V3i went blank

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,454
54,889
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
They are charging me $70 flat fee plus parts and like I say if if cost to much I will trash it and then i will and buy something decent. When i say trash i mean i will drive over it with my truck and then grind it up in to little pieces. I was a bit taken back by them telling me it was a $70 fee just to look at it. It is no more than 3 months out of warranty.

I guess i will know this week what Whites is made of. Due to my location I had to send it to their east coast service center which is an independent whites dealer

Right now i am not very happy but I don't know the outcome yet

Sounds like LCD screen went out. Minelab charges $37.50 to diagnose a detector and bills $75 hour labor billed in 15 minute increments plus parts to repair......

It shouldn't cost more than couple hundred to fix if that much, depending on what they charge for LCDs..

I had a Ford that tranny went out at 50,5?? miles, they would not cover it because it was out of the 50,000 mile warranty, I was told out of warranty is out of warranty when I argued.

Cost me almost $2500 to fix.....
 

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PostalTwo

Full Member
Dec 25, 2012
224
64
edmonton
Detector(s) used
whites v3. past detectors bh disc 2200/3300, garrett at gold
It was fixed for free . It's on its way home now
 

OP
OP
N

Normsel

Bronze Member
Sep 10, 2012
1,191
813
D'Iberville MS
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
E-Trac
Equinox 800
Equinox 600
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
It should arrive today, Whites repaired it under warranty and I am very appreciative for that. I was more upset over the communication than anything. I really meant it if it would have cost more than $200 to fix it, I would have trashed it.

I will be really happy to use it again. Been using my ATP and never realized how much I liked the V3i in comparison. I have never tweaked the settings much so mostly use stock settings other than discrimination and the main is reason I don't have the need to tweak the settings. I am finally learning the faint beeps and pretty much what they mean and for some reason even though I haven't found many when I do hit a ring it seems to have a better tone than a tab. I dig all tabs but every ring I have found I had a gut feeling it was a ring before I dug.

I appreciate all the support and comments from everyone. Even though I was perturbed over the lack of communication I don't hold grudges and it's now in the past.
 

OP
OP
N

Normsel

Bronze Member
Sep 10, 2012
1,191
813
D'Iberville MS
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
E-Trac
Equinox 800
Equinox 600
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Well leave it to FedEx to send me a text at 8:30 am yesterday telling me to be home to sign for it. I went home and stayed home all day. I watched the FedEx truck drive by and not stop. I chk'd the tracking number and it said delivery by end of day. I waited until 7 pm sent FedEx an email asking where it was they sent back say it would be delivered by tomorrow by end of day March 17th. I got in touch again and they sent me a new mail saying it would be march 18th. It sat in Olive Branch MS for 24 hours before they sent it to the Gulfport distribution facility. I just now received...

Hopefully I can finally put this drama to bed.. I agree some of it self imposed drama
 

Detecto

Jr. Member
Mar 25, 2016
94
80
Detector(s) used
White's MXT ALL PRO 13" Detech and Eclipse 950 Coils
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
You must have way too much money on your hands if you wanted to trash a $1300 metal detector if it would cost $200 to have it fixed.

Seriously, would you rather spend $200 to have it good as new, or $1300 on a new one?

I can't even fathom why you would even think of trashing it, even if you spent $200 to have it fixed, they sell for about $800 used, which is still better than trashing it.


Even for parts, still worth $400..

I'm done here, I used to drive trash routes for several years, if you knew what rich people throw away it would make you sick to your stomach. Once you have more than 6 digits in your bank account, simple concepts like money, value of items, etc must go right out the window.

FWIW, it's NOT $75 to have it looked at, it's $75 FLAT RATE LABOR. That means even if they spend 3 hours working on it, it's still $75!

FWIW part 2: I've owned almost every brand of non-water metal detector besides Minelab, and Whites customer service is second to none.


Sadly today after we modeled our economy after the Chinese, we live in a throwaway world.

My rich neighbor threw away a $1000 Kirby with all the attachments simply because it needed...a belt. I got over $400 out of it on eBay..
 

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Nomadnailer

Jr. Member
Apr 6, 2011
62
53
Montrose, WV
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i with dx-1 sunray probe, Whites xlt, Tesoro lobo st,
My V3i did the same thing last year, I had a spare machine so I put it up when I got it home I took it apart and the ribbon was loose hasn't done it since. I'm sure the $70 fee was just a heads up of what it could cost you'll probably get the machine and no bill.
 

PI PETE

Hero Member
Aug 10, 2009
550
291
Detector(s) used
Excal_1000 / Whites VX3 / Shadow 2-Troy / & Infinium L-S/Garrett / AT GOLD
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Same for my v3X. They replaced a defective screen for free.
 

Deft Tones

Bronze Member
Mar 24, 2016
1,547
2,352
Hawkeye State - Area 515
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i, XP Deus, Minelab Sovereign GT, Garrett AT Pro, Whites TRX (2), Predator Raven, Predator Raptor, Lesche Sampson
Primary Interest:
Other
If my V3i ever goes down (it's out of warranty) and needs sent to it's birthplace it would feel like a part of me is missing until she got back home again. Even with back-up machines.

I'd pay more than $70 to fix her, that is certain.

:icon_thumleft:Glad you were taken care of. :icon_thumright:
 

Nomadnailer

Jr. Member
Apr 6, 2011
62
53
Montrose, WV
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i with dx-1 sunray probe, Whites xlt, Tesoro lobo st,
Did you try taking the machine apart? I had the same problem a wire connection was loose, I plugged it in and has worked ever since.
 

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