PLUS traffic is broken

[dhn]

Well, good for you for reporting them (especially since TomTom North America is located in Concord, Mass.)

Small steps ........

 

[dervari]

I just thought maybe hearing from a "semi-official" body would possibly light a fire under someone in the corporate office. Figured it woudln't hurt to come at it from a different angle.

 

[mvl]

And they're owning up to a server bug out of the gate, too. That's better than it was.

BTW, after a few days with the traffic antenna:
1) it seems a few minutes more delayed than PLUS was. PLUS seemed to be 3-5 minutes late, and the antenna seems to be about 10 minutes late
2) it doesn't combine IQroutes data, so it reports incidents as IQroutes slowness + RDS slowness, meaning it overstates the duration of most delays. PLUS used to do that, but they fixed it on the server end a few months ago

The antenna is certainly a good backup, well worth $13. But working plus traffic would be much better.

 

[doctormstein1]

I filed a complaint with the Boston Area BBB and Tomtom actually replied:

We received the following response from the business to your complaint.
Problem adjusted: No
Type of adjustment: No Adjustment
Mr. XXX has contacted the BBB in regards to an issue he is currently having with his TomTom Plus Services. At this time TomTom is aware of the current traffic issue with plus services and are currently working towards a fix. We do not have an ETA on when this issue will be fixed, however we are working towards a solution. The issue is not the TomTom device but how the information is gathered and how it?s disseminated. Once this issue is resolved we will work with Mr. XXX to get this feature working again.

Thanks for the idea, I just filed a complaint to the BBB also online. Very easy to do. I would recomnend others on this forum to do the same You just enter the name and address and location of tomtom in concord Mass and follow the yellow brick road.

 

[Germerican]

I just filed a complaint with the BBB as well. This is just plain ridiculous. If I had known at the time that Plus Traffic would be out for over a month I would have just returned my unit and replaced it with a Live device. Of course back then I didn't expect this would last as long as it has and now I'm no longer eligible to return the unit for a full refund.

 

[dervari]

I'm hoping that if the corporate office gets enough inquiries from the BBB they may put more pressure on the project managers to bump the PLUS problem up on the priority list.

 

[Germerican]

I received a response from TomTom in regards to the complaint I filed with the MA BBB within hours of submitting the complaint.

This is what I requested TomTom to do in my complaint:

Since this is a paid service I expect TomTom to fix this issue as soon as possible (I would expect to be given a time frame) or otherwise refund the cost of the GPS unit, as well as the PLUS services I am subscribed to or replace the unit with a LIVE enabled device.

This is what I got:

Mr. xxxxxxx has contacted the BBB in regards to his Plus Traffic Service. Mr. xxxxxxx has been refunded the cost of the traffic service in full as requested. We cannot give a time frame as to when the issue Mr. xxxxxxx is seeing will be corrected. In regards to the request to be refunded the cost of the TomTom unit, we are unable to provide any refund for the GPS unit as it was not purchased directly through TomTom. Mr. xxxxxxx would need to contact Amazon.com for any type of refund for the GPS unit as this is where the unit was purchased.

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this. Yes, they refunded the cost of the traffic service (although there is no refund in my bank account yet) but that service was the only reason for me to purchase this unit to begin with. Had I known in August what I know now, I would have returned the GO 630 and perhaps purchased a 740 LIVE. I would estimate that I used my unit 95% of the time for my commute to and from work. Without traffic service this device is pretty much useless to me.

I'm currently contemplating how to respond to this. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mvl]

The $13 ebay antenna works well has a stopgap for me. Does the 630 have the round antenna plug?

 

[Germerican]

I think it does have the round antenna plug, however, I contacted Amazon and they said they'd make an exception and offer a full refund if I returned the unit, which is what I'm going to do.

The only question is what to do next? Should I get the 740 Live? I have a remote for my 630, would it work with the 740? Or should I take my business elsewhere?

 

[Germerican]

Also, I realize this is OT, but can someone tell me how I can ensure that no identifiable information is left on the unit when I return it? When I reset to factory setting, what information is left on the unit?

 

[mikealder]

Open the file ttgo.bif which is in the root of the device and see if any of your details can be found in there - You can open this file by right clicking it and selecting Open With/ NotePad - Mike

 

[dervari]

Unfortunately, I can't return mine because it was obtained with Amex rewards points. LOL

You know, I wonder what TomTom would do if we requested to be shipped a RDS traffic antenna free of charge? I'd much rather deal with one USB connection than two. Cleaner install. I have to worry about removing it because I park at work in a parking deck and two connectors is a PITA.

 

[Germerican]

I would be interested in knowing what the status of other people's BBB complaint is.

I just got an e-mail from the BBB, which stated: Company offered a partial (less than 100%) settlement which the consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to the BBB.

The funny thing is that I wasn't given the opportunity to acknowledge anything. Anyway, I was now able to submit a rebuttal, which I did. Since Amazon was kind enough to take the GO 630 back for a full refund, even though 30 days had passed, I am requesting that TomTom also refund the cost for my Fuel Services subscription, since I can no longer use it.

The 740 Live is about $298 at Amazon right now so I'm considering going for it. I've always been pretty happy with TomTom until this traffic issue came around. Since the traffic feature is the most important feature of all for me I'd be willing to dish out a little more $ for a service that actually works. Still debating...

 

[mvl]

The 740 Live is about $298 at Amazon right now so I'm considering going for it. I've always been pretty happy with TomTom until this traffic issue came around. Since the traffic feature is the most important feature of all for me I'd be willing to dish out a little more $ for a service that actually works. Still debating...

The 740 is far and above the best traffic GPS available right now in the US. If that's your primary concern, go get it.

There are possibly competing offerings from Garmin and others, and the 340 LIVE from Tomtom, that are coming soon. But nothing right now.

 

[dervari]

I am sending TomTom a certified letter today asking for them to either:

1) Replace my unit with a GO740
2) Provide an RDS antenna at no charge

The units were sold, and are still being sold, advertising PLUS traffic in their literature, website, and on the packaging. Since the traffic is no longer working, and at this point we're not completely sure that it ever WILL work again, I'm sending this to see what their response is.

Their TOS states that they can terminate any subscription service with 30 days notice. We were NOT given 30 days notice, so TomTom violated their own TOS.

On a sidenote, I wonder if traffic works on an out of the box 730 that hasn't been upgraded?

 

[gatorguy]

I have to mostly agree with MVL that the 740, along with the Telenav Shotgun, currently have the most timely traffic reporting for standalone pnd's, particularly in dense metro areas. Up until about three weeks ago, the Shotgun's traffic was a bit better IMHO (uses Inrix) and is still presented more to my liking. I'm fairly certain that TT has now augmented TrafficCast data, which was OK but not great, with the much better and wider-ranging Inrix. I do now get at least a few local traffic events, whereas I used to get none. In comparison, the Shotgun offers nothing local either. MSNDirect still has more local data, but isn't nearly as timely and thus less dependable. Traffic conditions can change in 10 minutes or less and the 740 (and Shotgun) can deliver it faster than MSNDirect. My only new recent complaint is that the traffic service has not been as reliable over the past week. Three of the past 5 days have had significant periods, sometimes more than an hour, that the traffic application is not working. There's always been a few very short periods a week where, for some reason, traffic was not available even tho the other live apps were.. The past week it's been more of a habit and the down times have been longer.

When the nuvi 1690 Live starts shipping, the traffic wars will probably get serious. Early reports from those that have used it indicate that Navteq Live Traffic on that device is very good and presented well (In addition it offers a lot more live apps). Remains to be seen how it pans out once real users start reporting in. The 740 may still have the upper hand with traffic. At least for now, if traffic reporting is your primary concern I'd probably look at the 740's first. If it's not an urgent matter, waiting to see what TT and some of the others do with the service over the next 60-90 days might be beneficial.

 

[dervari]

But..what is the price point on the Nuvi going to be? I'd wager and say $500. They've always been a little too proud of the AIO units for my personal taste.

 

[gatorguy]

Correct. Right at $500, list price (probably cheaper at on-line retailers). But no subscription fees for two years, so overall the nuvi 1690 is cheaper than any of the current or recently announced live devices with subscription for that same two years. After that the nuvi live subscription is $5/mo. That's why there's been a lot of discussion in some forums that TomTom may have to reduce the price of their live services and add some additional apps to compete.

 

[doctormstein1]

Correct. Right at $500. But no subscription fees for two years, so overall the nuvi 1690 is cheaper than any of the current or recently announced live devices with subscription for that same two years. After that the nuvi live subscription is $5/mo. That's why there's been a lot of discussion in some forums that TomTom may have to reduce the price of their live services to compete.

The day that this pricing was announced I email tomtom this infomation. It will be interesting when the 9xx comes out if pricing will change. Tomtom has to be competative but we'l see.

 

[mvl]

I haven't seen any evidence that Navteq Traffic Patterns will be on a 1690. Without that technology (which imitates IQroutes), the 1690's live traffic won't give as good directions as a 740.

I also doubt Garmin and Tomtom will share probe data with each other, but I wouldn't be surprised if AT&T sells its cellphone probes to both of them. Any feedback returned by either device will be a drop in the bucket compared to the full cell probe ubiquity.

Garmin has a different philosophy of traffic display (see here, Garmin shows traveler mode while Tomtom shows commuter mode). Like many other things with Tomtom vs Garmin, it depends on what you're used to. I feel the Tomtom/commuter mode is a much better presentation of traffic.