McMurdo disappointment.

[Allan]

Some years ago I bought a McMurdo FastFind 210. As usual for me, I did some checking before I made the purchase. One thing I did was to contact McMurdo and check the proposed charges for battery replacement. The got back to me at the time and said the price had not been set but would be around £30. I decided this would probably be £40 with VAT etc. and that was acceptable.
The label on my PLB says the battery now needs changing. I emailed McMurdo and the local agent whose details I got from the McMurdo website. That was on 28th July. I've hade no reply from McMurdo. I phoned them and was told the cost would be £103 + VAT or I could exchange my 210 for a 220 for £140 + VAT. Today I received a reply from their local agent saying it's £86.23 plus a £16 delivery charge from McMurdo. It also said it will take up to 6 weeks!
I normally defend companies against Britain bashers but find this extremely disappointing. For some reason the lack of a reply to my email makes it much worse! Why put the link on the website if you're not going to monitor it?
Allan

 

[dunedin]

Agree that is disappointing if they suggested the cost would be nearer to £30. If had in writing pre purchase then mis-sold so in theory have a claim against them (but could be tricky to enforce in practice).

Have you tried the Test button? Mine also is due for replacement according to the label, but battery remains full according to the test feature

 

[Allan]

Yes, I check with the test button every year and it's OK. As I'm doing some quite long trips at present I'm hoping to have everything up to date.
Allan

 

[Seajet]

Me being me, I'd have bought a new equivalent from a different manufacturer even if it hit my wallet, keeping the apparently OK McMurdo as a spare; and being sure to tell McMurdo that !

 

[jonjo]

The awful user interface of the McMurdo 2006 vintage navtex product means that McMurdo will for evermore be a synonym for disappointment and frustration in my eyes.

 

[Allan]

I've just been looking for an alternative PLB and found they are all the same! £100+ for a battery change every few years. The only exception appears to be the bigger McMurdo which has a user replaceable battery but costs nearly twice as much. They also recommend having it checked/tested anyway at £100 every 5years. Looks like I'll just have to pay up! With the shambles of not answering emails and differing prices etc. I'm reluctant to deal with McMurdo or their local agent here in Bristol. Sartech in Redhill at least have a professional looking website and when I rang the lady answered my questions.
Allan

 

[Champagne Murphy]

You could talk to a large retailer. They will have access to the manufacturer and are more likely to be listened to. Henry at Fox's in Ipswich would certainly have those kind of contacts.

 

[duncan99210]

There are outfits advertising 210 battery replacements at just on £80 plus postage on eBay, so that's a saving over the £120+ the OP has been quoted.

That said, the costs of battery replacements v new PLBs is such that I tend to replace the whole thing rather than send them off for servicing. I discovered this some years back when our PLB needed new batteries and the cost quoted approached 65% of the cost of a new one. Whilst dithering about what to do we went to the London Boat Show and wound up buying a new ACR PLB for about £180 in a show offer. Might be worth going to SBS to see what bargains can be had?

 

[Cantata]

I have a 210, inherited with a boat I bought this year, battery due for replacement.
Agent I phoned in Dover said it would be about £50.

 

[charles_reed]

There are outfits advertising 210 battery replacements at just on £80 plus postage on eBay, so that's a saving over the £120+ the OP has been quoted.

That said, the costs of battery replacements v new PLBs is such that I tend to replace the whole thing rather than send them off for servicing. I discovered this some years back when our PLB needed new batteries and the cost quoted approached 65% of the cost of a new one. Whilst dithering about what to do we went to the London Boat Show and wound up buying a new ACR PLB for about £180 in a show offer. Might be worth going to SBS to see what bargains can be had?

I had an ACR 306 EPIRB, paid vast sums to have it re-batteried and certified by the only ACR distributor in the France in 2005. That had to be replaced in 2008 when my boat was vandalised in Malta
8 years on, having bought a McMurdo 220 PLB for about 85% of putting the battery into the ACR, I put the EPIRB into the skip @ Port Eleftheres (or my wife did).
24 hours later we had a tearful daughter on the phone checking we were still alive - the EPIRB signal had been picked up and MCA were getting in touch with my next-of-kin...
So we really only carry the things to keep the MCA busy (80% of alarms are spurious) and to help us feel safer. But above all to keep battery-suppliers and agents happily and profitably employed.

 

[Tidewaiter2]

I've just been looking for an alternative PLB and found they are all the same! £100+ for a battery change every few years. The only exception appears to be the bigger McMurdo which has a user replaceable battery but costs nearly twice as much. They also recommend having it checked/tested anyway at £100 every 5years. Looks like I'll just have to pay up! With the shambles of not answering emails and differing prices etc. I'm reluctant to deal with McMurdo or their local agent here in Bristol. Sartech in Redhill at least have a professional looking website and when I rang the lady answered my questions.
Allan

+1 for SARTECH in Redhill, they do our ACR PLB, car parking outside their unit is v tight, but they are a v. professional firm, and tolerant of an old F**t's occasional daft questions- you can often speak to the techie who actually d/w your kit, if not too busy. I learnt a lot about my kit/it's servicing tests, etc.

No connexion, just a happy customer

 

[Allan]

I have a 210, inherited with a boat I bought this year, battery due for replacement.
Agent I phoned in Dover said it would be about £50.

My local agent said about £60. I asked for a quote and got £63.73 + £22.50 + £16.00 if I were you I would check how close to £50 they meant! I don't think the £102.23 is about £60!!!Shambles!
Allan

 

[Birdseye]

I had an ACR 306 EPIRB, paid vast sums to have it re-batteried and certified by the only ACR distributor in the France in 2005. That had to be replaced in 2008 when my boat was vandalised in Malta
8 years on, having bought a McMurdo 220 PLB for about 85% of putting the battery into the ACR, I put the EPIRB into the skip @ Port Eleftheres (or my wife did).
24 hours later we had a tearful daughter on the phone checking we were still alive - the EPIRB signal had been picked up and MCA were getting in touch with my next-of-kin...
So we really only carry the things to keep the MCA busy (80% of alarms are spurious) and to help us feel safer. But above all to keep battery-suppliers and agents happily and profitably employed.

I dont get either of those two conclusions. The safety system worked in your case. And as for "profitably employed" I really dont see that either when they have to replace potted high quality batteries and fully check the functioning. I cant see the full overhead inclusive cost of the employee involved at less than £50 per hour, and then there are all the other on costs. If their net margin is 25% I'd be surprised and the volume of business wont be big.

 

[LadyInBed]

About seven or eight years ago I bought the McMurdo Fast Find with user replaceable battery.
After having it six years I bought a new battery, I think it cost about forty quid. The old battery is still in and tests ok and the new battery is by its side in its sealed pack.
I have just looked on the net and battery appears to be about seventy two quid now!
The manufacturers obviously don't expect their products to last and for consumers to feel the necessity to upgrade so they try to encourage you to buy new.