Very confusing conversation with pioneer rep over F900BT

[cranbers]

So I talked to the pioneer rep today about the 1 comma 5 miles issue today, among the other issues.

 

Here is what he said regarding each issue.

 

1. The long start up time is not a issue or bug and is normal.

2. The ipod losing connectivity is a bad ipod cable and to switch it out.

3. The 1 comma 5 miles is a bug from the pre production unit and he has no idea how that made it out in a full production model from crutchfield.

4. He has no clue if a firmware update is coming out and he wont know until its released.

5. The static in the speakers from the TTS female voice in the unit is my car harness and not a issue with the unit

6. There are issues with the bluetooth on a FEW units and is not a huge issue or problem.

7. He personally owns a F90BT and has none of the issues mentioned, the comma problem does not exist for him.

8. He reads avic411 and it is creating a internet frenzy over issues that are not wide spread but uniqe to a few units that have issues.

 

So yeah, you got me. Either this guy is not well informed, but if he reads avic411, one would assume he would be well aware of issues.

 

I see them constantly, the sluggishness and lack of sensitivity of the screen often times etc.

 

So while everything DOES WORK, you can just tell something is seriously wrong, heck maybe I do have a pre production unit. But then again so does everyone here then that is having these issues.

 

I Know there was some comment about the f90BT and holding them from production until the issue is fixed. Well the F90BT and the F900BT are identical except for the pre volt outs, warranty and everything else.

 

Just for kicks Crutchfield is sending me a replacement unit, if the new one has the issues as well, they said they will take the issue up with pioneer personally. He rep was very confused and surprised pioneer would release a unit like this at that price point and have huge issues like this that are on all the units.

 

Guess we will see with the replacement.

 

Just FYI for those who are curious.

 

 

Crutchfield has the best service I have ever seen, but I guess you pay for it given the price point is typically right at MSRP.

[mavrickma]

He just gave you a bunch of BS because he knew that he couldn't fix the problems for you and that's what he's told to do by Pioneer.

[HiFiSi]

This guy just seems to get less and less credible as it goes on.

 

1. The long start up time is not a issue or bug and is normal.

 

I guess that's understandable. Shitty, but understandable.

 

2. The ipod losing connectivity is a bad ipod cable and to switch it out.

 

This could be true... I've not had one disconnection or freeze up using my ipod. But it could also be a load of crap. I guess you would call this one feasible but unproven.

 

3. The 1 comma 5 miles is a bug from the pre production unit and he has no idea how that made it out in a full production model from crutchfield.

 

It's not just units from Crutchfield. And it can get out easily with that problem, considering all the OTHER reported issues it had when they shipped them out.

 

4. He has no clue if a firmware update is coming out and he wont know until its released.

 

My guess is that pretty much everything this guy said is just a guess or denial in the face of proof. Because (regardless of whether or not there is one in the works) he should have access to this information if he's an actual Pioneer representative. I'm guessing this guy is one of the low men on the totem pole or this is what he's been told to say.

 

5. The static in the speakers from the TTS female voice in the unit is my car harness and not a issue with the unit.

 

BULL SHIT. If it was a problem with the external wiring, ALL of the audio would have the static, not just the navigation voice. That's just common sense.

 

6. There are issues with the bluetooth on a FEW units and is not a huge issue or problem.

 

I wouldn't know. But again, it just sounds like somebody trying to cover their asses.

 

7. He personally owns a F90BT and has none of the issues mentioned, the comma problem does not exist for him.

 

OK...

 

8. He reads avic411 and it is creating a internet frenzy over issues that are not wide spread but unique to a few units that have issues.

 

Internet frenzy? REALLY? And what qualifies as a FEW? 70? 75 percent? The amount of problematic units reported on this site IS a few when compared to the amount of units they have sold, but that's not a very accurate comparison. You have to compare the number of users on this site who have reported problems with the unit against the total number of users on this site who own one of these units. And with that ratio, you're looking at way more than just a few.

[Media Man]

Beautifully stated on point #5. You really could have said it for the entire story though.

 

Please get all out of my Momma.

[cranbers]

I agree with you on number 5 especially, I didn't wan to argue with that man though, he basically said it has something to do with the mono signal coming out of the unit, it causes problems with amplified systems, which I don't have I might add.

 

He actually told me to switch out the wire harndess with crutchfield.

[cranbers]

I also wanted to add, regarding the last internet frenzy with avic 411, he basically said EVERYONE was going off of what the Site admin guy posted with the video reivew, it was a pre production unit, so all of the issues that everyone is talkinga bout was fixed before going live, and everyone is jsut going off that video which is not correct.

 

Pretty funny if you ask me, also in regards to the wire harness bit, the rep from crutchfield was also questioning him, I will get the new unit tomorrow and plan on seeing the same issues, owell what can you do. Just wait for the patch I hear everyone talking about I guess.

 

Let's hope it is ina reasonable amount of time, although sitting reading through posts day after day since I got it probably doesn't help much.

 

I am just happy the thing is functional, I mean no doub tyou can tell this thing was rushed to market, more then likely with a plan to put out a firmware fix.

 

I mean the issues evident are very noticable, I mean having a women's voice yelling " TURN RIGHT IN 1 COMMA 5 MILES. Not something you can miss very easilly.

 

Although the funny thing about that, someone said oh that sounds like a problem with the trnaslation, I guess they say comma in europe or something.

 

So yeah fun stuff, glad I bought my F900BT, gives me something to do haha.

 

I already had the D3 now granted that doesn't havea ny of these issues, but it pales in comparison. If they can just fix these few issues, this unit will be AMazing, guess we will see. Crutchfield said they will give me a rediculous amount of time to return if needs be, so hey why not.

[VBLUE42]

This is exactly the kind of attitude I expected from Pioneer support. Judging by just the tone of what you wrote that he said I bet I know who you talked to. Almost everytime I called them about the D3 I seemed to get the same jackass. He is presumably a white male about 35 to 40 years old, He likes to interrupt you when your trying to explain your problem and has an answer before you even get what your trying to say out of your mouth. And its the wrong answer. This particular person has the worst attitude and he is the one that told me that the ipod menu button on the D3 has absolutely no function and does not work at all, unbelievable. The only way to get Pioneer to listen is to return your units to the dealers. That is where its going to hurt Pioneer. When the dealers start getting hurt because of returns they in turn will relay that pain to Pioneer. If the dealers stop ordering from Pioneer because of unreliability then Pioneer will do something about the problem. Otherwise, you probably wont see much change. Pioneer's attitude seems to be that us users are completely incompetent and are not qualified to discover a problem with their products.

[cranbers]

Really honestly all I wanted to hear out of the guys mouth was "yes we know there are bugs in the system, our engineers are currently working on a patch to update it. Please have patients and don't return the unit."

 

But instead I got what was spilled out before, It must be a defective unit or a install problem, well when I get the new unit and if it does in fact have the same issue, I may just return it and put the d3 back in, you kno considering we have now figured out the harness is identical, should be a quick switch instead of the grueling lets hook up a few dozen wires thing.

 

I really do like the unit, but seriously it ruins that special moment. I will tolerate the issues knowing there isa fix coming, but if its not for 3 months down the road, I am not that patient, and by that time who knows I may be so used to these bugs ill miss them.

 

I mean, when you have to do work arounds to get something to work and all of a sudden it works correctly, its almost like the twilight zone.

 

Anyway, I think im going to stop obsessing.

 

Anyone else not able to play video from a sd card? I thought it said it supported mpeg 4 video over sd, but the pioneer rep also said no video over sd card is supported. If you look in the manual I thought it said it does nto supporting it from the disc drive.

 

Basically when I copy a mpeg4 movie onto a sd card, it plays where you can hear the sound, see the controls but its a black video.

 

It's not a issue with the parking brake or anything because DVD video is fine through the dvd player.

[VBLUE42]

At the fallowing link it clearly shows on the graph that MPEG-4 is supported on all of the F series from the SD card.

 

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/ ... nnectivity

 

The manual should give more details as to the proper resolutions the video should be in to give the optimal playback experience.

[btailor508]

I'm not sure how the warranty works on these units, however if the Pioneer reps are stating that the units are defective, couldn't you just start the RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) process with the rep your on the phone with?

 

Basically they would send you out a "non-defective" unit and you would send your "defective" unit back. Then low and behold when you install it, 25 seconds later you'll encounter the same issues, and you call them up again, and say, here is my RMA number and its doing the same thing.

 

Just my .02....

[hellodave]

At the fallowing link it clearly shows on the graph that MPEG-4 is supported on all of the F series from the SD card.

 

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/ ... nnectivity

 

The manual should give more details as to the proper resolutions the video should be in to give the optimal playback experience.

 

I've got video playback working from the SD card, using Pioneer's spec (640*480 resolution, 480kbps bitrate, mpeg4 codec in an m4v file). However, even doing that, I can't get the video to run properly - it's in slow motion (as if the unit can decode the frames fast enough).

 

It'll decode wmv files from the SD card too, but only postage-stamp sized ones play smoothly, and it doesn't scale them to fit the screen