Minelab And Customer Communications

[Nokta Detectors]

On 12.05.2017 at 8:27 PM, jasong said:

When I dealt with Minelab, I spoke with them directly and they sent me parts directly. Also, with Fisher I sent my GB2 directly to them and they did the repairs. I've never dealt with Kellyco for any repairs except with these CoRes. Just my experience, I have no idea which companies have deals with what service centers.

I wonder if Kellyco "repairs" LRL's too? I find that concerning. Kinda like going to a doctor who prescribes pixie dust, doesn't inspire confidence. 

That said, I'll be patient once again and see how this gets dealt with - I responded to Dilek last night and forwarded our old email chains where I had already explained this as it was happening in 2015, with no resolution. 

I'd love to finally get a working detector, but the reality is it's been so long that I've already planned to buy a Deus. It's a bit like finally receiving an outdated computer you bought but never got to use 2 years ago, all the reasons I bought it for are gone now and if it had been functional I would have sold it already to fund the next purchase.

Hello Jason. As I explained to you in my email, it is very unlikely for me to not to respond to a customer who is having an issue with our device. I had an email from the service center confirming that they had already talked to you which I just forwarded to you. Since I have not heard from you after that point, I thought it was all OK on your end. I still apologize though on my behalf although I tried my best to do the right thing for you. 

I believe the most important thing here is for you to get a working unit in your hand and I already gave you my word on that. 

My team will follow up with you with further instructions tomorrow.

Dilek 

 

[jasong]

But you did not respond to me. You responded to kellyco, and they never told me they spoke with you so I would have no way of knowing. I just assumed you disappeared just like the kellyco reps did. Maybe it's a miscommunication with english here, but I want that clarified. You did respond to my earlier emails and told me to deal with kellyco and let you know if any problems, but when I let you know I was having problems I got no response...so i was getting no response from kellyco or you at that point. I tried dealing with kellyco alone for another 1 or 2 broken detectors before finally giving up.

I think we both understand how this went bad now, but I feel as if I also have to clarify the kellyco thing now too because they didn't represent reality in that email you just showed me from them.

The reason kellyco said they spoke with me is because I called them, not vice versa, which they didnt bother to mention. At least 15 times. Thry talked to me, yes. But they werent solving the problem and not communicating with me and thats why i asked for your help. I remember 1 day where I had  3 or 4 calls in alone to different departments and people when I feared my detector had been lost completely and no one could answer me and I was quite frustrsted especially since I was tired of paying shipping for all these broken units. I don't recall ever getting a return call from them over the many months this was happening. I'm sure they have more accurate records, but I recall spending at least 2 weeks after they said they'd send me a replacement unit with no word and no machine during one of the iterations. Any call I placed went unanswered or they simply told me someone would call me back, but never would and they would proceed to forget about me until I got angry enough to speak with a manager.

Anyways, I appreciate you and your team trying to get me a detector now, and I know you make a lot of effort in customer service online. I hope you understand im not trying to slog your company, this is my honest experience and i have every right to be frustrated. I was a big vocal supporter and early adopter of nokta, as can be witnessed by my posts when the detector was first announced.  Yet, I want to make this clear because after the last response it could be read as if I was somehow misrepresenting what happened, which is not the case. I spent months calling kellyco, I made an effort to contact nokta with 2 different media. There is nothing more I could have done, and thus my frustration. 

I look forward to hearing from your team and discussing this over email from here on out, I will post online if I receive a working unit so the record is straight,, and thank you for addressing this. 

[Rick K - First Member]

The new world we all live in with non-stop social media and near-instant communication is causing tremendous pressure on companies to examine their customer suppprt and marketplace messaging.

Nokta, with Dilek in the lead is breaking new ground here. Not only in direct contact with customers about issues, but with a new "croud sourced" approach to a sort of blending of development and marketing tester relations.

All detector manufacturers are essentially small businesses. The nature of the world-wide market for their products means that they have to deal with the issue of warranty service in places where they cannot possibly have direct company presence.  That fact, plus local laws, make them dependent on their national or regional distributors to handle the load. Not easy, and, as far as I know, none of them have been completely successful on a world basis in doing this.

[Steve Herschbach]

There is a common thread here. It seems like Nokta and Minelab both turned most all service over to Kellyco at about the same time. I know at first Nokta did everything direct, but there was a transition period where they pretty much just expected Kellyco to handle it. Minelab possibly a similar thought process. Perhaps Kellyco took on too much at once from too many sources. Probably had staffing issues as is common with specialty stuff. Now both Nokta and Minelab are finding they have to step back in and rethink things, maybe rejigger the relationships, whatever. I am not making excuses here for anybody or casting stones, just more an outside observer of what has gone on the last year and a half to two years. I know Dilek does her best but things get missed and unfortunately Jason seems to have paid the price on the transition. Too many fingers in the pie. Hopefully it is all made right to everyone's satisfaction. 

[Norvic]

Thinking back, I`ve been very fortunate in regards to detector problems. Sent a GM2 that failed (last century) back for a service(no drama) had a few ML rubbish bin lid coils fail and replaced no drama, plus a coiltex coil also replaced no drama. Considering they just bounce around in the back of the 4WD, and get no love just expected to work, rain hail but no snow. Touch wood....... I`ve had a top run and can only heap praise on the detector brands I`ve had and have plus of course a big cheer for the local dealer who just choofs out a replacement if possible.

[Steve Herschbach]

I have owned a lot of detectors, only had rare issues, and always had quick, efficient service. If anything it's been more above and beyond than not. For every bad service story there are hundreds of good ones that go untold.

[jasong]

One question I have with this whole new global marketplace is why are there still dealers if they don't service anything or provide any other service other than sales? Aren't they just a middle man at that point inflating the price of the goods? If the internet didn't exist I could understand it because they provide local outlets for sales, but most of the sales are done over the internet/phone today anyways, many (or even most) dealers don't even have physical store locations anymore. It seems to me this subject has come up once before but I can't remember if it was here or not and it seems relevant to the subject matter.

I understand some provide training when it comes to gold detectors and some customers find good value in this, but with the markup in price that dealers take as profit up to 35% on some models, it's hardly worth it for many of us, especially for those who don't want the training. Especially considering guided trips/training can be bought for much less.

Again, one of those things that are tough to say/ask without offending someone and offense is not my intention at all, but if I don't understand then I'm sure some others don't as well too so I think it's a fair question related to the subject if we're heading towards a mega-repair outlet handling everything.

Can we just skip the dealer inflation and buy directly if it's all the same in the end?

The other direct implication is you end up with "preferential pricing" where friends of dealers all get one price, the people who know that you can wheel and deal on the MSRP get another slightly higher price (the 15% "military discount" as one example, quotes intentional because we all know it's not just military), and then the uninitiated pay full or close to full price. I don't find that to be right personally.

[strick]

8 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

There is a common thread here. It seems like Nokta and Minelab both turned most all service over to Kellyco at about the same time. I know at first Nokta did everything direct, but there was a transition period where they pretty much just expected Kellyco to handle it. Minelab possibly a similar thought process. Perhaps Kellyco took on too much at once from too many sources. Probably had staffing issues as is common with specialty stuff. Now both Nokta and Minelab are finding they have to step back in and rethink things, maybe rejigger the relationships, whatever. I am not making excuses here for anybody or casting stones, just more an outside observer of what has gone on the last year and a half to two years. I know Dilek does her best but things get missed and unfortunately Jason seems to have paid the price on the transition. Too many fingers in the pie. Hopefully it is all made right to everyone's satisfaction. 

I think that Kellyco is in over their head. Tragic circumstances left them one repair person short. When I had to send my CTX in for repairs it took about 8 weeks to get it back... I left several messages none of which were returned. I called my dealer and complained and the next day I got a call back from Kellyco.....coincidence? I don't think so. Another thing that I have read on other forums is that If you pay extra Kellyco will put you in the front of the line. I hope that sort of thing is not true.  If it is then for people like me who's machine was still under warranty their needs to be a separete line.  I don't mind a business doing business how they please but people who are waiting for their broken detector (still in warranty) should not be pushed  back just because "Joe Zincpenny " wants to go to the beach...so do we!  Anyway I hope that these manufacturers get their blank together so we can get our detectors back in working condition in a reasonable amount of time. 

strick 

[fredmason]

jasong;

I miss Joe's House of Treasure Hunters...the internet drove him out of business.  Joe always had detectors in stock. I could go squeeze the  tomatoes -so to speak. If you bought from him he handled all the shipping and misc. involved in service or repair. Sometimes he would even let one out for a test run...I can't do that now.

And his shop was a fun place to listen to prospecting, metal detecting stories.

fred