What is going on at lowrance??

I sent my hds7 in weeks ago and still dont have it back. So I call them and they tell me were out of stock!!!!!!! Oh this is after calling multiple times and sitting on hold for 30+ min! So ive missed it on 2 trips now and looks like a 3rd this weekend. They have dropped the ball big time on this unit. Now I heard stucture scan was over 500 big ones. So im paying like 1500 for a 7in screen and a HB 798 is like 1200. I know some guys have had good luck with them but the customer service is what put me over the top. Last lowrance product ill ever buy if they dont make this right.

That bites!! Did they tell you why they couldn’t repair

your unit?

Hopefully you bought your HDS-7 between 3-20-09 and 7-6-09

which would make you eligible for a mail-in rebate of 100.00

when you buy the StructureScan.

Here is the link to the rebate form:

HDS Ultimate Upgrade Sales Event

Dan

Im not on either side of the fence here, but just a couple days ago I watched a dealer sit on hold for a true 45 minutes, before getting helped. He had to sit on hold for that long just to get a return athorization. I would think there dealers would get treated a little better, or at least have a seperate phone line they could call.

My .02

I may have my last Lowrance units on my boat now! I have heard very little positive things this year about the new HD units. They better get their problems fixed soon or there will be a lot of lifetime Lowrance users making a change, me being one! I will not buy another if this keeps up!

I do have to admitt though that after fishing with James for 2 days and watching his hds 8 for what seems like ages, I was very impressed. Sounded like it took a lot of work to get it to that point, but when it got there i was very impressed.

I will not own another one either. Had 3 all of them had to be sent in and waited on the phone for 45 minutes just for them to tell me what i already knew. Very disapointed in there products and there customer service’s.

Does anybodys unit work… ??? Like someone decided to open a can…..

big G

Lowrance truly has no idea what customer service is. But, if people continue to buy their product, and they continue to make their desired profit, there is no reason for them to change. Hopefully the competition from HB will make them realize they need to make some changes to stay in business.

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Lowrance truly has no idea what customer service is. But, if people continue to buy their product, and they continue to make their desired profit, there is no reason for them to change. Hopefully the competition from HB will make them realize they need to make some changes to stay in business.

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I agree 100%. I think Lowrance already has burned bridges with a lot of fishermen and if they keep up their current operations, they will continue to lose more and more.

Can you imagine how many people would go Humminbird if they were LakeMaster compatible? I can’t give up LakeMaster, and I don’t want to spend $ on a seperate GPS…

My Lowrance LCX-25C has been almost flawless…one bad update had me frustrated, but that was fixed a long time ago with new software. My old 350A’s are bulletproof!

Did Lowrance try too much, too fast?

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Can you imagine how many people would go Humminbird if they were LakeMaster compatible?

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HB and Lakemaster compatibility coming soon… Sounds like you might have to buy a new chip as the old Lakemaster’s probably won’t be retro-compatible, but its a start. Either trade up if possible, or upgrade as needed to the new compatible chips when they are available… See Jason Halfens posts in the HB forum.

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Can you imagine how many people would go Humminbird if they were LakeMaster compatible?

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HB and Lakemaster compatibility coming soon… Sounds like you might have to buy a new chip as the old Lakemaster’s probably won’t be retro-compatible, but its a start. Either trade up if possible, or upgrade as needed to the new compatible chips when they are available… See Jason Halfens posts in the HB forum.

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Humminbird and Lake Master

Link

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Does anybodys unit work… ??? Like someone decided to open a can…..

big G

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I’m almost embarrassed to say my 522 works perfectly at this point anyway both in the Winter and summer including shallow water readings.

Same Ole same Ole from Lowrance software bugs that lead to unresolved customer support issues.

Bird for me also next time around!

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Can you imagine how many people would go Humminbird if they were LakeMaster compatible? I can’t give up LakeMaster, and I don’t want to spend $ on a seperate GPS…

My Lowrance LCX-25C has been almost flawless…one bad update had me frustrated, but that was fixed a long time ago with new software. My old 350A’s are bulletproof!

Did Lowrance try too much, too fast?

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I’ve also been very happy with my Lowrance LMS-332C. Not a single problem with that unit. However, the current complaints about customer service can not be ignored. I don’t know what is going on at Lowrance. So far, the purchase of Lowrance by Navico has lead to an increase in customer complaints and a decrease in customer satisfaction (at least it appears so from my subjective viewpoint). I know they have a number of staff from the previous ownership who are still on board and a number of them are very quality people who provide excellent service. Unfortunately, it sounds like the quality of service may depend on which customer service representative is on the other end of the phone or email. That’s not acceptable in this industry. Something will have to change and I imagine that as the bottom line is impacted, Lowrance will get it’s act together.

Here’s the good news. Lowrance still makes an excellent product. As with any new product line, there will be some issues that need to be corrected. Also, I think Lowrance will make it right for people who have got a defective unit. So far, any of my customers who got a defective unit have been able to resove the issue with Lowrance. Also, Lowrance does still have some excellent customer service folks. You just have to get to the right person. Don’t stop unitl you do. I understand that’s not the way it should be, but that is the way it is right now. I have a lot of customers here at IDO. Of all the recent Lowrance units we have sold, I have not had customers have too many issues, to be honest. So there must be a good number of them that are working well. For those of you who have purchased Lowrance units through me, if you run into any trouble, please let me know and I will do my best to help you get it resolved.

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Can you imagine how many people would go Humminbird if they were LakeMaster compatible? I can’t give up LakeMaster, and I don’t want to spend $ on a seperate GPS…

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What’s the deal with this? Why doesnt Hummingbird partner with Lakemaster? It’s hard to believe in todays business world that software like Lakemaster isnt accepted in all forms of GPS hardware. Does Garmin?

It’s happening as we speak.

Lakemaster/Humminbird announcement

I agree with Wade.

I’ve had 3, yes THREE HDS10 units fail this summer. While I cannot express how disapointed I am that they put out a product this untested, Lowrance has been great with getting them replaced.

Last Friday at 11:30 am my 3rd one failed. At 2pm the same day I was back on the water with a another new one. Granted it took 3 phone calls but if you burn the right ears things can get done pretty quickly.

How do you get a good customer service rep? Sit on hold for weeks until the right one answers? Ive had very polite and understanding reps that couldnt do anything for me. What are you guys telling them to get a unit next day? I wrote them a e-mail saying how they structure scan is siginficantly more than HB and how bad the waiting time on hold is and amazinly they have units in stock and will be shipping next day, after having it for 3weeks. I agree when the HDS is working good its very nice but getting there was a major time consuming effort. I even when it was working had issues with the sonar when I first turned the unit on the screen would be vertical bars and not show depth for several minutes. Also what chip do you have to buy to get the shaded relief on the gps to work?

Supposedly there is a secret number that many have had luck with. I know its been posted here before but I can’t seem to find it. Maybe somebody could PM it to you if you’re having problems.
Other than that it’s a crap shoot with a lot of time spent on hold!

I just sent you a Pm with the person’s direct number, email address and other contact info to get this resolved for you. Good luck but she has helped many friends in the past.

Which unit? They’ve had my 522csi and my $200 since 7/2. Same problems. I’m being pretty much ignored and told nothing except indeterminate back order. Unit loses position and proper depth reading.