their phone line until some one answers it. they hear it ring.
when i first tried it their way (using their web form on their web page) they still have never responded in e-mail to me and it has been over 2 months ago now. so i tried leaving voice mails asking for a return call, never happened either and again over 2 months ago. for me, the only thing that has worked is to hammer the line.

i hope they get some much needed help. it looks bad when they ignore the people who make them.

once you get a person on the phone they are very helpful. just under staffed. so keep calling. use redial.

when i had to send mine in, there was no RMA # to use. turn around was 3-4 days to get a free shipping label and a total of 10 to get it returned working. a ribbon cable fell off my lx-7 control panel.

[fishermantim]

That's weird because both times I emailed them over the past year they replied within one day and resolved/repaired the issue in less than a week to week and a half (total turn-around time from me shipping to me receiving item back).

Unfortunately you may have gotten a "bad apple in an orchard of good ones".

Hope you get it sorted out (to your benefit)!

[Fry Flier]

I can understand getting pissed when things do not work, and I do not want to sound like an idiot when I reply here but if your own statement is similar to what you said earlier would you want to talk to you. " I called them while I was on the ice because I was pissed.  Left a long, detailed message with my name, numbers, model, telephone # to reach me at (said I needed to speak with someone ASAP)  Days went by, no phone call whatsoever." I know that my tone goes from person to idiot when I am pissed so if it was me they would likely hope I would just go away.
Not saying it is right or that it is good but I likely would not call someone like me back when I get in my nastiest moods.

[tjacob]

Sorry to hear of your experience and hope you get it resolved. I have had occasion to contact Marcum CS four times and had great results each time. I would say to not expect them to be waiting for your call, but if you happen to get your call answered the first time or subsequent calls, they have done everything asked of them. As 3300 said, they likely are understaffed so it takes some time. From my experience, emails and phone messages have been answered within two days and answered phone calls within minutes. One thing to add on the charger issue. The first time I plugged mine to the unit I had it on for two days and the green light never lit. Every time after the first, the green light has worked within eight hours. So I use the gauge on my LX-6 unit rather than depend on the charger to let me know. Seems inconsistent. Good luck.

[brink]

Some folks have good experiences with the support and some, including myself, find it to be a bit lackluster.  Frustrating...

[VTMatt]

I can understand getting pissed when things do not work, and I do not want to sound like an idiot when I reply here but if your own statement is similar to what you said earlier would you want to talk to you. " I called them while I was on the ice because I was pissed.  Left a long, detailed message with my name, numbers, model, telephone # to reach me at (said I needed to speak with someone ASAP)  Days went by, no phone call whatsoever." I know that my tone goes from person to idiot when I am pissed so if it was me they would likely hope I would just go away.
Not saying it is right or that it is good but I likely would not call someone like me back when I get in my nastiest moods.

I've always dealt with any type of customer support with the utmost respect. I kept a calm tone and was very polite in the message in both cases.  I wish I had time to call when they're open but the shop i work at is so loud i wouldn't be able to. Plus working OT doesn't allow me to do anything until I get out past 6 PM. 

[4426]

I've thought marcum customer support is pretty good. My charger went bad on my showdown 5.6 also, I just emailed them with problem, politely asked them to give me a new one, and my address. A day later I recieved a follow up email stating a new charger has been sent out. I think the key for them is to email them and not call them. Also when i first recieved my showdown i had to send it in for repairs, I emailed them and with in 2 days they got me an ra number and I sent it out that night. It was back with in 5 day, so I just believe you have to email them and be patient, they will make sure problems are resolved(at least in my experience). Just wish I didn't have to use the customer service so much is all.

[DR.SPECKLER]

I always emailed them around 11:00 am and had a reply with R.A number the next day every time which was to many times.never had a problem with customer service at Marcum.

[thndrvlly]

this doesnt solve your prob with cust. service, but from what i read there chargers are hit or miss, i have Marcum fish finder and i ended up buying a battery tender that was on sale an it seems to charge faster and more reliable. I realise a lot of money was spent but the battery tender in my view is 1000% better

[DR.SPECKLER]

when I had my Marcum units 2 of the 3 chargers were bad.i also use the battery tender jr.way better than the chargers that come with the marcums.

[Whopper Stopper]

It is hard to believe how split the results are when dealing with customer service. I sure hope they get their game straightened out.

          WS

[Eaglecrg]

I have an LX5 that stopped working this year.  It was 6 weeks beyond the warranty expiration.  Initial phone calls (2) were not answered so I sent an email that was responded to the next day with instructions to ship it to them (unit and transducer only--no case, charger, or elec cords).  Then I also received a phone reply.  I sent the unit in--motor replaced promptly, but they neglected to return my transducer.  I sent them an email and they immediately put the transducer in the mail.  Transducer received but was missing the rubber plug used to adjust the depth of the transducer.  For $5 I just ordered a new plug.  They did cover the repair on the warranty which I certainly appreciated.

[3300]

I have an LX5 that stopped working this year.  It was 6 weeks beyond the warranty expiration.  Initial phone calls (2) were not answered so I sent an email that was responded to the next day with instructions to ship it to them (unit and transducer only--no case, charger, or elec cords).  Then I also received a phone reply.  I sent the unit in--motor replaced promptly, but they neglected to return my transducer.  I sent them an email and they immediately put the transducer in the mail.  Transducer received but was missing the rubber plug used to adjust the depth of the transducer.  For $5 I just ordered a new plug.  They did cover the repair on the warranty which I certainly appreciated.

mine (lx-7) is under warranty still, but i noticed i had to crank up the gain to max to see the jig in shallow water. i noticed the cable was cut on the ducer. the wires inside looked ok. i called it in to see what they might do. chris answered and asked if the cable was fished under the ice at any one time. i said yes, every time. he said did a fish ever wrap a line around the cable, i said yes often, he asked if the cable has any nicks or cuts, again i said yes. he said thats not covered under warranty and said he would ship out a new one on the house if i promise to keep only an inch or so of the puck in the water like it is designed for, of coarse i said i would and i do and it is a way better unit by doing that now. in hind sight, i was never taught how to use the ducer. maybe because my first sonar had a float on it, i thought it had to hang like a horse. no more tangles and it shows more bottom being up almost 2 feet higher in the water column gives more bottom coverage. line management is a thing of the past too!

so they (chris) who seems to be marcum's key tech and phone support stepped way past what they had to do for me.
this needs to be said because they deserve that respect!
thats two stories in this topic (at least) where marcum took care of the problem "on the house". there are more in fishing with electronics.

so with support stories like that and compared to my personal experience's with humminbird, it is fantastic!
humminbird is quick to take your call and charge you like you are buying new for repairs, no exceptions. then they can't fix what they charge heavy for.

so way to go marcum! just fix the phone support and you have it all.
thanks so much!

[NEZ]

They respond very well to e-mails, I never got any responses back from the phone calls.

[NatefishNY]

I've heard similar stories about marcum and it's disappointing. And I'm a marcum guy, I own two of there flashers but when I upgrade to my next flasher I always thought it would be the lx 7 but after hearing many stories of bad customer service and faulty lx 7 units I'm considering the fl 28x, my buddy has the fl 28x and it's a real nice unit, I don't know, it's a shame because if I get the lx 7 and it has issues will I experience poor customer service too???

[VTMatt]

Here's another question for the Marcum users. The coating on the bottom of my transducer is a milky whitish color and is pretty brittle. It's chipped away at the sides already. I'm not easy with my year but I've never bounced the ducer off anything that I can think of. I pushed one side of it the other day and a piece broke off.

[DR.SPECKLER]

My ducer epoxy oozed right off the bottom on my marcum vx1.it was from storing it in the ducer cup and reacted with the foam and glue they used.i could see the transducer eye and had to keep molding it back on till it went in for repair for the first time .

[pisces]

Next year if I  bought a new LX 7 , is it going to be a new old stock or is it going to be actually  NEW and not last year's.?

[VTMatt]

Got an email reply the same day. Told me to send the charger and ducer back to them for warranty replaxement if I wanted to. I already added alligator clips after cutting the wires on the defective charger but the ducer issue does bug me. I'll send it back after ice out and see what they say.