Skytrak out of warranty support

[firebird2k]

I tried the online chat and being informed that if the unit is out of warranty, there is no mechanism for repair. In essence, it sounds like you have to buy a whole new unit and they will not fix/repair. Does anyone know if this is actually the case or not? I'm not thrilled at having to spend $2K and if it fails right after the warranty period(how many times have you had stuff fail just as the warranty expires? ) then I'm out $2k with no way to repair.

[Wev]

What's up with it, how has it broken?

In the UK any electrical good has a year warranty at least, which cannot be overridden by any manufacturer, as far as I'm aware.

[Rcush88]

The only way I'm buying a new one is if they offer a better warranty. Hell they should offer a lifetime warranty for $2000 piece of hardware that costs them $5.00. I'm excited about the E6 integration but they need to make a better warranty so we don't have to handle the skytrak like it was a baby.

[codehead]

Although I agree with you that a better warranty is needed. The margins on this type of thing are much smaller than you state. The high speed cameras and associated circuitry and processing software are not at all cheap.

[davray666]

I think we need to be a bit more realistic. The hardware does not cost 5$ to produce. It's more like 300$ (there are no high speed cameras in there by the way) but the development cost is more on the software side. Way much more difficult to judge how much that cost. I for one don't care. I paid 2000$ because I think it's worth it, regardless of what it cost to produce.
But I would sleep much better if there was an option to buy spare parts sometime in the future.
The unit could be broken down in say 5 part groups where you could order any one of them. That way they don't have to carry 100's of parts.
As an example. The RED dot lasers and the line lasers are ON all the time and they are not going to last forever. Depending on quality it could be as low as 5000 h MTBF.
The super soft IR filter will get scratched, why not sell replacements?
It would be great with some instructions on how to repair but not even that is a must since the community will take care of educating each other.
It's no rocket science just smart business and good customer service.

[firebird2k]

I was hoping they would at least offer some service fee or repair fee like their caddy units which is a fixed fee $89 repair/replacement. I have not purchased the unit yet and I also do not mind having to pay $99 for a year warranty. The concern here is what happens AFTER the 1 year. If the unit breaks and there are no provisions to get it serviced or repaired, then either the unit needs to be MUCH MUCH cheaper or they need to offer some method for users to get repaired/replaced at a reasonably price. From what I've gotten, if it breaks, buy a new one. To me that is NOT an option.

Hell, if I buy a car, I don't see car manufacturers say you are out of luck if the car breaks. They get dealers to offer repair services for a fee.

[Rcush88]

They should do what P3 pro swing does. I know its different because its a base sensor but still should be more available options for us. I would feel more confident in purchasing.

[firebird2k]

I called their tech support figuring I'll speak to a live person. The person on the tech support line was professional and courteous. He explained that you have 30 days to buy the extended warranty and the regular warranty is 6 months and buying the extension pushes it to 12 Months. After the warranty expires, he was explaining that they have what's called Back in Play service which is $89.95 and that the skylrak device is included in that back in play service. Soooo.. it sounds like it is a fixed fee $89.95 repair/replace if the unit is broken(of course showing no signs of physical damage). Wonder if anyone can confirm this as they don't really have that in writing anywhere

[SkyTrak_Seth]

Hi guys, I'm speaking with the support department now and will get you a clear outline soon of out-of-warranty repairs. They did confirm that the above with fixed fee is NOT the case.

[luv2golf]

Hi guys, I'm speaking with the support department now and will get you a clear outline soon of out-of-warranty repairs. They did confirm that the above with fixed fee is NOT the case.

I wonder if we will get this clear outline around the same time as the clear outline for the $99 fee on the game improvement package.

I think we are still waiting for a clear outline on that too.

If I sound bitter, its been so many promises and zero results. This is getting to be bush league. Im close to putting my unit on ebay and just getting a GC2.

[SkyTrak_Seth]

I was told we would have something to publish by next week. Right now, I can tell you that you can most certainly send your product in for repair after the warranty expires. Of course you would be responsible for labor/parts cost. Why I'm waiting is because they are trying to finalize a SkyTrak Back-in-Play option, as mentioned above, for units that are "totaled". Obviously this will not be the $89 that they do for SkyCaddie. I'm working on it.

[Bubba22]

Thanks Seth. Do keep us posted.

[firebird2k]

Thanks for update. Just glad that there will be a option for repair out of warranty. Gives me a better feeling in regards to potentially purchasing a unit. Will there a published parts/labor costs?

[SkyTrak_Seth]

That would certainly make sense, at least for labor. Honestly, I'm not sure how 'componentized' the parts are...

[firebird2k]

Just following up, any word on what the out of warranty will be like? Thx

[Underdog6]

For someone who just purchased a Skytrak myself, I would love an answer to this question also. Has anyone heard anything at all?