SPOT Tracker Renewal Fees - Being Gouged?

[johnnystorm]

Have you tried cancelling things like Sky tv, Amazon prime, Netflix,any mobile contract, broadband or internet supplier, bank provider, utility supplier etc, etc

No.

Netflix don't go in for all that nonsense do they? You can cancel and restart with a single click, no badgering or haggling. Amazon don't mess about either. As for the rest, hang 'em high!

[Asposium]

Thought not
We did most of the above when we left the UK, it was very cathartic when they kept saying is there anything they could do to retain our business and we could cheerfully tell them to do one. EON was a very satisfying conversation.

I had a similar conversation with o2 to cancel broadband when I moved to Hull.

The classic has to be BT cold calling my Hull LANDLINE to try and sell me broadband.
I replied that I happily have BT broadband if they could fit a phone line; could almost see the commission in his eyes. Poor lad clearly didn’t appreciate the area code that had been randomly called.

As for screwing over customers; banks, they offer money to swap to them, how about offering money to stay with them.
Wasn’t that called interest???

[ericrobo]

In the spirit of TLS and SELF-SUPPORTED why do you need all this crap ?

And now there’s another acronym - all credit to our noble leader (don’t worry Stu, I didn’t say Chairman Zing Pi Stu )
NoDisconnect... or ND ! “don’t disconnect from nature”

If you’re out on the bike in the wilderness alone you have to train yourself to cope with ‘adverse’ situations...

(there’s not that much wilderness unfortunately)

Can understand why organising events insist on Spots - but let’s hope it doesn’t get as bad as when the insurance companies get their grubby hands on it all...

( I’m still a member of the FRCC ( Fell & Rock Climbing Club) and a few years back they had to change their constitution, because of the danger that if a member got injured in one of their huts (not on the crag where they belong FGS (for God’s sake... just made that one up, maybe it’ll take ) and got disabled or something they could sue the club for millions ! And that would mean the members could be sued...

This is a far cry from the noble Samurai is it not ?
In the old days nobody who was a climber, would even in their dreams consider sueing their club..
But today... alas...
If you are stupid enough to get injured in a club hut (unless somebody put a grenade in your porridge ) then if you choose to sue all the members, then you are a ball-less tw#t..

It’s the lawyers and insurance companies who strike this fear, and make no mistake they make a lot of money from it.

So what about a new principle in English law (Scottish law is probably a lot more sensible) - if you take part in an event... (even: for which there is no payment) then it is you who is responsible, not the organiser, and enshrine in law that the only person you can sue is yourself.

Subject to the usual principles of English law:
Eg if I’m out riding my bike (or out doing anything for that matter) and something bad happens (a big bad dog, a booby trap, a helicopter lands on me, pestilence) I can sue the dog owner, the booby trap creator, the helicopter company, pestilence= act of God... probably a lot of those)
but something bad happens and it’s my fault, I can’t sue myself...

Just saying like... you know how it is

[pistonbroke]

And breathe.

[ScotRoutes]

And breathe.

I think it's too much inhaling actually....

[johnnystorm]

I got the now standard $65 off email. Cancellation due end of April.

[boxelder]

I contacted spot last night to cancel my subscription, they offered me a £50 discount.

Did you contact via email and if so which address? I've had the 'Welcome to your massive price hike' email, but it's noreply

Thanks

[rufus748]

I contacted spot last night to cancel my subscription, they offered me a £50 discount.

Did you contact via email and if so which address? I've had the 'Welcome to your massive price hike' email, but it's noreply

Thanks

I sent two, one to the 'contact us' link but when you click on the cancel subs it only allows you to ring them so I think i did it as 'other'
I also sent one to the end email address at the top of the spot page

[boxelder]

Much obliged

[boxelder]

Thank you for contacting SPOT Customer Relations.

At this time all services come as part of a 12 month to month/one year annual subscription. You can request to deactivate by phone or by requesting an email.

Sorry to hear you would like to deactivate your SPOT service. It has been a pleasure to serve you as a customer.

Per your request your SPOT services are scheduled to deactivate on April 9, 2018, however, we would like to extend a generous offer to you. We would like to apply a €50.00 customer loyalty credit to your account for your upcoming renewal.

This offer is available for a 5 days from this email, and if you re-activate at a later date, it will not be applicable.

Please let us know how you would like to proceed

Well that was quick. Clearly I'm not worth the €60 discount. Still muchos pesos

[Jurassic pusher]

Hold out for €60 !

[johnnystorm]

€50 is only a couple of quid shy of $65

[rufus748]

Spot have now come back to me and increased my offer to €100 discount.
Still not as cheap as Scott's offer but brings it to a 'reasonable' annual amount.

[gairym]

I've been meaning to cancel mine for ages but never got around to calling. So it auto-renewed in November meaning that my laziness cost me another years cover - arse!

So.....I emailed them stating that it's illegal under EU law to demand people call the states to cancel cover (as somebody mentioned earlier in this thread).

They cancelled my subscription immediately and and offered me the big discount but screw 'em, they've had enough of my money and I'm happy to fend for myself in the big wild world.

Seems to me to be massively overpriced now compared to just being very expensive a few years ago.

[Ollyrowe]

Hi. Does anyone know of any alternatives? I am planning a big trip this year going through Central Asia and need something to reassure the family. The live tracking is not essential, really just need something to raise an alarm to rescue services.
Cheers, Olly

[Asposium]

Hi. Does anyone know of any alternatives? I am planning a big trip this year going through Central Asia and need something to reassure the family. The live tracking is not essential, really just need something to raise an alarm to rescue services.
Cheers, Olly

If you desire the ability to reassure the family then you will require a satellite tracker such as a SPOT or Garmin inReach as these devices have the capability to send messages, although the SPOT is limited to sending only pre-set messages, whereas the inReach is free-text and two-way (messages can be typed on a smart phone as if sending a text).

For the ability to raise an alarm to rescue services then a personal location beacon will suffice. Has no subscription fee. Is SOS ONLY

Such as
https://www.mcmurdogroup.com/mcmurdo-pr ... tfind-220/

[Ollyrowe]

Thanks, Asposium. You make a good point, to reassure the family I do need a satellite tracker. I will keep an eye out for any deals

[Mariner]

Thanks, Asposium. You make a good point, to reassure the family I do need a satellite tracker. I will keep an eye out for any deals

Or alternatively https://sites.google.com/site/balloonne ... pment-hire

[restlessshawn]

Worth bearing in mind a PLB will be no use if your are unconscious whereas a spot tracker is still pinging your location and people will know where to find you once they realise something is wrong.

I just view the SPOT as insurance, however if I rode where phones worked 99% of the time and wasn't alone 99% of the time I wouldn't bother.

[Richard G]

Assholes saying I need to call to cancel. I assume that EU law isn't any good when it comes to being forced to call EU call centres?

[johnnystorm]

Assholes saying I need to call to cancel. I assume that EU law isn't any good when it comes to being forced to call EU call centres?

I received assurances that I was cancelled at my finish date and wouldn't be renewed and that was via email.

[voodoo_simon]

Assholes saying I need to call to cancel. I assume that EU law isn't any good when it comes to being forced to call EU call centres?

I just emailed SPOT and said it was inconvenient to phone the US of A and they were fine. First they offered discount and I politely declined, so they cancelled the contract. Quite an easy process really

[numplumz]

I got the dreaded renewal notice and luckily my credit card has expired, didn't stop then processing it though, despite my cancellation. Luckily the bank picked it up as fraudulent activity.
I have started using bubbler on my phone instead with £9 for the app and Spotwalla tracking pages. works well and if in Europe your never that far away from a mobile signal or wifi for long.

[Richard G]

Assholes saying I need to call to cancel. I assume that EU law isn't any good when it comes to being forced to call EU call centres?

I just emailed SPOT and said it was inconvenient to phone the US of A and they were fine. First they offered discount and I politely declined, so they cancelled the contract. Quite an easy process really

I suspect that's why they've given me some sort of Euro phone number.

I'm going to quote GDPR at them, see if that works.

[barney]

I had my dealings with Spot regarding cancellation and I might be in a minority but I'm a happy bunny

I sent an email on Monday saying it was too expensive to renew so reluctantly I was going to cancel, I got the standard reply telling me to ring them or ask them to ring me. I did the latter and someone phoned me last night, I said it was too expensive so they offered me the "std $50" but I said no, same to their $65 offer and then they came back with a bigger discount that will only cost me approx. £75 including all the taxes. I even got them to email me confirmation which they did instantly.

I know Spot's divide opinion on here for non-long distance trips but for my personal circumstances (I have a disability) it gives my wife reassurances so she doesn't mind if I want to go out and play!