I rely on TomTom technology for navigation.

• The software is brilliant
  
• Up to date traffic details have saved me hours.

However a recent problem in downloading maps left me totally unhappy with their support service.

Lessons Learned

Problems started when I need to update my maps on my GO 910. These were a year or two out of date.

So on their web site a paid for a fresh update.

What I did not notice was their miserly 7 day refund policy.

Lesson 1 – Install TomTom products quickly after paying for them. If you get a problem after 7 days they are non too keen to issue a refund.

When I came to use TomTom Home to download the maps – I hit a major problem – download did not work.

As I reported to TomTom…

“I have paid for a new UK/Europe Map. But I cannot download it via TomTom Home. I have spent two hours on this without success.

I have uninstalled and re-installed TomTom Home. TomTom Home starts and finds the device ok.

I can also successfully login via TomTom Home. The online store and subscribe to traffic screens also work ok.

But whenever I click “Download your updates” it reports “There was a problem contacting TomTom Plus. Please try again later.”

I have tried downloading with my virus software disabled (Kaspersky) but still no luck.

Please get you help me download maps. This is quite urgent for us.”

I tried to download

• Via different PCs (XP and Vista)
• Via a phone line.
• With and without virus software

I also re-installed TomTom Home with the latest downloaded version.

All without success.

There then followed several discussions.

The support staff suggested everything. One suggested I visit an Internet café (brilliant!!). Several suggested my router was at fault.

I suggested the system at their end was at fault. They said this could not possibly be the problem.

Eventually I tried setting up a new account via their web site. This was my idea – and not one of their support staff had the initiative to suggest this. Then bingo! Download were fine.

But I was left with a problem. My new maps and other TomTom software was left tied to the old account.

So several more days elapsed before they agreed to transfer most items to the new account.

After all this, there was not the slightest sign of humility or a refund or apology.

So some further lessons here:

Lesson 2 – You need to make additional requests to get their attention. They say they respond to emails within 24 hours – frequently they do not.

Lesson 3 – Don’t expect the Support staff to pay much attention to your problem investigation or analysis – They will not. They will always believe “They know best” – Sadly they do not.

Lesson 4 : Your TomTom account might be screwed up and this will prevent downloads – To check this try setting up a new account and see if that works