Big Boys Hobbies

FRUSTRATED with Minelab

KOB said:
I'm sure $33 an hour is great pay in some parts of the country. That's about 70k a year. Here in So.Cal , take a third off for taxes right off the bat. If your a couple , making $140k+ your doing just OK. But you all know how California is set up. Real Estate is hot right now here. My buddy just sold his condo for $550k. It's a 2 bedroom , 2 bath , 2 car detached garage , 1050 square feet. HOA dues are $450 a month alone. This same condo was about $350k , 5 years ago.

Anyway , back to minelab. Accountability and transparency are truly the key to a successful business. Dancing around and sugarcoating things , smart folks will see it. If they had a smart marketing team , they would have increased the price of the 600 too. Not just the 800. Why did they do that ? Ever notice not to many repair complaints on the 600 compared to the 800 ? They KNEW they were going to have alot of warranty issues with the 800. It's the cost of business. But now , it's ours....that extra $50. And honestly , I don't even want to hear their lame duck excuse. Because it will be a lie. You can't trust them right now....btw : I still think the Nox is a good machine , just don't get it wet !
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I never noticed that. Do you have actual data to support the fact that the 800 is less reliable than the 600? I'm not saying you're wrong or that I don't believe you, but I'd love to see the actual data showing that, as a percentage or total sales, 600s are less likely to need warranty work than 800s.

If that's true, I'd be really curious to find out why.

I wouldn't be surprised if more 800s get repaired under warranty than 600s. But I would assume that's b/c there have been more 800s sold than 600s.
 
mh9162013 said:
I never noticed that. Do you have actual data to support the fact that the 800 is less reliable than the 600? I'm not saying you're wrong or that I don't believe you, but I'd love to see the actual data showing that, as a percentage or total sales, 600s are less likely to need warranty work than 800s.

If that's true, I'd be really curious to find out why.

I wouldn't be surprised if more 800s get repaired under warranty than 600s. But I would assume that's b/c there have been more 800s sold than 600s.
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I have no #s. It's just an assumption. That's a question for minelab. Think they'll answer ? 🤣 . No way. But I think you're correct. It's just in #s sold. More serious hunters ( and not ) will opt for more features and those hunters will get them wet more often then the 600.
 
KOB said:
I have no #s. It's just an assumption. That's a question for minelab. Think they'll answer ? 🤣 . No way. But I think you're correct. It's just in #s sold. More serious hunters ( and not ) will opt for more features and those hunters will get them wet more often then the 600.
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Yeah, if the 800 was more prone to failure, I could see it being primarily related to how the customer was using them.
 
FreeBirdTim said:
You'd barely survive on that wage here in RI. You'd probably clear $900 a week here. By the time you're done with rent, electric and oil bills, you'd be giving up half of that every week. Want cable, internet and a landline phone? Take away another $50 a week. Now you're down to $400 clear a week. Health insurance will take another $150 a week, so now you've got $250 clear a week. Car insurance and gas will suck another $80 a week, so now you've got $170 a week to buy food, clothing and miscellaneous stuff. Forget about having a cell phone with that much to play with a week. Bottom line, $33 an hour sounds good, but it really isn't any more.
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metaladdict said:
Like the west coast the east coast is too pricey.
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Wow, glad we live in South Carolina, cost of living must vary a lot by state/region, my wife wanted to keep working part time, her choice, but we could get by reasonably well just on Social Security here if we wanted to, of course our home is paid off so no mortgage payment and that is a big help, but we are careful about being reasonable with our budget, shop the sales, ect. and can stretch our budget even further.

Just did a search online and found this study on the cost of living across the country -

https://www.adt.com/where-our-money-goes
 
Well, I was able to get somebody on the phone this morning at Minelab. I was not ugly or anything. I just told the lady that they had my detector for over 3 weeks and she agreed that I should have heard something by now. She said she would talk with the repair center and someone would be contacting me. Well, I'll be damned...I got a FedEx shipping notice not 4 hours later. I'm happy that they are getting it back to me, but it feels like somebody dropped the ball. The whole thing is still unacceptable, in my book.
 
FWIW I had a question about my at-the-time-inbound 800.
I sent them an email Friday April 9th at @ 2:04PM.
Got a response Friday April 9th @ 6:37PM.
Then I had a follow up question sent same day @ 6:45PM.
Got a response to that @ 7:19PM.

YMMV but I was impressed. d:^)
 
mh9162013 said:
Yeah, if the 800 was more prone to failure, I could see it being primarily related to how the customer was using them.
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I drowned 2 of them back to back, one on it's first outing within an hour in chest deep water. It's a design flaw, not user error.
 
zeemang said:
I drowned 2 of them back to back, one on it's first outing within an hour in chest deep water. It's a design flaw, not user error.
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I wasn't trying to imply it was user error. Rather, 800 users are more likely than 600 users to push an 800 to its stated limits.

The notorious reputation of the Equinox's waterproof ability is bad enough where I think it's pretty clear that it's not user error.
 
I sent Minelab an email on the 19th and they finally replied on the 26th.

FYI here's what they are saying.

"Our goal is to make sure your detector is returned to you as quickly as possible. Also note at this time we are experiencing high volumes, unfortunately we are currently seeing 10-14 Business day turn around times."

Steve
 
stetam said:
I sent Minelab an email on the 19th and they finally replied on the 26th.

FYI here's what they are saying.

"Our goal is to make sure your detector is returned to you as quickly as possible. Also note at this time we are experiencing high volumes, unfortunately we are currently seeing 10-14 Business day turn around times."

Steve
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glad you shared that a lot of people starting to wonder about their service which could heart their future business.
 
stetam said:
I sent Minelab an email on the 19th and they finally replied on the 26th.

FYI here's what they are saying.

"Our goal is to make sure your detector is returned to you as quickly as possible. Also note at this time we are experiencing high volumes, unfortunately we are currently seeing 10-14 Business day turn around times."

Steve
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There it is folks , from the horses mouth. "Experiencing high volumes". Now , a 2 week turnaround isn't bad. But some of you say it can take that long to get an email reply. I'm sure the bulk of their "volume repairs" are of the Nox variety. So what does that tell you ? Would be nice to see their specific #s. Some haven't had a problem dunking the Nox. But there is an inherent problem with the water tightness here IMO. I know it's a #s game. But I don't see how ANY company can make specific statements upon releasing a product that...quite frankly , is simply not true and get away with it. Without having government intervention and being sued or face a recall.....this nonsense will continue....
 
stetam said:
I sent Minelab an email on the 19th and they finally replied on the 26th.

FYI here's what they are saying.

"Our goal is to make sure your detector is returned to you as quickly as possible. Also note at this time we are experiencing high volumes, unfortunately we are currently seeing 10-14 Business day turn around times."

Steve
Click to expand...

Finally something from them, right? This is what they should be sending out almost immediately after receiving a warranty submission request.

Maybe they made a mistake not being prepared to handle the warranty repairs...fine, mistakes happen. But basically ignoring customers and leaving them in the dark? There's no excuse for that.
 
KOB said:
There it is folks , from the horses mouth. "Experiencing high volumes". Now , a 2 week turnaround isn't bad. But some of you say it can take that long to get an email reply. I'm sure the bulk of their "volume repairs" are of the Nox variety. So what does that tell you ? Would be nice to see their specific #s. Some haven't had a problem dunking the Nox. But there is an inherent problem with the water tightness here IMO. I know it's a #s game. But I don't see how ANY company can make specific statements upon releasing a product that...quite frankly , is simply not true and get away with it. Without having government intervention and being sued or face a recall.....this nonsense will continue....
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I think Minelab's sales for the Equinox are down b/c of the water issues of the Equinox. Perhaps it's a (very) small dent, but the notoriety is so bad, it's a running joke on these forums now.

It's almost like the issue with McDonald's and their constantly breaking down ice cream machines... (which is actually a conscious business decision by McDonald's...perhaps that's what's going on here with Minelab? They calculated that it's cheaper to underhire for warranty repairs and deal with the angry customers and lower sales)
 
mh9162013 said:
Tree work is tough. I'm not surprised you're having trouble finding people at a pay rate of $15 per hour.
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After college, I started fighting forest fires all over the country for $14.31 p/hr in 2009. Slept in the dirt with boots on and hardhat for a pillow for 2-3 weeks at a time. Within 5 years, I had all of my students loans paid off, no loan forgiveness, no reneging on my borrowed money. Some ppl just dont want to see/find a way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
aeds151 said:
After college, I started fighting forest fires all over the country for $14.31 p/hr in 2009. Slept in the dirt with boots on and hardhat for a pillow for 2-3 weeks at a time. Within 5 years, I had all of my students loans paid off, no loan forgiveness, no reneging on my borrowed money. Some ppl just dont want to see/find a way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Which is equal to almost $18/hour today.
 
After college, I started fighting forest fires all over the country for $14.31 p/hr in 2009. Slept in the dirt with boots on and hardhat for a pillow for 2-3 weeks at a time. Within 5 years, I had all of my students loans paid off, no loan forgiveness, no reneging on my borrowed money. Some ppl just dont want to see/find a way.
Click to expand...

Doesn't say much for the value of your college education if that was your best option after graduating.
 
Update. Minelab repair service received my equinox on April 30th, diagnosed it same day and I received a new 11" coil and plastic rest that had cracked today.

Steve
 
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