MINELAB LV

[FlakMagnet]

The problem is local Flak?

[Inhere]

Bob, appears that they should be turning over a few more.

Should take about 20 minutes to swap switches on a 4000, so 4 weeks wait is crazy.

I reckon Minelab should have someone on a plane right now, going over there to

kick some butt.

[Guest sandtrap]

The same with coils. My 8" Minelab Commander coil is going on 2 months in Vegas, waiting to be repaired or replaced.

I'll be at the gold show sunday, with copies of all E-Mails between them and me, talking to the Minelab coil person, if there. I will also be at their airport facility, on monday morning.

We need a Minelab Tea Party ??

[Allen in MT]

1st part of this year I took a friend in to have his 4500 repaired. 2 days afterward when he turned it on it went up in smoke.

Later I took mine in to be updated and spent the night in Vegas, when I got back to Morristown, AZ and went to use it, nothing, had to send it back in. Yes it is frusterating to say the least.

Allen in MT

[dlbeddow]

If I could've got my 2100 back in 2 weeks or 2 months and it worked, I'd be a happy camper! It's on its 3rd time being there in the past 7 months. I missed the whole detecting season. I'm glad that DOC could get someone to return a call. Sending an e-mail or leaving a voicemail is just a waste of time. We surely won't be buying anymore Minelab products until Minelab proves they can service them. My husband's 4000 needs the switch upgrade, but we won't be sending it to Vegas not knowing when we'll get it back or if it will work when we get it back. We own 3 Minelab detectors, a whole bag full of Coiltek coils, 2 pocket rocket systems, that might be for sale real soon, because we are about done with Minelab!

[montana]

Perhaps someone should show this thread to the management at Minelab LV . Could it be that they are unaware of the scope of the problem? I get the feeling that they think of service as an irritation and they just want to sell detectors and have that be the end of it since a good service department doesn't seem to be a priority. They've had years to correct the problem but it just seems to be getting worse. With many qualified people out of work, this would be a good time for someone to start an independant service center. Australia has several people doing this. Where are the American entrepeneurs? If succesful Minelab LV could even contract their work out to them. Monopolies tend to breed incompetence and a lax attitude toward customers. DOC. Here's your chance to round up some technicians and expand your business! Think of it. A guy or gal sends in their detector and then says while you are at it throw in a pocket rocket, a couple of coils, a spare power cord etc. in the box when you send it back. It would be extra sales for sure. I'm looking forward to seeing DOCS service center in the future! Don't let this opportunity pass you by. The situation is ripe for a sharp businessman like yourself. If I was younger I would jump on it myself.----Bob

[nuggethunting]

Hey Montana,

I think the reason no one has done it yet is the fact the liabilities. Just say you start your own repair business and start repairing Minelab metal detectors on the side. You get a dozen of them in and 6-8 are easy fixes. Then you get a couple that you can't figure out and maybe you messed it up worse than prior. Trust me, customers tell me all the time Minelab messed up their detectors worse than what it was originally. If you're doing service repairs, this will happen to you also. Now you have all the other headaches that come along with it. I don't think there is much money to be made on small electronic repairs and then the headaches you might face later down the line probably don't make it worth it.

Also, what kind of warranty do you place on your own work? Will Minelab back it? Just things to think about ... it sounds easy and maybe a money maker, but I think this is the reason most have stayed clear of it so far.

Some people have sent in their detectors multiple times and have requested a new one.

Just my thoughts,

Rob Allison

[montana]

Rob. I realize the potential problems, and that is why I suggested possibly contracting with Minelab with their backing which would assure parts availability. Many electronics companies do their service this way.----Bob

[jjbond]

Doc, has pull for sure. Now if he could just get out once in awhile and detect. Without getting lost. He would be perfect. Ha! Ha! Grubstake

PS. DOC it will be along time before I let you live that one down. Never did find your other GPS, prob. Got burned up in the fire.

Doc does have pull but why should we need pull.. Doc, JP and Steve saved me a lot of heartache last year with my 4500 for which I'll be eternally grateful to them all but reading these posts sure concerns me. We shouldn't need to have someone interject on our behalf on a detector costing the same price as a small car.

I don't hear these horror stories out of Australia service and if it's just an American thing then so be it, if I ever have a problem with my 4500 I'll ship it straight to Australia, (to be honest it would go there anyway, not a hope in hell my Minelab products will ever see Las Vegas) but with these kind of reports from Vegas and needing people like Doc to actually walk in there and say "What the hell's going on" they should just shut it down... they're doing more harm to the name than it's worth.. I'm surprised that the Australia office doesn't at least send out some sort of loyalty notice etc if they're having problems, a thank you for your loyalty while we restaff etc... Those of us with Minelab products are a fiercely loyal bunch but in this economy, loyalty has a price.... Minelab's name is worth so much more than having these kind of stupid issues, I hope they pull their head out pretty damn quick cus the other manufactures don't seem to have quite as much negative dialog happening on the web....

Just my thoughts, still a loyal customer and most likely always will be, so Doug, don't even bother trying to quote this and turn it into something it's not...

Jen

[montana]

Doug. Now that is one thing that I totally agree with you on. I'm doing a slow burn because Betsys 4000 is having on/off switch problems even though it has the newer toggle switch ( installed at LV ) and there is no way any of my detectors are ever going back there again. It will go to Woody or Ishmael first. I also agree that one shouldn't need "pull" to get their detector fixed. It should be done quickly and efficiently as they come in. Whoever the tech is now is probably swamped with fixing jobs the last guy botched. Minelab Australia should see to it that the techs at Minelab USA are competant to work on all models, after all their reputation is also tarnished by the shoddy workmanship. This also gives Minelab bashers like yourself ample and legitimate ammunition to continue in your quest, whatever that may be. If and when the QED or other Pi detectors come out and IF they are as good as whatever Minelab is producing at the time , all these people including myself who have been burned will drop their Minelabs like a hot potato and switch . None , and I mean NONE of the other detector manufacturers have such a bad service record. ----Bob

[montana]

Doug. I should have been more clear about sending a detector to a non Minelab repair person. I was referring more to simple repairs like the on/off switch. I recieved a PM from another forum Member saying circuit board work should only be done by Minelab and I agree. The problem has to be poor training on somebodys part like you said. The workings of the GPX has to be incredibly complicated . Maybe the solution would be to replace the whole board rather than trying to replace single components. Since the boards are being mass produced anyway for the manufacture of the GPXs they shouldn't be that expensive and replacing the board shouldn't be too complicated for someone with a reasonable amount of training. This would probably be much quicker also reducing the backlog of repairs. As I recall , when one of the boards on my 3500 had to be replaced it cost me less than $200.00. I think most people would prefer paying a few bucks more for having a whole new board rather than have a cobbled up repaired board. What I don't understand is how a switch replacement has resulted in several detectors coming back really messed up. My freind Bud up in Montana called me the other day and he had sent his GPX4000 in for a new switch and it came back with a blank screen . I felt bad because I had recomended sending it in for the new switch since it intermittantly would have trouble starting up and he wasn't aware that most of the push button switches had been replaced with a toggle switch becaused of sudden failure after intermittant problems. It was gone for over 3 weeks and now it won't work at all. He now has to take a chance on sending it in again and be without his detector for another month? The fact that they can't even put all the screws back in the endcaps is really scary . I don't know how receptive Minelab Australia would be to us all sending our detectors over there for repairs or if anyone has done this. The dealers are caught up in the middle of this since Minelab USA doesn't seem to be responding to emails or phone calls or at best are giving people the runaround. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? -----Bob

[nuggethunting]

Hello Montana and All,

Well Minelab has a Dealers Convention that I will be attending this week. I plan on asking many of these questions to Minelab USA directly in hopes of having some better information for you all. I'm not saying Minelab has dodged my questions, but at the same time I haven't got any straight answers nor have many customers with units in for repair.

Since I've owned and used Minelab detectors (early 90's), I've only had one PI go bad. It was a Minelab GP3000 and the entire board went bad. Like always, I was way away from home and didn't have a backup unit that time.

Cany anyone think of any questions they would like me to ask Minelab directly about their service department, repair tech's or anything else besides when the next detector will be released?

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

[Skipperbill]

Good news. Donna's 2100 came back from LV and this time several parts were replaced and although I can't make out all of the writing it appears a number of checks were made and came out OK. It appears there may now be a more competent tech there. The first time it came back the paperwork said Could not prove fault possible EMI. There was also no further charges other than the first time thru. I feel sorry for Trina having to put up with all us angry customers just because the tech couldn't even tell if a detector was working, let alone fix it. I'll have to get out of the Metro area to be sure it's working, but at least they made a good effort this time.

[JimGilmore]

Please do not jump on me...

There is in my opinion NOTHING about minelab detector that should make them cost what they do.

Even less that they should NOT be able to supply the best service of any company for their cost usnless they are being run by the US government.

I built aircraft, I know wht they cost what they do and I will never be part and parcel to people with that mentality.

More money is spent on gold finding equipment tyhan the gold that is found by them. Those suppling them should put effort behing their products unless they are just doing it for the quick buck.

This my opinion like it love it disagree with it..but It is MY view.

[Reno Chris]

Rob - I heard that the price of a GP4500 is being raised in a few weeks. Is that true?

Chris

[grubstake]

Reno Chris, yeh Rob Posted that they will be going up to $4700.00 in a few weeks. Grubstake

[montana]

Rob. It would be great if you could get some answers. I say a little prayer every time I head out with my detector hoping that nothing will go wrong with it. As you can see from the thread, there are lots of people unhappy with the service department. I know there are many more who don't get on the forums who have had problems , so it isn't just the normal percentage rate of humam error. Hopefully the other dealers will back you up and also request some assurances that something is REALLY being done. This has been going on since the day the 4000s came out and the on/off switches started going bad right away. Dick Schultz was close to retiring at that time and that's when the problems seemed to start. Up until that time the LV service center was praised as being top notch. Good luck and Have fun at the convention!!!!----Bob

[El Dorado]

Got my 4000 back today and am a happy camper now. I will try to give it a test tomorrow, but it looks like rain for the next 3 days, go figure. Thanks Minelab and Doc

[grubstake]

Hey Steve, I went today, not by choise, the pastors wife came over, they had a Civil War reinactment over the weekend up here. She lost here wedding rings, they had broken at the bottom, and she was putting of having them fixed. she put them in her eye glass case. well to make a long story short, they were watching the reinactment and she went to put on her glase's, the rings feel out. That was yesterday, and she only noticed them missing today. So she came over and asked if I would go looking for them. She showed me {about where they were sitting} and I gridded off an area about the size of half a football field. the grass was tall and I looked for over two hours. no rings. Then she remembered she was at someones house last night and opened her glas case there too. As of right now no rings. Just imposible, when she really doen't know where she lost them. but I tried. I may get out tomarrow if the rain is not too bad. But they say rain for the next three days, and snow down to 3500ft. Al gore's weather again! Grubstake

[nuggethunting]

Hello All,

Its great to hear some detectors have been shipped back and working well.

Reno Chris - Yes, Minelab sent all dealers a memo that the GPX-4500 will increase to $4,700 MAP price the beginning of next month. I'm trying to find the memo, must have deleted it.

It's my understanding that the SD2200v2 has been brought back also. I'm still trying to confirm the price is the same as it was - $1,798.95.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

[fredm]

Just one more bit of info...

I sent my 3500 back to Oz last week...the cost was about $65 with minimal insurance. It will cost $60-80 for the return...

and the beat goes on

fred

[PVGOLD]

Steve

Glad to hear that your 4000 made it back.

Hope it's good when you field test. I've

been lucky so far, no problems other than

the coil to box connection, an o ring and

some good contact cleaner is the fix for

that.

Good Luck

Herb

[LuckyLundy]

Steve,

Hey I'm back in business too! As you know I broke my handle and ordered a new one from Rob on Saturday...I got it yesterday and ready to go! Thanks Rob. This rain will stop one of these months.

LuckyLundy

[El Dorado]

Rain broke for a little so I took it out and confirmed Minelab did a fine job. The detector was also having a problem with initial ground balance unil detector was on for 10-15 minutes. They fixed this also.... GRATIS! What more could a guy want..... Thank you Minelab

[montana]

Could it be that they finally got a good tech? I've heard they got rid of the guy that was there for the last 2 years. I won't mention names. Like I said before , it might be that there is a backlog of botched repairs. It's sounding real good with these last few properly done repairs, and I am looking forward to hearing more good news. My 4500 is also slow to ground balance initially and Betsys switch needs repair on her 4000. It will be so nice to be able to trust the repair center again. ----Bob