Talex accused of dodgy dealing

Darren · Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 5:14 pm Post subject: Talex accused of dodgy dealing

Story courtesy of YourCanterbury.co.uk.

Talex, the speed camera detector supplier based in Kent has been accused of dodgy dealing by its customers.

The company which also trades under the Beat the Speed Trap and BTST brands sells radar and laser detectors as well as GPS based Speed Camera detectors has attracted scores of complaints from customers.

The complaints include allegations of refund not being honoured despite devices not working as claimed and orders are not being fulfilled although payment being taken.

Trading Standards are now investigating customer complaints.
_________________
Darren Griffin

shinydoc · Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 8:11 am Post subject:

Yes and look at the prices on their website...

Buy a new one from Talex direct for £127, or trade in and get a replacement for £67...

Why do either of these when you can go to Halfords and get another brand new one one, still keeping your original, for only £58.71!!!! Confused

molerat · Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 9:41 am Post subject:

Earlier this year I worked for a retailer who sold them. We could not get in touch with them so I got a head office contact to try. They managed to speak to the boss on his mobile, that was the only way to contact the company. This was a few months back so I suspect things have got worse now.

earthy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 21, 2009 Posts: 1

There policy is NOT to refund the Data base of camera information you need to purchase at the same time when you purchase a BTST locator. I unfortunately was tempted to try a BTST locator in MAR09 with their data base. I had a late delivery..Nowhere did it say in the advertising that the system uses an external GPS antenna so that was not suitable for me as I wanted a stand alone device similar to others available. I returned the locator the next day without use and a polite covering letter explaining my requirement and requesting a full refund, which was well inside the 30 day (no quibble) returns policy they advertise (I did not even download the data base). Eventually they refunded the BTST hardware value but not the unused Database cost. I sent an email about this and they said it was NOT refundable so called and called only to be fobbed off that it would be passed up the chain (needs pulling). Then I get to talk to a guy who informs me it is NOT COMPANY POLICY to refund databases purchased (not in their advertising shown to me, else nobody would buy one) and that was that. Blistering about this I called my credit card company and sent all the required details to them to pursue this, the good news for me was the credit card company forced them to PAY UP this month MAY 09! I do not want to go on about them but it was not the only problem purchase I had trouble with.

Recomedation: NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY, I won't....

Maddon · Lifetime Member Joined: Apr 11, 2008 Posts: 20

Before TALEX went under they had excellent customer service returning my damaged unit with 48hrs and tbh an excellent database but all good things must come to an end sometime . Since they have been taken by BTST I have email after email asking me to upgrade my TALEX or this or that offer but I will not be sucked in by them as this is not the first complaint I have heard about.

Darren · Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 10:54 am Post subject:

Yes it is perhaps important to clarify that the original TALEX is now NovusGPS. AIUI, the Directors fell out.

The TALEX we talk about here is the new company that acquired the name. It was bought by Adam Blair of Beat The Speed Trap fame/infamy.

I'm not going to bleat on about him but anyone who receives his regular emails will be able to form their own opinions. The advertising for the original BTST GPS device made some astonishing claims such as 100% accuracy which we all know is a complete fallacy.

From his BTST marketing:

talexuser · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 15, 2008 Posts: 48

those who have followed the story from the early days will not at all be surprised by this development. The reality of the new "talex" company of Blair was always a long way from the shill posts constantly bleating how wonderful it was Very Happy

talexuser · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 15, 2008 Posts: 48

I wonder if the Halford's price is close to the trade they originally bought them in for? Could this be a sign they are getting rid of stocks before dropping them? Or is the trade price really so low they can still make a profit at £58? In that case the original (and still advertised on talex site) £127 is one hell of a rip off...

Darren · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:01 pm Post subject:

p60 · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject:

I got a second hand BTST Locator 2 a couple of years ago from ebay paid £100 with lifetime updates (which cost £59 to whoever got it first),had it for about 8 months when suddenly I could not download the updates,I phoned them up explained what had happened and they sent me out a new one still working ok now, also got a Talex Lite from ebay £20 updates from Talex working a treat only warns cameras on your route.
I must be one of the lucky ones when dealing with them.

kentkruzer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 28, 2008 Posts: 10

Before I saw sense and got a Garmin and subscribed to PGPSW database I bought a BTST Locator which like the earlier post I found had a seperate aerial and would not mount in my car using the system. Plus the £3.50 a month advertised turned into £7.99 unless I wanted annual or lifetime - which I didn't as I wanted to evaluate.
So I decidecd to send it back and contacted them. This was in April. I am still awaiting return instructions, let alone get my money back.
Anybody know what I can do - their customer service(?) refuse to deal with me or put me through insisting I need to email ehich I've done with no luck.
In my opinion DO NOT BUY FROM ADAM BLAIR OR TALEX.

PaulB2005 · Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:52 am Post subject:

kentkruzer - If you bought it on a CREDIT CARD then speak the the credit card company. They'll have equal liability if the order was over £100. They are usually very good at helping sort these things out. Even if they have to reimburse you and sort out getting their money back later.

kentkruzer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 28, 2008 Posts: 10

Thanks, but it was £95.95 so no good. Plus I still have the unit as they haven't told me where to send it.
I've been advised to write a letter and send it recorded delivery demanding action.
Personally I'm thinking of going to their offices in Whitstable and blocking their car park until something is done!

Kremmen · Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:31 am Post subject:

I suppose it's now time to start considering dumping the Talex database updates and switching to the Novus equivalent (TalexLite).

I wonder which one is the most accurate now ?
_________________
DashCam:
Viofo A119 V3

st1967 · Lifetime Member Joined: Nov 28, 2003 Posts: 189

I have my talex rolled up in a ball now even still with over a year to run on it's update contract (I took out a 3 year contract about 6 months before the original company went bust)

Fixed cameras were ok but mobile and roadwork cameras were just rubbish and they took months to remove temp cameras from roadworks so I just gave up. Plus the ones they did update were almost like an estimated position.

I'd a GPS phone by then and the great guys from GPSWorld pointed me to TCharts Speed Sentry !! Best $11 I've ever spent, Simple GPS Speed system that uses the PocketGPS database. Happy Days
_________________
Samsung S22 Android, Google Maps & Camera Alert

	PocketGPS
	Web