Marcum customer service kinda poor..should I be worried?

[Swill]

Hello all
Well Cny Tim and many others have sold me on the LX3 and so far I love it. Well I decided to call Marcum today to find out if charging my battery in the garage will hurt the unit. The lady who answered the phone was rude and she just read back the little instruction book that Marcum includes in the box to me! When I asked to be put on hold for tech assitance she came back on later and was like" well you can use it on the ice and it has a soft pack so yeah you can charge it in the garage.." Huh?
That is a weak answer! I could wing that! I am now debating returning the LX# for the FL18 cuz these guys seem a little fly by night. But I LOVE THE LX3!

Was this call a sign or should I just trust my 2 year warrenty and keep charging it inside???

Oh yeah she answered the phone as Outdoor viewing systems? again I went Huh?

I talked to a mary at 763-271-1988

What do you fishmaster think?

[Xplorer]

Swill,
I believe that markum is the parent company of OVS cameras, as in OVS400 and 500 underwater camera's.
Cant help on the flasher issue. Xplorer

[Pig_sticka]

swill should have went with the fl 18
good luck on finding the answer, i dont see a problem with charging it in the garage just dont put your battery on the cold cement or anything.

[Grabs]

Cold cement is a HUGE myth. It will not cause any damage to your battery, or batteries of any kind.

[Pig_sticka]

i was just sayin that cuz it would be able the coldest place in the garage if your worried about temp. didn't even know it was a myth or anything

[CNY Tim]

Swill - I just got off the phone with Bonnie and she answered the phone as MarCum. I discussed with her about the situation that you had with Mary and she apologized. The technicians are at a show that they will be doing the next few days and she should have taken your name and phone number, generally it takes no longer than a few days for them to get back with you. Bonnie is really nice and I found out a few things about the company as well, good things. MarCum has no intention of selling there company. The LX-3's are assembled and manufactured in Illinois. They are so busy back filling orders now it's been incredible the amount of sales thus far, well above expectations. Just for kicks and grins I asked if they have received any complaints about the LX-3's and the only complaints they were getting were on one of the cables for the OVS viewing system. ABSOLUTELY ZERO ON THE MARCUM... So be careful what you read in here there are a lot of Vexilar faithful that like to stir the pot.
When I get a chance to talk to Paul again I will mention this web site. Maybe he can jump in and post more data on the MarCum and what's been going on at the company.
So far so good with my LX-3. I will be back after the sumo perch again in the morning.
Good luck and good fishing,...

[Guest]

CNY Tim
I don't mean to put marcum down but do you think for a second they are going to tell you there unit has problems? I have already had to return one so that means i am the first to have trouble with one ?I dont think so.
I have only used this new one one day now so we will see how it goes.
The LX-3 has far better seperation than my FL-18 does tho.Just wish they would have picked diff colors.
That soft case if worthless as far as i am concerned.When standing up it covers the top of the screen.

[Guest]

Swill,

I'd trust my "Gut" and not expect Marcum to get any better. Not being able to fill back-orders is NOT a good thing for any company--it could mean they don't have enough free $$ to meet production goals and that can spell doom for any organization--I'm not saying this is the case for Marcum, but the other issues, e.g. poor customer service, etc. all add up to a company that is not organized or managed properly.

If they were truly profitable and wanted to provide their loyal customer's with a better product and especially post-purchase support, they'd invest some of their $$ in a customer contact center with real support agents, not some over-worked receptionist.

I read a thread the other day that someone had met the owner of Marcum and he said they had no plans to expand the company--warning!

Again, I'm not saying this is the case with Marcum, just some things to think about.

[Guest]

Another point of view.

First off, CNY Tim thanks for trying to inform us on your experiences. I have been using a Colorpoint for four years, and added an LX-3 the beginning of this season. I bought the LX-3 because I perfer the thin line display of the Colorpoint, to each thier own right? So far after dragging the LX-3 through the Canadian bush on a snowmobile I couldn't be happier with both its performance and its durability, oh well to each thier own.

I really wanted to respond to the MarCum post above. After reading many of the posts I would guess that MarCum is a small group of engineers designing a product. They don't need to get bigger, because it sounds like they are using an industry standard "Contract Manufacturing" method to get thier products produced. In the Networking industry (multi billion dollar sector) this is common practice. You design a product and hire a professional (better cost containment)company to manufacturer your product for you. Typically you forecast a bill of materials for the parts you need, and then purchase so much manufacturering capacity to build your needed product. If you way out sell your forecast, you need to re-forecast the materials you need to the parts suppliers, and believe me in these days of a tight technology economy, no one is building parts just to put them on the shelf, and then you need to purchase more manufacturing capacity. So in today's world of just in time manufacturing a low forecast will lead to back orders, it just the nature of the beast, not an indication of a companies health. Now if in two seasons they can't forecast demand, that's another story. Customer Service, well in todays world more and more of that is also outsourced, and MarCum will need to decide how they will deal with that need, build it in house and drive up the cost, or hire someone to handle it for them. right now I am guessing they are simply focused on getting the product built for the demand, thats what pays the bills so they can afford to build a better customer support model.

After watching the Telecom industry eat it self up the last few years, I understand that not every company needs to be a giant, and if MarCum wants to stay small, use a proven method to make and deliver products, can get the Customer Service thing on track, More power to them.

k

[This message has been edited by Koocher (edited 01-17-2003).]

[kwkfsh]

Koocher 1 Chells 0

[icedog]

I have worked for engineering driven companies myself and though many can design a good product there is more to being successful than this one aspect. I too had a "curious" incident with Marcum. I e-mailed their listed address asking them if I could adapt (I was an electonic tech for 10 years) a Vex dual beam ducer to work on the LX-3 since I prefer this setup. My concern was the 1500W power output of the LX-3. After 3 e-mails that totally confused the issue I gave up. Seems they do have a well designed product (hey, everybody has a return once in awhile), but Marcum has not shored up the customer service side of the biz. I would guess that if that doesn't get corrected they won't need much more CM space.
doggone

[Guest]

Ice dog
I had exactly the same idea of using the vex ducer on the LX-3. It should work i would think as they are both 200khz.The power issue of the LX-3 is what has been holding me up too.
In no way was i trying to say the LX-3 is not good.I think i am going to learn to like it as well or better than the FL 18 as soon as i get that narrower beam working .
Please let me know if you get the combo working together as i think it will be ideal.

Marv

[Guest]

Kwik,

I agree with the "Textbook" rendition from Koocher of JIT Manufacturing.

We're not living in a vacuum, however. If I'm not mistaken, the truth is that this post was started by a person who had his first post-sale experience not go so well--this is real and true--theory of Manufacturing principles don't apply in this vein, and they are just that--theory.

This isn't a contest--try to remember that one must weigh decisions based on reality and truth...

------------------
Chells

[Swill]

This is a tought decision but I am going to stay with Marcum and keep the LX3. My gut says I should be a little worried, but it also says I should of eaten more then some cereal this morning so who knows...

I still hate it when companies don't invest in good customer service. I would rather wait for 30 minutes to talk to one dude who really knows the product rather then get an immediate response from someone who you can tell has never even seen a LX3 in person.

Thanks everyone for the great posts! I will be using this forum for years to come (as long as rick keeps the site up) so hopefully I will never have to post the "angry icon" dude about marcum for screwing me over!!

Only time will tell....