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Tom Tom Support Misleading Customers Regarding WAAS?
posted by Satri
on Monday May 14, @09:55AM
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from the always-ask-two-doctors dept.
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from the always-ask-two-doctors dept.
This is not major, but the following story reminds me of always double-checking information even when asking the source or experts. A friend of me is shopping for a satellite navigation system. Being said that Tom Tom is a very popular seller, my friend looked at their products and wondered why their GPS-SatNav do not support WAAS while many cheap handheld GPS do (example here). He asked Tom Tom support team about the lack of WAAS support for their GO910 product. I copied below the answer he got. This answers directly copies large chunks from the WAAS wikipedia page but that's not a problem to me, what is however, is how misleading the answer is. Am I the only one who feels this response does not tell us why WAAS is not supported and is misleading the customer to believe such support is full of "drawbacks and critical limitations" and "Many competitors’ least expensive receivers have a suggested retail price of approximately US$10,750." while these mainly applies to airborne industry?
*****
Subject
GO 910 and WAAS
*****
Discussion Thread
Response (STCR [name removed]) 05/08/2007 01:22 PM
Greetings [name removed],
Thank you for contacting our Support department. We appreciate your recent inquire expressing your interest on your navigator's limitations in regards to WAAS technologies.
When it comes to the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), you must already know that it is an extremely accurate navigation system developed for civil aviation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a division of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT).
The system augments the Global Positioning System (or GPS) to provide the additional accuracy, integrity, and availability necessary to enable users to rely on GPS for all phases of flight, from en route through GLS approach for all qualified airports within the WAAS coverage area.
But unfortunately, for all its benefits, WAAS is not without drawbacks and critical limitations. Aircraft conducting WAAS approaches must possess certified receivers, which are much more expensive than commercial units. Many competitors’ least expensive receivers have a suggested retail price of approximately US$10,750.
Essentially, we do not sale items with the W.A.A.S. compatibility that you need at this time; and additionally we do not currently have definitive information regarding when your request will be on the market. We will let you know through the TomTom newsletters when this information becomes available.
You can subscribe to receive the required newsletters by following the steps given below:
Registering your e-mail address to receive TomTom newsletters:
1. Log in on our website (http://www.tomtom.com)
2. Click "My Profile"
3. Select all the newsletters of your choice in the next page
4. Click "Update account" at the bottom of the page.
Now you will be registered to receive the newsletters of your choice.
Thanks for choosing TomTom as your portable navigation system, & don't hesitate to contact us for further assistance via e-mail or please call us at 1-866-486-6866 (Monday through Saturday 8:30 am to 7:00 pm EST). At TomTom we believe in showing you the way, the easy way.
Kind Regards,
___________________________________
ßen & the TomTom Customer Support Team
*****
Customer ([name removed]) 05/07/2007 03:39 PM
Hi,
Does the Go 910 support WAAS like many competitors?
Thanks.
Subject
GO 910 and WAAS
*****
Discussion Thread
Response (STCR [name removed]) 05/08/2007 01:22 PM
Greetings [name removed],
Thank you for contacting our Support department. We appreciate your recent inquire expressing your interest on your navigator's limitations in regards to WAAS technologies.
When it comes to the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), you must already know that it is an extremely accurate navigation system developed for civil aviation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a division of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT).
The system augments the Global Positioning System (or GPS) to provide the additional accuracy, integrity, and availability necessary to enable users to rely on GPS for all phases of flight, from en route through GLS approach for all qualified airports within the WAAS coverage area.
But unfortunately, for all its benefits, WAAS is not without drawbacks and critical limitations. Aircraft conducting WAAS approaches must possess certified receivers, which are much more expensive than commercial units. Many competitors’ least expensive receivers have a suggested retail price of approximately US$10,750.
Essentially, we do not sale items with the W.A.A.S. compatibility that you need at this time; and additionally we do not currently have definitive information regarding when your request will be on the market. We will let you know through the TomTom newsletters when this information becomes available.
You can subscribe to receive the required newsletters by following the steps given below:
Registering your e-mail address to receive TomTom newsletters:
1. Log in on our website (http://www.tomtom.com)
2. Click "My Profile"
3. Select all the newsletters of your choice in the next page
4. Click "Update account" at the bottom of the page.
Now you will be registered to receive the newsletters of your choice.
Thanks for choosing TomTom as your portable navigation system, & don't hesitate to contact us for further assistance via e-mail or please call us at 1-866-486-6866 (Monday through Saturday 8:30 am to 7:00 pm EST). At TomTom we believe in showing you the way, the easy way.
Kind Regards,
___________________________________
ßen & the TomTom Customer Support Team
*****
Customer ([name removed]) 05/07/2007 03:39 PM
Hi,
Does the Go 910 support WAAS like many competitors?
Thanks.
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Tom Tom Support Misleading Customers Regarding WAAS?
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Liability?
(Score:2, Funny)( http://www.rutgersfood.com/ )
that's funny
(Score:2, Interesting)Re:that's funny
(Score:3)( http://alexandreleroux.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Friday March 17, @05:07PM )
This strange and wrong answer can be attributed to one person of their support team, not necessarily representative of their whole support team. Maybe TomTom has good support, I don't know, but this example is not in their favor...
Standards, standards, standards.
(Score:2, Interesting)( http://www.remotesensingtools.com/ )