Raymarine Feedback

[davefrediam]

I have just come back from my local Raymarine Service Centre (luckily it is only a few miles away near Fareham) and am more than a little peeved with them.
I was returning an E7 Chartplotter (model E62354) as the rotary dial for zooming in and out of charts had been playing up. Before turning up I had tried to confirm that it was registered online but found I was unable to login to my Raymarine Account, so I gave the service centre a ring (01329 246777) and they found they could not log in either, they investigated and told me I could not log on as their whole online registration system was being updated and they did not know when I would be able to log in again. I explained that I lived local and they said just bring it in and they would check using the item serial number if it was registered, I also spoke to one of their techs about the fault and he suggested updating the firmware so I did but that had no effect on the fault. A week later here I am (still can't log in online) at the service centre, I explain the fault to the girl behind the counter and that I purchased it at a local chandlery (MarineSuperstore) in October 2014, she informs me that it is out of warranty unless I registered it within 90 days of purchase and I would also need proof of purchase (which I have). I inform her that I am 99% sure I registered it but have been unable to check online so could she confirm registration? Her initial reaction was that she could not! But when I pressed her saying I was told on the phone by this service centre just a week ago that all I needed to do was bring it in and they could check via the serial number she eventually relented and wondered off through a back door with my plotter returning 15 minutes later.
She then told me it was not registered so the warranty had run out in October and she called one of their engineers for me to talk too. The engineer was great, after I told him the symptoms he immediately told me what the defective item was and that it was a common problem with them and that even though he could see the plotter had had a very easy life (it is like new, completely mint was only installed 2 years ago in the boat pilot house completely protected from the environment and had only seen about a months use) unfortunately the management had recently become extremely strict on warranties and previously they would have repaired it simply because they new it was a manufacturing defect!!
Call me cynical but I did ask the receptionist if it was at all possible they could have made an error transferring the registrations to the new system, I am sure you can guess what her answer was!
I could tell the engineer was not comfortable with the situation and he did offer to replace the keyboard for £188 instead of their normal £250 charge. However to me it was like throwing good money after bad and rubbing salt into the wound.

In summary I have learnt:

1) DO NOT BUY RAYMARINE, the quality and robustness of their products and back up are rubbish.
2) If you do when you register it make sure you print off the page and keep it with your receipt and make sure you have a back up system!
3) DO NOT BUY RAYMARINE

[Paul L]

Another resounding endorsement: (

[TheOffice]

I've had great experiences with Ray service in the US. Sorry yours was not that way.

[davefrediam]

Tried to log in to my Raymarine Account again but no luck then had a brainwave and checked my yahoo email account, went back to October 2014 (sometimes I do love technology) and found a Raymarine email confirming registration of the plotter! Printed it off and off, back to their service office tomorrow to see how they try to wriggle out of it this time.

[Berserker]

Also not impressed by Raymarine. I bought a touch screen MFD from dealer in Greece specifically stating it would be installed in an exposed cockpit that it would be subject to rain and sea at times. I even asked if the toggle option would work better than just touchscreen. The dealer assured the touchscrren was the way to go, was also involved in the installation.

Well the first rainstorm we encountered the thing went mental. Every rain drop changed something on screen. Now we have to chuck a plastic bag over it every time it rains.

I even sneakily asked anothet dealer in dubai if the touchscreen would be suitable in the same circumstances and they assured me it would. So i called them out and told them my experience. I asked if there was any way Raymarine could enable a lock on the touch screen eg using the power button to control (as with brightness) but no... just another marketing company making dangerous products.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

I've had great experiences with Ray service in the US. Sorry yours was not that way.

so have I

[CaptTom]

I just called them the other day about a chartplotter on another boat. It's a 2005 model, so I get that it's out of warranty and all. On the plus side, I spoke with someone local, not at a call center in India.

All I wanted to know was how to load waypoints onto it from a GPX file. It only accepts a ".fsh" (proprietary) file format.

Sure, they have a program that will convert. They'll sell you a copy for $50.

Seriously???

I've never been a huge fan of Raymarine. They make some good stuff, but it's generally overpriced and without as much functionality as the competition. I think in some cases the quality isn't what it used to be. And they do tend to keep everything proprietary to a greater extent than the others.

I won't say never, but their stuff is pretty far down my list.