Customer Support No More

[schinkr1]

A long time ago, Lowrance had a horrible reputation for support, but turned it around. I was their biggest advocate and supporter for turning those issues around and having awesome support for so many years. It's almost non-existent now. Had a transducer under warranty go bad last year and gave up and bought a new one because support was so bad. Dealing with a different/bad transducer now and can't get in touch. Every time I try to call I'm mid 20's or higher in the queue and have to drop after an hour+ of waiting. 5 days ago, I decided to try their online support. Got an auto response with a case number, but have not heard a thing since.

I'm not a big fan of these types of posts, but their history of great service was a big factor in staying with the brand. I'm all in on Lowrance products and regretting it.

[MichaelJ3]

A long time ago, Lowrance had a horrible reputation for support, but turned it around. I was their biggest advocate and supporter for turning those issues around and having awesome support for so many years. It's almost non-existent now. Had a transducer under warranty go bad last year and gave up and bought a new one because support was so bad. Dealing with a different/bad transducer now and can't get in touch. Every time I try to call I'm mid 20's or higher in the queue and have to drop after an hour+ of waiting. 5 days ago, I decided to try their online support. Got an auto response with a case number, but have not heard a thing since.

I'm not a big fan of these types of posts, but their history of great service was a big factor in staying with the brand. I'm all in on Lowrance products and regretting it.

I got in at 26 the other day and it was indeed 1.5 hours, but I did get a person...who was unable to help.
I have been escalated to level 2, with my online case...they were supposed to contact me a week ago..have not heard back yet.
I pestered them again today...no dice so far...

Net, I agree, the support is lacking.
I think the master plan is to get more delaers and have people get support from the dealer vs. the mother ship.
This would be consistent w/ Brunswick (who now owns Lowrance) and how they do their other support...you can't call Mercury or MotorGuide for support direct either...its through the dealers.

Does that make it "good?" No...

[OkieBud]

when they was in Tulsa for years they had Linda Colt and SHE WAS THE BEST.. Everyone Loved her for all she would do to help you out.. Their C/S was Top Notch..

[justinp61]

Guys, for the most part I've had good luck with their CS. Yes, there are times I've been on hold, but usually not very long.

[MBDiagMan]

Well, the customer support is indeed degrading. At the next upgrade, I will almost certainly be doing a total change to Garmin. I use Garmin in my airplanes and their support is nothing short of excellent.

[78Staff]

Linda was the standard all CS should be measures against - Lowrance ruffled many a angler when they let her go.

I've had decent CS from the Ghost Support side, but the HDS/Software side is horrible, and has been for some time.

I've also been moving away from Lowrance - I've still got the Ghost and a few HDS's but have switched to HB for 360 and Garmin for FFS. At this point, the only thing keeping me from completely ripping Lowrance off the boat (other than the $$$$ required ie for a new TM) is their waypoint management, and SS3D. But, I've been tempted to put my Fortrex back on at times, tbh. And as others have mentioned, I don't think my "next boat" will have any Lowrance on it.

[Basshopper]

[Jeeper92]

I dealt with support a year ago for my HDS carbon having issues. If you call on a Monday the line is really long. Wild guess here...it's probably cause everyone fishes on the weekend and that's when something is likely to break. If you call later in the the week the lines were much smaller.

They did good by me. I had to send the carbon in, it still under the 2 year warranty. They looked, and sent me an HDS pro back. Overall I was pretty happy.

[Rangerdeepv]

Have had my HD Touch II and Elite TI2s for a few years now followed by a Ghost 3 years ago. It is seeing things like this that prevent me from getting their FFS and going all in again on their products. There is a couple Lowrance service centers close to where I use my boat but still would be nice to have a great CS option. Youtube and a few posts here usually solve the problem for me so far.

[schinkr1]

Well, here is the update. Opened my ticket on May 8th (15 days ago). I followed up on May 13th, spending 2 hours and 23 minutes in queue. May 14th they sent my case to warranty for replacement and I got an email stating they would be in touch within 2 business days. 9 days later, after I sent 2 follow ups with no responses, I called again and spent another 2 hours on the phone. They tried everything to say it was not covered. I had to send the receipt for my boat purchase that showed it came with an HDS 9, HDS 12 and Ghost, but it did not show the 2-in-1 transducer, so they proceeded to say it was not covered since I couldn't prove I purchased it, then she asked for the SN of my HDS9, which is on the bow, not connected to the bad transducer. Once I found it, she said she no longer needed it. I was finally able to convince her that I didn't buy a brand new boat equipped with all Lowrance products and not purchase a transducer. So now I have to send it in, have them bench test it (another 7-10 business days). If it tests bad, they will replace it. Unreal how ridiculous and time consuming. I didn't include time from calls on my cell troubleshooting in the garage, but over 4 hours on the phone and what will end up being close to a month to get a warrantied product replaced. Sadly the end of a long run with Lowrance for me after these electronics go.
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[JCFring]

If I could put a meme on this thread it would be "Bye Felicia!" with an image of a dumpster on fire falling over Niagra Falls. Lowrance will surely be a company of the past with this type of "customer support." Garmin and Humminbird are going to take em out with that level of terrible service. I'm glad I unloaded my units and went to Garmin / 'Bird! Sorry you had to ensure such terrible service Schinkr1! Lowrance ... "YOU'RE FIRED!"

[hortonstn]

I think lowrance would you rather contact the dealer you purchased it from I've got a carbon 12 and a live 12 and due to my lack of computer skills I contacted RUSSEL MARINE TALKED TO BRETT he flat knows his product
im very happy with them and highly recommend RUSSEL MARINE in Kansas

[rudapa]

My Ghost lift assist started leaking this spring (2.5 years old), I hit them with an inquiry on the Lowrance app, added a picture to the case number email they created and a little over 2-weeks later a new lift assist showed up on my front porch. My hope is I never need them, but they came through this time when I did. I called them 2-years ago abut a HDS Live issue on Friday and per instructions left a call back. They called me back and talked me through my issue within an hour. So for now I'm happy.

My closest Lowrance service center guy had his house taken out by the tornado out break a few weeks back so he's out of pocket for a while, otherwise I'd use him.

[BMCD]

I used customer support this year, had no issue, actually addressed my issue rather quickly. But I do not like that i had to talk to a non American person who did not know the warranty.