Ha! Pioneer headquarters is in Long Beach, and some guy name Frank in Canada's phone is probably ringing off the hook. Poor bastard

Here is Franks phone number.... I hate giving out peoples direct numbers but this issue is retarted and if it takes us "pissing them off" to get any reaction. LETS DO IT!!!! call them until they need another phone line just to take the calls reguarding this issue.

 

1-905-946-7403

 

Sorry Frank. It had to be done.

 

G

DO NOT BUY ANY PIONEER NAV SYSTEM

If you are thinking about buying a Pioneer for Navigation, don't waste your money. It is basically a $1000 radio, as I'm sure alot of you would agree. We should write reviews about this P.O.S.

Heres a good for you all....

I live in Calgary and was planning a trip to Ainsworth hotsprings in British-Columbia. Map quest tells me to go down through crows nest pass and the entire trip should take 8hrs and 18minutes. Now the good part... My D3 tells me to go north through jasper around the mountains and back down again. It gives me a total trip time of...... any guess'???......

16hrs 53mins. Hilarious, cause when I called pioneer they said that ALL Nav system have a bit of error in them and can be off by a few minutes up to an hour. Well this is obviously off by more than an hour.

Could you imagine if I didn't know better and followed the D3 directions. This is absolutly B.S.

We need as many people as possible to call Pioneer. So if you have a D3 please call them. the number in Canada is 1-877-283-5901. Mention that is is a bad trip planner, and give them your horror stories.

Thanks

G

FYI...Frank actually works for Pioneer.

I have called. They gave me the same line of BS that the D3 works just like any other NAV system. I told them that i have used many NAV systems and this thing works like NO OTHER system on the market. I have also taken pictures of some routes, where it clearly shows me driving miles off route, making a U-turn, and coming back to where i should have been to begin with. They promised me a firmware update by this past April which obviously hasn't happened. He said they were aware of the problem and that it was caused by a "missing link in the database". Based on how long it is taking the 2008 map upgrade to come out, and how quickly the F-series firmware was updated, i think us D-series owners are out of luck. Pioneer just doesn't care about existing customers, and certainly not about discontinued products. All they care about is whats on the market right now so they can sell more. I think Pioneer owes us a refund for the purchase price, because I would have returned the unit had they not falsely promised me a fix. For now i will just use the TomTom on my Windows Mobile phone, and stay away from Pioneer products for the rest of my life. At least I feel I have done some good by convincing my friend who was looking at the F-series, to get a Kenwood 7120 instead (and he couldn't be happier). I have already had the chance to play with it, and it blows the Pioneer away in terms of navigation and ipod control.

Weird cause i have no problems with mine.

Granted I live in NYC and it quotes me 25 miles to get to my dentist but google and yahoo maps quote me 26-27. So, I don't know what's the deal?

About Pioneer not wanting the driver to turn left, that's bs

The d3 has saved me from many chances to get lost in the bad zone of the bronx here.

What type of DVD region are you using and which country?

It doesnt exhibit the problem all the time. It does seem to depend where you live, but i really can't even begin to guess what the problem is. I can take a 2 hour trip and have no problems, but then take a 25 minute trip and it does things that make no sense, like tells me to turn off of Road A, drive down Road B for 4 miles, make a u-turn, and go back to the same intersection on Road A. Almost like it thinks i can't go straight for some reason. Granted it will get me there eventually, but I'll waste tons of time and gas in the process if i don't check the route list before i turn. I'm in southeast PA FWIW, but i have seen others from around the country, and in Canada with the same problem.

I will be heading to boston for the yankees redsox game friday night. We'll see if we have the same problem. My last units were the dnx8120 and a portable navi unit(magellan). Always dead on

Id have to agrere with the "pu the destination on the right" thing....

I've taken several long road trips, and they always take me south..

When i go north to south, the route ALWAYS matches yahoo, mapquest, google, within 20 milss (700 mile route to southern VA) and spans about 12 different highways, so im sure its navigating rather than taking a single road

The problem happens when i go home, even if i enter the SAME two addresses (whereby google, mapquest, yahoo) will take me the reverse route, the D3 goes apeshit and takes me all over different roads and makes my new route 900+ miles (creating an L shaped route)

It appears the person who posted thier pic had thier nav do the same thing....

Perhaps its a problem with South to North routes, a simple bug??

I dunno, if more people posted pics of the routes with mapquest routes, we may be able to spot common differences and further define the problem

~Jason

Is the problem with the unit itself or the map DVD??? I know they just came out with the new updated map DVDs right? Maybe if we keep complaining enough Pioneer will send us some new maps or something. Ive noticed how much it sucks too, I only use nav when Im going a short distance in a town I dont know cause long trips are always off. Doesnt matter if im going north/south or south/north...

Its hard to say where the problem is. It would seem its a problem with the routing algorithm (firmware) but Pioneer told me the problem is a missing link in the database, which i assume would be an issue with the DVD itself. I'm anxiously awaiting the updated DVD to see if it helps at all, but it seems as though it may never get released. It is also very likely that Pioneer was just feeding myself and others BS when they said they were aware of the issue and were working on it, because they also told some people that they were working on a firmware update for the bluetooth problems, and there hasn't been anything there either.

I'd still call it a routing algorithm issue and my understanding is that's Pioneer's responsibility - nothing Tele Atlas can fix with a database update. Mine Pioneer AVIC-D3 routes a trip home south towards Victoria from Sidney. The route SHOULD be 95% straight on one highway. Where does Pioneer send me? With about 5km left on the highway part, it takes me off the highway onto a secondary road, another turn onto a smaller road, another turn, back onto the secondary road and eventually back onto the highway at the same place I got off.

I've got enough experience with other units in friends cars or rental cars that I will definitely avoid Pioneer in the future. I'm not going to waste my breath phoning Pioneer though. I just tell as many people as I can exactly how 'well' the nav works. Too bad because the rest of the unit is nice.

I made a trip to upstate ny(1 and a half hour drive).

Google maps quoted me 1 hour with 48 minutes(96.7 mi).

Avic-d3 quoted me 1 hour and 46 minutes(96 mi).

They both used the same streets, roads and highways.

Start: Queens, NYC

Finish: New Paltz, NY

I only see major routing problems (as i stated before) with South to North routes, can anyone else confirm/deny ths?

I cant really say. I used mine for a N-S and a S-N (same trip, there and then back home) and the directions were fine, although on the way down, it did randomly put me in manhattan and i had to reset it. Most of the bogus directions it has given me were testing it out going from work to home, or from home to my mom's. I knew where i was going so it wasn't a big deal, but it still had me driving in circles and making u-turns, more than doubling the trip distance.

I just purchased a D3 and now this got me worried. I hope the updated dvds are the answer to this problem

Just got back from my long weekend trip along Vancouver Island. On our way back to Victoria, I planned route and the D3 had me taking a ferry to Vancouver which is on the mainland then another ferry back to the island. It didn't even recognize that there is a major highway that runs the length of the island. (Trans Canada Hwy). Not too impressed

i also ploted a similar route. approx. 300 miles from delaware to obx.

the d3 regardless of what options i selected insists on making it a 450 mile trip.

i called pioneer and they wanted to sell me upgraded discs for the d3.

the unit is 9 months old and has taken me way out of my way more than once. pioneer said i could send the unit in, but since i bought it brand new from cartronix on the internet, there would be a 200.00 charge to check it out. ...............dont think so!

there is nothing wrong with the units electronics, but the logic that uses the map data to calculate the route is the problem.

last piece of pioneer gear for me

THE BOTTOM LINE IS WE NEED TO KEEP CALLING THEM BECAUSE EVERYTIME I CALL THEY SAY THIS A NEW ISSUE AND HAVE NEVER HEARD OF IT BEFORE. BULL$HIT!!!

KEEP CALLING FRANK HE IS THE HEAD CAR ELECTRONICS GUY IN CANADA. IF YOU TALK TO CUSTOMER SERVICE AND MENTION FRANK DE ANGELO ( IT THINK THATS HIS LAST NAME) THEY WILL KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. EVERYONE WHO IS ON THIS OR READING THIS SHOULD CALL.

1-877-283-5901. ASK TO SPEAK TO FRANK

REMEMBER TO MAKE A NOTE OF YOUR CALLS REFERENCE NUMBER SO WE CAN MAKE A LIST AND I WILL WRITE THEM A LETTER REFERENCING ALL OF OUR COMPLAINTS, SO THEY CAN'T SAY THEY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS ISSUE BEFORE.

JUST POST YOUR REFERENCE NUMBER ON HERE AND I WILL MAKE THE LIST. HOPEFULLY WE CAN GET MORE THAN 30.

G

JUST CURIOUS...

HAS ANYONE PURCHASED THE NEW DVD???

DID IT FIX THE PROBLEMS???

G

I have the new DVDs on my server if you wanted to "test" them out before you bough them from Pioneer

very bad trip planner. one time it's telling me to get off the freeway and get on from the same exit (entrance ramp) and keep on going on the same freeway. what the hell....

I just spoke to Frank on the Phone again and he see's very willing to fix yhis issue. I am going to start logging my trips where it takes me all over and email it to him. He said they are aware of the issue and really want it fixed.

See's like were getting somewhere.

I keep you all in the loop

G

So glad I found this out before I spent money for this Nav unit.. I only wanted one built in so I wont have to use tomtom on my phone while driving..

I guess it's back to finding one that's not overpriced and has decent nav