Sat Navs

I have a TomTom 410 Sat Nav. Tried to update the software and now have a brick after 6 attemps to update the b***dy thing.
Anyone else had the same problem with tomtoms website? I emailed them and were no help whatsoever.
Aftersales service about as good as a broken arm.

I got an email from TomTom the other day to say that I couldn't update the map on my device anymore as they're not supporting it. They suggested that I should visit their online store to buy another sat Nav!

I think tomtom should be told to go forth and multiply, the ones I purchased (one for car and one for bike) came with lifetime updates. They should be blacklisted and taken to task under the "sales of goods act". Buyer beware as they say.
This is one customer they have lost.

I also had an E-Mail from Tom Tom the other day,saying the same thing, could no longer update my sat nav, but could have a new 620 model for £187.49 wow  all a rip off as you say.
Old one still works fine but can not update maps. Card is to small not enough memory.

I am going to try to copy the files from my working 410 motorbike sat nav across to the via135 car one. If it doesn't work will use either wave or google maps on my iPhone 8. I won't be updating my 410 as it may end up as another brick.
TomTom and me have parted company now.

OldRocker wrote:I think tomtom should be told to go forth and multiply, the ones I purchased (one for car and one for bike) came with lifetime updates. They should be blacklisted and taken to task under the "sales of goods act". Buyer beware as they say.
This is one customer they have lost.

I totally agree with you but somewhere in the the t&c's it will be the 'lifetime' of the product and not for as long it is still working or 'lives'.  They've killed off the sat nav model because they want you to buy a new one.

It's not just TomTom it's also mobile phones and computer operating systems.  Apps don't work and updates stop because your system is no longer supported.  

Sales are slow, how do we generate new sales mmm?

1. Updates that slow the product down - iPhone battery, Windows XP, Vista, 8.0
   
2. App updates that only work on later operating systems - iPhone and Android phones
   
3. Change business model from one off payment to yearly, monthly subscription - Microsoft Office, Adobe and others
   
4. Change to a product that produces advertising revenue - Windows 10, Facebook
   
5. Big budget marketing to convince people that the latest technology is a must have you can't be with out - Folding phones??
   
6. Produce an improved product at a lower price - ???
   

Number 6 only happens if it was bad in the first place and overpriced.

Maybe I'm just cynical....

Rant over

And they call that progress? Must be the throw away world we live in.

Does that mean my Asus laptop 8gb ram 1tb hard drive with windows 10, iPhone 8. LG UK4HD wifi tele etc etc will need changing next year? Won't even go there about virgin on the ridiculous tinternet.

The short answer is "Yes".

as old rocker has said unfortunately we do live in a throw away world these days, after a couple of years use bin it and its ok if people can afford to do it, and that's not me I keep my stuff till its totally worn out and then re-invest 

And that's assuming that the hardware or software works as specified in the first place.
Hardware: In my travels as a care worker on "Binky" had to rely on decent coverage, and sadly there are places in Haggisland (most evidently in the Stirling area) where you may as well be trying to get to suburban Ulan Bator. Satellite coverage just dropped. Followed directions once, ended up looking at a field of cows (but they were nice cows though) who looked back at me with benign interest.
Software/maps: Not 300 yards from where I stay there is a mythical road, which is really a narrow footpath with 3 sets of steps, and whenever I fire up "Naggy Nora" to get anywhere, directed down this. So..... a voice tells me that it's recalculating the route when I use the REAL road at the bottom of the hill. And then there's Google maps this week directing people up Ben Nevis using a route which takes them over a cliff....

*ahem* Rant over

The road atlas that I use doesn't need a software update, it *does* go out of date, but only has fast as the maps on your sat nav  Plus I get to decide the route...

More seriously (I know that sat-nats do have their uses) - I'm really quite surprised that TomTom etc are still managing to make money out of SatNav boxes, given that most people (not me, but...) have phones that do the same thing 'for free' (of course it's not free, but...).

I can see an 'offline/traditional' sat-nav would be a lot of use in, say, the highlands where the mobile coverage would make using google maps (etc) impossible to use, but I fear that the amount of time that anyone will keep making 'self-contained' sat-navs will be limited...

All I would say about updates on devices/planned obsolescence etc is this (and I've worked in these kind of areas):

some of the things you've mentioned above are (as you suspect) just mechanisms to make you spend more money
some of the things are not desired by the companies involved but it's not econmical for them to support the old product
some of the things are ways of genuinely introducing new technology, new features etc
some of the things are just mistakes/screw ups/bugs etc

It's quite hard to tell the difference between the above four things as the effects on you (as a consumer) are often very similar and in reality it's often a combination of all four.  I know this doesn't help if your xxx has stopped working, but, it's not all profiteering, at least not all the time.

It's certainly possible to make plastic/electronic products that last for decades, if you design them (and the services they rely on) in that way from the outset.  Unfortunately people often don't want to pay for products that are engineered in this way...