Lowrance Class action lawsuit

[delcecchi]

It is ironic how a company who is not a sponser on this site seems to always take a bashing. I realize that there are many problems with modern electronics these days, but all companies will have their issues.

For the record I own three different products made by Lowrance and have not had any issues with any of them. I tend to believe that some of the user issues are the fault of the user and not necessarily the fault of the manufacturer. I also do not know of ANY manufacturer that will warranty any product after the warranty has expired.

I have a 334 and a 5xx, which I paid full price for. the 5xx used with the us2 is ok. The 334 is junk, on its third transducer and still marginal in weeds and going from hard to soft bottom. (all updates installed)

Lowrance built some real fecal depth finders for a couple of years, and refused to stand behind them. That may be why they got to the point of needing to be acquired. It makes me sad to see the way they treated their customers.

It will be a while before I buy another product from them.

[hanson]

Former Lowrance user here... when I was buying new electronics a few years ago... the chatter on message boards about Lowrance quality and customer service response was crazy. Nobody was happy. Message boards can be a powerful tool and I bit my tongue and tried something new, which believe me was very difficult being a life long Lowrance user.

Wasn't just the message boards, I've fished as a Co-Angler on the FLW Walleye Tour for 3 years now and its safe to say the 'Bird to Lowrance ratio on pro boats favors Bird significantly. Maybe its just the Johnson Outdoors connection as 90% of the boats are running Minn-Kota. Regardless, the Johnson Outdoors family of products (Minn-Kota, Humminbird, Cannon, and now Lakemaster) is a formidable team. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking Minn-Kota & Humminbird have something big in the works combining trolling motor & GPS technology... I-Pilot on steroids through the Humminbird. Its gonna happen, its too obvious.

Did I also say Lakemaster? The Humminbird specific features that Lakemaster has like Water Level Offset, Shallow Water Highlight, Selectable Depth Ranges are dynamite. Apologize if I've messed the terminology up but the Humminbird/Lakemaster combo is very sweet.

I now run 1197 & 1157 Birds and have never had a single issue with them for 2 years. They are extremely intuitive to operate and have been reliable.

I'm not sure a lawsuit is the best plan of attack but some grass roots marketing can go a LONG way!

[newoodhntr]

I had trouble with my Lowrance units too,spent a hole summer without a detph finder sending it back to lowrance 3 times. Switched to Birds and really like them alot.

[LMITOUT]

For the record I own three different products made by Lowrance and have not had any issues with any of them. I tend to believe that some of the user issues are the fault of the user and not necessarily the fault of the manufacturer.

I agree. Two of my three are 522's and they work great.

[Esox_Magnum]

Can't sayI have ever had an issue with any of my Lowrance or Eagle products that wasnt promptly taken care of by Lowrance, but that was once in 20 years of owning them....I run HDS and my partner HB, he's thinking hard about dumping his for HDS due to the graphing being better on the HDS... The Lakemaster thing don't matter to us since we don't use or like them...

[harvey lee]

Pretty darn lucky Dan that you have those units with no issues. In the last years there have been many very unhappy Lowrance customers and it is fine Lowrance does bot take care of them, as they have lost a huge percentage of them.

Then there was the rudeness of Lowrance to some customers over the phone that was even worse.

It is very sad when a company will pull what they did to Chris but I gues that is how you handle CS at Lowrance.

All Lowrance products did not have issues but the 522 unit was a isuue ridden unit and Lowrance knew it and pretty much did nothing ABout it.

ProAngler, you are not by chance a pro staff for Lowrance are u?

[1johntimm]

So what I'm getting from these posts is buy Hummingbird, and let Lowrance die like they should because of poor customer service as well as poor product.I have a H20 with the second bad cord, and I'm just glad the unit still works after reading these posts.

[LMITOUT]

Pretty darn lucky Dan that you have those units with no issues.

Luck has nothing to do with it. Set them up right and run them in manual like you should anyway and they work just fine.

[harvey lee]

MIne was set up correctly and ran like suggested but still had issues.

Sent it back once and they went through it and fixed it on warranty as there were different issues with it. Worked fine for awhile and then issues again.

Then I sent it back and they said it was all fixed again. Worked for awhile and then it would give false bottom readings.

Talked to a few Lowrance reps and a friend of mine is a Lowrance rep and he said it was all set up correctly. he also stated they had many issues with these units.

Thats my story and I am sticking to it.

I do believe the new HDS units are pretty darn good but I switched as I could not afford any more repair bills and down time.

Then there was my H20, power cords all the time as others have had issues with.

Then it would not aquire a signal. Sent it in and they did fix it and got it back to me pretty fast. Then it had to go back again. Same issue only this time they did get something correct as it has workes now for 2 years.

I do not have a power cord for it as my 3rd one broke. The last one I got from my buddy who reps for Lowrance as he said he had a few left. I do not believe they can be had any longer but that is ok I guess I just have to buy batteries.

With those issues, I cannot see purchaing another Lowrance unit for some time.

[LundProAngler]

ProAngler, you are not by chance a pro staff for Lowrance are u?

No, I can assure you I am not.

My Lowrance units are now out of warranty but continue to work just fine. If I would expierence problems out of warranty I would not expect them to cover anything either. It is nice to know down the road if I do expierence problems Lowrance offers an upgrade to the latest units at a reduced price.

[schweady]

Insulting folks by saying that these issues "are the fault of the user" is a pretty easy out. I'm like a lot of guys here with a driving obsession for proper maintenance of an item. Truth is, there were defects in specific Lowrance products and the company has shown a willingness to let its customers down, either by denying the problem, or providing "fixes" that didn't work, or charging exorbitant fees to work on the defective part, or finally washing their hands of any support for a discontinued -- er... "legacy" -- product such as my ExpeditionC.

So happy that your items still provide satisfactory service. Lucky you.

[TruthWalleyes]

2009 I buy a new unit. 14 months later it fries. I call them and get, "your unit is 2 months out of warranty, but for $586.00 we'll send you a new HDS unit" I got it Sept 27th 2010. Friday that one fries. 14 months. Today I call and get "that unit is only warrantied for 6 months, we can send you a new one for $499.95" I know I'm not the only one. Is anybody out there with a valid story like mine interested in joining in on a lawsuit? Any attorney's want to represent?

I heard that exact horror story when i was looking at buying side imaging or structure scan...It made my decision to buy humminbird quite easy. When my Hbird had difficulties, hbird wanted me to send it in for repair and i requested that they send me a new one, when i receive it i will send in my old unit...Great C.S.

Someone needs to set them straight, but i think eventually they will lose their business due to others better customer service.

[TruthWalleyes]

It is ironic how a company who is not a sponser on this site seems to always take a bashing. I realize that there are many problems with modern electronics these days, but all companies will have their issues.

For the record I own three different products made by Lowrance and have not had any issues with any of them. I tend to believe that some of the user issues are the fault of the user and not necessarily the fault of the manufacturer. I also do not know of ANY manufacturer that will warranty any product after the warranty has expired.

Marcum sure will!

They repaired my flasher for free 1 year out of warranty! Good Company!

[Surface Tension]

Any manufacturer is gong to have a hiccup along the way.

It is what they do to correct that.

MarCum had a bad batch of transducers one year.

HSO members knew what to do because they read it here and it wasn't brushed under the table.

Thank You MarCum for your great customer service.

What did they do, they replaced them and not with the same bad batch.

I've got older Lowrance and Eagle sounders and they are still working.

I've had some new sounders that had problems shortly after they were used and were taken care of while under warranty.

One of those problems was with their transducers and it was replaced twice under warranty. Since then I've bought 2 more of their ducers. The forth is starting to fail. I ask you this, did Lowrance change the ducers or kept sending me the ones that were going to fail again.

What about the HSO powercords? Getting feedback from the consumer is important and I did that in private.

Let me add that discontinuing a failed product after a short stint with no chance of repair by the manufacturer is not good either. In the end the above practices are not good for consumer confidence.

Having said all that, You can bet Lowrance is striving to regain that consumer confidence, good rep, and reliability they have been known for. There is no doubt Lowrance is continuing to make advances in technology as well.

[LundProAngler]

Glad to hear your great customer service story with Marcum, that is always good news when manufactures stand behind their products.

I do realize Lowrance has had issues with their customer service over the past few years, but I think they have made changes within the last year or so to improve their customer service. If not, they will be probably be out of business.

My only hope is whatever brand anyone chooses to buy, and if there are issues, the manufacturer should stand behind their product.

[FM_Mike]

I also do not know of ANY manufacturer that will warranty any product after the warranty has expired.

Marcum sure will!

They repaired my flasher for free 1 year out of warranty! Good Company!

Lets be fair here. To compare a flasher with either a HB or Lowrance is a little of a strech don't you think.

I don't know ANY of the Finder/Gps companies, HB, Lowrance, Simrad, Garmin, that will warranty a product, for free 1 year after the warranty expired.

I sorry anyone who spends money for electronics and they fail after the warranty period. That Su*ks.

But, products fail. Mine did and I was offered a replacement on a NEW Current product and mine was 2 years out of warranty. I think that goes WELL beyond what anyone, even I expected. Totally fair and stand up as far as I'm concerned. I found no reason to bash a company that was more than fair on an out of warranty unit. Thats just my experience.

Mike

[Scott K]

I have gone a few rounds with Lowrance as well, wasnt a pleasant one. I too cant get a duecer to last me a year on my unit. Oh well, just a nice push for me to upgrade to a 1198 this year.

[schweady]

Any manufacturer is gong to have a hiccup along the way.

It is what they do to correct that.

MarCum had a bad batch of transducers one year.

HSO members knew what to do because they read it here and it wasn't brushed under the table.

Thank You MarCum for your great customer service.

What did they do, they replaced them and not with the same bad batch.

Absolutely right. I had one of those on my LX-3 giving me trouble and all I had to do is call Marcum and tell them that I had one of the "shiny-bottomed" transducers -- like black patent leather -- that I had heard about right here on fm. No questions asked, I had a replacement at my door in 2 days. "What should I do with the defective one?" ... "Throw it away."

[TruthWalleyes]

I have gone a few rounds with Lowrance as well, wasnt a pleasant one. I too cant get a duecer to last me a year on my unit. Oh well, just a nice push for me to upgrade to a 1198 this year.

YOU WILL NEVER LOOK BACK

[harvey lee]

The issue to me Pro Angler is that with both the Lowrtance units I had, they were warranted and then shortly there after, same issues so I would say they never did fix the issue when the units were sent in as the same problems arose again.

The I paid to have my 522 repaired and then again the same issue. Nothing like not addressing the real issue. Then I sent it in again and we had it out on the phone and they charged me $200 to fix the unit. I used it for a few months and it was working fine and then I bought a Bird and sold the 522 to a buddy as I thought all was well with the unit.

Needless to say, a short bit later he had issues with the unit and the same issues again.

Boy, Lowrance left me looking like an a$$.

No Lowrance products for me again even at half the price.

[Chris Haley]

Well fair is fair! I came on here and told everybody how mad I was. Now I'm coming on here to tell everybody about the phone call I just got. Seems that after a closer look. My unit was one of the very 1st ones made that had bad seals in the screen. They are sending me a brand new unit and extending the warranty out an additional 6 months to cover the next open water season.

This is a fair resolution to my issue and I no longer feel that Lowrance owes me anything pertaining to this issue!!!

Sure glad I didn't just lay down and take it!

Thank you Lowrance!!

[401TE]

Well fair is fair! I came on here and told everybody how mad I was. Now I'm coming on here to tell everybody about the phone call I just got. Seems that after a closer look. My unit was one of the very 1st ones made that had bad seals in the screen. They are sending me a brand new unit and extending the warranty out an additional 6 months to cover the next open water season.

This is a fair resolution to my issue and I no longer feel that Lowrance owes me anything pertaining to this issue!!!

Sure glad I didn't just lay down and take it!

Thank you Lowrance!!

Good for you! I'd be willing to bet someone sent Lowrance Customer Service an email with a link to this thread.

I've had a LCX-27C and LMS-520C for 3 years with no issues (knock on wood) other than a GPS puck going bad.

[schweady]

Way to go, Chris! That's gotta be a good feeling. Now, if only they would announce that they found a hidden stash of their handhelds to offer in exchange for all of those broken units out there...

[harvey lee]

That's fantastic Chris. Great to hear Lowrnace is standing behind all your issues.

[Esox_Magnum]

Good deal Chris, there is a reason Lowrance won an award this year for their service....