Extremely unhappy and disatistified with Uniden tech support at the moment!

[MStep]

Definitely something for Joe Bearcat to look into.

 

[trentbob]

Tell you what dude, you pay the 70 bucks, let me tell you something I'm 57 and all the years I have been doing business in the U.S. I have never encountered this type of treatment as a customer, Make a customer wait 21 days to get their unit back only to learn it was fixed properly to have it sent back and refuse to fix it due some unknown mishap and void the warranty what kind of crap is that! I have always been given the benefit of the doubt, I paid my repair fee they didn't repair it and now they expect me to give them more money for something I'm not responsible for, HELL NO, like I said earlier a used unit on ebay won't cost that much more, so why bother with a shoddy repair that may never be done right. Either way I'm done with Uniden.

Yep, it's the only scanner company left with top of the line radios, albeit not supported by the company anymore.

I'm well over 10 years older than you and I encounter this on a daily basis. Customer servilce is a result of indoctrination, not education or common sense.

These were great radios back in their day and I own them.. somewhere in the garage. Don't waste any more money on repair, they're just too old, even if they do serve your needs.

With a powerful site like radio reference, where you are airing your complaint, simple customer service would result in a Uniden representative coming on the forum and straightening everything out for you. It cost them nothing and results in terrific consumer relations in front of all eyes to see of their biggest Market. That's something they don't care about anymore and don't even spew the dishonest verbiage that they do.

It is what it is my friend.

 

[tvengr]

Since these sorts of issues can be caused by a lot of different things, knowing for sure it's been fixed is sometimes difficult.
There's been plenty of times in my career where I've received a trouble ticket for something, but I'm unable to reproduce the issue when I'm on site. I do my best to cover all the basics, try to force it into a failure, but it's not always possible. Sometimes the cause is something completely external to the device.
So, I always did the best I could, and really regretted it when I got the dreaded "call back". Those were never something I wanted, but reality is that it happens.

I spent the majority of my life as a maintenance engineer at a TV station. There is nothing worse than an intermittent problem. You never know for certain if it's fixed or not. There have been many times when a defective piece of equipment was brought to the shop and I couldn't make it fail. Our saying was,"It always works in the shop!" I had a color monitor from a live truck in the shop several times that was reported to have a color phase problem but I could never duplicate the problem. I finally found that the equipment rack in the truck had become magnetized. When I opened and closed the cover on the top of the rack, the color changed on the monitor. If I saw the antenna jack smashed on a scanner, it has been my experience that there is more damage on the inside than the original problem. That connector had to be subjected to extreme force, such as dropping the scanner, to sustain that much damage. I would assume, at the minimum, that solder connections have been broken and possibly the circuit board may be cracked. Whenever I have had to ship a scanner to Uniden, I have always packed it in a sturdy box with the scanner surrounded by cushioning material. I have sometimes packed scanners in the original boxes and placed those boxes within a larger box with cushioning material between the boxes. I never had a scanner damaged when I took the time to properly pack it. If the BCD396XT was placed in a padded envelope, that is not Uniden's fault that it was damaged.

 

[mmckenna]

There is nothing worse than an intermittent problem.

Yup, and getting the customer to understand that is always a challenge.
I had a Yaesu mobile that would randomly turn itself off. Sure, as a young ham, I got pissed off at Yaesu, but before I blew a gasket, I started looking closer at the issue. Discovered that where it was mounted subjected it to a lot of static electricity (mounted to the front of a bench seat in a vehicle). Sliding on the seat would cause the radio to act up. Properly grounded things, and the issue went away.
I could have sent it back to Yaesu and gone back and forth. They wouldn't have found a problem because it was an installation issue. I would have got upset, but luckily I took the time to troubleshoot myself and not blame someone else without proof.

If the BCD396XT was placed in a padded envelope, that is not Uniden's fault that it was damaged.

The correct box was available, but the OP was in a rush and took a shortcut. The shortcut failed miserably. It would be obvious to Uniden what the issue was.

OP:
Airing all this on a public forum where existing and potential customers may see it might seem like it'll force them to give you a new scanner, but it doesn't always work out that way. "The customer is always right" is a lie, and good customer service training will teach you that. Usually the customer service people, or their managers, will have some leeway on how they can respond in situations like this. The key thing to understand is that they are not required to do anything for you in this situation. They -may- be able to do something to assist, but they are not going to want to do that for someone who is irate.
Take a few days off. Relax, think this through, and carefully consider what Uniden's point of view is. Then, when you are feeling calm, call them and ask to speak to a manager. There's a couple of things that will help your case:
1. Own up to the packing issue. It's obvious that is a major problem here. If you try to avoid that, they will be less likely to help.
2. Carefully and calmly explain the original issue with the power switch, and that it wasn't fixed. They will have a record of the service and you providing additional info may help them narrow down the problem.
3. Humble thine self. I've had to deal with upset customers before. The ones that were yelling and threatening didn't get the best response we could give them. They usually got the minimum. None of us want to be yelled at over the phone over something that is out of our control. That's just human nature. With the internet, knowing that this thread is out there isn't going to necessarily help.
4. Understand that the person who answers the phone isn't the cause of the issue. They are just the person who's job it is to answer the phone. They won't want to get treated poorly. The better you treat them, the better chances you have of getting their help.

Years ago I had some major billing issues with a local hospital. I went round and round with them and an awful call center. Eventually, out of frustration, I called the local hospital billing office and explained all the trouble I had. I explained that I knew it wasn't her fault. I explained everything I'd gone through calmly and asked for her help.
In the end, she waived all the copays, saved me a few hundred bucks. It wasn't what I was asking for, but since we acted like adults and treated each other with respect, I was able to come out ahead.

Then, I took that few hundred bucks I saved, and spent about $50 of it on a dozen roses and a nice "thank you card". I had it delivered to her office at the hospital. The next day I got a really nice call from her. She'd had a really rough week and was really thankful for the extra effort.

I'm not saying you need to send Uniden a dozen roses, but there's a lot you can do to help your case.

Really, people here are trying to help you, but this isn't Unidens fault.

 

[12dbsinad]

Do you know know many times a major radio manufacturer will repair a clear physically abused radio under a "one time repair" warranty when the customer complains? A LOT. Cut this guy some slack. He sent it in originally and they fubar'd the repair. Yea, he screwed up sending it back a SECOND time for the same problem he originally paid for. I'm sure common ground can be met here.

I'm sure the scanner is physically fine, a little ding to the brass connector probably didn't destroy it. They -could- quickly PM it, actually fix the button this time, and send it back with the antenna connector un-repaired unless requested to do so with a fee, citing return packaging vault. The scanner would probably work, the customer learned a lesson, and Uniden doing the right part on their end considering they should have fixed it right the first time.

Come on, this shouldn't be rocket science. It's called customer service. Or the lack of nowadays.

 

[scanthewaves]

Depends on the calibre of technicians they have. Since everyone wants their products at the cheapest prices, it leads to products being produced overseas. When they break, they get sent to a service center in the USA. Someone, probably not paid a whole lot, has to figure out what's wrong with it. Since these sorts of issues can be caused by a lot of different things, knowing for sure it's been fixed is sometimes difficult.
There's been plenty of times in my career where I've received a trouble ticket for something, but I'm unable to reproduce the issue when I'm on site. I do my best to cover all the basics, try to force it into a failure, but it's not always possible. Sometimes the cause is something completely external to the device.
So, I always did the best I could, and really regretted it when I got the dreaded "call back". Those were never something I wanted, but reality is that it happens.



Customer service can vary, but expecting consumer electronics manufacturers to have the same level of support as say, Kenwood, Motorola, Harris, etc, that's just not realistic.

It absolutely sucks when it happens. It's happened to me, but you move on. Life is too short to get wound up over such things.
Pay the $70, get it fixed, have them look at the original issue, go from there. Usually talking to them calmly and nicely will get you a long ways. Getting upset with someone who answers the phone/e-mail usually has the opposite effect. I think if this was approached with a positive attitude and a bit of humbleness, things might turn out better.

But then again, shipping something like this in a padded envelope? All bets are off. If it's been dropped hard enough to damage the antenna jack, I'd be concerned there was other internal damage. If a customer did that to me, I'd probably react the same way. Usually when I ship stuff back to a manufacturer, they have extremely clear requirements about how they are packed, how they are shipped, and how they are insured. If I stuffed an expensive item in a padded envelope and it showed up damaged at the other end, I wouldn't expect the manufacturer to bend over backwards to fix it.

There was internal damage, all they did was provide me with a prepaid label no instructions, nothing! FWIW, when they returned it to me the first time it was in bubble wrap in a small box, if that box had been crushed while handling it no doubt would have been the same result or worse, so just because it's shipped in a box doesn't mean it's any more protected than in a padded envelope considering the box I had to ship it back in.

 

[scanthewaves]

Definitely something for Joe Bearcat to look into.

I messaged him, I hope I hear back from him soon before it's too late and the unit gets scrapped.

 

[scanthewaves]

FWIW, at the sorting facility "fragile" on any shipping box decodes to "kick this as far as you can" as long as a supervisor isn't nearby.

Well FWIW Uniden sent it back to me in bubble wrap in a small box, I suppose if that was marked "fragile" is would have gotten kicked around as well.

 

[scanthewaves]

As others I already said the only issue I see is your shipping method.

Having worked around shipping and receiving the scanner in a padded envelope wouldn't last long at any package company. Needs a strong box with packing, so it can't be crushed or move around during handling.

Remember your package rides on many trucks with a lot of different size shipments and weights and goes onto miles of conveyer belts. it needs to be packaged to survive all the bumps. jolts or falls during it.

Also it's also best to insure anything of value.

Tell that to Uniden they shipped it back to me in a small little box in bubble wrap! I originally shipped it to them in a larger box with good padding obviously it survived the trip fine that time. Considering it wasn't going very far and the expected time for delivery I didn't think much of shipping it in a padded envelope last minute, I was all set to ship it back to them in the box they shipped it to me but I forgot to take the box with me and I didn't want to pay 6 bucks for Fedex box, well I"m paying now for that decision, nevertheless barring a mishap that may have happened at Uniden this is clearly FedEx culpability.

 

[scanthewaves]

You shipped it and it got damaged not Unidens fault it is your fault.
This is like you getting out of your car not putting it in park or setting the brake and blaming the car manufacture for the damage.

Last I checked packages are insured for damage, not because the shipper is responsible but the carrier is responsible for mishaps, I.E. not my fault!

 

[scanthewaves]

...are you gonna sell it? I'll give you $70.

I doubt I will be getting it back at this point as no offer to send it back has been made, very shoddy and shady practice.

 

[scanthewaves]

Sort of agree but then again had they fixed it correctly the first time none of this would have happened. There is also no proof it was actually done in shipping, we are just ASSuming. Like any good company there needs to be some compromise, a meet in the middle solution that can and should be worked out.

Maybe they just don't care because they know the future of scanning is listing to hams talking about their hemorrhoids?

Exactly if they had fixed the damned thing in the first place like I paid for none of this would have happened!

 

[scanthewaves]

Yep, it's the only scanner company left with top of the line radios, albeit not supported by the company anymore.

I'm well over 10 years older than you and I encounter this on a daily basis. Customer servilce is a result of indoctrination, not education or common sense.

These were great radios back in their day and I own them.. somewhere in the garage. Don't waste any more money on repair, they're just too old, even if they do serve your needs.

With a powerful site like radio reference, where you are airing your complaint, simple customer service would result in a Uniden representative coming on the forum and straightening everything out for you. It cost them nothing and results in terrific consumer relations in front of all eyes to see of their biggest Market. That's something they don't care about anymore and don't even spew the dishonest verbiage that they do.

It is what it is my friend.

I might also point out that repair issues with Uniden are not just older models like the 396 models but as you can see from this complaint taken from BBB models that use SD cards which are not that old! 4x sent in for repairs!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
05/26/2021


Have to return SDS100 police scanner for the FOURTH time for repair. The same occurring problem continues. The scanner does not scan. Unit cannot access SD . Cannot update film ware or cannot write to scanner. Just got unit back from third repair on May 23, 2012 and it was reported that there was a cold solder joint. Unit worked for about one hour and then discontinued to work. Seems like I have a bad scanner from the production line. I have over $1,000.00 invested in the scanner, including programing from Uniden.

 

[MStep]

I messaged him, I hope I hear back from him soon before it's too late and the unit gets scrapped.

Let us know if and when you hear back from Joe Bearcat and if he is willing and capable of interceding on your behalf with his company.

 

[scanthewaves]

Let us know if and when you hear back from Joe Bearcat and if he is willing and capable of interceding on your behalf with his company.

Will do

 

[trentbob]

I might also point out that repair issues with Uniden are not just older models like the 396 models but as you can see from this complaint taken from BBB models that use SD cards which are not that old! 4x sent in for repairs!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
05/26/2021


Have to return SDS100 police scanner for the FOURTH time for repair. The same occurring problem continues. The scanner does not scan. Unit cannot access SD . Cannot update film ware or cannot write to scanner. Just got unit back from third repair on May 23, 2012 and it was reported that there was a cold solder joint. Unit worked for about one hour and then discontinued to work. Seems like I have a bad scanner from the production line. I have over $1,000.00 invested in the scanner, including programing from Uniden.

It's good that you notified the Uniden product manager Joe but I remember cases in the past with nightmares with the repair end of things that he did not have any involvement in that department, not to say that someone shouldn't intervene and I don't see why it couldn't be him.

I would think any further attempts to resolve this would be done in private. This has been aired in front of the community that Uniden serves and a proactive response would of course be the optimal customer service approach, which again is not exactly the history of this company, nor do they claim it is, especially in recent years.

When you're basically the only game in town, aside from other types of receivers, your radios sell themselves, not your promises of support, guarantees and excellent customer service, they leave that up to the vendors who actually sell the radios..

Good luck with this. If they were to actually make you whole, you should definitely come back on this thread and let everybody know your experience.

 

[rgchristy]

Without a picture of the padded shipping envelope received by Uniden, what caused the damage is pure speculation.

The fact that Uniden sent you a picture of the damaged unit without a picture of the shipping envelope is interesting. Regardless of the company involved, any damage to the shipping envelope should have been documented upon receipt. It would also justify their decision to void your warranty. IF, it was damaged during shipping, they could have notified you of such so that you could possibly pursue a claim with the shipper. You wouldn't have been happy, but would have been more willing to pay the additional amount, knowing the circumstances regarding the damage. Again, just speculation.

 

[buddrousa]

Last I checked packages are insured for damage, not because the shipper is responsible but the carrier is responsible for mishaps, I.E. not my fault!

Then your problem is with the shipper not UNIDEN stop blaming everybody but the PERSON that put the scanner in envelope.

 

[donc13]

Last I checked packages are insured for damage, not because the shipper is responsible but the carrier is responsible for mishaps, I.E. not my fault!

Usually packages have $100 insurance, for anything more, you pay a separate fee.

 

[MStep]

As Donc13 points out, some carriers give you $100 insurance automatically, and while that would not pay for a new radio, it will cover the cost of repair. Best of luck and keep us posted.