SDS100/SDS200: Uniden Repair service sent my SDS100 back without the NXDN and DMR Keys.

[cookjames35]

I sent my SDS100 in for repair. It was a common problem with them, replacement of the logistics board, so I believe it should have been covered. That is really not my main issue though. When I sent it in, I noted that the NXDN and DMR were already in the radio. Upon receiving it back, they were not in it and they told me I had to re-enter the keys. I purchased the SDS from someone who is now deceased, so I do not have the keys. I know I have been a Uniden customer for many years and have purchased dozens of keys, so from my experience, since you always enter the serial number when purchasing keys, Uniden should have a record of the keys purchased and be able to look them up. But no, they tell me I have to purchase them again! My Uniden account shows over the years of my many, many purchases of keys. For a big company, such as them, why are they trying to squeeze even more money out of their customers? The customer service was very unprofessional and would not even answer my questions about the serial number. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[a417]

Not trying to be a prick, but if you didn't get the keys when you bought the unit from your deceased seller - that's on you.

Here is a very informative post regarding that. That thread and the one linked therein to Upman's comments, literally tell you every aspect of the issue that you are now just finding out about.

 

[RT48]

The following comment is for people that will be reading this thread, not specifically for the OP. People, if something is important, you need to back it up. License keys whether they be Uniden or software or what ever. Back up all your data.

When I worked for Hewlett-Packard, I saw one of our customers go out of business after their building burned down. They had been doing backups but they never removed the tapes from the building. People send crashed hard drives to data recovery companies because they never backed up their data. The things I've seen in 37 years in IT.

Your computer will not run forever problem free. Backup your data.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

As a seller of some of my former scanners with paid upgrades I always provided a paper copy of the keys to my buyers to prevent this issue from happening. Buyers of upgraded units should always ask the seller for the keys if not provided after sale. The onus shouldn't be on Uniden to bail a customer out

 

[n1chu]

There’s previous posts back when Upman was still involved that stated Uniden repair has the ability to reinstate and return the radio with whatever was subscribed to, regardless of if keys were available or not. Apparently Uniden can verify what subscriptions were resident on the radio, and return it the way they got it, regardless of any keys that were supplied or not.

It seems that Uniden does not check to see what subscriptions are included on a radio sent in for repair unless a note accompanies the radio telling them exactly what subscriptions are resident on the radio. If Uniden repair does not do this for every radio returned for repair, and finds the required repair will remove a subscription, they should be held liable. An end user sends the radio in for repair without knowing what will be required to repair it. That’s why it was returned. How can the end user know what needs to be done? Not all end users are technically inclined.

Uniden charges a flat rate for anything that needs to be done in order to return the radio in good working order. That is the case. Any radio returned to the end user that does not do as advertised leaves Uniden in a precarious spot, and open to litigation. It’s my bet Uniden would loose in a court of law. I have my KEYS written down. But if it happened to me and Uniden balked at restoring my subscriptions, I’d be on the phone to my state consumer protection department, which usually leads to a letter from the state to (in this case) Uniden. Rather than becoming involved in a protracted war of rules and rights, it’s cheaper for Uniden to re-instate the subscription(s) and be done with it. The OP might give that a try.

 

[a417]

There’s previous posts back when Upman was still involved that stated Uniden repair has the ability to reinstate and return the radio with whatever was subscribed to, regardless of if keys were available or not. Apparently Uniden can verify what subscriptions were resident on the radio, and return it the way they got it, regardless of any keys that were supplied or not.

It seems that Uniden does not check to see what subscriptions are included on a radio sent in for repair unless a note accompanies the radio telling them exactly what subscriptions are resident on the radio. If Uniden repair does not do this for every radio returned for repair, and finds the required repair will remove a subscription, they should be held liable. An end user sends the radio in for repair without knowing what will be required to repair it. That’s why it was returned. How can the end user know what needs to be done? Not all end users are technically inclined.

Uniden charges a flat rate for anything that needs to be done in order to return the radio in good working order. That is the case. Any radio returned to the end user that does not do as advertised leaves Uniden in a precarious spot, and open to litigation. It’s my bet Uniden would loose in a court of law. I have my KEYS written down. But if it happened to me and Uniden balked at restoring my subscriptions, I’d be on the phone to my state consumer protection department, which usually leads to a letter from the state to (in this case) Uniden. Rather than becoming involved in a protracted war of rules and rights, it’s cheaper for Uniden to re-instate the subscription(s) and be done with it. The OP might give that a try.

Oh god.

Here. I'll just drop this here.



Ok, Bill...did your scanner leave the factory with the keys enabled...or did you put them in? I'll bet that when Upman was there, he might have gone out of his way to do something for someone like that, because he could. There is no one there like that with his passion, or his community involvement anymore. The days of doing someone a solid have passed. Warranty issues are separate, this is flat rate for out of warranty products, cut and dry. Unless you got the SDS-100U, it didn't. Uniden returned you hardware that met the original specification that they (or another reseller) sold you. End of story.

 

[n1chu]

Oh god.

Here. I'll just drop this here.

View attachment 157110

Ok, Bill...did your scanner leave the factory with the keys enabled...or did you put them in? I'll bet that when Upman was there, he might have gone out of his way to do something for someone like that, because he could. There is no one there like that with his passion, or his community involvement anymore. The days of doing someone a solid have passed. Warranty issues are separate, this is flat rate for out of warranty products, cut and dry. Unless you got the SDS-100U, it didn't. Uniden returned you hardware that met the original specification that they (or another reseller) sold you. End of story.

Standard boilerplate and written BEFORE the subscription offerings ever became available.

 

[JoeBearcat]

I sent my SDS100 in for repair. It was a common problem with them, replacement of the logistics board, so I believe it should have been covered. That is really not my main issue though. When I sent it in, I noted that the NXDN and DMR were already in the radio. Upon receiving it back, they were not in it and they told me I had to re-enter the keys. I purchased the SDS from someone who is now deceased, so I do not have the keys. I know I have been a Uniden customer for many years and have purchased dozens of keys, so from my experience, since you always enter the serial number when purchasing keys, Uniden should have a record of the keys purchased and be able to look them up. But no, they tell me I have to purchase them again! My Uniden account shows over the years of my many, many purchases of keys. For a big company, such as them, why are they trying to squeeze even more money out of their customers? The customer service was very unprofessional and would not even answer my questions about the serial number. Anyone else have this problem?

Did the ESN change? Did you mention when you sent it in that it had those keys installed?

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

Having a backup of the keys is probably useless in this case, as they are serial-number-based. A key that was created for one serial number isn't going to work for a different serial number. Considering that when a feature is unlocked, it is done so permanently (probably via a field-programmable gate array). That would highly suggest that the radio's internals are all new, probably with a new serial number. Those keys would have been useless on the replacement. New keys would be needed.

Uniden could probably have generated new keys... but might not have known to.

 

[KevinC]

Did the ESN change? Did you mention when you sent it in that it had those keys installed?

When I sent it in, I noted that the NXDN and DMR were already in the radio.

 

[a417]

Standard boilerplate and written BEFORE the subscription offerings ever became available.

You don't know, and can't prove that. I'm done, here.

 

[cookjames35]

There’s previous posts back when Upman was still involved that stated Uniden repair has the ability to reinstate and return the radio with whatever was subscribed to, regardless of if keys were available or not. Apparently Uniden can verify what subscriptions were resident on the radio, and return it the way they got it, regardless of any keys that were supplied or not.

It seems that Uniden does not check to see what subscriptions are included on a radio sent in for repair unless a note accompanies the radio telling them exactly what subscriptions are resident on the radio. If Uniden repair does not do this for every radio returned for repair, and finds the required repair will remove a subscription, they should be held liable. An end user sends the radio in for repair without knowing what will be required to repair it. That’s why it was returned. How can the end user know what needs to be done? Not all end users are technically inclined.

Uniden charges a flat rate for anything that needs to be done in order to return the radio in good working order. That is the case. Any radio returned to the end user that does not do as advertised leaves Uniden in a precarious spot, and open to litigation. It’s my bet Uniden would loose in a court of law. I have my KEYS written down. But if it happened to me and Uniden balked at restoring my subscriptions, I’d be on the phone to my state consumer protection department, which usually leads to a letter from the state to (in this case) Uniden. Rather than becoming involved in a protracted war of rules and rights, it’s cheaper for Uniden to re-instate the subscription(s) and be done with it. The OP might give that a try.

Thank you that is correct i gladly assume my part for not backing this up. But they cannot tell me the serial number could not have been looked up. I escalated this to Uniden Headquarters without even a thank you we will look into this matter. I sent the repair order in specifically explaining the situation and what was in the scanner.

 

[cookjames35]

No Sir, nothing changed. I did put in the repair form that NXND and DMR were already activated in scanner. Not only that, but I called and emailed Uniden over this, without any solution or response

 

[KevinC]

Based on previous Uniden employees I'd bet the email address for @KipSullivan is ksullivan@uniden.com.

 

[n1chu]

You don't know, and can't prove that. I'm done, here.

I don’t know? I suppose you do? The burden of proof is on you, not me. I am merely expressing an opinion in the context of an exchange of opinions. You apparently don’t choose to exchange ideas in a calm manner. No problem, next time don’t bother to post at all and save yourself the embarrassment.

 

[RT48]

Based on previous Uniden employees I'd bet the email address for @KipSullivan is ksullivan@uniden.com.

Great idea! About 15 years ago I was unhappy about something with my bank and figured out the bank president's email address. I got a very quick response and problem was solved.

 

[Highpockets]

Can’t you log into uniden, your account, the keys should be there, if you registered your scanners, the keys should be there, just have to re-enter them into the scanner.

 

[KevinC]

I purchased the SDS from someone who is now deceased, so I do not have the keys.

Can’t you log into uniden, your account, the keys should be there, if you registered your scanners, the keys should be there, just have to re-enter them into the scanner.

 

[StoliRaz]

I always figured they'd have the courtesy to restore your paid-for options as they were when the radio arrived to their shop. The least they could do for having to pay for the inconvenience of sending an expensive radio in for a repair...good to know they don't. I'll make sure I only buy a used one if the receipt with the key(s) is included in the future.

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

Can’t you log into uniden, your account, the keys should be there, if you registered your scanners, the keys should be there, just have to re-enter them into the scanner.

If the ESN is different in the "repaired" scanner (it sounds like it might be), the keys in the account won't work. They're generated using the ESN and will only work with the original ESN. (This prevents sharing keys.)