I'm pretty sure Foresight is a terrible company that has a poor business model.

[bm11]

Strong words around here I know, but hear me out on this-

I bought a used one on Ebay a couple weeks ago and it happens to need a battery. I called today to order one ($60) and was told I needed to speak to a salesman, which there were none of available. I got a call back about four hours later and spoke to Tim. Tim was very polite but informed me that as I bought the unit second hand, I'd need to pay a $500 registration transfer fee before I'd be able to buy a battery. In addition, he really recommend I send the unit in to get checked out, to the tune of $3000.

Now as you might imagine, I was pretty floored by this. I bought a used GC2 at a very slight savings- about $1600 below what their current sale price is, but I did it because they are a reputable product with strong resale. I wasn't 100% confident it was for me, but I did it because they hold their value well and I knew that if I changed my mind, I could resell it and not sustain much loss.

Knowing what I know now, I'd have a really tough time making the decision to purchase, as any company that tells second owners of their product that they'd need to pay a $500 fee to be considered a customer has serious problems. It means that they don't back their product. Any time you are dealing with a product approaching $10k new, resale is a concern and refusing to sell maintenance items to second owners without paying a ridiculous fee will effect resale and ultimately the long term viability of the company.

Again- I'm not complaining about having to pay for maintenance. That is a given, the battery is a wear and tear item. But it is completely foolish to have to pay a fee to buy that item.

Rant over, and I only felt it necessary to put this here because I hadn't read anything about it before and it certainly would have effected my decision to buy.

Buyer beware.

-Bob

[inorkuo]

talk to aeroburner. he might be able to help you. there are a lot of used gc2's flooding the market with Golfsmith going belly up and looks like Foresight is trying to make a little extra money off of it.

[keither5150]

For $3000.... they better give you a cute girl to place the ball in the scan area for you ...... and then hold up a "Quiet" sign. Wow that sucks..... I would go right over the sales guy head and talk to someone higher up. While your talking to them.... ask them if they heard of a ES 16. Then ask them to do some reading on this forum..... especially on how ProTee handles service.

[orangeman]

This is the complete opposite of my experience. I bought a 2nd hand (it was technically 3rd hand) unit from someone on these forums. The leg was broken and needed to be replaced. I contacted Foresight via the website and email, got an RMA and sent my unit in for repair. While they had it, they bench tested the unit and upgraded the firmware. Total turn time from leaving my house to having the unit back was under two weeks. Cost was just over $200. I guess that's a bit expensive for a plastic part, but I felt better having the OEM take care of it properly rather than Rube Goldberg something myself. Sounds like you got an overly aggressive salesperson. Go to the website and use the contact form and see what happens.

[JV17]

Absolutely absurd and unacceptable. I agree with keither... I would run this up the chain of management. No one would pay those fees and they know it. Sounds like there's some arbitrage potential there. As a new GC2 buyer, I could buy a bunch and sell them on eBay! Lol. Seriously though, check out Par2pro. They'd probably sell you the battery straight up.


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[ShootingLow]

The $3K number sounds off. My guess any registration or transfer cost is to protect against what is no doubt an onslaught of questions from people either interested in buying a Golfsmith unit or people that have already purchased. From what I have heard, Foresight has always provided free tech support to their customers. If you purchase a unit from Golfsmith (or other), aren't you Golfsmith's customer?

[DE819]

I purchased mine second hand and didn't have any trouble with service. sent it in for new battery and freshen up. got an rma no problem. they put me in the system as the new owner, put a battery and new flash in it had back in 2 weeks $500ish bucks and done.

[ShootingLow]

How long ago, DE?

[DE819]

I sent it out this may

[mmlincon]

Unfortunately a company is only as good as their employees. It sounds like Tim needs to go...

[titaniumfrost302]

Heard the policy took effect this week. Seems like they would only implement after forewarning.

[bm11]

If you purchase a unit from Golfsmith (or other), aren't you Golfsmith's customer?

I'll put it to you this way- I run a Toyota store, which is franchise owned and we would never suggest someone pay a surcharge for buying elsewhere else to service with me. To take that one step further- if I were to try to do that and Toyota caught wind of that, they would fry my ass. This situation is even worse- Foresight is the manufacturer and therefore I am THEIR customer, regardless of where I purchased it. The idea of paying a $500 registration fee to replace parts at a retail price is ridiculous.

[ShootingLow]

I haven't heard of Foresight's line of vehicles, but I'm definitely interested if they have something in the works.

[mthunt]

Crazy crazy. The battery is a 6 cell simple pack. If you're in Toronto I'd build one for you in 10 minutes. Take the pack to someone to rebuild. It's nothing special.

[Ronsc1985]

I bought my GC2 used. The original owner contacted Foresight and transferred the ownership. No cost to anyone. Foresight then sent me a new copy of the software the original owner had also at no charge.

Foresight's interest is in selling new units, not being involved in the resale business. Since they now have an onslaught of units from bankrupt Golfsmith locations probably cutting into their new sales I can understand their policy.

You bought a used unit without doing your homework, like calling up Foresight and determining what was involved. in transferring the ownership. Instead of spending your time moaning and groaning why not take the advice of others about replacing the battery pack. If you want one from Foresight just get someone with a properly transferred unit to order one for you.

My experience with Foresight tech support has always been positive.

[wbond]

Come on, doing homework? Potential new policy that no ones ever heard of that may have just came into play? People have been buying used gc2's for years and from all the threads I've read there has never been a mention of charging these kind of fees. Really sounds like they're trying to scrounge any money they can from the golf smith units. Knowing these are coming they could have setup a reasonable overhaul fee and easily made a decent profit and got good press within the golf/sim community. Charging 3k ain't going to do that!

[bm11]

I bought my GC2 used. The original owner contacted Foresight and transferred the ownership. No cost to anyone. Foresight then sent me a new copy of the software the original owner had also at no charge.

Foresight's interest is in selling new units, not being involved in the resale business. Since they now have an onslaught of units from bankrupt Golfsmith locations probably cutting into their new sales I can understand their policy.

You bought a used unit without doing your homework, like calling up Foresight and determining what was involved. in transferring the ownership. Instead of spending your time moaning and groaning why not take the advice of others about replacing the battery pack. If you want one from Foresight just get someone with a properly transferred unit to order one for you.

My experience with Foresight tech support has always been positive.

To re iterate- I called and tried to order a battery... Which I would pay for. They wanted $500 to be considered a customer eligible for paying for a battery. And you call my post "moaning and groaning."

I think my post is pretty legit. And I think yours is pretty "fan boy."