My First Experience With XP Repair Service

[F350Platinum]

Hey y'all,

Want to tell you about my first repair experience with XP repair in Shrewsbury MA.

Some background, one of the pins on the charging cord broke off in the center hole of the DIN jack making the RC difficult to charge. I bought a second RC fearing a long wait to get the first one repaired, and while it did take a short while I would have missed out on a couple of great hunts. I'm really glad I have two now.

I called the repair center on the 12th of December (1-800-933-2897), printed the forms they sent me, packed it up carefully and shipped it insured for $1,000. Total for shipping was $25.15, $20 of which was for insurance.

I would have received it on the 23d of December but I was out hunting, they did not send me any shipping notification so UPS could not get a signature. I finally got it today.

I can certainly tell it was the one I sent them. 😅

The returned form says they replaced the charging port, it does look new, but although I hate to be picky they could have replaced the charging port cover as well. 😠 It's getting worn out and will cost me an additional $11 to replace. I'd have to remove the speaker grille to do it which might void the warranty.

11 days isn't bad, the remote functions as it should so far, and it was not initialized so my programs are still there. My only concern at this point is I hope that they did not compromise the IP68 water resistance, and that I can still dunk this sucker. 

Maybe I'll use the new one for that 🤔

[cdv]

Good to hear about the quick turn around. Funny your comment on the charging port cover....I exclusively use mine at the beach and in the water and always have wired phones attached. I b_tch and moan every time I go to charge the control due to the cover getting in the way of attaching the charge cord....I've been so close to cutting it off!

Cliff

[ColonelDan]

Good report.  Glad it turned out as it did.  I too would have thought a new plug would be part of the repair.

 

[F350Platinum]

14 minutes ago, cdv said:

Good to hear about the quick turn around. Funny your comment on the charging port cover....I exclusively use mine at the beach and in the water and always have wired phones attached. I b_tch and moan every time I go to charge the control due to the cover getting in the way of attaching the charge cord....I've been so close to cutting it off!

Cliff

Fairly quick anyway, for me to go without my D2 is not an option, so I got a second remote, and I'm glad I did. It will be great to have 2 RC units when I travel if one has an issue, I also bought a second WS6.

I think you might regret cutting the port cover off, but I understand. I always find this charging system annoying but still love the detector. 🙂

[F350Platinum]

18 minutes ago, ColonelDan said:

Good report.  Glad it turned out as it did.  I too would have thought a new plug would be part of the repair.

 

It makes sense to me, but for some reason the plug is a separate part. You can clearly see the plug is well worn.

Thankfully I have not as yet dunked the D2 or even used it in water without checking the plug unless I'm using the BH-01 bone phones.

[Chase Goldman]

On 12/26/2023 at 1:54 PM, F350Platinum said:

Hey y'all,

Want to tell you about my first repair experience with XP repair in Shrewsbury MA.

Some background, one of the pins on the charging cord broke off in the center hole of the DIN jack making the RC difficult to charge. I bought a second RC fearing a long wait to get the first one repaired, and while it did take a short while I would have missed out on a couple of great hunts. I'm really glad I have two now.

I called the repair center on the 12th of December (1-800-933-2897), printed the forms they sent me, packed it up carefully and shipped it insured for $1,000. Total for shipping was $25.15, $20 of which was for insurance.

I would have received it on the 23d of December but I was out hunting, they did not send me any shipping notification so UPS could not get a signature. I finally got it today.

I can certainly tell it was the one I sent them. 😅

The returned form says they replaced the charging port, it does look new, but although I hate to be picky they could have replaced the charging port cover as well. 😠 It's getting worn out and will cost me an additional $11 to replace. I'd have to remove the speaker grille to do it which might void the warranty.

11 days isn't bad, the remote functions as it should so far, and it was not initialized so my programs are still there. My only concern at this point is I hope that they did not compromise the IP68 water resistance, and that I can still dunk this sucker. 

Maybe I'll use the new one for that 🤔

Bob,

First of all, thanks for the warranty repair report.  It's good to do these for the benefit of everyone else who might have to eventually follow down this path so folks know the process and policy details regarding send/return shipping costs which vary across the board and how long to expect to be without their gear, etc.  Encourage everyone to post their experiences in this regard.

Couple of thoughts from the peanut gallery...different perspective.  Maybe they will help allay some of your post repair concerns or not but thought I would share with the forum anyway.

AFAICT - the port cover is not there for watertight integrity but simply to keep dust, debris and salt residue out of the connector (which I would recommend flushing with fresh water after a salt water hunt). So it's good to have but not essential.  If it actually wears out, I probably wouldn't bother replacing it or might just get a replacement port cover and not bother with disassembly to attach the lanyard.  You could also see if they would replace it under warranty if it can no longer perform its intended function but the cost to send it in and insure it, etc is probably not worth it.  It's most likely considered a normal wear and tear item which is not covered under warranty anyway and might explain why they did not touch it during your repair, unfortunately. Would have been a nice touch if they replaced it.

If they screwed up the watertight integrity of the remote due to the repair, they would still be liable for warranty repair if the remote is subsequently damaged due to water intrusion.  As a result, I would think that they would be motivated to do the repair properly and restore it to IP68 compliance. I'd personally want to know that sooner than later and would use the older remote for water use rather than subjecting my new remote to water hunting abuse, in any event.

Anyway, glad you got it back mostly fixed and have the peace of mind that comes with having a backup.

HTH

[F350Platinum]

11 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

glad you got it back mostly fixed and have the peace of mind that comes with having a backup.

Thanks Chase,

I definitely don't want anyone to fear getting service, I'm simply stating the facts and any concerns as I see them. We don't have too many reports on service, probably because the Deus 2 is so darn good 🙂 Overall, this was a good experience. I probably should have made that clear. No bashing.

11 days was a good turn around, however I do believe I should have been emailed a notification that it was shipped. I certainly want to know an expensive item is coming to me and when, as is customary now. It's odd that I get a notice from UPS every time anything is coming to my address, except this one thing. 🤔 It just showed up.

It's not an egregious thing that they didn't replace the plug despite the obvious wear, I'm merely pointing it out because I would have done that while the back was open. This is coming from 30 years of repairing and directing repairs of computing devices. 😅 Perhaps it's an unfair standard.

Now that you mention it, using the old remote in the water makes more sense from a liability standpoint, and I do intend to use the same program on each on the land to see if there are any differences between one bought in February '22 and one bought recently. That could be interesting! 🙂

[Chase Goldman]

13 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

It's not an egregious thing that they didn't replace the plug despite the obvious wear, I'm merely pointing it out because I would have done that while the back was open. This is coming from 30 years of repairing and directing repairs of computing devices. 😅 Perhaps it's an unfair standard.

Yes, not egregious but it definitely would have been nice if they did it all at once while the unit was already opened for the connector repair, because you do want to minimize disassembly on watertight cases. 

Not sure if you mentioned the fact that the port cover was worn in the warranty repair request form (even though it may have been visually obvious), but for those who might be in a similar situation, never hurts to explicitly mention such things so as to not leave them solely up to the discretion of the repair technician and let them also tell you explicitly whether or not it's covered by warranty.  That way you up your chances of getting a freebie proactive replacement or can decide whether you want to pay for the non-covered repair while the unit is already in the shop.

After many such electronics warranty repair experiences (primarily phones), I have learned to be annoyingly explicit in my repair expectations with these repair outlets, especially warranty repair where they are motivated to do only the absolute minimum necessary to satisfy the conditions of warranty.

I know the remote is definitely going to outlast that plastic port cover as you have to unscrew it EVERY time you charge the unit as well as when you plug in wired phones.  It's also easy to cross-thread which shaves a little more plastic off each time. It's all very annoying but I guess it comes with the territory on these watertight/dust tight IP compliant electronics. Nokta went with a metallic screw-in port cover and wire retaining lanyard on the Legend's control pod headphone/charging/data port.  That might have been a better design move in this case, though it also can subject the connector threads to wear.  No perfect solutions, I guess.

[F350Platinum]

Ordered a new port cover, the best thing about these detectors is you can literally build one from parts. It would be more expensive tho. 🤪

Totally agree with all of the above, I think this whole experience is of value to anyone with a Deus 2. 🙂

[Chase Goldman]

2 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Ordered a new port cover, the best thing about these detectors is you can literally build one from parts. It would be more expensive tho. 🤪

Totally agree with all of the above, I think this whole experience is of value to anyone with a Deus 2. 🙂

Yep.  Thanks again for posting.  You mentioned a very important point earlier as well, specifically, communication.  I don’t think many of these repair centers realize the importance of comms and how much value there is in simply keeping the customer electronically informed of status.  In this case, lack of a heads up email or text stating the repair was complete and shipped out with a tracking number and notification regarding requiring a receipt signature delayed receipt of the repaired unit at least an additional day because Bob had no clue it was arriving and was not available to sign for it or to leave alternate delivery instructions with the carrier.  Something else others dealing with XP repair need to be aware of.