Humminbird Customer Service, Beware

As a loyal Humminbird user for 14 years when it came time to update my electronics I turned to Humminbird as have always been happy with their products. THINGS HAVE CHANGED at Humminbird in 2021, My story about a helix 12mega + g4, Helix 9 mega + g4 and a Mega 360 and installed on boat. Had issue with 360. Would go to a message called “preparing pod” and no further, no pictures of any kind. Contacted my retailer, he spent 3 hours trying to get it to work and then decided unit bad so replaced it (good for dealer) got it on boat same issue. Called Humminbird, after 2 hours on hold, got msg they would call me within 2 hours which they did. Spent 1 hour on line while they tried differnent options , none of which worked and they asked me to send unit back for examination, When I sent back they said it works fine. So I asked for help in determine what “preparing pod ” meant so I could determine if problem was something on my installation, lady said “really, it means it is preparing the pod”, I asked to speak to a technician again and was told no, I asked if lady I was speaking with was a technician and she said “close enough, I am the closest thing you will ever talk to a technician”. I anxiously await to see if works but hold out no hope. I would not recommend anyone to buy from Humminbird again. Buyer Beware.,,,FYI the dealer sold me a $500 dollar lithium battery to use on 360 as he said the unit had problems with some 12v coneections. Enough of my rant..If anyone has a soluction to the “preparing pod” issue would love to hear.

What battery was bird using when they tested your unit? Sounds like it may be the battery/connections then???

Were you testing the units with the pod in the water? The M360 has a wet switch that won’t allow it to spin unless it is submerged. The wet switch looks like two little silver disks on the top side of the pod. When you submerge the unit, it should start spinning.

Sorry I can’t help you. Have you tried googling the error message “preparing pod”. I’m going to have to work that into my vocabulary somehow.

The Humminbirds currently on my boat will be the last ones I own… I use Garmin stuff now for ice fishing and they will be my future boat unit brand from now on, top notch customer service.

I have lowrance units on my boat. 1 humminbird onix 10 that came with the boat so I kept it for the ipilot link. I connected it to the US2 in my ulterra, and it won’t recognize the transducer. Hook my lowrance up and it works great. Bought a new cable, restored, etc. I called humminbird and they said send it back and we’ll fix it for like $950… Why in the hell would I send back a unit worth maybe 400$ to pay the cost of a new unit to have it fixed??? I’ll eventually throw it away or give it to someone who wants it for mapping. As far as I’m concerned its the last bird I’ll have in any of my boats.

Lowrance customer service isn’t known to be the best but I’ve had good experiences so far. That and not needing customer support every time I try to use the unit is a plus.

My garmins have been flawless. And customer service I hear is top notch.

rjthehunter wrote:

I have lowrance units on my boat. 1 humminbird onix 10 that came with the boat so I kept it for the ipilot link. I connected it to the US2 in my ulterra, and it won’t recognize the transducer. Hook my lowrance up and it works great. Bought a new cable, restored, etc. I called humminbird and they said send it back and we’ll fix it for like $950… Why in the hell would I send back a unit worth maybe 400$ to pay the cost of a new unit to have it fixed??? I’ll eventually throw it away or give it to someone who wants it for mapping. As far as I’m concerned its the last bird I’ll have in any of my boats.

Lowrance customer service isn’t known to be the best but I’ve had good experiences so far. That and not needing customer support every time I try to use the unit is a plus.

If you uh, decide to give that Onix away to somebody I’ll take it for mapping alone.

But yes that stinks when cost of repair is nearly what buying new would cost.

Regarding the original poster, hopefully you just got a less than great customer service agent. I called them several years back about interference from my trolling motor. The 1st person I got was friendly, helpful with advice (suggested several things I had already tried and checked), and ended up sending me a ferrite ring at no charge which did fix the issue.

All this for a used unit that came on the used boat I bought. I was impressed with that, about 6 years ago now.

In general though, good customer seems to be the exception rather than the norm now. I’m not always sure it’s as much of a company changing their service model as it is it’s hard to find good help these days.

I’ve had to deal with Humminbirds customer service for repairing both my Ice 35 and 55. For what I spent for those “repairs”, I could have brand new units. Chalk me up as another one who is very unimpressed with Birds and their CS. I had Birds in my last 2 boats and then both my ice units. My next electronics purchase will be a garmin or lowrance.

See my thread on the frequent flyer helix 10…I have spent more time on that thing than it is worth but I definitely don’t want to uproot the whole system to change over to something else at this point. My next boat will have a different brand. I will also be setting up my Garmin 93sv as an ice fishing unit this winter and getting out of the humminbird business there.

I’ve owned various units from Lowrance, HB, and Garmin, and currently run an Echomap UHD 93sv. I guess I’ve been lucky in that every single unit from a $200 black and white Lowrance to my current unit has functioned pretty well right out of the box. But I can’t ignore the fact that I’ve read so many more threads about HB’s not working, and then the headaches associated with trying to get service on them — it’s completely scared me off Birds for future purchases.

Mega SI looks legit, but not enough to want to risk putting up with the other headaches.

A quick Google search definitely shows poor customer reports on many different forums.

well this is pretty scary to read. a friend of mine has a HB helix 7 with the lake chip and i fell in love with the lake chip part and was thinking of getting one. now?????????????????????????

I’m always leery of guys who their first post is bashing a company. Did you do a internet search just to post that here?

Good luck, hope it works out for ya.

Every system has lake chips or contour mapping. That would be one of the last reassigns I decided on a brand.

I’m agnostic when it comes to electronics brands. I simply want the best available at all times. Have had HB, Garmin, and Lowrance. For what it’s worth, my experience with HB customer service has been pretty good over the years. I’d give them an 8 out of 10. Really have no complaints. Garmin has been by far the best for me – 10 out of 10. Lowrance the worst by far – 5 out of 10.

i thought HB was a good product……….there sure are alot of them on the shelves when i look!!!

and up until now…….i havent heard anything bad about them.

I have always had a good experience with HB customer service. It has been 3 years since they fixed my problem and they covered the cost.

I have never had an issue with HB customer service. I run both HB and Garmin. I will say as far a tech service questions go Garmin is outstanding and go out of their way if they don’t know an answer to figure my questions out. HB if they didn’t know I think they just did the easy thing and said it can’t do it. I will say that years ago when I did have a couple issues with a 1198 HB was great to deal with. I have heard the last few years they aren’t as good as they used to be, but I haven’t had any direct contact with HB in a few years with a problem.

I had similar issues with HB customer service. I had an equally poor experience with Lowrance which prompted me to switch to HB in 2019. Now I’m just tired of dealing with switching units. Sent back, HB said unit is fine, get it back, it was not fine. Sat on it all winter and just ignored it, used my vexilar because it always works.

Come summer 2020 I Updated software, now it works but there’s a weird flaw with the display where it “shakes” on some lines. I don’t even care anymore, I refuse to call them back or spend more money on electronics. next unit will be a garmin and god forbid it doesn’t work I’ll just switch back to my late 90’s era lowrance which despite serious abuse works just fine. I find all the imaging hasn’t been making me a better fisherman anyway.

Dutchboy wrote:

I’m always leery of guys who their first post is bashing a company. Did you do a internet search just to post that here?

Good luck, hope it works out for ya.

He has been a member for 3 years… has 5 posts. Probably only posts facts and that is why the post count is so low !!

I’ve never had any issues with HB customer service. I’ve only had a couple issues with my units that were either fixed over the phone by CS or fixed to my satisfaction the first time sending it in (only once).

Guy gets made because he didn’t get what he wants so he comes on a forum to bash products. Seen it many times……….

Humminbirds’s Customer Service and tech center, I have no issues with. And I think a lot of their products.
I’ve got no issues with Minnkota either, there is another great product.

Have to weigh in on this also. Have two humminbirds. No issues and the oldest is a SI 9” 2015 model. When I need tech support I call HB AND Fishlectronics. Both opinions jibed w what my dealer said re the install so I have no bad things to say about HB. Would agree with other posts that quality customer service is a thing of the past in most cases – any of you who have staff know how hard it Is to find good people. There will ALWAYS be issues for some folks, no matter the product. Same thing with my Minnkota Terrova 2015 model. I have read complaints on here re Terrovas – I would buy another in a heartbeat. If it sucks, buy something different next time. If I listened to what everyone else said there would be NO brands for me to buy.

Umy wrote:

Have to weigh in on this also. Have two humminbirds. No issues and the oldest is a SI 9” 2015 model. When I need tech support I call HB AND Fishlectronics. Both opinions jibed w what my dealer said re the install so I have no bad things to say about HB. Would agree with other posts that quality customer service is a thing of the past in most cases – any of you who have staff know how hard it Is to find good people. There will ALWAYS be issues for some folks, no matter the product. Same thing with my Minnkota Terrova 2015 model. I have read complaints on here re Terrovas – I would buy another in a heartbeat. If it sucks, buy something different next time. If I listened to what everyone else said there would be NO brands for me to buy.

The problem with products is service, the problem with service is everyone has a opinion. Makes things confusing. From alot of reviews I see on newer hummingbird bird products are people love them. But the ones who have issues keep having issues due to lack of customer service. I’ve read more about that lately then the last few years.
I run garmin and have never really needed cs. So im still happy.
It isn’t so much about a opinion but about how the people are being treated when issues come up.

I’ve owned several Humminbirds over the last 10 years and never even had to use their customer service. ‘Nuff said.

slough wrote:

I’ve owned several Humminbirds over the last 10 years and never even had to use their customer service. ‘Nuff said.

What does that have to do with there customer service? I assume most people don’t have to use customer service for any thing. But im pretty sure he posted about the situation for when you do have to call. Nuff said ?

In my line of work I deal with a vast array of CS departments. One day I’ll speak with a true gem the next day I’ll end up with a clunker from the same firm.
Every business will have different levels of experienced staff, just the way it is.
BTW – I’ve always had a good experience with HB CS.

I was one of those people that experienced the worst CS maybe ever 10-15 years ago when Lowrance was at its worst in that regard. Horror stories – vowed I’d never go back to them.

Switched to HB then and have only had a handful of issues since, spanning 4 boats and multiple units. Every time they’ve taken care of me. Eight years ago they even offered to replace a unit that my dad accidentally sprayed bug spray on the the screen and made it permanently hazy. Sure I’ve called a few times re: software updates, feedback issues, etc and the level of knowledge varies a bit by person you talk to but eventually have had every issue fixed. Wait times during the Spring can be high, but what marine series doesn’t experience that?

I also added Garmin Livescope a couple years ago and have talked to Garmin CS 2-3 times and they’ve been very good too.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>slough wrote:</div>
I’ve owned several Humminbirds over the last 10 years and never even had to use their customer service. ‘Nuff said.

What does that have to do with there customer service? I assume most people don’t have to use customer service for any thing. But im pretty sure he posted about the situation for when you do have to call. Nuff said ?

Because he said “I would not recommend anyone to buy from Humminbird again.” The chances of something like this happening are slim and probably can be found with any brand of anything if you look over the internet enough.