SPOT Service Plan

I've a number of growing/nagging issues with SPOT that I'd put up with in prior years: 1) I can't manage my account (stop service through the website), 2) the customer has to know to go look for the upcoming billing (no notification) with only a few days before it charges, and 3) price increases, especially given my lesser and lesser use of their service and given that my wife never checks my tracker (if she wonders, she calls or texts).

My bill was finally posted online (in my SPOT account; not actively provided via email or snail mail) to be $177.93, due in 3 days. The total was made from $149.99 for a year of tracking/service, $17.95 for the year's Search and Rescue coverage, and the new $9.99 'Network Maintenance'.

So after my being unable to change or delete my credit card number online, or change/cancel service myself, I had enough. So I called and cancelled today.

The customer service rep offered to reduce the total amount , and I said 'if you can get it below $100 total, I'd stay on. She said she wasn't authorized to provide that rate, and she didn't tell me what the lowest rate she was allowed to offer.

The call was 7am Denver (9am Louisiana) and took 16 minutes live with the customer service rep to cancel--she was busy creating all kinds of tickets and computer actions, and waiting for her system to respond (she was frustrated by it). She was very polite and is in the US--I was pleased with her and it was good to see that they use local call centers rather than farming that out overseas.

When I commented that I don't approve of their billing practices and my not being able to control their charges to MY credit card, she responded with the company line that "it is a safety device, so we automatically bill" ... which reinforced my resolve to cancel given that corporate practice (ie, feeble rationalization IMO). It is quite practical to allow the customer to be notified and enter a card number every year if they so choose to continue, or for the customer to choose to allow the credit card number to be retained to allow perpetual billing.

So, for whatever that's worth to others considering to stay with or go away from SPOT...
 
My experience has been fine. Two years ago, at the Chicago Motorcycle Show, I asked the guy in their booth how long the free tracking offer would last - $50 savings. He said it would expire before my current coverage ended, but gave me, Kevin, and JimSTer his card and told us to call him when time to renew. Has now worked twice with no hassle.

Greg
 
My wife who is also a rider told me she doesn't care how much it costs, if I want to ride without her I must have Spot.
 
Spot is pricing itself out of the market. I just got a renewal notice. It will now cost $199.99 a year for Gen 3+ devices, just for the basic level of service Spot allows for such devices. "Premium" services cost more. The network maintenance fee is another $14.99. I called to cancel as of my renewal date. Eventually, after a long time on hold and then a long time to process a simple request, the phone rep offered me a loyalty discount to stay. If my loyalty is so valued, why do I have to cancel my service before I'm offered a discount? And as far as the service working, I have had issues with a Gen 1 and a Gen 3 device not tracking my location. Two summers back, I called my wife at a lunch break to say hello and she asked why my Spot wasn't on. It was on, batteries were fresh lithium, lights were indicating a working device. I went to my own Spot webpage and there was nothing of my thousand+ miles from the weekend. I couldn't log onto my account with a smartphone. I called and spent an hour trying to get Spot to help me address my issue with a device that apparently hadn't been working the whole trip. The phone rep was "if you'll just log onto your account"...it was a ridiculous interaction. The problem couldn't be rectified without escalating my case to a manager who, of course, didn't work on the weekend. So a lot of good the Spot did me, and the low level of customer service is one more nail in Spot's coffin.
 
Bones said:
Spot is pricing itself out of the market.
Click to expand...

After seeing your post, several hours ago, I tried to login to my account several times. Unable to login and a message of "general failure" given.
Just now logged in to see if anything has changed on my account. Nothing has changed that I can tell. I'll probably get the same price increase message I got last year (from $99 up to $149 for Gen 2). If so, I'll tell them to cancel my account again and see what kind of discount I'm offered this time.
Hope I don't have to deal with their customer service again, it sux!!
 
Just received my SPOT email today to inform me of the new rates, since my renewal is upcoming. Sounds like I gotta make a phone call.
 
Thanks for the heads up. I've not had any problems with my SPOTs, Gen I and my current Gentleman III, and the 911 feature did come in handy once.

My renewal date is . . . today, May 2nd, and I had it on my calendar to call them up. Price to renew today was $177.93 for the basic SPOT tracking. No other discounts until I said I'd need to close out my account as there are other competing products now available at a lower price. Asked if I would mind being put on hold while "he" checks something out. "Sure." He came back with a $50 discount (like last year) so my total renewal for another year is $127.93.

FWIW,
Shuey
 
Well, I missed checking last year for rates. Was gonna let my account die, card expired, but service continued.
Just logged in the other day. Account has my Visa not my Discover attached.
Last year's service charge was $183, Whoa!!!
Due again in June, will have to be 50% discount for me to play!
Life 360 is free, will just need to keep my phone plugged up.
 
Spent probably 10 minutes on hold and talking to a guy I could hardly understand, giving all my info. Well everything but my SS#. Then he ask why I called. I told him I want make certain my card is not charged for another year, because it's too much $. He said for me to hold...2 or 3 minutes later he comes back to tell me, there's no one here to help you with that and you have until June 13 to call back and cancel or your card will be charged another annual fee! ⚠
 
TOS said:
Spent probably 10 minutes on hold and talking to a guy I could hardly understand, giving all my info. Well everything but my SS#. Then he ask why I called. I told him I want make certain my card is not charged for another year, because it's too much $. He said for me to hold...2 or 3 minutes later he comes back to tell me, there's no one here to help you with that and you have until June 13 to call back and cancel or your card will be charged another annual fee! ��⚠
Click to expand...

You can go online and log in to your account, change your card, even to a fictitious one and follow up with an email that says to cancel because its too costly. If they dont get back to you, too bad, no card number for them to charge. Maybe???
 
In my experience, you can't delete or change the card number. Inexcusable. The service rep told me that that was for my safety. (Post 42)
 
I get frustrated everytime I call SPOT. I had to get the guy to say June 13th 3 times before I could understand 13th!
Maybe when I get my account cancelled that will be it.
 
For what it's worth, there's a new SPOT tracking device, SPOT X that is two-way, with keyboard and display. They're now offering two levels of service 'weekender' vs 'adventurer', plus monthly or annual service plans ($20 or $30 monthly, $200 or $300 annual).

I wonder if they also, finally allow the user (and credit card owner) to now login and change/cancel/control billing on their own, rather than enduring the lame "call customer service" and "we automatically bill you for your safety" of the past decade.
 
Interesting . . . a text only sat phone (with additional features)?

I wonder if it uses satellites always or switch to cell towers when they're in range?

Shuey
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom