Not Happy with Uniden service...

[LOf674]

I have had multiple Unidens over the years...but I have multiple issues with my handheld BCD396T and it was recently sent back to their repair shop for this the third time. The first issue was, i guess, a RF board and that was in Sept 06, then six months later the unit went dead again (Jan 2007) and finally it just went dead this past August. So I have to sit and wait...for the repairs...

When I spoke to the reps at Uniden, they said that the unit would have to die 3 times in a 3 month period for them to consider issuing a replacement unit. Oh well, just needed to get that off my chest...

Has anyone else had multiple issues with their 396t's?

I know I'll be looking at the GRE 500 really soon... But I hate to give up on a company....

 

[MajorGamer]

Generally service centers make a determination if an item is repaired or replaced based on how economical the repair is versus the cost of replacing it entirely. In my experience, generally there is some consideration concerning past repair history but it is hard to say at what point a replacement is granted. All I can suggest is don't expect a replacement but if it happens than good for you! Ultimately it is the manufacturers responsibility to get you a functional product through either repairing it or replacing it if they deem that necessary.

 

[papascanner]

Uniden

I have had my 396T for three years this October. I have ran it for 16 hours per day on week days and 24 hours a day on week end. I have not had one single problem with the unit. Everytime there is a firmware update for it, I update it. It it still running strong. It was a very good purchace.

 

[kellykeeton]

i dont get this....


I know I'll be looking at the GRE 500 really soon... But I hate to give up on a company....

so you hate the company enough to post your thoughts, and that you will go out and buy another 500$ radio because you dislike this one ....but you hate to give up..



what company on earth is going to replace a consumer device under 1k for the hell of it for free?

your story can be applied to every product on earth by every vendor, either you broke it, your environment breaks it. or you got a dud, that sucks. and Awesome to uniden for taking the time to give you a new one on the 3rd try.

other things I would like the vendor to give you a new one on the 3rd break in 3 months

My 95 Chevy 1500 Pickup great truck but the only thing that is original is the am radio, everything else broke for manufacturing reasons, even the turn signal thing caught fire. - Im looking at fords but I really want to give GMC a chance

My 98 VW after 110 electrical issues, I started to look at volvo but I really want this VW to work.

My AMD CPU, damn thing would have failures all over the place for months on end, so I had to underclock it. I am looking at Intel but i really want the AMD to work!

The magic bullet blender, it looks cool on tv but its made by people in china, i have nothing else to say.

The Icom746Pro backlight issue, I was looking at kenwood because it will do 70cm but the ICom, I love that company




---this was my weekly rant at all the people who complain to no end that the world sucks, george bush messed everything up and if he didnt mess it up, Your uniden would work great decode HF and pull out OpenSky systems from mars. untill then i hate uniden and am going to switch to GRE just to let paul know that he lost another customer to what we all formally called a ratshack scanner.


if you had the money to blow like a lynchman brothers CEO you would buy the GRE and like the uniden better. Please PLEASE P L E A S E listen users of radioreference uniden area, for the love of us all stop complaining about uniden sucking and going to GRE to "show paul that you mean business"


PS I love my Uniden scanners for going on 20 years now.

 

[torontokris]

I think its a valid point.

If the user wants to open his frustration/opinion then this is the place to do so.
Hence why its a "FORUM".

Other companies pay millions for public opinion polls, and product serveys, customer satisfaction cards etc, here Uniden can get opinions for free.

Does one dud scanner represent EVERY Uniden user - NO. Most have been very happy and not had one problem with their 396.

The original poster expressed his opinion that he might go to GRE. THATS HIS RIGHT.
Much like you expressed your opinion/rant to stay with Uniden.

 

[torontokris]

Not that Uniden has anything to do with GMC but YOU brought up the topic of GMC

GMC has NOT been listening to customers requests, people have been telling GM for 10 years they are going to buy Japanese.

GMC DID NOT LISTEN... they assumed oh its just ONE customer ranting who cares.
For every ONE customer who complains there are another 10 who dont, and those customers just go buy from a competitor next time.

Now look where GM is now... and look oh wait the Japanese makers are soaring towards the top spot.

 

[kellykeeton]

Not that Uniden has anything to do with GMC but YOU brought up the topic of GMC

GMC has NOT been listening to customers requests, people have been telling GM for 10 years they are going to buy Japanese.

GMC DID NOT LISTEN... they assumed oh its just ONE customer ranting who cares.
For every ONE customer who complains there are another 10 who dont, and those customers just go buy from a competitor next time.

Now look where GM is now... and look oh wait the Japanese makers are soaring towards the top spot.

hehe come on now, we all know ford is better anyway.

 

[torontokris]

Well lets hope that lots of people can also look back and say "Uniden is better anyway"

We have to remember that for the one original poster
NOT happy there might be 99 who ARE VERY happy.

Lets make a "I AM HAPPY WITH UNIDEN SERVICE THREAD"



**Off-topic**
sure I'll agree.
People make fun of the FORD (Found On Road Dead) but
My dad has had 2 Ford Taurus' that BOTH went far beyond the 200,000 mile mark
My sister had a Ford Escort that went 300,000km (186,000 miles)

And they were only let go because new cars came along, or were in an accident (other drivers fault), or in the case of the Escort my sister hadnt changed the oil in like 2 years.. LOL. But it still ran 2 years on the same old oil and wasnt even topped up.

hehe come on now, we all know ford is better anyway.

 

[datainmotion]

hehe come on now, we all know ford is better anyway.

Oh boy - here we go...:roll:

 

[Highpockets]

I,ve bought Uniden scanners for years, was always happy with the way they were built and operated. Things changed after the 796 came out, if Paul wasn't a member here and spent time helping users out, Uniden would have more problems. They announce an upgrade, people go nuts, talking about additions, they better add this, pay upgrades, new models, then the upgrade comes out, not an easy upgrade for some, then it doesn't work, they didn't add that, get a key, try this loader, go to this page, register first. Then you have GRE, no announcements on upgrades, you go to one site, download 1 file, run it, follow directions on menu, no problem. The upgrades are usually done with no problems, additions are always exciting, and work, if not they try to get another upgrade to fix problems ASAP. They listen to the buyers, and try to add requests as much as possible. No one here from GRE to complain to, and usually only 1 - 2 threads to read. Uniden 6 - 7 threads to read. I have a 600, and if GRE keeps coming out with upgrades and new products, unless Uniden really steps up to the plate, I stay with GRE. It's really a shame, they do make a nice solid unit, and when they operate properly, they are really very good. The 600 is excellent.

 

[kellykeeton]

I,ve bought Uniden scanners for years, was always happy with the way they were built and operated. Things changed after the 796 came out, if Paul wasn't a member here and spent time helping users out, Uniden would have more problems. They announce an upgrade, people go nuts, talking about additions, they better add this, pay upgrades, new models, then the upgrade comes out, not an easy upgrade for some, then it doesn't work, they didn't add that, get a key, try this loader, go to this page, register first. Then you have GRE, no announcements on upgrades, you go to one site, download 1 file, run it, follow directions on menu, no problem. The upgrades are usually done with no problems, additions are always exciting, and work, if not they try to get another upgrade to fix problems ASAP. They listen to the buyers, and try to add requests as much as possible. No one here from GRE to complain to, and usually only 1 - 2 threads to read. Uniden 6 - 7 threads to read. I have a 600, and if GRE keeps coming out with upgrades and new products, unless Uniden really steps up to the plate, I stay with GRE. It's really a shame, they do make a nice solid unit, and when they operate properly, they are really very good. The 600 is excellent.

wouldn't it be fair to say that the amount of uniden owners greatly outweighs the GRE owners at this time in life since GRE has only been making scanners for 2-2.5 years now under the GRE only brand. hence the larger community to comment back.

 

[Highpockets]

wouldn't it be fair to say that the amount of uniden owners greatly outweighs the GRE owners at this time in life since GRE has only been making scanners for 2-2.5 years now under the GRE only brand. hence the larger community to comment back.

I agree with you on larger community, but, why does it seem that so many threads talk about the same things, 2 threads should be enough, pre upgrade and post upgrade sounds like a good way to go. Don't get me wrong, both make a good scanner, but, Uniden the last few years, seems to be falling behind in upgrades and new features. Instead they work on a new model, while they throw you a bone with the upgrades they put out. I have both Uniden and GRE, but, favor the GRE.

 

[qlajlu]

Like Highpockets, I, too, have been a staunch Uniden user and fan, but my geographic area is in the throes of rebanding and I needed something to be able to continue scanning and Uniden was stalling to see what requirements would have to be met. I know they will build a good product, but that hesitation put me in a situation where I could no longer wait since we are 70% to 80% rebanded now. We are also interlaced with P25 capability on some TGs and Uniden's performance in decoding P25 has been iffy especially when interspersed with analog TGs.

I, therefore, left my good friend and went to a GRE PSR-600 and have not looked back. Except for what I would call a tinny-sounding speaker, the 600 has been flawless and it is very versatile. I'm not ruling out a future Uniden, but it will have to be one with all the bugs worked out before I will spend $500 - $600 for it.

 

[Highpockets]

Like Highpockets, I, too, have been a staunch Uniden user and fan, but my geographic area is in the throes of rebanding and I needed something to be able to continue scanning and Uniden was stalling to see what requirements would have to be met. I know they will build a good product, but that hesitation put me in a situation where I could no longer wait since we are 70% to 80% rebanded now. We are also interlaced with P25 capability on some TGs and Uniden's performance in decoding P25 has been iffy especially when interspersed with analog TGs.

I, therefore, left my good friend and went to a GRE PSR-600 and have not looked back. Except for what I would call a tinny-sounding speaker, the 600 has been flawless and it is very versatile. I'm not ruling out a future Uniden, but it will have to be one with all the bugs worked out before I will spend $500 - $600 for it.

I agree with the speaker comment, I use a GE speaker on the 600 sounds great. Also, their new scanner would have to blow away the GRE before I buy a new $500. scanner, and at my age, maybe I already bought my last, encryption has allot to do with it, around me, encryption is growing, and the salesman selling the new systems are pushing it.

 

[datainmotion]

This post is not relective of anything in this thread in particular but those spread out all over the boards...

"My scanner is better than yours!" "Your scanner manufacturer is inferior because (you fill in the blank)." Are egos on here that fragile that they always need to tell others they made a better decision by buying Brand X instead of Brand Y and that you're an idiot for buying Brand Y?

Hooray for anyone who is completely satisfied with their scanner (I am), but this GRE vs. Uniden thing is getting ridiculous. Competition is good. Providing constructive suggestions or info on a problem or a possible solution is good. Unfortunately, a sizeable percentage of the posts I've seen on this "vs." debate are none of the above.

GRE is a smaller company and therefore probably more nimble, but with less resources. They manufacture a handful of specialized products and therefore can focus alot of attention on their scanners and pleasing the scanning enthusiats who use their products and in the process raise the bar for other scanner manufacturers. Good for them.

By comparison, Uniden is a larger company with greater resources but inherintly less nimble. They manufacture a broad range of communication electronics. They can't necessarily focus alot of resources just on one product line. Generally though, they manufacture quality products and have for decades. Even though this is a "what have you done for me lately" world, let's not forget that Uniden created the first consumer grade trunk-tracking scanner. Good for them.

Folks, the point is - speak with your pocketbooks. If you have had one brand and are dis-satisfied, don't buy that brand again. If you like the brand you have, stick with it.

Remember, no one forced you to pick one brand over another and quite frankly when your opinion consists less of useful content and more of whining or parading, you are wasting everyone's time.

And God forbid if Uniden BOUGHT GRE or one of its divisions - I wouldn't even want to imagine the ruckus here after that.

 

[qlajlu]

Oh boy - here we go...:roll:

Folks, the point is - speak with your pocketbooks. If you have had one brand and are dis-satisfied, don't buy that brand again. If you like the brand you have, stick with it.

Remember, no one forced you to pick one brand over another and quite frankly when your opinion consists less of useful content and more of whining or parading, you are wasting everyone's time.

And God forbid if Uniden BOUGHT GRE or one of its divisions - I wouldn't even want to imagine the ruckus here after that.

Yes, datainmotion, you are absolutely right. There is/has been a thread in the GRE Forum which mirrors this one from the other side of the fence. This argument could go on for eons and what it boils down to is completely subjective in the end anyway.

The mods should lock this thread and those like it.

Nuff said!

 

[datainmotion]

How's that UCAN system coming?

 

[Highpockets]

Remember, no one forced you to pick one brand over another and quite frankly when your opinion consists less of useful content and more of whining or parading, you are wasting everyone's time.

Enjoy the parade! You took the time to read and respond.

 

[qlajlu]

How's that UCAN system coming?

They are trucking right along. Every day is a new experience in what you are going to hear on what CCs. Thank heavens for our members running UniTrunker and UniTrunker-type programs.

UCAN originally planned to have all the upgrades made by the end of this year and they are doing their level best to stay with that plan. They are also installing new towers to hit weak/dead spots and by the time they finish, the whole state will be covered.

Right now the major metro simulcast areas (Salt Lake County, Utah County, Davis County) have yet to go under the knife, but it won't be much longer.

 

[Sinister]

If consumers do not speak up about issues then the manufacturers think there are no problems and have no incentives to put out firmware updates or make better products.
How is Paul suppose to know that members here on the forum are having issues that need to be resolved ie.. the recent V3 firmware upgrade problems if people here said nothing.
Feedback or your term "complaining" is important to get issues resolved, keep competition between the manufacturers and most importantly make consumers happy with their products.
The fact that he returned the radio for the third time and felt like informing others is not complaining IMO.
End Rant