Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Pound Ridge, NY, USA
Posts: 17

More than ever, I feel like I'm left holding the bag with regard to GeoDiscovery....

They made promises they didn't keep with regard to the software for their Geode GPS unit, and thus it has been a relatively useless module for 5 months while I wait for the promised software upgrades.

Now, they have taken their customer forums offline, they don't answer email (I've tried four times in the past week), and their phones are never answered by human beings. No matter if I route my call to Customer Service, or Tech Support, or Investor Relations, I always end up in a voice mailbox that says it's full, so I can't leave a message.

I wanted to return my Geode to finally get my money back. I've waited long enough for them to keep their promises about this product. But since they have cut off contact with the outside world, looks like I'm screwed out of my $300.

Anybody have any idea what's up with this garbage company?

John

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

No, but is there any chance they're a subsidiary of Innogear?

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"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Alive and well on VisorCentral.com
Posts: 861

quote:

---

Originally posted by bkbk
No, but is there any chance they're a subsidiary of Innogear?

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"One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no �them� out there. It�s just an awful lot of �us�." -- Douglas Adams

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

You might be able to reach Joe Free, Geodiscovery's "Customer Evangelist" who use to post here in the Geode's beta testing days. I can't post his email address, according to VC rules, but you can click on the email link in his VC profile.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 239

quote:

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Originally posted by anydaynow
Anybody have any idea what's up with this garbage company?

---

I think I can hear Troy typing from here...

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Soul Raven - "Sm� hjerne, stor gl�de"
Wherever you go, there you are.

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 4

The State of GeoDiscovery

My name is Dan Crites and I work at GeoDiscovery. As you've all noticed there have been some significant changes at GeoDiscovery and we haven't been responsive of late. Due to the investment market downturn we're having to restructure the company and have been quite short handed for the past several weeks.

We are currently working on a plan that will allow us to get back to proper support, release new software and even some new accessories. However, this plan will take us about 3 to 4 weeks. In the meantime the best way to contact us is through [email protected]. We can't promise the quick response we did a few weeks ago but we are working our way through them and responding.

Past and present employees remain passionate about our product and company. We deeply regret the lack of response to you, our equally passionate customers. We're anxious to get back to supporting and improving our products.

Dan Crites
GeoDiscovery

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Pound Ridge, NY, USA
Posts: 17

Dan,

I need a phone number to call to get an RMA number to return my Geode. I can't get this through the support email address that you posted above.

Please provide me with a phone number.

Thanks,
John

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 239

Dan! Buddy! Welcome back!

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Soul Raven - "Sm� hjerne, stor gl�de"
Wherever you go, there you are.

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Pound Ridge, NY, USA
Posts: 17

Man....This company is dead in the water. They will be out of business in no time. If I lived closer to Utah, I would drive over there and kick in their damn front door.

10 emails in two weeks, completely ignored.

Still can't get a real person on the phone to get an RMA number to return my Geode. All of the voice mailboxes are full. Even if I could, at this point, I don't know if I would return it for fear that I would then be out my Geode AND my $300.

This totally sucks. Anybody have a suggestion on how this can be elevated with some authority somehow? Maybe the BBB Online?

John

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Derry NH USA Earth
Posts: 154

Try:

http://www.ftc.gov

Not sure how much they can help, but they have an online fraud division.

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<div align="left"><font size="+2" color="#FF8000">Mike</font>
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Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Pound Ridge, NY, USA
Posts: 17

I actually ended up filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in Salt Lake City, Utah against Madison River Technologies (which is the parent company of GeoDiscovery). The BBB and MRT are both located right near each other in Utah, so maybe that will help...

Hopefully, something will come of this, because this sucks.

If anyone from GeoDiscovery is reading this, you guys are really handling your corporate problems all wrong. Anyone in business knows that when a company enters a time of crisis that affects their customers, the company has to step up their Customer Service efforts to handle the customers' concerns, not totally abandon them. You guys are going to kill your loyal customers, and without them, you're our of business fast.

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Posts: 3

I sent an email to support on April 10th asking how to get a refund. I got a quick reply asking that I call for an RMA. I did, spoke to Brandon and sent it out that day FedEx and they got it the next day. That was the last I saw of my Geode and my refund. I too have tried calling and emailing, but no response. As requested by Dan on May 11th, I sent another email to support...still silence...

I have filed a complaint with the BBB in SLC, but they inform me that they have a 3 week backlog before they can even start on my case.

-Matt

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Pound Ridge, NY, USA
Posts: 17

Hey...Three weeks is better than never! And it's certainly better than what we'll get in the way of a response from GeoDiscovery.

The thing is that this is so pathetic. I initially bought the Geode because I was psyched about what a great product it seemed to be, and was actually somewhat of a GeoDiscovery evangelist to my friends who were also looking for a reliable, flexible GPS unit.

What a mistake. I wish I never heard the name, or bought the product. I am embarrassed that I pushed the idea on my friends.

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 28

creeped out by beta test, boy am I lucky!

I was a beta tester for the software. Something about these guys bugged me. I couldn't put a finger on it, but I
decided to skip the GPS purchase. (Better off going to Cabela's and getting a real one...) Sounds like the creeps were fortunate for me. Sorry to hear about everyone's problems.

Registered: May 2000
Location: Fairfax, VA, USA
Posts: 77

Glad I sold mine for a Magellan

I got a Geode back when they first shipped. Couldn't get a good sattelite lock to save my life. Besides that, the software I wanted to use it with (FlyingPilot) needed an NMEA compatible device (something Geo guys said it was). I ended up selling the thing on eBay and bought a Magellan. Best GPS for the Visor in my opinion. I use it for aviation exclusively and it has never skipped a beat!

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Yup.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 70

I chose the Magellan GPS Companion, & after reading this thread, I'm even more glad that I did. As much as I would like to gloat & feel smug about my choice (which I felt was more usable out of the box and much more economical) I really hate to see any springboard partners fail to live up to their promise. I know that every company isn't going to make it, but when you look at the promise of the concept in this case, the geode was a really killer module that was released before it was completed. I have to admit that I envied the geode's onboard storage capacity & connected web services. I really think the most valuable lesson visor owners can get from cases like this one & the dreaded 6 pack fiasco is that we as visor owner should support companies that deliver feature complete products. I don't mind having to install updates or patches, but if the product ships without it's basic features functioning, I think we need to vote against that product with our dollars & maybe we will see more companies like Good, that don't talk up features they are not able to deliver. I'm really sorry for anybody who got burned on the promise of the geode

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tuffy

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Alive and well on VisorCentral.com
Posts: 861

Despite everything, I really like my GEODE, I am happy to have it..

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"One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no �them� out there. It�s just an awful lot of �us�." -- Douglas Adams

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Pound Ridge, NY, USA
Posts: 17

Well...Hopefully all is not lost. I filed my complaint, and unless they go into Chapter 11, the BBB will probably harrass them into giving me a refund. A pathetic course of action that I shouldn't have to take, and if it was only $30 or $40, I wouldn't even bother. But it's $300. I want my damn money.

If GeoDiscovery folds, then I'll go after their parent company for the money, which is who I actually filed my complaint at the BBB against. I think GeoDiscovery is just a legal DBA (Doing Business As) name for the company. The real company is Madison River Technologies.

But....From what I'm seeing and hearing, unless someone buys GeoDiscovery out, they'll be history in a matter of months. Experiences like this spread like wild fire on the Internet, and it will be very hard for them to shake this off.

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

Needless to say, this is all very sad.
$300 is a lot of money. The comp. biz. (and forgive me if it seems I'm addressing many of you, peripherally, though I hope not -- I personally kind of move in and out of the biz. over time) has kind of set a "low bar of entry" at $99 for ... ANYthing, it seems -- and everyone else seems to price according to that. But even $99 is HUGE when you are talking about other products, and how you could REALLY get them for less:
Clothes, housewares, music, video, DVD, etc., etc., etc.

I think you stake out a serious claim of responsibility when you tell users whatever you're going to sell is going to cost them $300 (or $500, in the case of, for ex., iPaq and Palm M505s, to cite 2 now-notorious QC-plauged expensive products).

I've had no experience w/Geode, the company, etc. -- and have never even read the product specs, as it was not a SB that I had my eye on -- so I don't feel at liberty to blast them the way I did InnoGear way back when.

And at least a member of their org. had the courage to post on the board once here, and give a bit of a status update. Still, by this time, it's clear that far more is required. And I don't think any of us likes to see any of the Visor community get screwed -- whether it's $99 or $300.

As someone mentioned above, I suppose we must vote w/our dollars. (FWIW, I'm verrrrry careful who I give my SB dollars to -- and still only own an EM2 and a mem. exp. SB. I dearly love them both.)

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"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Antigo, WI
Posts: 37

does sound like Troy