TomTom Again - a Warning

A

AOWYN

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 Dec 2002
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263
www.clinksystems.com
Those who tried to help with earlier problems with TomTom 700 POS might like to know that those nice Dutch people have "fixed" the machine and sent it back.

It is still won't work properly, is still a POS and I still can't get any help from them in loading the extra services which I have paid for.
Maybe I am unlucky, several times, but the lesson must be, think TomTom, but buy Garmin, (or anything else), because the TomTom guys have got to be so big and successful that they clearly don't care when their stuff doesn't work.

If I spend just half the time which I have wasted with TomTom in spreading the word about how bad their service is they will regret that they ever took my money.....
 
I was tied up doing other things when you ran your earlier thread....I have had the most terrible trouble with my Tom Tom 700. I paid £100 for updated maps and cameras last December and the darned things would not download - they are about 3GB per file with no 'resume'! It would get 2/3 of the way down then lock out. Holland told me that I was the only person with such a problem .... ho ho ho.

I feel for you.

But, I wanted to buy a new GPS navigator for my daughter last week on passing her test and looking at the market I found nothing better than a Tom Tom /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I really DO understand your anger. Their customer support is dreadful.
 
I still can't get any help from them in loading the extra services which I have paid for.
.......................................................................................

You have never really advised what the problem exactly was...and if you were using Tom Tom home software or not.

If you connect a Tom tom to the web using the home software for the first time it notes this is your first time and goes off and gets a free update for the software and the maps and also loads new voices. You must not disconnect when it is in progress and a X is displayed on the screen.

WIth the 700 the extra services of cameras and traffic DOES NOT NEED A PEE CEE as you can use a mobile phone with bluetooth.

The camera files are not very big and easily downloaded direct to the Tom tom using a mobile phone and takes less than 15 minutes to download all the files. there is a file for each of 30..40..50..60..70...and OTHERS cameras.

If you were using Home to download the it will have copied the origianl files to an archive so all you should need to do is to restore this archive to original settings and start again?????


We have three Tom Toms in our family and have had no problems with any other than occasionally having to press the reset button in the base. I held back on upgrading after hearing a few folk moan however the Home softeware program did what it said on the box though some process seemed to take for ages with no sense of progress other than a warning not to disconnect.
 
Mine is the full European version bought Dec 2005. The maps of Spain were at least 10 years out of date. In Dec 2006 I paid £100 to update the maps along with some other services, to be downloaded with Home. It never worked. I must have downloaded in total 20GB - yes 20GB - I tried every night for weeks, overnight, and it would get anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 of the way, and stop out with an error. Not having a resume meant we would start all over again. Anyway, eventually they agreed (after a lot of table thumping) to take the unit back to Holland by courier at their expense. It came back with new maps. This time way older. At least 15 years out of date. The first set of maps were mostly correct but the latest maps must have been drawn before they even had planning permission to start work on the towns /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I could complain. I did. It was not good for my blood pressure so I moved on. That's all I can advise the OP.

When it comes to buying another one, you just have to realise that we are living in an age of zero service. Kids leave school unable to count or write. It is pointless expecting any of these firms to do anything with a complaint. It's as pointless as expecting a weather forecast to be correct and the net effect is very blood-pressure adverse. For them, my complaint seemed as trivial as complaining that the Christmas cracker didn't go 'bang'. They had no perception of my problem and no interest whatsoever. Just weasel words and more weasel words.

While I would love to boycott Tom Tom, when it came to buying one for my daughter, I was impressed that the new ones have a Map Share facility to keep them up to date - which was my only real problem. Had the maps not been so out of date I would not have had a problem in the first place!

I really feel for the OP - I have been there - but move on. You won't get anywhere, you will only wear yourself down /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Don't expect service. If something goes wrong, bin it. Buy another one or do without.
 
Like I said in reply to your original post, I have a TomTom 910 with full European and North American mapping, I also subscribe to the Safety Camera updates. I use the TomTom supplied TomTom Home software on the PC to download updates to both the device software and camera updates which are downloaded pretty well every month after email notification that new files are available.

I backed up the whole TomTom disk, including the pre-installed maps, when I first got it but have never needed it. Every time I connect the TomTom to the PC and TomTom Home software, it automatically checks for upgrades and invites me to download them which I generally do straight away and I have never had a problem. I must be doing something wrong! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have used TomTom in the UK and the USA and found the mapping pretty good. Yes occasionally you find a road has been altered or added but the same goes for printed maps and marine charts.
 
I am having exactly the same problems downloading USA maps for a TOMTOM One. I dont expect help from TomTom and get either an internal 500 server error, or it downloads the map and then falls over at the installation stage. In the my docs/tomtom/download/map there are the USA files in zip form which can be unzipped but then there is nothing to run - I have tried them all with no joy.

Any ideas anyone ? (apart from buying something else !)
 
If you really can't d/l it from TomTom using Home you will have to get them to do it in Holland. Trouble is, when mine came back, the map they put in was dreadful - in places worse than the original. Then all of my POIs had been removed, and other things too numerous to catalogue here. I was sent an email telling me how to put it all right for myself!! What kind of service department sends back an IT product to the user when it isn't working, and a email giving instructions!

They paid for the courier for mine, so try to hold out for that. If you are prepared to argue, do take your bp pills first. OTOH, you might be lucky. The IT world is like that now. Most things work fine. If they don't, throw them away or sell them to someone who loves fiddling. Just don't expect service.
 
Thanks for the understanding and the advice.

I have prepared for "closure" and "moving on" by writing up most of the saga for inclusion in the hard-copy letter to be sent to TomTom (interesting that they insist on feedback by paper mail).

When I have posted it to Holland I will feel better. I wanted to post it here as well but it is four pages long and I suspect that is too long for the forum and anyway the happy TomTom users are unlikely to believe the details of my experience.... (but if you are interested.....)
 
[ QUOTE ]
I wanted to post it here as well but it is four pages long and I suspect that is too long for the forum and anyway the happy TomTom users are unlikely to believe the details of my experience.... (but if you are interested.....)

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, of course it's not too long - this is your thread and it will be much better for having all the facts. Who knows, Tom Tom can come in and give their side of the story (hears oink, oink at 30,000 feet).

Anyway, it'll be cathartic for us both /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: TomTom Again - a Warning - Here Goes

Here Goes

Those of you who have commented that I am merely making my own blood pressure worse by letting myself be upset by my experiences with TomTom are completely correct. In pursuit of that wonderful philosophical concept of "closure" I am relating the whole saga, which will go in a letter to TomTom and then I will "move on". I know that I will feel better having set it all down and some readers might appreciate that my expectations were not unreasonable but that my disappointment was.

I bought the TomTom in spring 2006 to use in a second car which we had acquired. I did not specifically need a mapping system at the time, I wanted a blue-tooth hands free for my phone. Our other car has a built in navigation system and a built in phone so I was prepared to spend proper money getting more than just a phone kit for the second car.

The phone connection with my Nokia 9500 wasn't up to much, but I then changed to an HP IPAQ 6915. The connection with that would work, but none of the directory or other features would operate, but no problem, at least I had a legal phone set-up in the car. As it happens that car was very rarely used so I did not even bother downloading the Safety Camera service, which I had understood to be a very useful feature of the TomTom.

Move on to Friday 12th October 2007. I knew that I was leaving for Italy by car, the main car, very early in the morning of Friday 19th October and that the maps in the navigation system of that car that car were no good for mainland Europe (It is a 9 year old BMW and don't ask why the maps couldn't simply be updated, it is too long a story). So I decided that we would take the TomTom in the BMW and while I was doing that it would be worth subscribing for the Camera Service.

I went on-line and paid for the Safety Camera package. I can't remember if I had to create a TomTom account before the purchase or afterwards in order to download the package onto the device. Whichever it was I opened an account, linked my unit to the account and set about downloading the Safety Camera data using TomTom Home.

All seemed to be going well until I discovered that the Go 700 appeared to be locked up and nothing was happening. After about one hour I decided that it was time to act like an IT specialist and turn everything off and then back on. The computer came back to life OK but the TomTom was dead.

Finding out how to reset it took a fair while onhe TomTom website but resetting by pressing the rest button did no good.

A search of the internet revealed that an extensive reset press of at least 15 seconds was considered desirable, still no use.

On the following Monday morning, 15th October I telephoned TomTom. An 0845 number might not be a super-expensive number to call but I think it costs me more than any normal land-line, but I wanted help and so I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with a very helpful person in Holland who insisted that there was nothing wrong that could not be fixed with instructions over the phone. He was wrong and that conversation ended with TomTom agreeing to send a reply-paid mailer so that I could send the unit back. This was not a lot of help as I had wanted a navigation system for a 1200 mile trip which was getting closer by the minute.

I enquired about downloading the Western European maps onto my IPAQ and was assured that this would work fine. I was told that I could pay for the maps on-line, download them and then I would be sent a free application to upgrade the TomTom application on my IPAQ so that it could run the European maps.

I was busy travelling that day and I didn't try to buy and download the maps for the IPAQ until the next day when I discovered that TomTom list two versions. Aware of the likelihood of screwing up my phone as well as my TomTom I spent another considerable time on the phone to TomTom to check precisely which version to buy. Their site is not clear, and it took two different people at TomTom to decide which I should buy.

I couldn't buy the maps straight away as the TomTom shopping site was "Down please try later" but on Wednesday 17th I managed to part with some more money. (Note that I was buying maps which I had already paid for in my GO 700 which had failed under warranty, but so what, it's only money).

I then connected the IPAQ to TomTom Home and the Home software correctly identified that I had bought the maps but pointed out that they could not be downloaded to my IPAQ as my TomTom account was linked to another device (the GO 700) and the system would not let me have that account linked to more than one device.

The Home site asked if I wanted to create another account, which I did and linked that to the IPAQ. The smart ones among you will already have realised what a mistake that was, since the maps were in one account and the IPAQ was in another. Ah well, another hour wasted.

On the dot of 8am on Thursday 18th October I spoke to the TomTom help desk. After quite a while it was agreed that they would transfer the maps to the second account so that I could then download them, but even this was after a whole palaver of finding out the precise details of the IPAQ. Given that I was using the IPAQ to speak to TomTom this was not quite as simple as it sounds. At the time I asked about the downloading of the free application upgrade and the helpful lady at TomTom said that they would e-mail me the link to that application immediately so as to make the process quicker for me when I got home to my PC that evening.

Rolling on to 5.30 pm Thursday there is of course no e-mail about the download and even worse when I tried to use TomTom Home to put the maps on to my IPAQ they are not accessible. Luckily the TomTom "Help" desk is open until 6.30 pm and I manage to get through and explained what the problem was. Of course the TomTom service system had plenty of records of calls and issues surrounding the GO 700 which in theory was on its way back to Holland, (but wasn't since the mailing package had been sent by Royal Mail and there was a postal strike that week).
I finally managed to explain the problem was assured that after some changes they would make on the system at their end they were confident that the maps would now be transferable. I asked about the upgrade application, how long it would take to get and how easy it would be to install. I was told that I had to buy the upgrade. I explained that more than one TomTom staff-member had told me that it was a free part of buying the maps. The TomTom person literally laughed out loud and said that he had never heard anything so ridiculous since why would TomTom give away their navigation software, "Why, that is as crazy as expecting BMW to give you a free car just because you want to drive across town" he said. Further, he said that if I had been told that the upgrade was free the person telling me was lying. There was quite some emphasis on the word "if".

I remained calm, being aware of some of the Criminal Offences which can arise from the use of foul or abusive language over a telephone line, I finally persuaded the TomTom staff-member to find a supervisor who confirmed that the upgrade application was a free add-on to the map download and assured me that after the maps had downloaded there would be no problem as the upgrade would self-install on the IPAQ as soon as I downloaded it. He also suggested that I should have more confidence in their products and that really everything was going to be alright (Holland is the country with legal cannabis isn't it?)

The maps appeared, finally, in the IPAQ memory, but the upgrade would not open them.

I am ashamed to say that I was still struggling with this mess after midnight, to no avail, and again at 5.30 am before setting off for Dover.

A decent set of up to date road maps for Europe had been purchased the previous day, but I was till annoyed that I had parted with money for maps which I could not use, not to mention for the Camera service which could not be linked to the IPAQ maps even if the maps could be accessed.

While waiting for the ferry in Dover I telephoned TomTom and said that I wanted my money back. A tape of that conversation, with more than one TomTom staffer would make good listening. Why should they give me my money back? They knew that their system worked, the fact that it didn't work for me was not relevant. Anyway it could be fixed sooner or later and the fact that I would not have the maps for the trip I was making didn't matter as I was bound to be driving in Europe again and I could use the maps at a later date, and so on.

Once again, with deference to the law on abuse I remained calm and explained that I was semi-retired and had some time on my hands and was quite prepared to make it my hobby to make TomTom regret not giving me my money back. They agreed to credit my card with the cost of the maps. The Camera package was different matter, on that I failed.

We travelled to Italy and back without mishap, although a good navigation system would have been useful when we diverted into some cities for refreshments. I sent the Go 700 back on my return a few days later.

On Friday 2nd November the Go 700 was returned. It had a new, different, car cigar-lighter charging cable with it which plugs into the mini usb slot on the back, but it does not accept charge through that cable. Neither does it accept any current when connected to the PC via the usb cable, which means the battery went flat during the rather extensive and time consuming screw-ups which have followed.

Even I have had enough of this saga to be sick of it, so I will conclude by saying that I can't get the camera service to activate on the device, when I tried from the screen it required a wireless internet connection but was unable to establish one via my IPAQ phone and now, finally the unit appears to be back to its paper-weight mode. If anybody is interested I am using TomTom Home, which appears to have been recently upgraded to a new release with a different look and feel and even worse functionality, except that it can guide me to the place where I can buy the Camera service from TomTom, again.

To those readers who say, get over it, I agree. I would add, that with any product if it doesn't work as advertised immediately after purchase take it back. One of my many mistakes was in not bothering to find out how useless it was until I actually wanted/needed to use it.

Thanks for listening
 
Re: TomTom Again - a Warning - Here Goes

You have my sincere sympathy. Only those of us who have had the pleasure of dealing with Tom Tom would believe your tale, it sounds so unlikely (or does it?). Anyway, if it hasn't actually gone back and you want to try it:-

1. The unit won't charge via the USB and it has a small hard drive that uses quite a bit of power when being accessed. It takes big blocks off the disc periodically then the disc powers down. You should have two ways to charge the internal battery (which has a life of at least 2 hours, I have tried it) - a 12V cord to a cigar plug and mine came with a 230V mains adaptor. So charge it up for at least 3 hours before proceeding........

2. Turn the unit over and locate the small hole in the bottom faintly marked 'Reset'. It is an iffy sort of reset. Sometimes it it works and sometimes it doesn't. A 'Charlie Drake' reset? Press the pin in gently and you should feel the detente - a slight click sound and movement - and then wait *do nothing* and in due course you will (if lucky) think that you have been transported to Africa with the sound of tom toms. If that doesn't happen, try again. But don't get too enthusiastic with the reset or it might get stuck in. If and when you can get the unit powered up again........

3. You now have the unit showing a normal screen. Attach the USB lead and connect to your PC. Let it interface with Home (maybe you have the earlier Tom Tom software on your PC and if so you must remove that in add/remove programs). Once in Home you need to consider what to do next. I would suggest an immediate backup to the PC hard drive and then restore the last known working system.

If not, don't use as a paperweight indefinitely as the NiMh batteries might leak all over your walnut desk, and that would really cap the story off /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Re: TomTom Again - a Warning - Here Goes

The only walnut is on the dash of the car, if I remember correctly, and the new car isn't too far away in time so wasting a few hundred beer tokens on the TomTom will pale into insignificance compared with the amount that the new motor will drop in value, but being Japanese, it will probably work!

By the way, do you have any idea what the new cigar-lighter plug with micro usb end on it is for, it certainly doesn't keep the TomTom going, I've tried it.

Also, I have gone through the reset stuff so many times that I am running out of paper clips (don't ask what happens to them, they just go off and breed with the odd socks and old wire coat-hangers I think. I assume that their off-spring are customer service staff at TomTom)

Anyway, the navigation screen in the Lexus looked very good when I tried one last month even if it won't download the speed cameras. Of course, if this much can go wrong with a POS in my office, it is no wonder that we should all carry real charts rather than rely on silicon chips and morons while actually sailing. Of course, I speak as one with a mechanical watch, a collection of fine sextants and an up to date Almanac (bought in the USA at half the UK price for a book which is jointly published in both th UK and the USA, as they say over there "Go figure")

Cheers
 
I've had trouble using TomTom home ever since they created it. For months I've done without it by simply downloading the files and installing them myself with ActiveSync.

The problem SOMETIMES rests with antivirus software (I use McAfee) where there clearly is some incompatibility issues between TomTom and the antivirus, I suspect its TomTom.

Try downloading the base files and installing yourself, it usually works!

To be fair to TomTom, the last time I had this problem they phoned me at home to try and resolve it, but their solution was to disable the internet security - that's both risky and takes longer than just downloading the base files.
 
Thanks for that but it seems to me that designing an internet updater that won't work with antivirus is a bit like designing a bridge that fails when you cross it. I did turn my av off and even changed my av from Norton to McAfee - nothing helped in my case. I could download Gigabytes at a time then it would stop between 1/3 to 2/3 of the way through and Home has no 'resume'. My hard drive had plenty of room and I even tried storing the d/l on different drives in case of conflict. I spent weeks at it. My blood pressure won't let me get back into that problem - I start to shake and go red in the face just remembering the nightmare.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I have Tom Tom home ,and it works fine, even with all the protection I have in place.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm sure that plenty do but mine doesn't and neither does the OP's. Which Tom Tom do you have? The files are not the same for all machines. The early 2005 700 takes these huge 3GB maps and they are a big problem as there is no resume in Home (or there wasn't 10 months ago when I was last doing it).
 
Yes, I've been there with TomTom Too!

Have you tried a Download manager? If not they are well worth a try. Just type "Download Manager" into google and play with the results.
 
Yes, I have a download manager that works well for everything EXCEPT Tom Tom (but I haven't tried recently). I use Free Download Manager and am very happy indeed with it. It works on the Vista machine as well /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
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