i can't believe Minelab now has service done by KellyCo instead of in house

[martygene]

Why would Minelab close their in house repair center and turn it over to KellyCo? I only had to send my CTX in to Minelab once to their service center in Illinois and it came back in a week. I have it in to KellyCo now since 6-2-17 and it is 6-26-17 and nothing. I have called their service center 4 times and actually managed to speak with someone twice to no avail. I gave them my tracking number and they didn't know where it was and said they will call back and let me know but NOTHING! No call back, no word on anything. If this is the norm for Minelab servicing from now on I will not be purchasing a detector from them ever again. And I bet I won't be the only one either.

 

[Champ Ferguson]

Reread some of the thread from last year; this is an ongoing issue that started when KC's lead repair tech suddenly passed away.

The more people call and email them, the longer it is going to take.

But yeah, they need more service centers. They are saying that's coming, but so far I see nothing beyond talk.

 

[D&P-OR]

martygene------Is your CTX that you sent in still under warranty?

 

[martygene]

not under warranty anymore... which puts it even further back in the repair pack... they said if I paid and extra 75.00 they would move it from non warranty to the warranty line.... however long that is....

 

[CT Todd]

It's all about money. This is a business like any other. If they really cared it would be taken care of. It costs a lot more money to get a "New" customer than to keep an existing customer and they forget that.

 

[martygene]

Just got this from Minelab after I emailed them this morning. Minelab returned my email in minutes. now THAT'S service.
now I have to wait and see how long it takes KC to contact me with costs.

"I have spoken with our repair service and your machine has been fixed and is ready to be shipped. The billing department will be calling you either today or tomorrow to go over the repairs and the cost."

 

[Champ Ferguson]

hmmmm, sounds like the backlog is now at about 3 weeks....?

 

[ML]

Just got this from Minelab after I emailed them this morning. Minelab returned my email in minutes. now THAT'S service.
now I have to wait and see how long it takes KC to contact me with costs.

"I have spoken with our repair service and your machine has been fixed and is ready to be shipped. The billing department will be calling you either today or tomorrow to go over the repairs and the cost."

It sounds as if they repaired your unit without first providing a quote for your approval to proceed. Is that the case? I previously oversaw the maintenance of a variety of equipment for a large state agency and that sounds kinda ass backward to me. It's great that it's done but hopefully it won't set you back too much.

 

[Mr. Carolina]

Codan's last year revenues for Minelab detectors 75+ million. 35 percent revenue growth 55 percent profit growth. 85 percent sales to over sea's market in 150 countries.
Large contributor GPZ 7000 with the African market exploding. With their hands in communications and government contracts, well, telling it like it is, we are but a speck
in the big picture and with numbers like this we will stay just a speck. I'm not completely sure of this number but it is close, somewhere between 150 and 200 million in sales last year. With numbers like this, you can cry all you want, it will do no good. CT Todd is right. It's all about the money baby.

 

[martygene]

sounds fishy to me too. from no word to fixed in an hour... probably reset it and sending it back without knowing if it's really fixed or not.


It sounds as if they repaired your unit without first providing a quote for your approval to proceed. Is that the case? I previously oversaw the maintenance of a variety of equipment for a large state agency and that sounds kinda ass backward to me. It's great that it's done but hopefully it won't set you back too much.[/quote]

 

[dewcon4414]

I dont know what the agreement between KC and ML is....... but i was told by Marty when he was alive ..... they were only housed there but worked for ML not KC. I believe what happened was they were just doing Xcals...... which was GREAT. But then took on the whole service as well as modifications of the Xcal...... bad timing it all happened then Barry died. Not really a Kelleyco problem...... but im sure its not good for business. They also had a guy to replace Barry.........but he had family issues and had to leave. I believe some of the Service guys from EU helped with the initial back log. If Treasure Hunter is on here he maybe able to provide more info.

Dew

 

[treasure_hunter]

Wonder how many new Older Ctx's are sitting on Kellyco's shelf waiting to be Sold
and sent back for faulty non quality failing parts.

None, all version 1 were returned to Minelab for credit just like the other dealers did.

I am close friends with all the personnel at the repair center, been friends with them for far longer than there was a repair center there, two of them are my hunting partners when they had time to hunt.

The Minelab repair center located at Kellyco (ASC East) was a backup center to the repair center in Chicago which had 2 techs working, all overflow was shipped or sent to the Repair Center in Florida. Both of the repair techs in Chicago retired in Spring of 2015, and the repair center in Florida became the primary repair center with a single tech.

Florida tech Barry,a retired NASA shuttle tech had a massive stroke in February of 2016 and passed away, most repairs ceased for 6 weeks. When repairs resumed repairs were being done by Barry's brother, a retired Naval Aviation Maintenance officer and there was a huge backlog. Additional techs were hired but did not work out as they were electronic techs but had no experience with metal detecting. Another tech was hired who was working out good but he had to return to move back home to take care of personal family issues.

Repair wait times vary week to week and month to month depending on how many detectors they receive to work on, some months they get over 60, some months around 30. The repair center in Florida still works on the Minelab detectors that Minelab no longer supports and repairs them when possible, the repair center in Chicago and in Vegas when it was there would not work on non supported detectors.

Per Minelab rules, warranty takes priority over non-warranty so when warranty work comes in they stop non warranty repairs and repair the warranty work. Repair center could cut the repair time down by refusing to accept any detector no longer supported by Minelab. This would mean only Explorer SE Pro of the Explorer line would be worked on, only Xterra 305, 505 and 705 series would be worked on, no Xterra 30, 50, or 70s, only the Sovereign GT of Sovereign series would be worked on and none of the SD 2100 or SD 2200 series would be worked on. Instead the Florida repair center has tried to work on all models when ever possible depending on what the failure is since there are no parts available for unsupported detectors.

Owners could help lower the repair wait time by stop sending in all the accessories with the detector. there is no need to send in every accessory received when you bought the detector and there is no need to wrap bubble wrap you put on your detector with 10-20 feet of packing tape, just wrap it once. On excals they only want the coil, headphones and controls, battery if your having power issues, NO shafts waist belts or other accessories.

Every item sent in has to be inventoried, every detector has to be unwrapped, and a note needs to be put in the box explaining the issues, it does nothing to say detector not working, they need to know what owner is seeing, if problem starts after a couple hours of running then it is important to tell them that in the note.


They also said the constant calls and emails to the repair center asking status only slows down the repairs.

 

[lytle78]

TH -

Good report on a tough situation. Minelab owns this issue - they are the ones who need to fix it.

The FL repair center's willingmess and ability to repair non-supported older ML product is great for users.

 

[ML]

Wonder how many new Older Ctx's are sitting on Kellyco's shelf waiting to be Sold
and sent back for faulty non quality failing parts.

None, all version 1 were returned to Minelab for credit just like the other dealers did.

I am close friends with all the personnel at the repair center, been friends with them for far longer than there was a repair center there, two of them are my hunting partners when they had time to hunt.

The Minelab repair center located at Kellyco (ASC East) was a backup center to the repair center in Chicago which had 2 techs working, all overflow was shipped or sent to the Repair Center in Florida. Both of the repair techs in Chicago retired in Spring of 2015, and the repair center in Florida became the primary repair center with a single tech.

Florida tech Barry,a retired NASA shuttle tech had a massive stroke in February of 2016 and passed away, most repairs ceased for 6 weeks. When repairs resumed repairs were being done by Barry's brother, a retired Naval Aviation Maintenance officer and there was a huge backlog. Additional techs were hired but did not work out as they were electronic techs but had no experience with metal detecting. Another tech was hired who was working out good but he had to return to move back home to take care of personal family issues.

Repair wait times vary week to week and month to month depending on how many detectors they receive to work on, some months they get over 60, some months around 30. The repair center in Florida still works on the Minelab detectors that Minelab no longer supports and repairs them when possible, the repair center in Chicago and in Vegas when it was there would not work on non supported detectors.

Per Minelab rules, warranty takes priority over non-warranty so when warranty work comes in they stop non warranty repairs and repair the warranty work. Repair center could cut the repair time down by refusing to accept any detector no longer supported by Minelab. This would mean only Explorer SE Pro of the Explorer line would be worked on, only Xterra 305, 505 and 705 series would be worked on, no Xterra 30, 50, or 70s, only the Sovereign GT of Sovereign series would be worked on and none of the SD 2100 or SD 2200 series would be worked on. Instead the Florida repair center has tried to work on all models when ever possible depending on what the failure is since there are no parts available for unsupported detectors.

Owners could help lower the repair wait time by stop sending in all the accessories with the detector. there is no need to send in every accessory received when you bought the detector and there is no need to wrap bubble wrap you put on your detector with 10-20 feet of packing tape, just wrap it once. On excals they only want the coil, headphones and controls, battery if your having power issues, NO shafts waist belts or other accessories.

Every item sent in has to be inventoried, every detector has to be unwrapped, and a note needs to be put in the box explaining the issues, it does nothing to say detector not working, they need to know what owner is seeing, if problem starts after a couple hours of running then it is important to tell them that in the note.


They also said the constant calls and emails to the repair center asking status only slows down the repairs.

Thanks for the great info. The fact remains, however, that more repair techs are (and always have been) required for the vast volume of units they sell. It's not rocket science, it's simple numbers. The few techs they have must be pulling their hair out on a daily basis.

 

[dewcon4414]

No matter how many techs you have you cant do much without parts.

 

[ML]

No matter how many techs you have you cant do much without parts.

This is true..

 

[treasure_hunter]

Wonder how many new Older Ctx's are sitting on Kellyco's shelf waiting to be Sold
and sent back for faulty non quality failing parts.

None, all version 1 were returned to Minelab for credit just like the other dealers did.

I am close friends with all the personnel at the repair center, been friends with them for far longer than there was a repair center there, two of them are my hunting partners when they had time to hunt.

The Minelab repair center located at Kellyco (ASC East) was a backup center to the repair center in Chicago which had 2 techs working, all overflow was shipped or sent to the Repair Center in Florida. Both of the repair techs in Chicago retired in Spring of 2015, and the repair center in Florida became the primary repair center with a single tech.

Florida tech Barry,a retired NASA shuttle tech had a massive stroke in February of 2016 and passed away, most repairs ceased for 6 weeks. When repairs resumed repairs were being done by Barry's brother, a retired Naval Aviation Maintenance officer and there was a huge backlog. Additional techs were hired but did not work out as they were electronic techs but had no experience with metal detecting. Another tech was hired who was working out good but he had to return to move back home to take care of personal family issues.

Repair wait times vary week to week and month to month depending on how many detectors they receive to work on, some months they get over 60, some months around 30. The repair center in Florida still works on the Minelab detectors that Minelab no longer supports and repairs them when possible, the repair center in Chicago and in Vegas when it was there would not work on non supported detectors.

Per Minelab rules, warranty takes priority over non-warranty so when warranty work comes in they stop non warranty repairs and repair the warranty work. Repair center could cut the repair time down by refusing to accept any detector no longer supported by Minelab. This would mean only Explorer SE Pro of the Explorer line would be worked on, only Xterra 305, 505 and 705 series would be worked on, no Xterra 30, 50, or 70s, only the Sovereign GT of Sovereign series would be worked on and none of the SD 2100 or SD 2200 series would be worked on. Instead the Florida repair center has tried to work on all models when ever possible depending on what the failure is since there are no parts available for unsupported detectors.

Owners could help lower the repair wait time by stop sending in all the accessories with the detector. there is no need to send in every accessory received when you bought the detector and there is no need to wrap bubble wrap you put on your detector with 10-20 feet of packing tape, just wrap it once. On excals they only want the coil, headphones and controls, battery if your having power issues, NO shafts waist belts or other accessories.

Every item sent in has to be inventoried, every detector has to be unwrapped, and a note needs to be put in the box explaining the issues, it does nothing to say detector not working, they need to know what owner is seeing, if problem starts after a couple hours of running then it is important to tell them that in the note.


They also said the constant calls and emails to the repair center asking status only slows down the repairs.

Thanks for the great info. The fact remains, however, that more repair techs are (and always have been) required for the vast volume of units they sell. It's not rocket science, it's simple numbers. The few techs they have must be pulling their hair out on a daily basis.

No arguement here. ...

 

[Champ Ferguson]

Dang dude. It don't leak if you treat the seal right. As stated from the start. Every other product makes tweeks as the years roll on, why cant detectors do the same?

No argument that they need to 'fix' their customer service tho.

 

[MLA Jamie]

The current repair situation is our number one concern here at Minelab. There are processes actively happening to improve the situation and allow our customers to receive the service they expect from Minelab. While this does not help with the recent and current repairs, I can assure you that your concerns are not ignored.

If you ever have any questions, please feel free to email us at service@minelabamericas.com.

 

[Champ Ferguson]

Thanks Jamie; it always helps to know a problem is being worked on.

It is a valid concern and I have put off buying a new ML PI because of it.