SatNav Technologies / SatGuide - STAY AWAY!

[Steeroid]

Over the last few months I've suffered agonisingly at the hands of this inconsiderate, customer-unfriendly and totally mismanaged outfit after having decided to buy some maps from them for my Pocket PC GPS device.

The experience has been pathetic and their service is worse than that of a Government undertaking. If any of you are contemplating buying Maps or Applications for your Mobile Phones or Pocket PC PDAs, please, please stay away from this ludicruous outfit.

Let me give you a timeline that will summarise my experience with them. It all started when I had to visit Mumbai in October and decided that I needed a map since I didnt have to carry a separate GPS device anymore. This company called SatNav Technologies were apparently the only ones that made maps for India, so I found the details over the web and this is what followed:

11 Oct 2007 - Registered at the site

11 Oct 2007 - Selected a 3-city package for Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore

11 Oct 2007 - Added a note in the order NOT to ship to my address in India and to instead confirm whether shipping to Dubai is available.

11 Oct 2007 - Paid for the order, Rs.2,600/- online

12 Oct 2007 - Mail from one Asma Hussain confirming that I have purchased 3 maps and that I would need to purchase Software to INSTALL the maps. This will cost me Rs.3,000

12 Oct 2007 - I reply to this Asma saying that I have a licensed version of Destinator 6, which they have claimed their Map is compatable with.

12 Oct 2007 - Reply:
Sir is you using our software. If yes, you can use our maps on your device.

Can you send me the invoice of your device?

Sure I will send the tracking no once the order is confirm.

12 Oct 2007 - I reply saying that NO I AM NOT USING YOUR SOFTWARE, please confirm whether I can use this with Destinator 6 as claimed. Send a copy of my invoice for purchase of Destinator.

Since then there was NO response whatsoever from this Asma female.

I continued writing to them on several occassions with no response. I called up their Hyderabad office from Dubai and was sent on an IVR hunt, speaking to everyone in their organization but none were able to help.

Finally on Dec 18 (!!!!!!!!!!!) I got thru to one Mr. Shah and poured out my cup full of woe to him. He promised to help and confirmed that I can use the map with Destinator and I do not need to purchase their software.

He also confirmed that the maps could be sent to me through email or via an FTP link and that someone from their office would send me the maps immediately.

I waited till the end of the day and spoke to Mr. Shah again who was 'surprised' that I havent got the maps.

After 2 days, someone sent me a map of Bangalore with some instructions. After continual prodding, that same person managed to send me the map of Mumbai after another 2 days.

I am yet to receive a map of Delhi. I was also unable to install the maps for Mumbai and Bangalore as the instructions they sent did not seem to work on my PDA - the folders they had instructed me to paste the maps into did not seem to exist on my PDA.

Despite several phone calls, nobody bothered to help me install the maps so I did some digging around and found a directory which MIGHT be where the maps are supposed to be pasted. Extracted the maps and pasted them into those folders and Voila! the maps appeared for selection on my PDA.

Selected the map but was asked for an activation key. Several emails and phone calls to SatNav Technologies later, I still have no activation key, am missing a map from the pack I bought and nobody seems to give a damn.

Buying the maps have caused me more heartburn than getting lost in any of these cities may have caused.

Please stay away from this vendor and its products. They have no support to speak of, and 3 months after my purchase I still dont know what the product I purchased looks like.

[tsk1979]

Are these the "satguide.in" guys?

[khanak]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Buying the maps have caused me more heartburn than getting lost in any of these cities may have caused.

__________________________________________________ ____

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Are these the "satguide.in" guys?

Yeah the same bunch of losers. This is what their website says:

For Technical Issues : +91 4066777333
For Enquiries : +91 98494 60351, 99083 75771
Email : satguide@satnavtech.com
Response in 24 hrs or less


I wonder what their idea of 24 hrs is - sent them another mail this morning and followed it up with a few calls (one after this thread was posted) and the guy says he hasnt checked his mail yet. Its nearly the end of the day!!!!!

[ShaKo]

Hey Steer,

Thanks for warning all the prospective customers (victims of this vendor).

I guess with ready avalability of the services, the vendors are tending to take us customers for a ride.

Can you like file a complaint with a consumer redressal forum or something ?

[deepakhon]

Thanks for the warning Steer. I was considering buying their maps, but I will stay away from them.

I am travelling to Kerala during Jan 3rd week. Looks like Lonely Planet is a better deal than GPS for now.

[speedmiester]

Sorry to hear about your experience.

GPS based navigation in India is yet to take off successfully. Till then if you get lost, its best to ask other people for directions.

[vnabhi]

I stay near near corporate HQ on Raj Bhavan Road. Let me know if you want me to go there and holler at them.

[theMAG]

Sorry to hear. A consumer court verdict will do very nicely for such outfits.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

GPS based navigation in India is yet to take off successfully.

This has nothing to do with the maturity of the technology. It is to do with the vendor's attitude towards customers - it does not matter how good the technology or the solution is a customer cannot use this wonderful technology 3 months after paying for it.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I stay near near corporate HQ on Raj Bhavan Road. Let me know if you want me to go there and holler at them.

I have given up on them. I am asking my bank to reverse the credit card transaction (since I had lodged a dispute against the payment immediately after not receiving a response) to start with. The rest of it will be done after recovering the money.

There is no way this company will go anywhere with this kind of attitude. They cannot possibly continue as a successful enteprise.

[spadival]

Head over to SatGuide : SatNav_GPSNavigation and give your feedback.

Mind you, they do tend to censure posts that they find unpalatable !!

[mobike008]

My,My what an experience. I think you would have been better off with a heartburn from getting lost in those cities

[Samurai]

Damn, I am in the process of buying a GPS enabled PDA hoping to use it with Satguide India Map. Now this is depressing.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Steer, are the maps you actually got accurate?

Can you, for example, find the route from Dadar railway station to Banaganga Tank?? Does the route show a VIP residence en route?

I ask this route specifically because (1) it is a simple and straight forward route I can recall off hand in Mumbai and (2) AFAICT, GPS navigaion requires accuracy to 3 M, which is not allowed in India for security reasons. I may be wrong on count 2 though.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Steer, are the maps you actually got accurate?

Can you, for example, find the route from Dadar railway station to Banaganga Tank?? Does the route show a VIP residence en route?

I have no idea - I've never been able to use them!