- Joined
- Jun 13, 2002
- Messages
- 6,082
This is a low level gripe and not a rant.
I've been a happy Uniden customer since the mid 1980s. I've had a lot of scanners and been happy with them all.
In that time, the only scanners I've had to send in for service are x36HP units. When it comes to warranty repairs, I'm really happy with the speed of service and return. One x36Hp and the 436HP had to go back for the RTC repair. That was fast. One 536Hp went back because the USB port on the back died. That was pretty fast and unexpectedly was covered by the warranty. I had one other in warranty repair that went well.
Would that non warranty repairs were nearly as good. My first one was for one of the 536HPs. The scroll wheel started skipping and finally got so bad that I had to send it in. Yes, I know that some people have had success using tuner cleaner, but I didn't know that at the time. Anyway, I filled out the on line repair form, including credit card payment, attached a note to the scanner, and sent it along. I followed the status of the unit and it just stayed in "Unit received on XX/XX/XX" for about a month.
I finally contacted Uniden Service, or tried to, but got nowhere. Finally, about six weeks after sending the unit it I got a letter. Yes, a letter in the mail. The letter said that they were waiting for payment and if I didn't pay within another 60 days, they'd consider the unit abandoned. Since I had sent in payment information I was baffled. I called and this time got a person on the line. I gave my credit card information again and received the scanner back in due course. I will say that they also did the RTC and dim LED upgrades on the scanner at the same time, so there is that.
Fast forward to this year. When I got my SDS200, the 536HP came out and went on the shelf. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I was in no hurry. Once I decided to sell it, I pulled it out and booted it up to make sure it ran okay. There's another thread about that, so I won't repeat it. I decided that the only way to get it fixed was to send it in and pay for the repair. No problem.
So, again I went on line, filled out the form, included payment information, wrote out a letter describing the problem (loss of receive after unit warms up), packed it, and sent it in.
I checked the status a few days later and sure enough, it says "Unit received 5/8/2019." The estimated return ship date was 6/5/2019. Which has been the status for almost a month now. Okay, I know that they are busy, so I just waited, checking the status every few days. Based on previous experience I know that there will be an update when it's fixed and usually a note that it's been sent to the shipping department. None of that this time.
So, I called Uniden Service yesterday and got a pleasant sounding young man on the phone. I gave him the SRO #, my name, and ZIP Code. He tapped on his keyboard and then told me that something looked odd. He asked if I had sent a check or money order for payment. I told him that I sent credit card information. He tapped some more and said that it looked like there was an issue with the payment.
He told me he needed to do some more research and might have to get back to me in a day or so. H
He tapped some more on his keyboard and then told me something I thought odd. He said that he'd sent an email to his "contact" at Uniden and it could take up to 72 hours for the contact to reply to him. He promised to email or call me as soon as he heard something, but that it could be Monday or Tuesday of next week.
He also reminded me that the estimated ship date was 6/5 and this was only 6/6. He also said the he is working Saturday and if he hears anything, he'll get in touch with me.
As I said, he was pleasant and tried to be helpful.
It seems, at least from the way he was talking, that the call center is outsourced and that he doesn't work at Uniden. OK, that's done a lot by a lot of companies. It just seems odd that he can't call or text someone to find out what's going on in less than 72 hours. I could likely get the same level of response by emailing Uniden, only I have no idea who reads and answers email sent to them.
If there's some sort of issue, like a transposed digits on the credit card number, I would think that someone could reach out to me. The form has my phone number and email address on it. I have a PDF of the Repair form and my letter and the information on the credit card is correct.
Maybe "Uniden Support" will reach out to me via PM and we can clear this up. I'm not optimistic though.
I've been a happy Uniden customer since the mid 1980s. I've had a lot of scanners and been happy with them all.
In that time, the only scanners I've had to send in for service are x36HP units. When it comes to warranty repairs, I'm really happy with the speed of service and return. One x36Hp and the 436HP had to go back for the RTC repair. That was fast. One 536Hp went back because the USB port on the back died. That was pretty fast and unexpectedly was covered by the warranty. I had one other in warranty repair that went well.
Would that non warranty repairs were nearly as good. My first one was for one of the 536HPs. The scroll wheel started skipping and finally got so bad that I had to send it in. Yes, I know that some people have had success using tuner cleaner, but I didn't know that at the time. Anyway, I filled out the on line repair form, including credit card payment, attached a note to the scanner, and sent it along. I followed the status of the unit and it just stayed in "Unit received on XX/XX/XX" for about a month.
I finally contacted Uniden Service, or tried to, but got nowhere. Finally, about six weeks after sending the unit it I got a letter. Yes, a letter in the mail. The letter said that they were waiting for payment and if I didn't pay within another 60 days, they'd consider the unit abandoned. Since I had sent in payment information I was baffled. I called and this time got a person on the line. I gave my credit card information again and received the scanner back in due course. I will say that they also did the RTC and dim LED upgrades on the scanner at the same time, so there is that.
Fast forward to this year. When I got my SDS200, the 536HP came out and went on the shelf. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I was in no hurry. Once I decided to sell it, I pulled it out and booted it up to make sure it ran okay. There's another thread about that, so I won't repeat it. I decided that the only way to get it fixed was to send it in and pay for the repair. No problem.
So, again I went on line, filled out the form, included payment information, wrote out a letter describing the problem (loss of receive after unit warms up), packed it, and sent it in.
I checked the status a few days later and sure enough, it says "Unit received 5/8/2019." The estimated return ship date was 6/5/2019. Which has been the status for almost a month now. Okay, I know that they are busy, so I just waited, checking the status every few days. Based on previous experience I know that there will be an update when it's fixed and usually a note that it's been sent to the shipping department. None of that this time.
So, I called Uniden Service yesterday and got a pleasant sounding young man on the phone. I gave him the SRO #, my name, and ZIP Code. He tapped on his keyboard and then told me that something looked odd. He asked if I had sent a check or money order for payment. I told him that I sent credit card information. He tapped some more and said that it looked like there was an issue with the payment.
He told me he needed to do some more research and might have to get back to me in a day or so. H
He tapped some more on his keyboard and then told me something I thought odd. He said that he'd sent an email to his "contact" at Uniden and it could take up to 72 hours for the contact to reply to him. He promised to email or call me as soon as he heard something, but that it could be Monday or Tuesday of next week.
He also reminded me that the estimated ship date was 6/5 and this was only 6/6. He also said the he is working Saturday and if he hears anything, he'll get in touch with me.
As I said, he was pleasant and tried to be helpful.
It seems, at least from the way he was talking, that the call center is outsourced and that he doesn't work at Uniden. OK, that's done a lot by a lot of companies. It just seems odd that he can't call or text someone to find out what's going on in less than 72 hours. I could likely get the same level of response by emailing Uniden, only I have no idea who reads and answers email sent to them.
If there's some sort of issue, like a transposed digits on the credit card number, I would think that someone could reach out to me. The form has my phone number and email address on it. I have a PDF of the Repair form and my letter and the information on the credit card is correct.
Maybe "Uniden Support" will reach out to me via PM and we can clear this up. I'm not optimistic though.
