My tale of woe with Global Poisitioning Systems/YooNoo

[geoffv]

I purchesed a TomTom GO from global positioning systems on 28th July 2004. All was well until 25th July 2005, when whilst on holiday the unit failed.

I contacted them on my return on 1st August 2005 with regards to a warranty repair, as the unit was just inside the warranty period.

Below is the correspondance and contemporaneous notes to date.

Sent: 1st Aug 2005 10:15:32

To: technical@globalpositioningsystems.co.uk
Subject: TomTom GO stopped working
Department: Returns and Faulty Goods
Reason: I'm having problems with a product and want support
Order Number: *********

Additional Information: My TomTom GO stopped working on 25-07-05 whilst I was on holiday. After checking the receipt on my return I was able to determine that it was less than a year old when it failed, so still within the warranty period. I would like to return it for replacement/repair. Please contact me with the returns procedure.
Thanks in advance GV


FROM technical@globalpositioningsystems.co.uk
RE: TomTom GO stopped working (Ticket *****)

If you ring Tom Tom on 0845 161 0009 or contact them through their website www.tomtom.com they will arrange a pick up and replacement for you.

Kind regards

Cliffy

Technical

After 2 days of TomTom just hanging up the phone, I rang global positioning systems again.

I received the following email

FROM <returns@globalpositioningsystems.co.uk>
Sent : 08 August 2005 11:37:03


Dear G V

A return has been created in our returns system for your order ********** It has been assigned returns number ************* Please use that number in all correspondence regarding this return.

Using the following link, you can download your returns form. Please fill this in and include it with your returned goods. To view or print the returns form you will require the free Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded from Adobe at http://www.adobe.com/reader/

Warranty Faulty Returns form: http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/returns/warranty.pdf

The address to send your return is:

RMA 20050805016,
YooNoo Ltd,
Ellerbeck Court,
Stokesley Business Park,
North Yorkshire
TS9 5PT

You will be notified by e-mail when your return is received. If you have any queries, please contact us via our website or by email, quoting your returns number.

Kind regards,

Returns Team,
YooNoo Ltd

I duly despatched the TTG and the following email exchange took place

Dear Mr V

I have today received your Tomtom Go, unfortunately you are outside your 1 years warranty, this leaves you with two options; either we charge you to return the product to you, or we send the unit to Tomtom on your behalf and Tomtom will then charge you for the repair. Please reply to this email and advise me on what to do next.

Kind Regards
Ben Wardle
Returns Department
Yoonoo Ltd.

To: <ben.wardle@yoonoo.co.uk>
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 8:42 AM
Subject: RE: Tomtom Go (Ticket 83826)


Dear Mr Wardle

I have copied the original email that I sent you on 1-08-05 which clearly states that the TomTom GO failed on 25-07-05.
This IS within the warranty period.

I was unable to contact you immediately, as I was on holiday and did not have the relevant paperwork, or internet access.
As soon as I returned I emailed you to inform you of its failure.

I would therefore be gratefull if you could replace or repair the unit in accordance with your warranty terms and conditions.


Please contact me on ***** ****** in the unlikely event that you have any problems with this

Geoff V

From Ben Wardle <ben.wardle@yoonoo.co.uk>
Sent : 12 August 2005 08:19:15


Dear Mr V

To be inside your warranty you have to have contacted us before 1 year is up, either by phone, letter, fax or email. You purchased your item on the 28th July 2004 and didn't contact us until 1st August 2005. As we have no record of any contact before 1st August we cannot honour your request for a warranty repair/replacement. We have offered to send the unit to Tomtom on your behalf and then they will send you a bill for the repair, but other than that all we can do is return the unit to you and charge you for postage. Please reply to this email and advise me on what to do next.

Kind Regards
Ben Wardle


I then sent the following to Catherine Hinchcliffe

Dear Ms Hinchcliffe

I am writing to you, because I have found it impossible to speak to anyone in a position of responsibility in your company, and have been assured that you are the person with the authority, to help me.

I purchased a TomTom GO on 28-07-2004.
On 25-07-2005 the unit failed. I was on holiday at the time and did not have the invoice, or any of your company's details with me. Obviously it is not reasonable to be expected to carry on one's person, a receipt for every item owned, in case of the unlikely event of its failure whilst away from home. Bearing in mind that your company will only entertain correspondance regarding returns via email, it would have made little difference, as I certainly had no email facilities available to me.

As soon as I returned home, I found my receipt and contacted your company via the website.

The first response I received was to contact TomTom directly. I did not agree with this response, as the contract I had was with you, the retailer, but nevertheless I tried for 3 days, with no joy, to contact TomTom.

After having numerous phone calls terminated by their automated telephone system, without ever speaking to a representative, I spoke to one of your sales representatives who very kindly organised an email with an RMA number to be sent to me.

I packaged my TomTom GO and after a couple of days received a response from Ben Wardle stating that the unit was out of warranty I'd have to pay for a repair.

I sent a copy of the original email, clearly stating that the unit failed within its warranty period, but due to circumstances beyond my control (not having the receipt to hand, and having to submit a claim via email) I was unable to submit my claim until 1-08-2005.

I received a further email from Mr Wardle stating that it was company policy to only honour claims received within the 1 year period and requesting my reponse on whether to return the unit to me, at my expense, or send it to TomTom for them to repair it and send me the bill.

Neither of these options are satisfactory, hence I am asking you to intervene so that we can settle this affair in an amicable way.

I'm sure that you can understand my point of view and I await your response with anticipation. If you need to contact me to discuss the matter further, please don't hesitate to call me on ***** ******

Yours sincerely

Geoff V


Below are my note of the events that have occurred since that email.

15-08-05 emailed Catherine Hinchcliffe. Grant in dispatch rang back and said that TomTom had agreed to repair the unit and I should have it back in around 10 days

I was out of the country for all of September and was fully expecting my TTG to be waiting for me on my return, but unfortunately it was not.

4-10-05 (circa) spoke to Edward he said he'd look into it.

6-10-05 (circa) Spoke to Kirsty she said she'd get the matter sorted

13-10-05 spoke to Gary he assured me he'd pass the details to Catherine.

13-10-05 received call from Catherine
saying that TTG would be with me by 18-10-05

19-10-05 Spoke to Nicola (twice) and said that I wasn't prepared to wait anymore
19-10-05 Nicola rang back, offered to lend me alternative unit while investigating my TTG

20-10-05 Alternative unit (Mio 268) arrives but with stylus, mains adapter and car mounting clip missing. Unit had been left on so battery completely flat.

8-30 am Spoke to Nicola. she said that she'd put the missing items in the post

2-30 pm Rang Nicola after lunch to enquire about the TTG, she had no news but said she'd ring later when she had details

3-30 pm Nicola rang and said that the definitive answer as to the whereabouts of the TTG would be coming from TomTom by 12pm 21-10-05 she would ring me with the findings

21-10-05
Missing ltems arrived for Mio268 lt works but is a very poor substitute for the TTG. (to be honest it's next to useless)

4-50 pm Heard nothing so rang Nicola. She said that she had taken the matter to Grant's superior and would definately ring me on 24-10-05 pm with the news from TomTom.
I said that my patience was wearing thin and that after 13 weeks I either wanted my repaired unit returned or a new replacement TTG.
All members of staff that I spoke to, agreed that the matter had been going on for far to long and needed to be resolved.

24-10-05
4-20pm, After waiting as long as I could and received yet again no return call, rang Global positioning systems again, spoke to Alan and asked to speak to Nicola. Was told by Alan that she was just going to speak to the despatch manager and would ring me back

Nicola rang back and said that TomTom had actually lost my unit, but would be supplying a replacement (secondhand/used/refurbished) unit. I said that I was not really happy accepting a used unit, as my original was in excellent condition and I didn't really see why I had to have someone elses old unit.

Nicola started stating terms and conditions, and that they would only repair or replace an item, so I just said ring me when she had some more news, apparently she's definitely going to ring me by 26-10-05 at the latest.

I spoke to Trading standards and they told me that the retailer were responsible for the goods, that goods of that value should be reasonably expected to last more than a year and that I really shouldn't have to accept a used item if the company had been careless enough to lose my original.

Just sent the whole of this transcript to Catherine Hinchcliffe and posted on pocketgpsworld.com

[geoffv]

UPDATE

I spoke to Catherine Hinchcliffe on 25-10-05 and she kindly offered to send a TTG 500 to replace my TTG classic that was lost.

I accepted her offer and am in receipt of the TTG 500 :D

Life is back to normal, I'm not getting lost anymore

So all's well that ends well, it's just a shame it took so long to resolve, and caused such bad feelings.

I really wasn't out to get anything better than I already had, obviously the TTG 500 is an improvement on the classic, but I'd have been quite happy to have my classic repaired and back to me after a couple of weeks.

All this hassle because TomTom wouldn't admit that there was a problem with the in car power cables. If they had done a product recall, none of this would have occurred.

Anyway, I'm happy again, I just hope that the newer car cables are better than the original ones

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