Raymarine information

[Mirari]

Thought I might share some information and a story concerning Raymarine for those in a similar situation. Before I go much further please know that I am not a big fan of Raymarine products as far as product dependability and in my opinion their Customer Service Department has got to be one of the worst out there.

Back in 2009 I purchased from Sailnet a Raymarine GPS unit that was a closeout. I had sworn I would never buy a Raymarine product again after some previous experiences but the price was very good so I broke the rule and bought the unit. The unit worked fine for 2009. My boat didn’t go in the water in 2010 due to a massive restoration during which I misplaced the power cord during the rewiring of the boat. As a result I called Raymarine and tried to purchase a new power cord to which I was informed there were none. It was discontinued and there was no replacement part nor was there any intention to supply one in the future. Basically at that point the sales person indicated there was nothing she could do. The conclusion was basically throw the unit away! It occurred to me rather than tossing the unit I could probably make my own power cord. After calling for 4 days I finally found someone who was willing to help and was able to get me the information I needed to make the proper connections.
I was mentioning this situation to guy on the dock that was a ham radio operator and he informed me he thought there was a law on the books in Connecticut that manufacturers must supply electrical schematics. Sure enough after a little searching I found the statute and it did indeed say manufacturers of electronic receiving equipment sold in Connecticut must provide electrical schematics. The definition per the statue was equipment receiving TV or radio signals. Obviously this law was written back in the days when we had radio and TV repairman. Because a GPS unit receives a radio signal I would think it falls under this statute. The Statute also states that the manufacturer must maintain spare parts for a minimum of 4 years after the last sale of a discontinued item.
With this information in hand I sent an email to Raymarine with the Statute attached. I asked that my email be forwarded to Raymarine’s Legal Department and if I did not hear from them within 5 days I would be reporting this apparent violation to the Connecticut Attorney General’s office. Guess what? Within hours I received an email from Raymarine asking for my address so that they could send me a new power cord, no charge! Amazing! First they tell me power cords are not available and then suddenly they are!
Hopefully this story may be of some use to someone else in a similar situation.

[BigNige]

Originally Posted by Mirari

in my opinion their Customer Service Department has got to be one of the worst out there...

They wanted over £100 to repair a TriData unit, saying they had to replace the entire circuit board; I eventually traced the fault to a 20p part!

[Minnewaska]

I've had decent luck with Raymarine (knocking on wood that doesn't change this weekend). I've also received advice that I've found works best with them. Never buy the just released models, always the most recent generation prior. Reportedly, they rush competitive product to market and let the consumers test them. By then, the most recent previous model is debugged.

I've also been told to never buy discontinued electronics.