Another Shearwater Service Thread

[boulderjohn]

I recently had a very confusing problem with one of my Shearwater computers. It proved impossible to diagnose via email, so I was asked to send it in. I don't want to get stuck on the details of the incident because I think they are unusual. Based on past experience and the reports of others, I expected good service. I did not expect the service I got, which frankly blew me away. I feel sorry for the various businesses that do not understand that providing service like this creates customers for life and a word-of-mouth system that draws in other new customers as well--as I expect and hope this post will do.

 

[rhwestfall]

US service or back to Canada?

 

[BoltSnap]

I recently had a very confusing problem with one of my Shearwater computers. It proved impossible to diagnose via email, so I was asked to send it in. I don't want to get stuck on the details of the incident because I think they are unusual. Based on past experience and the reports of others, I expected good service. I did not expect the service I got, which frankly blew me away. I feel sorry for the various businesses that do not understand that providing service like this creates customers for life and a word-of-mouth system that draws in other new customers as well--as I expect and hope this post will do.

What was the service you received that "blew" you away?

 

[RyanT]

Yeah, they are amazing! My bluetooth dongle died within months of getting my new Perdix. I called them and reported the problem. They were super friendly and three days later a new one arrived in my mailbox!

 

[boulderjohn]

Short summary: As I said, the problem was puzzling. When they got it, they could not recreate it. They replaced pretty much everything just to be safe. Most companies would have sent it back and said, "Sorry--we don't see a problem." There is more in the little details that would be an unnecessarily long story.

 

[Diver0001]

My buddy had to send his Perdix back recently. It had become a "self diver".

"self divers" are very common problems with Suunto computers but I don't hear about them much with computers from other manufacturers.

The interesting, and encouraging, thing about Shearwater is that they wanted photo's and evidence before he sent it back. What's encouraging about that is that evidently this problem is very rare for Shearwater and they are seriously interested to learn about it. At least that's the (optimistic) conclusion we reached. The pessimistic view is that they may be getting a lot of "self divers" and want to keep it under wraps.

Suunto, by contrast, doesn't hide this problem (even if they could) or even bother to review these cases any more, let alone technically evaluate them. You send your computer back, you get a new one.... unless the guarantee is up, in which case they say (metaphorically), "**** you, buy a new computer".

Now... I KNOW that Suunto makes a LOT more computers than Shearwater but if self divers are a serious problem for Suunto. Are we now to expect Shearwater computers to be failing at the same rate... and if they do, are we supposed to expect the same attitude as Suunto ("**** you, by a new computer") knowing that Shearwater computers are:

a) being used in much more serious contexts
and
b) are (to put it lightly) MUCH more expensive than Suunto computers.

Any ideas about this?

R..

 

[marc.collin]

when somebody have broken the cap of battery of my shearwater and get leaked.... shearwater provided me a really good support.

 

[Diver0001]

when somebody have broken the cap of battery of my shearwater and get leaked.... shearwater provided me a really good support.

Let me try to get this right. I'm not suggesting that there is something wrong with Shearwater's customer support.

What I'm telling you is that my buddy got the ONLY Shearwater "self-diver" I've heard about to date but that I know of another manufacturer (Suunto) that is plagued by this problem.

My question was indeed poorly posed.

I am curious how Shearwater views this problem given that their computers are used in very serious contexts and they are comparatively very expensive.

I am curious about his because Suunto has taken a very "Suunto centric" (ie. "anti-customer") approach to this exact same problem. Now that Shearwater has more-or-less hit the mainstream, I'd like to know how they intend to respond to the same problem, KNOWING that a competitor with a lot more computers in the market has basically starting telling customers, "**** you, buy a new computer".

It's a concern. You can throw away a Suunto computer that costs 200 Euros because it's out of warranty and they refuse to address this problem. They're putting themselves in the market as the "disposable computer" people.

Fine.... but how does Shearwater see this now that we know that the potentially have the same issue? You didn't buy a Shearwater for "disposable" prices and you don't want a "disposable" attitude. What is their response to this?

R..

 

[broncobowsher]

The request for pictures was probably to understand what was happening. If it was an easy fix (like being turned on at altitude during a flight) then they could give instructions on how to get out of that instead of the time and expense of shipping. There are times when the simplest of communication can be misunderstood. Photos usually clear that up real fast. Why is the request for a photo of a problem suddenly a sign of a problem? Better add another layer of foil to your hat, the computer is beaming something into your head.

 

[Joneill]

My buddy had to send his Perdix back recently. It had become a "self diver".

"self divers" are very common problems with Suunto computers but I don't hear about them much with computers from other manufacturers.

The interesting, and encouraging, thing about Shearwater is that they wanted photo's and evidence before he sent it back. What's encouraging about that is that evidently this problem is very rare for Shearwater and they are seriously interested to learn about it. At least that's the (optimistic) conclusion we reached. The pessimistic view is that they may be getting a lot of "self divers" and want to keep it under wraps.

Suunto, by contrast, doesn't hide this problem (even if they could) or even bother to review these cases any more, let alone technically evaluate them. You send your computer back, you get a new one.... unless the guarantee is up, in which case they say (metaphorically), "**** you, buy a new computer".

Now... I KNOW that Suunto makes a LOT more computers than Shearwater but if self divers are a serious problem for Suunto. Are we now to expect Shearwater computers to be failing at the same rate... and if they do, are we supposed to expect the same attitude as Suunto ("**** you, by a new computer") knowing that Shearwater computers are:

a) being used in much more serious contexts
and
b) are (to put it lightly) MUCH more expensive than Suunto computers.

Any ideas about this?

R..

My ideas on this are that you are speculating and making unsubstantiated assumptions based on an issue with a single computer?

First, you seem to be suggesting that Shearwater is trying to hide an issue? Because they wanted some evidence of a problem before sending a unit back in for service? Really? How is that hiding anything?

Second, you seem to want suggest that we might suddenly expect Shearwater computers will be failing at the same rate as Suunto computers? Based on what?

Thirdly, you seem to want to suggest that we should possibly be worried about Shearwater's response to an issue that appears to be isolated (based on the facts at hand) to be "**** you, by a new computer"? Why would this be the case when Shearwater has been known for fantastic customer service? Just look at how they actively participate and answer questions here. Look at how well they communicated and managed issues with Nerd 2 computers. Just today, they posted about Teric supply/demand to get ahead of and manage customer expectations. At this point, there is ZERO reason to question how they would handle an issue based on their track record.

I'm sorry, but your post is either off base (and unfair to SW) or just poorly presented/worded!