Guest Mike C... Posted September 27, 2009 Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 ps I think i will wait to have mine #63 upgrade done. it is still working fine for nowLonHell Lon I would send it in now its barely keeping up with my obsolete 4000 --Mike C... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbond Posted September 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 Jennifer,I am going to go out on a limb here and tell you that I am sure Minelab will make this right. I have never seen them let any of their customers down. Also, in the meantime, I have a GPX4500 that has been used 1 time by Trevor when he came over from Australia, and he promptly found that 1.8 ounce nugget, after finding a .1 gram, yes I said point one gram nugget the day before.Point being I know the machine works amazingly. I would be happy to send it to you as a loaner until this gets sorted out with your machine. At least it will get you out in the field and the machine obviously already has some good ju ju on it after finding the 1.8 ounce nugget.DocHi Doc, I do as well believe that Minelab will take care of this situation, I have full faith in that. Thank you for your most gracious offer of a loaner unit. Whilst it is wonderful of you and speaks very highly of your commitment to your customers (and apparently the customers of OTHER dealers as well, as we both know that I bought my 4500 from someone else) I'll decline your offer as I don't think this will take very long for Minelab to resolve once we chat. I will say one thing though.... That was pretty generous what you just offered and it speaks incredibly highly of yourself, your company and this community as a whole. At this point I've only purchased a few items from you (sets of JP's DVD's and other misc goodies) and for you to step up and offer to assist in helping resolve an issue with Minelab (by offering to do what you just did) in my opinion really shines a spotlight on you as both a person and a dealer for Minelab. I'm looking forward to sharing the positive aspects of this experience as much as the negatives when I chat with them tomorrow... and rest assured your offer of assistance to help the Minelab name will be part of that discussion.....Thanks Doc... I'm at a loss for words.... it's been a long time since I've seen customer service like that.... especially when it's for someone else's customer.... Minelab is fortunate to have someone of your calibre as a dealer of their product line.Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted September 27, 2009 Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 Hi All,Jennifer, all will be well, as I assured you in my email.I'll admit to being a bit embarrassed by all this as that is my GPX-4500 Jennifer bought from me. My own personal unit bought early on. I used it the summer of 2008 and it worked flawlessly, although it was one of the early units.That winter Minelab introduced their dealer with a spare battery and coil. Now, being a dealer, I can buy things at cost, use them, sell them at cost or a bit under, and rebuy, all with little loss. So I figured I'd just sell my unit and buy a new one to get the spare battery and coil for free.But since the unit was an early model I thought I might as well get the thing checked out first for free under the recall. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm not so sure. In any case the control box went in and came back. It was winter so I did not use it again and just assumed it must be good to go, being back fresh from Minelab. My mistake and for that I do apologize.Anyway, Jennifer emailed me on Friday and I did assure her it would get taken care of one way or the other. And it will. Minelab, despite all the bashing they get, are good folks. If the tech botched the job I have n odoubt they will make good on it.And as Jennifer has found out, Doc is one heck of a nice guy. Talk about above and beyond!Steve Herschbach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbond Posted September 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 Hi All,Jennifer, all will be well, as I assured you in my email.And as Jennifer has found out, Doc is one heck of a nice guy. Talk about above and beyond!Steve HerschbachSteve, I pointed out in several of my posts that this was NOT a reflection on my dealer, I was very happy with who sold me the unit, and I didn't go into details as to who my dealer was, although some may know from past conversations related to how happy I was with our transaction. This is not about you, the unit came back from Minelab and was immediately turned around and shipped to me. There was no way for you to know that parts where floating around inside (waiting to get loose, fail/short out) and that further inspection inside the unit would discover the items shown in the photos. I should also add here that the deal that I received from Steve was incredibly generous on his part, there is NO way I could have afforded to pay what others have or are paying now. Steve holds NO accountability on this in any way... for the low price I paid for this, he would have been fully justified in simply stating "you're on your own for that price", which he did not. Steve's account of our conversation is "spot on" accurate and is 150% of what I would expect of my dealer in the way of customer support (especially in light of the above mentioned deal he gave me). He assured me Friday that he would back me up if I had any issues getting this resolved with Minelab. We also briefly discussed why Bill would document on the repair order that he'd fixed a broken shaft, when both Steve and I knew that the only item shipped to Minelab was the control box. Someone out there has a repaired shaft they didn't need repaired. The only reason this went further is that after Steve and I chatted, I posted a question on a couple boards, as I was curious if the "happiness factor" with stuff coming back from Las Vegas had improved since March so that I was prepared for our chat and possibly having to say "No thanks, I'll send it to Adelaide"... from there it grew a life of it's own and flew through the Internet in record time, matched in "speed of coverage" only by an Aussie bushfire. You all never cease to amaze me with your willingness to assist and share information with newbies, at lightning speed apparently. Among all the information exchanged which was very helpful, a heap of people offered to help in any way that they could including Doc, JP, Steve, and others... thank you all... At that point I thought the thread would die down.... I was wrong, boy was I wrong. When it took a different direction by some last night of blatant Minelab bashing and statements implying that I have some sort of intimate insider knowledge of Minelab policies, I attempted to stop it with statements as such but it continued, both on American boards as well as their own in Australia, (links shown below). Seeing this, I had to take immediate action:http://goldprospecting.invisionplus.net/?m...;showtopic=4937http://goldprospecting.invisionplus.net/?m...;showtopic=4941When I saw this, I immediately sent emails to two site owners (Chris and Rob) asking them to delete the entire posts being linked to in the above posts (not lock, but fully DELETE) to try to stop the spread and mitigate any further anti-Minelab chatter. When I saw they were still up this morning, I deleted everything I could from each post, locked down the pictures on Flickr and here we are, I apologize to those of you who saw "This post deleted by Jennifer " when reading the threads.... you can't say having me on the boards is boring.... can ya? Steve: I'm not sure if you had an opportunity to see the pictures that I put up on my Flickr account for Minelab to review when we chat tomorrow. If you have not, let me know as I will have to give you a log-in ID as I've since had to lock them down due to some issues with Minelab haters on other boards using them in their "Minelab bashing efforts" as discussed above.Thanks again for all your help Steve, Doc, JP, (and others). Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubstake Posted September 27, 2009 Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 Minelab, has always made it right one way or the other, I just thought to myself, that opening the box, even on a used unit was a big NO! NO!, because, when you do that, some damage could happen that was not there before. Now I have a 2200, that I have opened up, and wired the tracking button into, But my 4000, even though its used, I wouldn't, I emailed Minelab modes site and they had pictures of the inside of a 4000, I know I wouldn't be able to deal with the milar strip inside. Better off left to the experts on that issue. Grubstake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montana Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Jennifer. Don't even worry about Doug or anything he posts on your threads. We all know what he is going to say when threads of this nature come up. He just can't seem to help himself. Before long there will be a QED which will be flawless , and never break , and will find more gold than we ever imagined, and have a service center second to none to fix the flawless detector. Then he will endlessly remind us how clever he was to recognize that there is a cheaper, better detector available. We may all have passed on by then of course , or the inventor may pass on before it is finished.----Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbond Posted September 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Minelab, has always made it right one way or the other, I just thought to myself, that opening the box, even on a used unit was a big NO! NO!, because, when you do that, some damage could happen that was not there before. Now I have a 2200, that I have opened up, and wired the tracking button into, But my 4000, even though its used, I wouldn't, I emailed Minelab modes site and they had pictures of the inside of a 4000, I know I wouldn't be able to deal with the milar strip inside. Better off left to the experts on that issue. GrubstakeHi Grub, opening the unit back in March when I originally received it with a loose rattling item inside was a personal decision that I made based on my comfort level and knowledge of my technical abilities (20+ years as a licensed Amateur Radio operator in Canada, Australia and the USA, (Novice, Technician and General class, not simply a recent "no code-tech"), as well as several periods of employment as an RF technician for Motorola Canada and USA) and my hope/belief that it was simply a cable tie or other non electronic item that had come loose, I could quickly re-attach and be able to use the detector rather than shipping it back the same day I received it. The decision was also based on the fact that by the letter of the law, their warranty statement that shipped with the unit did not specifically state "opening of this unit renders warranty invalid" and there were no such "tamper indicating" evidence stickers over top of screws to imply as such if not specifically stated in their warranty policy. I was also comfortable paying for any repairs that I could potentially cause if it 'was' proven that my opening of the unit caused said damage.In the end, it was a decision based on my desire to mitigate the potential down-time that Minelab unjustly built into the transaction by shipping it to me in an obvious state of disrepair. Having said that, with all due respect, it is not related to my current issues (re solder balls etc), plays no part in the cause or outcome, I was able to execute my intended action plan (by affixing said item back to original location) and I would prefer to not get into a forensics examination of the wording of their warranty statement (which is where I could see people running with this). I highly discourage anyone opening up any device, item, apparatus etc. during the warranty period, in fact I highly discourage anyone open up anything they experience in life other than doors, windows, containers and access points specifically engineered in such a way as to permit "user maintenance", use, implementation, access to, modification to or removal of said items held within.... oh except... perhaps... occasionally..... open your mind. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lon Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hell Lon I would send it in now its barely keeping up with my obsolete 4000 --Mike C... Hey Mike C long time no see. that is rough swinging that old dinosaur maybe you need to send that thing in for a tune up LOL you seem to leave some behind or maybe it's that nugget finder coil. Good luck this weekend will get in touch when i get back.Lon the bigger nugget 6.4 grams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubstake Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Your right, I use and build some of my own Electronic stuff, and have opened my 2200, and also fied a pocket rocket system for someone else on the forums, I just no that the milar, was told to me to be very easy to break, so I don't have a replacement for the one on the 4000, which work after you plat with the switch, awhile, some times it comes right on, I just used electrical parts spray on it, and then it works fine for a few days. I will be sending it in and let minelab fix since Bill Branin state it would be free. I am by no means a wiz at electronics, but can do basic's. High school electronic's shop. But that was in 1965, things have changed alot since then. Grubstake PS I was not trying to slam you for opening it, I was just trying to say, that for most people, that would be a chance for greater damage to the detector. Grubstake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Horse Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hey JB, how about just adding some more pictures of the girl with ice cream... By the way, was that you?Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbond Posted September 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hey JB, how about just adding some more pictures of the girl with ice cream... By the way, was that you?SteveHi Iron Horse..... You liked that did you? I like ice cream as well.... and I would put up more ice cream pictures but I'm afraid that it would not be appropriate. You see, based on the image you have for an avatar, it would be very inappropriate for me to contribute to the delinquecy of a minor. I hope you understand... besides, a boy of your age should be out playing baseball or soccer, not sitting on the internet looking at ice cream porn..... you have your entire adult life ahead of you ... it's a big big world out there with all sorts of flavors of ice cream to choose from... keep away from that Rocky Road though, it's a doozie. Oh, and I almost forgot to answer your other question.... go into your bedroom grab your baseball bat or glove and throw it at the ceiling above your bed to get that picture of the girl eating the ice cream to detach, bring it in the room your computer is in and hold it up to your monitor as you read this post...... look very very close at the picture to the left of this message.... over there (look at arrow below):<----------------------------------Now look at the ice cream picture..... do you see a resemblance? No? Ok, good.. now go stick the picture back on the ceiling above your bed and have a great evening. Hope that bruise heals soon. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GoldProspectinginOz Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Jennifer. Don't even worry about Doug or anything he posts on your threads. We all know what he is going to say when threads of this nature come up. He just can't seem to help himself. Before long there will be a QED which will be flawless , and never break , and will find more gold than we ever imagined, and have a service center second to none to fix the flawless detector. Then he will endlessly remind us how clever he was to recognize that there is a cheaper, better detector available. We may all have passed on by then of course , or the inventor may pass on before it is finished.----BobWhy was this 4500 sold in this condition?Who did the work?Was the board inspected after the work was done?How many other 4500's like this are out there?doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZNuggetBob Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Why was this 4500 sold in this condition?Who did the work?Was the board inspected after the work was done?How many other 4500's like this are out there?dougDoug If you read ALL this thread, All the answers to your questions are there. AzNuggetBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubstake Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 My 4000 goe's to minelab in Vegas tomarrow, I'm sure Bill Branin will take care of me, we have been chatting by email for several weeks, since I'm going in for heart surgery, I figured tomarrow would be a good time to send it in, hoping its back intime for my hunt with Sandtrap, if not, I'll use the 2200sd. But I confidents in minelab. Grubstake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbond Posted September 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Why was this 4500 sold in this condition?Who did the work?Was the board inspected after the work was done?How many other 4500's like this are out there?dougoh gawd..... here we go again..... please lord, make it stop....Ok Doug, I'll bite... I'm bored anyways...Why was this 4500 sold in this condition?Who knows, I reckon the Minelab warehouse doesn't crack open each unit before shipping to dealers to ensure there's no issues like I've shown. I commend you for your publicly announced planned policy of having your shipping dept rip open each of your new detectors if/when you start up production to ensure this doesn't happen to any of your customersWho did the work?A technician... WHO CARES??? We're not Minelab management nor are we in a position to disipline and this contradicts your "why was it sold" question cus this question implies it was sold fine but got messed up when work was done on itWas the board inspected after the work was done?Well this one burned a few brain cells on my part to work out... but I'm guessing the answer's NO!!! But maybe it was inspected by the shipping dept but they missed it cus they're shippers, not technicians (see above planned policy you offered)How many other 4500's like this are out there?23,435 or have you sold the 4 you bought to reverse engineer to obtain info for "future products", if so, then it's 23,431I see why people play these games with you.. it's kinda fun. Oh... by the way Doug.... per your post at http://goldprospecting.invisionplus.net/?m...;showtopic=4941 where you tell people "I now see the post and pictures have been removed. If anyone else has pictures of shoddy workmanship send them to me I will NOT be censored!"... just an FYI... I'm pretty sure the definition of "Censored" is "not being able to see something"... but I may be wrong... I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.... OH YEAAAAAAAA SNAP SNAP Hmmmm..... let's check...WordNet DictionaryAdj. 1. censored - suppressed or subject to censorship; "the censored press in some countries"Yup... Your the epitome of censored it appears, it doesn't get much more "suppressed" than "You do not have permission to see this image" or a blank white screen like Flickr shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZNuggetBob Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Give Doug a minute he's busy reading. AzNuggetBob Yep Im back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbond Posted September 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Give Doug a minute he's busy reading. AzNuggetBob Yep Im back.Shouldn't take him long.... I deleted all the juicy bits early this morning.... (yes, I kept copies). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GoldProspectinginOz Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Shouldn't take him long.... I deleted all the juicy bits early this morning.... (yes, I kept copies). Too late!doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlakMagnet Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 oh no here we go again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Dorado Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 While poor repair practices are not acceptable, it is my understanding this was a used machine and therefore carried no warranty as the warranty is non transferable. I feel this should have been kept off the forum and dealing between the buyer and seller should have been done in private. While the seller did not do this on purpose, Minelab did not sell you a defective machine. Now you have gone back and removed all of your original posts ????Doc.... you are amazing for that offer! My next new Minelab will be purchased through you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOC Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hi Doc, I do as well believe that Minelab will take care of this situation, I have full faith in that. Thank you for your most gracious offer of a loaner unit. Whilst it is wonderful of you and speaks very highly of your commitment to your customers (and apparently the customers of OTHER dealers as well, as we both know that I bought my 4500 from someone else) I'll decline your offer as I don't think this will take very long for Minelab to resolve once we chat. I will say one thing though.... That was pretty generous what you just offered and it speaks incredibly highly of yourself, your company and this community as a whole. At this point I've only purchased a few items from you (sets of JP's DVD's and other misc goodies) and for you to step up and offer to assist in helping resolve an issue with Minelab (by offering to do what you just did) in my opinion really shines a spotlight on you as both a person and a dealer for Minelab. I'm looking forward to sharing the positive aspects of this experience as much as the negatives when I chat with them tomorrow... and rest assured your offer of assistance to help the Minelab name will be part of that discussion.....Thanks Doc... I'm at a loss for words.... it's been a long time since I've seen customer service like that.... especially when it's for someone else's customer.... Minelab is fortunate to have someone of your calibre as a dealer of their product line.JenniferHey Jen,Thank you for your kind words. I know Steve from Alaska Mining and Diving extremely well, we are very close friends and he is one of my top dealers for Coiltek. So I only did what I know he would do for me. It's just so happens that I have that GPX4500 available and I have not had a chance to get out lately, and if I did want to go out I have a GPX4000 I could use so it's no big deal.The prospecting community here is a pretty small tight knit group, and I have made so many friends, it's like a very large family. Family members help each other out.I've always lent machines to folks who for one reason or another needed one, as long as I knew them and knew I would get it back.I have a customer in California that has gone to Australia twice with his girlfriend and she doesn't have a machine, so I have, on both occasions, gave them a loaner for a couple of weeks no charge.I have three SD2200's that I have here for rental. But if the folks that need to rent them are customers of mine, I don't have the heart to charge them $35 a day for rent. Besides, it's just good business to help customers out when you can.I am sure Minelab will expedite a solution for you.Thanks again, take care!Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hi Jennifer,I don't mind being identified as the culprit in question. One nice thing about being in business for 35 years is you can build up a good reputation for integrity if you always operate on the up and up - which I always do. But even then stuff happens, as this case proves.The unit being second hand is not really an issue. It is a botched repair job, and it will be made good. That is a promise.Doug, you guys really need to chill out. I deal with all the manufacturers, and they all put out a unit now and then that has issues. People are involved, and people make mistakes. What counts is how a company addresses the issues when they arise, and in my personal experience Minelab has always stepped up. I am an avid detectorist, and my world would be a poorer place without Minelab. I'm always amazed that a little company from Australia came out of nowhere and challenged the undisputed leaders in the field on their own turf and now in many ways is the player to beat. You'd think Australians would take pride in that but all you blokes seem interested in is tearing down your own. Being the patriotic jerk I am I'd love to see our US manufacturers whup posterior on Minelab with products that would blow them out of the water and drive them from our shores. But somehow I do not think that is going to happen. The only company likely to replace my GPX-4500 with a better unit is Minelab.Steve Herschbach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubstake Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Wel since I'm going in for heart surgery, I packed up my 4000 and sent it in today by priority mail, I hope they get the switch fixed by the time I'm able to get out, after the surgery. Bill Branin seems like a really nice guy. So I have confidents in minelab. Grubstake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pondmn Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 I agree with Steve's comments. Have patience, understanding and be kind and we will get more in the long run than overvoice our opinions. I am sure Minelab is trying to correct any problems. This type of work is tedious and cannot be rushed. Ask El Dorado what happens when he rushes on custom jewelry, I know the more I rush on a piece of jewelry that I tend to make mistakes in soldering or have other issues. I do not mean to take away from the issues of faulty repair in this response, just ask others to be kind in the face of trying to get a detector repaired properly. Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbond Posted September 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 While poor repair practices are not acceptable, it is my understanding this was a used machine and therefore carried no warranty as the warranty is non transferable. I feel this should have been kept off the forum and dealing between the buyer and seller should have been done in private. While the seller did not do this on purpose, Minelab did not sell you a defective machine. Now you have gone back and removed all of your original posts ????Doc.... you are amazing for that offer! My next new Minelab will be purchased through you!Oh, so shoddy repair work is acceptable as long as it's outside the warranty period? Interesting concepts... I might add that the unit comes with a warranty from the time of the upgrade.... And you're right... Minelab didn't sell me a defective machine, they sold their dealer one... I guess that makes it all better.You all need to stop drinking flourided water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLYrSfnsqb0 The reason I removed SOME of my threads was EXTREEEEEEEEEMLY well documented in one of the more recent posts... if you read it slowly and fully you will realize it was out of concern for Minelab... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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