Marcum customer service

[Tundra Drummer]

 
I have a marcum vs380 I have used a dozen times in the last three years.  Treated it carefully over the 3 years...water leaked in and it doesn't work.  Called them Monday...no response...called them Tuesday...no response...emailed them...no response...called repeatedly today and finally got through!  Guy with a bad attitude answered.  Explained the situation and he said He would send a replacement camera for $150.00.  I explained that some of these units can now be bought new for 200.00.  He said I can throw in free shipping.  Really?  Needless to say, I was not impressed, especially in light of what I had heard about their customer service.  He even admitted it has a design flaw!!!   Wow.  This is good customer service.  Claims the problem has been fixed.  I bought a vs385 today from Reed's for $250.00...great price.  Had to share my story with someone at Reed's.  The Reed episode replied that customer service makes a company and mentioned Marcum's response was bush league..Marcum going downhill?  Anyway, this will be my last Marcum purchase should this thing die in similar fashion.   Thought I would post this so people are warned about Marcum's customer service...

[TeamBlueGear]

See now I just had a great experience with them. My Showdown's charger doesn't come off red but it still charges fine. The only thing that concerned me was that it was starting to get hot when left on for a couple days. Any ways I emailed them late in the day and got a response the next morning. He (Chris) said he would send a new charger out. Hopefully its not weeks before I see it.

[Tundra Drummer]

the other classic comment he said to me was...at least you got some use out of it...really?  We should be satisfied with a lifespan of  12 outings over 3 years.  Then he said...you had a 1year warranty and good luck. My thought is a warranty on a piece of equipment without a design flaw is one thing...this is another.

Glad your experience was better...

[Whopper Stopper]

They sure have been good to me. Sorry to hear of your disappointment.

         WS

[Tundra Drummer]

Yes, their rep for good service was a big part of my decision...that is why I was surprised by no email or phone response and the attitude, let alone his lame offer....wow.  I have, however, seen a few posts where people have mentioned trouble getting return emails or calls.  One post suggested to call repeatedly, which is what I did and I finally got through.  I'd like to think I will have better support in the future.   I loved the camera when it worked and I loved bringing it to keep the kids and newbies interested.  Just a shame...I really hope this camera holds up.  I am skeptical as I have seen recent posts complain about water intrusion on these new and improved camera designs.  I asked if there was a care tip I was missing.  He simply said your camera was a bad fluke.

Have a lx3tc...no issues...works great.  Time will tell on the vs385.

[3300]

try again and try to get some one who cares more
a buddy of mine called for a few days and finally got some one and they said they would repair his showdown for free because of his troubles getting thru

[Tundra Drummer]

Wow, that's amazing.  I would love to think it was just this one guy from Marcum.  I would certainly feel better about the company.  I will try that and see.  Funny though, I called back later the day I did get through, which was today, because I wanted to ask about care tips...I got through again and it was the same guy. 

[3300]

thats what i thought too
it was just last week it happened
maybe the showdown is an easier fix
not sure why they don't want to fix yours tho. selling a replacement seems odd as best

[Burt Lake Ron]

the other classic comment he said to me was...at least you got some use out of it...really?  We should be satisfied with a lifespan of  12 outings over 3 years.  Then he said...you had a 1year warranty and good luck. My thought is a warranty on a piece of equipment without a design flaw is one thing...this is another.

Glad your experience was better...

The fact you had it for 3 years is easy enough to prove.  Using it only 12 times might be hard to believe for some folks.  Used 12 times or 1200 times surely can't be determined on the phone and I'll bet that Marcum as well as most businesses have heard many similar tall tales.  Personally, I wouldn't expect them to honor a free repair once the warranty is out so I suppose you should have used it 13 times during that first year.  I believe you, 12 times out in 3 years, but too bad for you.  I think the call outcome would have been no different if was 6 times out in 2 years.  Times up.  Sorry about that.

[3300]

my buddies story was he bought it new and used it one season. then loaned it to his friend who used it for 2 years and just got it back with a burnt fuse and wrong charger and loose 1/4" battery connectors and it wouldn't power up.
he asked me to take a look and i did and found the blown fuse, wrong battery charger and loose battery ends and i ran continuity tests to the all connectors and they all rang out as good. the head unit is at fault. figured his friend ran the charger while it was still hooked up to head unit.
he called them 5 times (first time from my house, but just missed them at closing time, 4:15PM) and did get with someone three days later and complained how many times it took to get some help and it was discouraging to be treated that way.
he explained what happened and they said send it and gave him an rma # and told him not to worry about the costs, they will cover it other than the shipping it to them. i think its about time he gets it back

i still want to know why they won't fix Tundra Drummer camera
let us know, would ya?

[Tundra Drummer]

Thanks for the replies.  I was going to to cut my losses with them, but I am going to pursue this further.  Don't understand how a design flaw is the customer's problem.  In fact, there are lots of posts, don't think too recent though, where foils talked about a recall on these and Marcum made it right.  Got too costly?  Even Sears will give customer's money towards a new appliance when things go badly.

As far as fixing, I agree it may be too costly to fix...

[Burt Lake Ron]

Don't mean to put salt in any wounds but why did you buy another Marcum?

[rdhammah]

the head unit is at fault. figured his friend ran the charger while it was still hooked up to head unit.

my Marcum vx1pro has the connecting wires that go from battery to head unit with a pigtail for the charger hook up. I have always disconnected the head unit for safety. with the pigtail, is it safe to leave the head connected while charging battery?

[Tundra Drummer]

Called again this morning and got through on the first try.  I spoke to a different rep--much nicer and informative (Mike).  In any case, their official stance is that the older design was not "flawed" but not as good as what they do have now. In the end, SOL for the damaged camera.

 They can't fix the damaged camera and he understands it's crazy to ask customers to pay 150.00 for a replacement camera on an older unit, but that is where they are at with water intrusion in cameras out of the warranty period.

 Said virtually impossible now with new design for water intrusion.  I went with Marcum again because I loved the cam I had and am hoping I will have better success with the improved design.  If not, I will be done.  Besides, 250.00 for the vs385 is a great price...time will tell if it will be a good deal for me.

[JimQ]

I'm really surprised at the way some of you think about this.

The product was purchased with a 1 year warranty.  It broke 3 years later.  Unless you run it over with a truck, ANY malfunction or failure could be considered a "design flaw".  They certainly don't design these things to fail.

How can you possibly be upset with Marcum?      This kind of stuff drives me nuts.  It's almost narcissistic.

If you want to complain about how difficult it was to contact Marcum, OK.  Seems legitimate.  Or, the guy you spoke with on the phone rubbed you the wrong way.  Sure.  I can empathize.

But, to complain because Marcum didn't give you something for free that you felt you were entitled to...  Come on...   

[marmooskapaul]

my Marcum vx1pro has the connecting wires that go from battery to head unit with a pigtail for the charger hook up. I have always disconnected the head unit for safety. with the pigtail, is it safe to leave the head connected while charging battery?

My LX3tc came with the charger/head unit terminals affixed together..so you don't/can't unhook from unit while charging..Unless you unplug  from back of head unit. I wouldn't think Marcum would have done it that way if there was a problem?? That said my unit is back at Marcum for the bounce/rocking dail for the second time and I bought it in December??
Marcum has been very fast at responding to my e-mails, same day most times.Chris always seems courteous/professional  ...I hope it gets fixed before ice out here in Indiana...lol
Paul

[darkeyez]

I got a new showdown last year. When it arrived there was slight shipping damage, the fuse holder was broken; called Marcum and they sent a new one.
Then put it on charge and the green light didn't come on; called again, and they sent a different charger.
Both times they gave fast and courteous responses.

[Tundra Drummer]

Easy JimQ...no need to blow a gasket.  My intent was to share an experience that I had with them.  My surprise with Marcum largely was due to people posting about Marcum and how Marcum took care of this very issue in the past.   Marcum's past position apparently was, according to these posts, " the camera is flawed...your warranty is up but our bad...the camera is flawed...we will take care of you. "  I have seen many posts where people 2-3 years over the warranty got help with this very issue.  Seems to me they realized they were culpable.  Apparently, they have changed their position on how they now treat these cases.  People on this forum may want to know that. 

People may also want to know that Marcum's only solution is for customers to buy a 150.00 replacement camera for a product that is not worth much now because of upgrades.   People may want to know Marcum is not very good in responding to voice and emails.  They still have not responded to the messages I left.    But as I was advised in a forum post, the trick is to call repeatedly to get through.  People may want to know that Marcum support may be better staffed on certain days of the week to answer calls.  I got through immediately today and yesterday, but not earlier in the week.  Called the same time each day.  In the end, I am not blowing a gasket over it.  I made the choice...just sharing info. 

[3300]

thanks for the updated info and i am glad you found a more caring customer support member who could explain their position on the matter for you. i was at a loss too until you said they don't make it anymore and they made a better one to replace it

they must of had a production run of x amount of boards and miscellaneous parts and used them up in those three years
being they ran out of parts, if they did, must have made them build the better unit. so for what ever reason(s) they built the better unit, yours can't be fixed because they don't have parts to do so.
all speculation, but sounds right to me
being in pc building and repair i know manufactures do batch production runs by placing orders for them by the actual builders. like assus builds boards for say dell. dell does not make their main boards and only makes the order for them to be striped down and re-badged and cost them maybe 20 bucks. if and when yours is in need of replacement, it cost 220 bucks

i hope your new camera last and performs much longer than the old unit. thats not a good report you have about the longevity. we can not control how long manufactures stand behind any products when we buy from them. we buy from them in part based on reputation. their name is on it and you'd hope that matters as much to them as was to you giving your hard earned money to them. then the features come into play, and then the cost. thats how i shop anyway
you didn't get to use your cam hardly and it failed and i feel for ya, it shouldn't of went down like that and that may be why they quit selling it. i buy extra insurance on electronics when ever i can and i shop with who will stand behind their name the longest. sony started playing dirty pool as of late. they now offer one year parts and 90 days labor. guess what cost the most? so no more sony products for me or if i do, i will buy the extended warranty if i have to have the product.
for you it wasn't time used, it was the amount of times you got to use it and it was not enough as you said. so in this case, it would come down to use it or loose it. i repair electronics also and i know that capacitors will start leaking residue that makes them fail and they are used heavily if they use standard quality caps. if they use commercial grade, those will not leak and some thing else will have to fail. point is, manufactures know this and will try to give what they think the product will last for warranty, so they are not loosing money for poor choice in the manufacturing process designs/specs. they do have a say in it, they just don't build them.

like a pc, i can go buy one over the counter, but why? the same parts have their own individual warranties. like memory has life time, hard drives have 5 years, mother/main boards have 3 years. the over the counter has one year and you buy more if you think you need it and you should.

i didn't expect you to get yours repaired for free, i did expect it to get repaired tho. if the cost is about the same, then you will get a longer warranty replacing it over repairing. repairs generally only get 90 days. if its a better unit for about the same cost as repair then again its worth it for the better features i hope is why its a better unit and not because of leaks. splitting the costs would have been the best case scenario

when i mentioned my buddy getting his current showdown fixed and for free, it was a statement made for the benefit of marcum as thats what the topic was about and they earned a great name doing what they did for him and was way out of their way to do and those reading this won't forget it and thats why i came here to post about it. they deserve a great name for that generosity!
it was not expected at all, maybe even not deserved either, but its great of them and i applaud them for it!!

i want to add, that i just had my sonar repaired but a different brand and it lasted 4 years. got it back and now the on/off switch is bad and i have to pay again to ship it. so it is frustrating regardless of how long they stand behind some thing when you go w/o and go w/o when you need it most

[Tundra Drummer]

Thanks for the information! 

[JimQ]

Easy JimQ...no need to blow a gasket.  My intent was to share an experience that I had with them....

No sweat.  My gaskets are all good.   

If it weren't you first post, I may have cut you some slack.

Welcome to the Shanty.   

[Cotacatchers]

I had started a thread [ marcum problems] early in season and i thought the service was good , last year they sent me a new trans no ? asked .  sorry to hear about you bad service , good luck.

[Carl.j.o]

Always good to just talk straight to the manager . Only way I got what I needed .

[nnelzon23]

I am about to test their customer service myself. I just got a new LX6 in the mail last Friday and the base has a corner with a pretty good size chip out of it. I know it is minor, and the machine is awesome, but the thing is a $600 finder. Box was unopened and undamaged upon my receiving it. Hopefully all goes well.

[Cotacatchers]

Mike Mesch

Customer Service 

MarCum Technologies

888-778-1208

This is who ive dealt with good guy, imo,

 

[OriginalFreezin]

Seen cabelas had marcum flashers ??

[FJ40]

Hi, Tundra Drummer.

Could you do me a favor and check out a couple of things on your MarCum VS380?

1. Are the two screws on the back of the monitor housing smooth, or are there obvious signs of wear on them? (Does it look like someone gouged them, or do they look new?)
2. On the bottom of the viewer, there is an oval "quality control" sticker.  Is yours in one piece, or is it ripped in half?  (The one on my 380 is ripped in half, and since it's located directly over a seam, I think someone took apart the viewer in order to repair it.)

I just bought the VS380 from a company that advertised it as "new." There are a few flaws that make me think it's a refurbished unit, however.

Thanks,
Dave

[fishermantim]

My showdown 2.0 stopped working the weekend before last. I emailed them just to ask if I needed a new transducer cable.
They asked if I still had my receipt (which I was able to obtain from FISH USA - kudos to them)
They said send the unit in and they'll fix in no charge (still under warranty).
I shipped it Friday, they got it monday, I got it back on Friday. They said 5 day turn around time and they stuck to it.

You might be one of the "exceptions" that have a bad experience. Hopefully everything got sorted out and fixed.