Minelab Service---The verdict will be ???

[JoelB]

Scenerio is as follows: Bought Excal II one week before vacation at the shore--own an e trac and am very well pleased --so I decicde to buy Minelab again. Brought the unit home and the charger does not work ( I tested it ). Called my dealer and he said he would call Minelab on Monday. I spoke with him this morning and he said that he left two messages on machines and then finally talked to the head of customer service--the customer rep. told the dealer they would "look around" to see if they had a replacement charger to send me. I started to get panicky--went to radio shack and they said due to the output being 14.3 DC they could not help me. They said that was an odd output for a charger and did not recommend using a 15 volt or any other type charger. I was going to cut the end off off the broken unit and attach it to a similar charger---probably not a real sane idea now that I think about it. Well i am seeing RED now--- get my owners manual and call Minelab to get some answers. I explained my situation to three people as---very politely I might add--and they in turn were very nice to me. The third person that i spoke with asked me my name and put me on hold for a minute. When he returned he told me that everything was taken care of and a charger was on its way to me. I am not sure how you individuals on the forum feel but I'll give them a chance to make things right. The problem is that when i receive the charger and power it up it will be too late to do anything if something else is wrong. I can always fall back on my e trac as it is a great beach machine---its just not fond of water. This post is not meant to be a complaint against Minelab--just keeping members notified in case there is interest. I will keep everyone in the loop on this post.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

I assure you.

Everything is going to work out Great!

 

[bootybay]

cool beans...my new replacement machine ( wonder if it was my battery too now) is due in tomorrow.. cripes I can't wait.

 

[JackInFlorida]

I called to find out how to send in an Excal I bought used. I was transferred directly to a service agent that gave me all the information. Later that day someone from service had left me a voice mail asking if I could call. I did, he just said he had a note to call because I had a question. I told him I was all set and was sending in the unit.

I hope it keeps up like this. Seemed like they were bending over backwards.

Jack

 

[Dano Sverige]

Got my Excal II battery back today.Is there a plague going around on them? Mine died after not that many uses in 5 months really. I was told,rather asked where i got the charger from as it wasn't an official Minelab charger? Well it came in the box when i bought the Excal new. "Very odd".
Anyhow my old battery was dead so they've sent me a new battery and a new "official Minelab" charger,complete with Swedish connectors!

30 days in total.Works for me. Of course this was Finbarr and the gang at "Minelab Ireland", but it's all "Minelab service" right?

Thanks a lot guys!

 

[crazyman]

It seems things might be getting better. Minelab has taken quite a beating on the various forums but it was deserved punishment. Spare the rod spoil the child as they say.

 

[JoelB]

Update--I received a new charger in two days from Minelab. I tested it first and it worked fine. Plugged it in overnight to the battery pod and this morning --NOTHING. The charger does not produce a charge and the battery is 100% dead. I now have an e-mail back to customer service and am getting a little anxious as I leave on Saturday for a two week vacation which I had hoped would be the innagural trip for my ExcaliburII. Maybe Minelab should scrutinize a little more closely the companies who produce these items. On the flip side of the coin----we only hear about the problems regarding these detectors---there are probably thousands out there working just fine. Why me I'll keep everyone posted .

 

[Dano Sverige]

Sounds like the problem i had with mine.Older charger killed the battery pack.

 

[JoelB]

UPDATE #2---Kathi with customer service e-mailed me back and said she sent my problem over to the service department and they should be in touch with me later today. My solution----if it were my company---send out a new battery pod with charger and put it on my dealers account ( which would be no problem with him---he is as upset as I am ) then credit his account when the defective batterry pod and charger are returned to minelab. In fact I like that idea so much I am going to e-mail minelab right now--UPDATE #3 in a few hours

 

[leefields]

does not look like Booty is satisfied either...

 

[JoelB]

UPDATE #3 Surprise-surprise!!!!! The service department DID call me back and told me that they are sending a new charger and battery pod ( already tested ) overnight. All they asked was that I return the defective charger and battery pod so that they could be sent to Australia for testing. We are not out of the woods yet as I have not been able to fire the unit up yet---but I feel pretty confident. I really think that Minelab has done very well in this particular situation--You be the judge---Verdict

 

[kando]

This is what happens when a big Corp. takes over. Charge a high price for a product made in a cheap ass country . You get poor quality and poor workman ship what you get is high priced junk...........

 

[Seaweednh]

UPDATE #3 Surprise-surprise!!!!! The service department DID call me back and told me that they are sending a new charger and battery pod ( already tested ) overnight. All they asked was that I return the defective charger and battery pod so that they could be sent to Australia for testing. We are not out of the woods yet as I have not been able to fire the unit up yet---but I feel pretty confident. I really think that Minelab has done very well in this particular situation--You be the judge---Verdict

I've been more than pleased with Minelab service. Sent the Excalibur in for a broken headphone wire while they were in the move to the central US (wise business move if you ask me) Not only did they fix my two year old second hand detector headphone but they also changed the coil, added the Ikelite connector to the housing (after they said they no longer do that) put Ikelite connectors on both sets of yellow headphones ( I sent an extra pair in case they couldn't repair the hardwired ones). All that, and all it cost me was shipping TO the service department.

As for big bucks to buy these machines made in a "cheap ass" country? If you do your research you will see that the crucial parts are made in the US and Australia (Codan is an Australian company) Like any companies, there are going to be runs of faulty parts from time to time. You could examine ANY company to see this. I've always worked for small US companies and have seen my share of faulty military parts and the cover ups so that the company didn't have to spend the money to re-make the faulty parts.

 

[JoelB]

Update #4--Recieved my new charger and battery pod ( pre-tested from Minelab ). Did not have time to test out the machine before I arrived at the Outer Banks. Charged the battery pod and went out to hunt the beach. After connecting the battery pod I heard a sound from the headset---I had not even turned the unit on. I am asssuming that by turning the threshold knob cc you turn the unit off. This is not the case with my unit---only way to power down is to disconnect the battery. Wonder if that had anything with the first charger and battery pod going bad? Still anxious to test my unit I proceeded to the beach. Set the threshold, disc 0, sens 6, vol max and began hunting. Question--Everytime that I came across an iron target it would null out ( as it should ) then the threshold tone would drop to a much lower level (irritating compared to the earlier level)--this would stay the same until a non-ferrous target was encountered and the the tone would go back to the original level----most of the time-or--sometimes it goes to a mid-range level then goes to an either higher level (non-ferrous target) or back to the lower level if iron is detected. The good news is that after limited testing I feel that no matter what tone the excal II is giving you it is still capable of finding targets--however I did not test if the type of tone had any impact on the detection depth. Either way I have to send the unit back for the power switch to be fixed. Is the tone on the unit supposed to remain the same as when you initially power it up to hunt?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

What your are describing is a normal condition that happens sometimes and it happens on the Excals and Sovereigns that I personally know of as I have both. It has no affect on the functionality or the ability for the Excal to see good targets. You can reset it by passing it over your scoop or just keep hunting....

 

[bootybay]

Joel,
I am waiting on my 3rd new entire replacement on my excal 2.. Minelab has bent over backwards, first one no matter where ya had it set at , it did nothing but scream constant scream signals.. in the water, out of the water, in the air, halfway in shallow water, it drove me nuts with all the falsing.. then Minelab sends me the 2nd brand new excal 2... battery and charger screwed up.. sent me new battery and charger.. didnt even get a chance to charge it.. ML decided it was better to send me number 3 replacement on my excal, so its on going to be on the way soon , I asked them to please assemble it, test it.. wait till the next day, recheck it again.. since my problems were happening on the second day.. ( with the second unit).. and when I would lose the threshhold, even after swinging it over my scooper, nothing, would get the TH to come back, but got the scooper signal, so I would turn up the TH just a hair.. 5-10 min later if not longer, the TH would scream super loud in my headphones, have to stop, lower the knob.. thats all I did was adjust up and down..so Minelab is testing machine replacement number 3 ... I am praying this one works fine.. I will say this, they are bending over backwards to get me a good working machine.. thats all I want. this is going on for about a month now.. like I said they are trying super hard to get this right. its obvious theres something wrong. I am trying to be patient and not flip out anymore, I know I did flip out on the super nice rep. helping me.. but lordy I sure didnt expect this at all with ML.. so my tale is not finished yet.

 

[JoelB]

Update #5 Sent minelab an e-mail 3 days ago and have not had a reply yet. I am not too anxious since the machine seems to be working ok except for the on/off switch not working. Will start bugging them in a day or two. Still feel very good about how they fixed me up for my trip.

 

[JoelB]

Update # 6--Never got a reply to 2 e-mails sent to Kathi Warren. Thought that strange since she did such a great job taking care of me with my initial battery pack problem. Decided to use the toll-free number (new service #). Talked to the service department and told the fellow there about my situation. He asked me in detail about my excal II and told me to send it to minelab--the turn around time being approximately 45 days for excal II repairs (when they have to do internal repairs). Will keep you posted

 

[matters]

Customer service sounds better but what about building a quality machine? When I lay down that kind of change I would expect it to work properly for many years to come. I personally know what its like to open a new minelab up and find out it doesn't work. If I am charged a premium price I expect premium quality. Let me get this straight they claim your charger wasn't a original and there the ones that packaged it? Do they really know whats going on at there manufactoring facility? I love my minelab and am looking to upgrade just not sure if it will be another one if so it probally wont be a new one I might let some one else see if it works first.

 

[JackInFlorida]

UPDATE #2

I sent in the Minelab Excal 1000 (version 1) on September 28th. They told me the same 45 days.

Had a call on 9/30/2010 stating that they had received the unit.

Jack