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  • TomTom Customer Service

    After getting my new TomTom device last year, I ended up starting a post about the shoddy TomTom support. For whatever reason (it was a LONG post) I never published it.

    The jist of it was that I had various problems due to having another device previously, and TomTom Home seemed to take exception to this. In the end, however, it was resolved, but I was left more than unimpressed with the quality of support offered by TomTom.

    However, recent events have meant that I now wish to revisit this concern.

    I pay for their Live subscription service which means, amongst other things, that I get live traffic updates. I don’t use the TomTom much, but when I do I find it re-assuring to know it will try and steer me around hold-ups or, at the very least, tell me that any hold-ups are still the best route to go.

    Unfortunately, every time I’ve gone anywhere recently where I’ve used it, I’ve found the Live services not responding – often now working until a good proportion into my journey.

    Around the 20th July a new version of the TomTom application (the one that runs on the SatNav itself) was released. The night before leaving for holiday (on the 29th) I did a full update of my TomTom via the TomTom Home PC software – this includes updating the application. All was fine – indeed the new version looked really good and I was looking forward to trying it out during the coming week. Well, that was until I tried to access the Live services. I started getting an error code 1008, and it stated that there was something wrong with the (non-accessible) SIM card.

    I did a Google search and found that others were experiencing the same issue. Eventually, I found one forum providing a link to a FAQ on the TomTom site. And there it was – admitting that their new application broke the live services. The resolution – delete the software and let Home re-install the old one (for some reason it installs the older version first and then tried to put the new version on top – they advise you to not allow that second update!).

    Just 4 problems here…

    1. What the hell is this doing on an obscure page of the TomTom site? On the main support page there is a box-out on the right pointing to it, but TomTom send me enough mails trying to sell me stuff – why haven’t they emailed me to warn me about this?
    2. The application is still available to download. Why?
    3. The FAQ page in question – get this – is wrong! It explains how to back out the software but it refers to buttons incorrectly and is generally badly explained.
    4. It’s now over 20 days since the application was released and there’s been no update.

    On what planet do you have to be to think that this is acceptable? Push out a software update that breaks a subscription service – don’t tell anyone, just put a badly written page on your list of FAQs – and leave it for more to download.

    Un-bloody-believable.

    Anyway, after much gnashing of teeth, and working late before a long drive I got my TomTom working again. Sadly, the server problem reared its head the next day. As did a new problem during the rest of the week – a regular hanging and self-rebooting.

    And, in case you didn’t think it could get any worse, I found that the amazing “HD Traffic” service was not informing me of genuine hold-ups but did regularly tell me about some that didn’t exist.

    If I hadn’t invested so much in the device and a years up-front subscription, my TomTom would be heading towards the bin. Considering the looming competition from phones with cheap, or even free, SatNav built in you’d think that TomTom would be trying a lot, lot harder to ensure that have some kind of USP. Sadly, they’re not.

    Update

    Just a few short hours after publishing the above, I started up my TomTom as I’m going out tonight and needed to find directions. I attempted to use the Google search facility but was met with a screen attempting to get me to buy more subscription to the live service. There were two options – “Yes”, which obviously I wouldn’t have pressed and “No”. Sadly, “No” sent you back to the map without performing the search that I originally requested. Indeed, looking up the weather or any other Live service, caused exactly the same to occur. Basically, they were now screwing up my Live subscription access so that they could shove an advert down my throat.

    Eventually, that went. Unfortunately, any attempt to do a search now is met with the error screen…

    Something went wrong. If this keeps on hanging, please check with TomTom HOME is there is a newer application version available.

    Of course, a new application is available, but I’m certainly not planning to install it. So now, the search feature appears broken. I’ll give it a few days and try again…

  • Family Holiday to Treago

    I haven’t posted personal “stuff” on the site much recently, so I thought it was time for a change. I’ve just got back from an excellent week at Treago, near Hereford.

    Thanks to my brother-in-law Jonathan, a number of photos from a day out in Ludlow (and more specifically the castle) have been uploaded to Photobucket, where they can now be viewed…

  • One… just one

    Thrips. Harvest bugs. Thunder bugs. Whatever you want to call them, they’re small insects that come out during the warm weather, and mainly around fields. I’ve read in the past that because of their small size they’re prone to getting between the layers of LCD monitors and dying – and they’re not easily removable either (it involves taking your monitor very much apart).

    Thankfully, I no longer live anywhere remotely rural so their blight no longer gives me problems. Indeed, I haven’t seen one for years.

    Until today.

    Crawling between the layers of my monitor.

    Just that one, no more, and in my damn monitor. What are the chances?

  • Querying Microsoft licenses

    With the recent demise of my Mesh PC and the arrival of a brand-spanking-new Dell, I assumed my nice boxed edition of Office 2007 could be transferred across. I was wrong.

    First of all, I thought I’d check whether I could, so I’d contact Microsoft – their EULA didn’t appear specific enough. Their contact page shows an 0844 number for contacting them (0844 800 2400). However, this appears, through a near-endless selection of options, seems to direct you to websites or to pay them to answer a technical query.

    The option for activating licenses simple gives you a freephone number (0800 0188354), but this is an automated system for activation.

    In the end, I emailed them using the address on the aforementioned contact page. They got back to me and, after much discussion on how I got the software and what the packaging looked like, I was told it was specific to that PC. You see,  when I bought the Mesh I plumped for the option for them to install it and send me the licence key. This would be easier than buying it separately, although it was about the same price.

    I then sent off, for a small additional cost, to receive the DVD with the software on. So I now have a very official looking Microsoft DVD box, containing DVD and key. But Microsoft won’t transfer the licence.

    So much for saving money.

    Thankfully, my daughter has been saving for a laptop and wanted Microsoft Office – a retail 3 user licence is only £5 more than a 1 user licence. So I now have it on my home PC and on my Netbook (and my daughter will have it on her new laptop when she gets it). And, because it’s the retail edition I can transfer the licence keys.

    But, I still have a perfectly good copy of Office 2007 which I can’t use or even sell. And Microsoft wonder why people don’t seem to like them? Grrrr.

  • Why Steve Jobs is wrong about Flash

    Steve Jobs doesn’t like Flash. That’s patently clear.

    He blames most Mac crashes on Flash and, I have to say, since Firefox starting sandboxing plugins I’ve seen regular reported Flash crashes.

    However, a lot – a lot – of high profile websites use Flash, mainly to render video. Steve’s answer to this is HTML 5 – a new version of HTML that is being supported more and more by the browsers. And HTML includes video capability. Great – no more Flash.

    Except his argument is flawed.

    1. HTML 5 is still a draft standard and is liable, probably for a good few years yet, to change.
    2. Flash does more than just play video and HTML 5 doesn’t support a lot of what it can do.
    3. Although HTML 5 allows video, it doesn’t force you to use a particular format. And, as usually happens, a “war” is going on between competing formats – with 3 formats being particularly strong. Where most browsers are plumping for the 2 royalty free options (after all browsers are given away free), Apple has only added the commercial version to Safari and, so far, that appears to be the less popular. Each site will have to re-encode their videos for a different format other than Flash – are they really going to do it for 3 other formats?
    4. HTML 5 video can’t do everything that Flash video can – it is unable to display video fullscreen and there are content protection issues.

    Many have speculated that Job’s dislike of Flash mainly comes down to the fact that, unlike pretty much every other aspect of the iPhone, Apple can’t control it. Even apps, written by others, have to be checked and authorised by Apple, after being written on Apple development tools.

    Which makes their choice of video format look odd, as it’s a third party commercial product. But then, they would have even less control over the two open formats.  iTunes and Quicktime already use this format and besides, one of the other formats is being championed by Google.

    By insisting that Apple products do not use Flash but instead force their particular video format on the masses that buy them they are, in effect, almost guaranteeing themselves success longer term. Or are they? Can the other browsers support a commercial video format which they will have to pay for.

    And, at the same time, sites are going to be reluctant to recode all their video until a format is clearly successful.

    But, it’s good to see Steve is taking it on the chin as he always does. After a blogger contacted him about supporting the alternative, open formats, Steves reply was “a patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other open source codecs now”.

    Nice.