Does TomTom support actually exist?

[LostinTheWilderness]

Some genius at TomTom has cancelled my sub, and I am struggling to reach a human being.

The stupid bot seems to have a remarkably low IQ and keeps asking the same questions whilst telling me someone "will be assisting me shortly"
Last time I checked 25 minutes+ wait time was not "shortly"

Is the whole organisation broken?
Totally unprofessional, and I make no apology for my criticism.

 

[Willy875]

It's strange that TomTom would cancel a subscription, unless you didn't renew it?

Which GPS model was your subscription canceled?

 

[LostinTheWilderness]

What has happened, I think, is that auto renewal was applied to my account, but nobody told me it would be a full week before the actual date, so naturally I queried that. Then the new sub date showed and everything was in order. Then, someone took it upon themselves to cancel it, without reading the updates I'd provided. I'd stated more than once that all was ok, and no further action needed. This morning, I have no sub. Well done.

There is no live support, despite the promise there is 1 person ahead with a 2-3 min wait time, and the stupid bot just keeps asking the same questions.

I've run a service desk and if I was responsible for this farce I would be ashamed of myself. It's utterly inexcusable that when an issue arises, that could be resolved in a 5 min chat there is literally nobody there.

Regardless of how this works out, TomTom need a serious word with themselves as a good product is being undermined by terrible support.

 

[Willy875]

Which GPS model was your subscription canceled for?

Once logged in, and not before, tap "Contact Us" in the bottom right corner.
Type "Contact" or "Chat" in the box.
If chat is available (i.e., during normal business hours, Monday to Friday), you should be able to tap "Live Chat."
If it's outside of business hours, a messaging option should be available.

 

[LostinTheWilderness]

Which GPS model was your subscription canceled for?

Once logged in, and not before, tap "Contact Us" in the bottom right corner.
Type "Contact" or "Chat" in the box.
If chat is available (i.e., during normal business hours, Monday to Friday), you should be able to tap "Live Chat."
If it's outside of business hours, a messaging option should be available.

I was using TomTom GO Expert. If I try to run it now, I get one screen displayed only "Subscription Ended" If I try to close that to find other options, it only offers a purchase screen. So just like their other support, it's not there.

I'm trying "support" via the main website, yet again, but am not holding my breath. Yet again, there is allegedly 1 person ahead of me, 1-3 minute wait time, but yet again, it's probably a lie. I don't like being misled.

I don't care if there are issues with automated systems. That should not be another problem for the customer to contend with. If their crappy AI support is not fit for purpose, bin it, hire real people. Judging by independent reviews I've seen, there is no way they are not aware of this, so why are they not addressing the core issue or being honest with customers?

Someone once said a product is only as good as the service that backs it up.
Oh, that's me.

 

[Willy875]

Is this the GO Expert app installed on your iPhone?

If you subscribed through the App Store, TomTom does not manage subscriptions.

Please check that you are signed in with the credentials you used when purchasing the service.

If so, contact Apple Support.

If you are told that someone is online and there is a waiting time of 1 to 3 minutes, the wait should connect you with an advisor.

 

[LostinTheWilderness]

Yes, the app is installed on phone. The purchase was from TomTom and I have their invoice here.

I've logged out and in again with both Apple ID and TomTom logon, and now the sub shows as it should. I did that this earlier today and there was no sub, so perhaps something has changed but nobody has advised me.

....on that point I have little faith as it is clear there is massive lag when communicating via support tickets, so it's still possible a sub cancellation is pending.

To illustrate that point, the original ticket is now 8 days old. Shortly after that I logged out/in and could see the sub was showing as I expected, fine, case closed. I updated my own ticket immediately to that effect, then over a week later (yesterday) I got another ticket update to say "sub cancelled". That's a week later....what?!

I immediately replied to that message to re-iterate that the sub now looked ok, and no further action was needed. Then 3 hours after that I got another update repeating that the sub was cancelled.

So whilst lag on ticket updates exists, and is very poor in itself, it's absolutely appalling that I cannot contact them "live" to ensure it's all sorted out in a 5 min chat. Even if the way I've approached things is somehow not helping, as dialogue is not happening, there's no way of resolving things to my satisfaction.

Update, I've now sat waiting, yet again, for the "agent" to appear for over an hour.

I've probably referenced the phrase before "as an organisation, communicate or die" and it's totally relevant here.
As I said, I took a look at reviews and the theme of poor support/comms is widespread. Other people are referencing SLAs (talking my language) so the same frustration is common.

Reading those reviews I've seen a pattern which makes it hard not to consider that the online support "bot" is totally fake and non-operational - and is there to merely go round in circles, wasting customer time, and buying time for what is probably an undermanned support organisation. Trust me I can feel their pain, but they can't sit on their arses with such a broken model forever, regardless of product quality.

 

[Willy875]

I didn't know it was still possible to buy the app directly from the TomTom website.

Personally, I bought the app directly from the Play Store a month before my subscription expired.

I received a message from Google telling me I needed to renew it.

 

[LostinTheWilderness]

I didn't know it was still possible to buy the app directly from the TomTom website.

Personally, I bought the app directly from the Play Store a month before my subscription expired.

I received a message from Google telling me I needed to renew it.

Finally, got there.

Yes you can still buy direct, in fact I was given a link to do so.

In my case I had no advance advice about sub expiry, so when I was charged a full week in advance I naturally asked about it. Somehow, in challenging that, it looks like it was interpreted as a cancellation request, and someone moved that to refund.

However, prior to that, I had been given an extension due to the hassle of recent technical issues, and when that date comes up, I'll start a fresh 12 months.

The odd thing is once I found that the phone was showing live sub again, I used the Support option there as I could now access it. I happened to have an existing support chat open on desktop, where I'd been waiting over an hour, and suddenly it all came to life, one mirroring the other. The first go failed as the right team was not available, so I persevered and chatted with someone who was very helpful. Might have been coincidental, but seemed odd after all the previous attempts.

Something definitely felt amiss prior to that, and I do wonder if the support bot or whatever was rebooted or suchlike as it did seem to be getting nowhere. That's what I've seen others comment on, and if it's the case that some AI aspect is not working correctly to take initial info, route and queue calls, then to be fair that not only affects customers, but the real support agents, who I'm sure want to do a good job.

I can't lie - I do not like "chat" support for a few reasons, the main one being something is lost when you are not actually speaking to a person. I also find the ergonomic aspect is often poor, with the pop-up being a fixed, tiny size and tiny font too, which is not helpful - but the worst aspect for me is AI, end of story. I'm sure some are better, but when it feels like you're dealing with the AI equivalent of the village idiot - it helps nobody at all. In call centre terms there will be masses of abandoned "calls", and behind that, frustrated customers. Ultimately whatever perceived saving that makes is false economy when it damages company reputation, and the reviews I mention suggest that is happening.

I really hope they sort it all out. I've said it before and will do so again - that I've used a few phone based apps and standalone satnav, but when GO is working correctly, it's impressed the most.