Any experiences with HB customer service?

I had my Helix 9 SI G2N on my boat, with the rubber cover on it, facing down to keep it from having direct sunlight on the screen. Also had my Helix 7 set the same way only without the cover.

Went out fishing took the cover of my 5 month old H9 and was shocked to see there was water behind my screen. Tried to turn it on but of corse that wasn’t going to work. Checked the H7 and it was fine. Somehow I believe the cover held the water in.

I emailed HB and they got back to me with their return instructions.

So my question is, has anyone had any experience sending product to them for warranty or service work and if so, what kind of turn around time can I expect?

I’m fishing the take a vet fishing day on the 24th and am hoping it is returned by then.

I just finished working through an issue with my Helix 10. Bottom line is the the service and turn around time is pretty dam good in my opinion. Yeah, frustrating working through and problem solving with a tech but mostly painless.

So, I sent my unit in via UPS and was received at HB on 8/1. I received an email the following day, 8/2 that service was complete and shipping that day. I received it at my house 3 business days later on 8/7.

Didnt have to send mine in , but my experience with tech support was great . Stayed on the phone and talked this technology challenged guy through some issues I was having .

I agree. HB support has been great for me too. Have had a couple technical issues that they have resolved and a warranty issue on a helix 12 that they ended up replacing. Frustrating to have problems but HB has made it right. If I remember correctly the turnaround was quick too after sending the 12 in.

Like the others, frustrating and PITA to having to deal with issues, but my experience with HB’s customer service was good. Turnaround time was very quick, a week’s time from when I sent the unit in and when I received it back.

BoatsHateMe wrote:

I had my Helix 9 SI G2N on my boat, with the rubber cover on it, facing down to keep it from having direct sunlight on the screen. Also had my Helix 7 set the same way only without the cover.

Went out fishing took the cover of my 5 month old H9 and was shocked to see there was water behind my screen. Tried to turn it on but of corse that wasn’t going to work. Checked the H7 and it was fine. Somehow I believe the cover held the water in.

I emailed HB and they got back to me with their return instructions.

So my question is, has anyone had any experience sending product to them for warranty or service work and if so, what kind of turn around time can I expect?

I’m fishing the take a vet fishing day on the 24th and am hoping it is returned by then.

Send it in. If you don’t have it back in time I have a Helix 10 you can use for the event.( I assume all the connections will be the same) Thanks for helping the vets.

It’s been about 10 years since I have dealt with them but my experience was like everyone else. A little frustrating working with the tech folks as they need to ensure the problem isn’t user error (which yours clearly isn’t), but that comes with the territory. The process was overall painless and the turnaround was real quick.

That’s all very good news. I plan on sending it Priority Mail today.

Dutchboy, that’s very generous. If it doesn’t look like HB will make the cut I’ll be in touch. I need all the advantages I can get, especially when someone else is counting on me to put them on fish!

I sent mine in this winter and I think they turned it around in like 2 days. They had to replace the circuit board. They were great and my guess is if you tell them the situation they might get it back to you.

Good luck getting it back and at the event!

It seems the turnaround time is similar to what others experienced. I got good news and bad news.

The good news is they could find nothing wrong with my unit.

The bad news is they could find nothing wrong with my unit.

It blows my mind that there was clearly water behind the screen and it wouldn’t function at all, only a slight indication that it was even getting power and making some abnormal audible noises. It rode around in my truck for about a week before I sent it in. Hard to believe it would completely dry out and become fully functional. We’ll see, due back Monday.

I’ll be prefishing this weekend without my side imaging though – how will I ever get by?!?!

Maybe I’ll quick hook up the Simrad SI.

Sent mine in, turnaround time was good-I paid for the postal insurance. Scary to drop something that expensive into the mail.

I see I failed to update this. I received the unit back and despite what my email said about them not being able to detect a problem, they replaced my unit. The order that it came back with said it was dead Jim.

On one hand I’m glad they replaced it. On the other hand, this being a G2N that was discontinued 9 or 10 months ago, I have a sneaky suspicion that they replaced it with a refurb unit. It doesn’t seem to work the same as my previous one in regards to my Terrova control for the trolling motor on the screen, won’t go to waypoints I create on the head (only goes to waypoints created on the remote when I tell it to go from the remote).

Pretty sure I might have left the V7 Lakemaster chip in the one I sent back which is gone now, nowhere to be found. I bought a V8 chip and it won’t take that, shuts down after sonar kicks in. Never ends.

Sell it, go Garmin

BoatsHateMe wrote:

I see I failed to update this. I received the unit back and despite what my email said about them not being able to detect a problem, they replaced my unit. The order that it came back with said it was dead Jim.

On one hand I’m glad they replaced it. On the other hand, this being a G2N that was discontinued 9 or 10 months ago, I have a sneaky suspicion that they replaced it with a refurb unit. It doesn’t seem to work the same as my previous one in regards to my Terrova control for the trolling motor on the screen, won’t go to waypoints I create on the head (only goes to waypoints created on the remote when I tell it to go from the remote).

Pretty sure I might have left the V7 Lakemaster chip in the one I sent back which is gone now, nowhere to be found. I bought a V8 chip and it won’t take that, shuts down after sonar kicks in. Never ends.

Humminbird has never sent out a refurbished unit that I know of since I switched in 2008. Your issues with Ipilot Link function (if you have that) could be incompatible software between the bird, the Terrova and the Handheld. They all have to be on the same page for Link to work properly..

Humminbird has never sent out a refurbished unit that I know of since I switched in 2008.
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Do you work for Humminbird?

Well after finally deciding to upgrade the firmware of my Helix 10 di gps, reading the instructions, and following them as directed. IT, Technician and programmer for over 4 decades ya figure wit would just go as normal. Nope, it decided to restart on its own and then go into a boot loop. HB customer service, and HB tech reps (no techs so far) basically gave me the same song and dance politely… send in with $240 and we will fix it. I check the web and there are tons of people with the same issue. No I wont be spending $248 on a unit because either their process is bugged or their rom is buggy. HB people are nice, and even nicer at denying issues. I will however figure out the boot loader access and or re burning a new rom and replacing the current one… looking for those forbidden schematics now and into the os programming…

ClownColor wrote:

Humminbird has never sent out a refurbished unit that I know of since I switched in 2008.

Do you work for Humminbird?
[/quote]

Sorry, Just seen this. No, I do not. The context of what I consider refurbished, is them sending out a unit that was preowned by someone else as a refurbished unit. Im not talking about a customer sending in a unit, paying the repair rate, and getting their own unit back. That they do do.

shortly after talking to humminbird a few more times they said to send it in and they would cover it if it was the programming. Got the unit back within a week and no charges. I atleast expected shipping but no. Now thats a company that stands behind their customers.

I have the HB customer service number on speed dial. They have helped me more than once on the water.

Ok Bill why is garmin better?

Others-for HB costomer service make sure you have your software updates up to date-even if they KNOW the problem has nothing to do with the update they will try to get you off the phone by getting you to do the update.