My Chart Plotter Problems -- A Happy Ending!

As I have posted here before, I have had ongoing problems with my chart plotter.

I had had intermittent problems with the chartplotter most of the time I owned it. Fortunately I had gotten the extended warranty on it, because I have a good friend for whom that worked out very well.

My chart plotter started randomly turning itself off. Most of the time it was immediately after I had pushed a button, but sometimes I would just glance at it only to see a blank screen. I took it back to West Marine several times, but since the problem was intermittent, it of course never happened in their presence. It wasn't that they didn't believe me at West Marine, but they did need solid evidence, and I understood that. They suggested I try a different cable, but I didn't have the skills to change the cable, and I didn't want the expense of cable and installation when I didn't know whether or not that was the problem.

One day it started insisting that every spot on the planet was at latitude 32º. I'm fairly certain that isn't true, and since that latitude runs through Atlanta, Georgia, I'm pretty sure it's not where I've been sailing, either. Every single waypoint came up listed that way, although its position on the actual chart was accurate.

So I could use waypoints I had already entered, but could not enter any new ones.

This led to a cascade of problems. I really hate cascades of problems.

I took it to the West Marine where I had bought it. They could see that problem, and said it needed a software update, which they said I could get at the Garmin website. I went there only to find that Garmin doesn't support Macintosh.

So I bought a Sandisk and gave it, and the chart plotter, to someone with a PC. He downloaded the software update for me.

I put the Sandisk in the chartplotter, which told me the Sandisk was blank.

So I took it back to the PC guy and he had no trouble finding the software on the disk.

Back I went to West Marine, and then they told me that my Sandisk was too big -- 32 GB. The chart plotters have trouble reading any that are bigger than 16 GB. Oy vey. Eye roll.

For some reason, the chart plotter then began producing accurate latitudes again. What??? But it continued to randomly turn itself off.

So, on December 20 of last year, I again took the chart plotter back to the West Marine I bought it at (instead of the one that was now closer to where now I keep my boat). I had tried another chart plotter on the cable, and that one never turned off. Clearly the problem was with the chart plotter and not the cable.

They told me (are you ready?) that my extended warranty had expired December 15.

D'oh!

Then they did something that assures that I will never trash-talk West Marine again. They said, "Yes, it's technically out of warranty, but you have been bringing this chart plotter back over and over with the same problem, and we know that. Here's your new chart plotter." They handed me a brand new 441S right out of the box.

There's two very specific things I did that helped bring about this outcome. First, I always took the chart plotter back to the store where I originally purchased it. Because of that, they were aware of all the times I had brought it in. I didn't have to convince them that this had been an ongoing problem.

Second, I was never angry or rude to them. I knew they were right, that it might be the cable, and although it was very frustrating that Garmin does not support Macintoshes, this was not West Marine's fault.

Yes, I know. You can buy stainless steel screws cheaper elsewhere. I know you can get a lot of things on line cheaper, and sometimes I do that. However, the people at West Marine were perfectly willing to help me with the most basic things I didn't know when I first started out. That staff doesn't come for free, and neither does the building it's all housed in. A real-time, physical store front has a variety of expenses that an online site won't have -- mortgage or rent for multiple sites across the country, insurance (including flood insurance in Florida, and that's a HUGE bill here), utilities, staff costs, maintenance of equipment such as computers and cash registers -- all of these expenses are less for on-line businesses. Those online businesses didn't go in business for our convenience -- they did it because it's cheaper.

I'm not saying we should never shop online. I'm just saying that West Marine had to pay the staff who worked with me through this problem, and they had to pay them multiple times to do that without bringing in any money in return, but they still did it cheerfully and to the best of their ability. And they did know their product. They had to pay all their other overhead without making a penny on me every single time. If I pay more for a screw at WM, that's OK with me, because they have someone there to make sure I get the right one, and I need that help.

Kudos to West Marine for stepping up.

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