EPIRB alert

[svHyLyte]

Per my earlier posts, last Tuesday I sent our GlobalFix Cat II to ACR via UPS Ground. They confirmed receipt on Thursday and this AM I received he following note:

Good morning Scott,

Our tech replaced the battery and tested your unit. The unit bench test
good. Unit functions per specifications. The total charge including
freight and taxes is $419.14, the unit go out today.

Best Regards,
Ana Pagan
Customer Service Coordinator
Tel: 954 981-3333 Ext 2110
Fax: 954 983-5087
Email: apagan@acrelectronics.com
Address: ACR Electronics
5757 Ravenswood Road
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33312

That seems like pretty good service to me; and, worth the price. While it may be a little more time consuming, I think its worth the effort to send the equipment to ACR itself to ensure the greatest likelihood that replacment of batteries and retests of performance are properly done. I think the saff there are fully aware of the importance of their equipment and do their best accordingly. Whether that is always the case with independant service stations is questionable. I have heard too many stories of safety gear being "recertified" (at substantial cost) by independants with owners later discovering that necessary repairs were not done or done poorly.

Regards,

svHyLyte

[hellosailor]

So they charged you a paltry FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS TO REPLACE A BATTERY AND RUN A BENCH TEST???

I know, a life is worth more than $400, but frankly that seems like gouging to me. Fifty bucks for a half hour of a tech's bench time, fifty more for a battery, fifty more to replace the case that they probably glued shut.

$150 would be more than adequate, $400 is simply unreasonable for a battery change. Check out the "406 EPIRB" sales prices right here on Sailnet, for that money they should have sent you a fruit basket and theatre tickets as well.

Then of course, the question is if you take this to a USCG station for actual testing--is the unit going to work, and identify your vessel correctly?

[GordMay]

ACR GlobalFix™ 406 EPIRB - Category II (Manual Deployment)
406 MHz EPIRB with Integral GPS and Mounting Bracket
About $749 at Landfall Navigation
Can we all hear the "rip"?

[Viking Sailor]

Called ACR and talked to a tech who said to send the failed unit in for no charge warranty repair. I'll let you know how this works out.

[seanseamour]

Be happy you found it out now and not when you needed it,
just posted my lessons learned plus some data:
Art and Sea in Provence :: Lessons learned - don't leave port without them