TomTom are considering their own forums, good idea?

Darren

We were contacted recently by TomTom seeking our views about the prospect of their running their own support forum service.

I think it is fair to say that most if not all of the community forum webmasters have long since realised that TomTom will do what they want regardless of our opinions.

Whilst once they were unusual in maintaining strong links with forums they are now much like any other faceless corporation. They have a long history of copying all the best ideas from community forums such as speed cameras, custom colour schemes, POIs, cursors etc and offering them direct regardless of the possible damage or such notions as ownership.

So we said pretty much that, no point in hiding our feelings. We said that it will likely make no difference what we think and doubtless they will do it regardless but that, going on past evidence, we can at least be sure it will be done less effectively.

But we are blinkered and have our own self serving reasons for not wanting TomTom to start running forums so what do you think?

Is the prospect of an official TomTom operated support forum a good idea or not?
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Darren Griffin

253 · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 11:51 am Post subject:

Well, I have mixed views. It is a good idea if the Forums will be fully supported by the company (any company).
No point people posting problems, gripes, help requests, requests for extra features etc - if the company does not listen or does not put in trained staff to monitor the Forums and assist.

Look at Apple, they have loads of Forums, but no longer fully support them.
There used to be a lot of critical posts from users with problems that Apple either didn't acknowledge (and still don't most of the time) or didn't have an answer to.

Suppose we'll wait and see what TT do, and how well they do it.

Oh well, back to checking the turkey.
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Triumph Tbird 1700. And now a Bonnie T100.

gluey · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 12:00 pm Post subject:

If they run it like they run their support then people would rather ask on here.

People on here normally know more about TT products than the support staff.
What is the point of them asking us for ideas as they don't listen anyway.
All the bugs never get fixed and just go from model to model.

The basic navigation is good but all the extra features don't (and never will) work.
Until they return to bringing out a unit that has no bugs and works as advertised then why bother.

I know a high tech unit will get bugs, but they never fix them!

Voice command for one.
Select correct one off the screen and it routes to another!

Forget it TT get back to the business of giving your customers a unit what works 100%.

mikealder · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 12:15 pm Post subject:

I think its a cracking idea, for a start they won't be able to organise it.

If the advice they offer is as good as their tech support sometimes is, then it will be a source of endless entertainment.

It will only serve to illustrate how good some of the other GPS related forums actually are, independent advice based upon experiance, this isn't something I can see TomTom being able to offer unless all their Beta testers are forced to be Moderators on their new "idea"

One has to wonder if they would listen and fix sloppy code if hundreds of users were to post about issues wrong with their devices or would the stock answer "Our second line support are looking in to this issue" be used all too often - Mike

gluey · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 1:00 pm Post subject:

It wont last. Hundreds of people asking about all the faults for all to see.
Good reading for the likes of garmin etc.

dhn · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 2:19 pm Post subject:

Well, that's interesting news.......

I know that UK users constantly frustrated by the lack of proper Customer Support and Mike has first hand knowledge of the same kind of experience by North American users in one specific US based forum we are involved with.

Too often, customer support is nothing more than a bunch of 'script monkeys' and if your problem isn't in their database, the 'help' offered is pretty much useless.

I'm quite sure that TomTom formal support forums would NOT have a detrimental effect on either PGPSW or North American forums I'm a moderator for.

That said, I'm of the belief that such forums should be offered by TomTom. Might be 'fun' to monitor them! Twisted Evil

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David

richard345 · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 2:27 pm Post subject:

l also have mixed feelings about the prospect.

If it is organised and run in the way it should be, then it is a direct link in to the TomTom organisation and would be a useful addition to the support of their devices.

If, however, it will be set up as I suspect it will, TT will look through the posts, see that the vast majority of them contain pleas for help and ignore them completely. They will pick out any post that says a device has worked well and put that in their advertising material as proof that they are a caring company that holds their customers in high esteem.

There are many technical forums out there that started out as being run by the company concerned that end up being just somewhere with an official logo at the top of each page and all answers to questions, queries and complaints are answered by the members only and the company just sits back and ignores the whole shooting match.

I think the only advantage would be having the forum hosted on servers at TT, thus reducing the upkeep and maintenance of kit by anyone else.

Another issue is the question as to whether posts could be suppressed and / or modified?

Open mind to start with, but one could always leave, I guess.

Personally, I think completely independent forums are the best way forward, unless they are taken absolutely seriously by TomTom.
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Ric - TomTom 520 DEAD - Passed to the great traffic jam in the sky. Now using Maps & Waze on Samsung Galaxy S4 + CamerAlert of course!

dougproctor · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 3:11 pm Post subject: Staying here!

Personally, I am quite happy with the advice given on here. It's quick, accurate and always helpful. I can see a TomTom forum being a bit like the Ebay forums - they occasionally answer but on the whole, the advice is given by others!
I'm happy here! Merry Xmas to all the staff and regular contributors.
Doug
Wink

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Returned to a proper Garmin although still have Co-Pilot on a Galaxy S3!

Mullet · Frequent Visitor Joined: Dec 12, 2005 Posts: 1051

First thought after all these years of not caring is, what's in it for them now?

Then when they start billing as the "official" TomTom forum novices will perceive that forum as a definitive source of knowledge, but most here know otherwise.

On the positive side however it may just lead to the odd gem like the disclosure of the .ogg method for POI warnings that seeped out a while back.

Personally I think this will be a misguided venture that will make them look foolish and PSPSW forums will be constantly battling poor advice given by the "official " source.

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:10 pm Post subject:

I haven't seen too many manufacturer run forums that will tackle the tough problems in a timely manner. There's also the "official" company line that they insist be followed, ie "that subscription is impossible to transfer", "we're experiencing a temporary server issue" and the infamous "first time we've heard of that". Throw in TomTom's history of poor or inaccurate advice to unusual or new problems and personally I think it's doomed before it ever gets off the ground. Starting with an asinine question to a consumer support forum with a long established record of providing thorough and quick community responses to TomTom problems speaks for itself I think.
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Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.

Musketter · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 27, 2005 Posts: 69

I for one would not be bothered about their forum.

Every time you use it, it will freeze every 10 minutes and randomly re-boot its self. As for the navigation between the pages it will be anyone's guess where you end up. I guess they will just have to have a big red reset button on the bottom of each page.

As to giving out the wrong information, if their current customer care are running it. they will never reply.

BEWARE OF CHEAP IMITATIONS !!!! STAY ON HERE

Happy Xmas everyone
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I don't know why I have a SatNav, my Ex-wife is always telling me where to go !!!

Seamaster · Frequent Visitor Joined: Jun 05, 2006 Posts: 331

Why don't Tomtom just participate in this forum?

Answer: because they can't control it.

I can only share my experience of manufacturer-run subforums on some of the otherwise independent wristwatch sites. They have done a lot of damage to certain brands who have been over-censorious in the way they deal with issues raised about their products on forums they control. My instinct is to predict that Tomtom would behave in the same way. They want to control the main forum discussing their products so they can swiftly snuff-out complaints. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I've seen it happen all too often elsewhere.

How about you suggest they get involved here, with the subforum in its current format, so that we can determine their good faith (or otherwise)?

gluey · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 11:40 pm Post subject:

This reminds me of something that happened not long ago regarding people power.

Alot of people were fed up with an alarm company.
One customer was so fed up he started a forum named "I hate ******".
He tried to get them to agree with his complaints but got no where.

Many people took part in the forum including the companies own staff.
The forum was so damaging to the company they settled with him and also bought the forum from him to shut it down.

AliOnHols · Pocket GPS Verifier Joined: Oct 15, 2008 Posts: 1936

I think that it could be a good idea for the following reasons -

1) Several tens/hundreds/thousands of people posting publicly on the official TT forum, about a bug in the software should be the "Kick in the Jacksee" TT need to actually resolve some of the "Challenges" they have created. TT could not commercially afford to not fix the most basic of problems, the competition is too great.

2) Possible increased revenue for PocketGPSWorld. I think we are all secretly believing that, no matter what advice appears on the Official TT Forums, It can't be bettered by the advice given on this, or other such community based forums. It shall only be a matter of time until a topic which is un-resolved on the TT forums has a comment such as "Hey! this problem has a fix - check this out -- www.hyperlink_to_the_PGPSW_solution.com.
This can only serve to raise public awareness that life does exist outside of TomTom support, increase this site's public profile and promote your far superior Safety Camera Database which is available for purchase. I think TomTom are laying you a Golden Egg. Go make a Golden Omelette!
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Garmin Nuvi 2599
Android with CamerAlert, OsmAnd+, Waze & TT Europe.
TomTom GO 730, GO 930, GO 940 & Rider2.
SatMap Active 10 & 20.

DennisN · Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 10:55 am Post subject:

Without wishing to single out individual posts, because ALL the posts so far have seemed excellent comments, nevertheless I have to see these two as very much to the point, with which I wholeheartedly agree. (And I acknowledge I'm cherry-picking to support my own case).

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