GO 740 LIVE Defect / LIVE Services on East Coast Down for Weeks?

[dagordon]

Over the past six weeks or so I've had FOUR warranty replacements of my GO 740 LIVE, the first a refurb and the others brand new units. None of them will connect to LIVE services! With all of the devices I get an "Unable to connect to server" error.

Checking the Network settings confirms that I have a data connection, with status Connected. And I'm in pretty much the center of Philadelphia, so I'm coverage supposed to have coverage. I even took one of the warranty replacements to Boston at one point and had the same exact problem there.

Just for kicks I went to BestBuy today and bought (and promptly returned) another GO 740 LIVE. Same issue!

TomTom tech support is totally inept. At one point I spoke to a supervisor who suggested there was a massive, widespread problem that they were working on, and that their policy was just to ship brand new warranty replacements until they figured it out. But I can't find any evidence of such a widespread problem on the Internets, and none of the other dozen or so reps I've spoken with have said a word about a widespread problem.

Anyone on the East Coast able to use LIVE services?

This has to be the worst customer service experience I've ever had, and I've had a ton of poor experiences!

It seems that either there's a pretty common hardware defect, or a widespread outage on the East Coast.

 

[dhn]

The LIVE servers for Europeans has been pretty sporadic for European users, especially after Christmas. May be the same problem in the States.

 

[mikealder]

The LIVE servers for Europeans has been pretty sporadic for European users, especially after Christmas. May be the same problem in the States.

Thankfully in the UK we have a decent network of gantry signs that inform a driver of isues ahead for some considerable distance, since Christmas these static signs have been of more use than the TomTom Live service which is so hit and miss I no longer bother trying to even re-boot the device in an attemp to get the service working again - Getting Live working is becomming as larger challenge as the Safety Camera database finding a mobile camera van in UK (For those that don't understand this comment - the TT database never locates mobile speed camera sites, it claims to do so, but I would be happy to bet a months salary that I could drive 500 miles and never get an alert for such a Police speed trap from the device).

I used to think the 720 I purchased was great for handsfree calls, after various software/ Navcore updates over a 12 month period I began to realise that I needed a better handsfree system in the car so I purchased a dedicated Bluetooth kit, now I find with the 940/ 950 Live services are taxing my limits in terms of a service that isn't reliable (again just over the 18/12 month period) so I will be looking for something else.

There are a couple of iPhone applications that offer traffic information in the UK that look interesting and are probably worth exploring as they will be more reliable from what I have seen of the TomTom service - Real shame as when it works its great but when it doesn't work I can fully understand why it annoys users that actually pay for this service.

I wonder what TomTom will dream up for the x60 devices that will no doubt be launched this year, a few more wizz bang ideas that might work for a few months and then trail away leaving users with useless devices that don't offer the edge the marketing hype suggested they contained.

Lets go back to one of my favourite devices the Go-720 it was a great device when first released, these days the voice stammers, music (mp3) playback isn't very good, menu access is plagued by double hits that the software seems to generate leading you up the "garden path" if trying to use the device while driving - It had non of this poor behaviour when I took it out of the box.

Last weekend I rolled my 720 back to day 01 condition, map, Navcore etc and it worked fine for a 500 mile trip, OK the map could have been slightly better but do we really need all this IQ Routes as it made no difference to the trip and the device actually behaved better than the 940 running far newer Navcore. Considering I am looking at a device with a three year old map and can't notice much difference in terms of routing other than the odd minute is all this additional IQ Routes/ Traffic integration really worth it - I am beginning to think its not worth bothering with to to honest - I like technology but only where its appropriate, when marketting departments start to sell services that are not really needed and they simply don't work in a reliable way then its time to look at options - I don't like the current TomTom product range but are they going to change and fix the bugs within the software for a number of devices or simply carry on "cranking the handle" producing more new devices.

I would seriously recommend trying a 720 rolled back to day 01 Navcore and maps then really see if you can spot anything like a difference on your normal day to day drive, there are subtle changes to the route that get offered but at what cost - A device that is sub standard compared to its capability when originally purchased three or four years ago - Mike

 

[mvl]

The American LIVE server runs separately from the European one. I doubt there is a widespread outage in the US, as we would have seen many others posting the same thing.

When you get a new device, are you using a new email account? My guess is that your account is corrupted (like my PLUS acct is), and nothing will work short of a new email account.

 

[ccarson]

I have a 740 LIVE and live in central New Jersey. I've not observed any significant connection problems with LIVE services and I use the traffic service just about all the time. You do have a current subscription to services, I assume?

 

[mikealder]

Last time it managed to get a connection it showed valid through to Sept 2010 so thats not the issue - Mike

 

[dagordon]

OK, I had my issue escalated with TomTom and seem to have a resolution. I got a call from someone in the Concord, MA office and he basically confirmed that there's a large batch of bad units, and he's going to personally procure a working replacement for me, test it out, and then send it to me. He said that tech support should have escalated the issue to them after the second replacement. I have my fingers crossed.

 

[mathias1979]

OK, I had my issue escalated with TomTom and seem to have a resolution. I got a call from someone in the Concord, MA office and he basically confirmed that there's a large batch of bad units, and he's going to personally procure a working replacement for me, test it out, and then send it to me. He said that tech support should have escalated the issue to them after the second replacement. I have my fingers crossed.

Did you get this resolved? I am experiencing the same problem. My 90-day trial for Live services worked wonderfully from early-December thru early-March. After the trial ended, I renewed for 1-month. I was able to log onto my device once, but started getting errors about Live services. When I went to My Preferences -> My Tom Tom Account...I just got "There is an error on the TomTom server."

I contacted support and got a replacement...and immediately had the same problem...couldn't even get to the login screen on the device. Now per instructions from support I've gone thru with the software update, then reformatting the unit...still nothing.

I'm going to mention this post to them and hopefully they can elevate it to someone who can help. This is becoming an absolute nightmare...and I'm not about ready to go thru the pain of getting 4 replacements.

 

[mvl]

When a USA 740's subscription goes dead, the SIM card gets deactivated.

If you renew the subscription on your own, the server reactivates, but your SIM doesn't always reactivate.

Tell the TT phone rep to make sure your SIM is reactivated. If they don't know what that is (strangely many don't) ask for a supervisor to reactivate it.

It's surprising how many units Tomtom RMA's because some phone reps don't know how to reactivate the SIM card.

Also, you have to use a brand new email address (even if fake) for a new device. Once a subscription is activated on an email account you can't tie another device to that email until the subscription expires (home will let you tie an old email to a new device, but the LIVE services won't work).

 

[Michael Quinlan]

I just sent my 740 in for warranty repair/replacement. The replacement refurb unit should arrive on Monday. I guess I'll have to setup yet another email address to get things working again? I fail to see why renewing live services continues to be an issue over a year after the product release. Does TomTom really think they're boosting their bottom line by not properly training their support staff?

 

[mathias1979]

When a USA 740's subscription goes dead, the SIM card gets deactivated.

If you renew the subscription on your own, the server reactivates, but your SIM doesn't always reactivate.

Tell the TT phone rep to make sure your SIM is reactivated. If they don't know what that is (strangely many don't) ask for a supervisor to reactivate it.

It's surprising how many units Tomtom RMA's because some phone reps don't know how to reactivate the SIM card.

Also, you have to use a brand new email address (even if fake) for a new device. Once a subscription is activated on an email account you can't tie another device to that email until the subscription expires (home will let you tie an old email to a new device, but the LIVE services won't work).

Great info! Definitely makes sense from when I had the original unit, that the SIM card wasn't reactivated. Seems weird that the new or refurbished unit would need the SIM card reactivated...but I will definitely mention that if I get nowhere with my latest request (I asked for the issue to be forwarded to a supervisor.)

Also, the e-mail account doesn' t seem like the issue for a couple reasons. First, on the new/refurbished unit, I never even linked it to an e-mail account...went straight to My Preferences -> My TomTom Account, and the server error comes up before even getting the opportunity to logon. Also, my subscriptions should all be expired at this point. From how I understood your post...as long as no subscriptions are active on your current e-mail, there should be no issue linking your e-mail to a new device?

 

[mvl]

From how I understood your post...as long as no subscriptions are active on your current e-mail, there should be no issue linking your e-mail to a new device?

Yes, that's correct.

Also, you can't reassign emails to new devices more than once every 6 months on your own. Although TT phone support can override this 6 month timer.

 

[Taubin]

I think I'm having a similar problem. I just bought a 340M today, and it will not activate the live services at all. I guess I'll have to call support tomorrow....

 

[Taubin]

I contacted support over the phone, and they had me up and running within 15 minutes. Great support imho.

 

[dhn]

I contacted support over the phone, and they had me up and running within 15 minutes. Great support imho.

Do you happen to remember what CS suggested so that others may learn from your (good) experience?

 

[Taubin]

Do you happen to remember what CS suggested so that others may learn from your (good) experience?

Mine just happened to be an issue where the TomTom hadn't registered itself on the network. They had me send in a photo of the receipt, and got it squared away for me pretty quickly.