Pirep on eFlyBook

[Viperdoc[_1_]]

I purchased an eFlyBook from MyAirplanes.com a week after Oshkosh this year,
and initially was very happy with the unit. There were some software
glitches and upgrades needed, but the overall quality of the screen and
convenience were outstanding.

However, on my first use during a 1000 mile xc, the screen had some dark
lines on it that stayed even when the unit was turned off. This progressed
to a permanent black screen, regardless of the on/off status.

I spoke with Dennis at MyAirplanes.com, and sent the unit back to them as he
instructed. After around a week I called him back, and he said the unit was
shipped to me. Another week went by, and another call said that Irex (the
manufacturer of the units) was not supporting the repair or replacement of
the screens, and wanted 260 euro to repair.

After this, no more calls or emails from MyAirplane.com. No one answers the
phone, and no response to emails sent to Irex.

Although the technology has promise, these people were not set up for
customer service, which has been non-existent (both Irex and MyAirplane.com)

In short, they have my broken unit, and I am out $1200. My only recourse has
been to try to get the money back through my credit card company.

If you're considering the purchase of one of these be careful!

[Matt Barrow]

"Viperdoc" > wrote in message
...
>I purchased an eFlyBook from MyAirplanes.com a week after Oshkosh this
>year, and initially was very happy with the unit. There were some software
>glitches and upgrades needed, but the overall quality of the screen and
>convenience were outstanding.
>
> However, on my first use during a 1000 mile xc, the screen had some dark
> lines on it that stayed even when the unit was turned off. This progressed
> to a permanent black screen, regardless of the on/off status.
>
> I spoke with Dennis at MyAirplanes.com, and sent the unit back to them as
> he instructed. After around a week I called him back, and he said the unit
> was shipped to me. Another week went by, and another call said that Irex
> (the manufacturer of the units) was not supporting the repair or
> replacement of the screens, and wanted 260 euro to repair.
>
> After this, no more calls or emails from MyAirplane.com. No one answers
> the phone, and no response to emails sent to Irex.
>
> Although the technology has promise, these people were not set up for
> customer service, which has been non-existent (both Irex and
> MyAirplane.com)
>
> In short, they have my broken unit, and I am out $1200. My only recourse
> has been to try to get the money back through my credit card company.
>
> If you're considering the purchase of one of these be careful!


Have you tried contacting ARINC?

[Andrew Sarangan[_1_]]

Viperdoc wrote:
> I purchased an eFlyBook from MyAirplanes.com a week after Oshkosh this year,
> and initially was very happy with the unit. There were some software
> glitches and upgrades needed, but the overall quality of the screen and
> convenience were outstanding.
>
> However, on my first use during a 1000 mile xc, the screen had some dark
> lines on it that stayed even when the unit was turned off. This progressed
> to a permanent black screen, regardless of the on/off status.
>
> I spoke with Dennis at MyAirplanes.com, and sent the unit back to them as he
> instructed. After around a week I called him back, and he said the unit was
> shipped to me. Another week went by, and another call said that Irex (the
> manufacturer of the units) was not supporting the repair or replacement of
> the screens, and wanted 260 euro to repair.
>
> After this, no more calls or emails from MyAirplane.com. No one answers the
> phone, and no response to emails sent to Irex.
>
> Although the technology has promise, these people were not set up for
> customer service, which has been non-existent (both Irex and MyAirplane.com)
>
> In short, they have my broken unit, and I am out $1200. My only recourse has
> been to try to get the money back through my credit card company.
>
> If you're considering the purchase of one of these be careful!


I don't own the eFlybook, but I have used the PocketEFB software from
myairplane.com, and if I am correct the eFlybook uses the same
software. This software had some problems running on the Dell AXIM. The
screen would sometimes go blank, or would leave dark lines which won't
go away until I did a hard reset. Also, the advertised feature of
'nightcharts' never worked for me. I spoke to Dennis about it and he
said it could be due to low memory on my AXIM. However, this is the
only running program on the AXIM, so I suspect that is not the correct
cause. My impression so far is that it is an overall good product, but
still has some ways to go.

[Jim Burns[_1_]]

Ouch... sorry to hear of your problems with the eFlyBook and I thank you for
the warning.

Customer service seems to be nonexistent at many companies. During the past
4 weeks I've all but lost my mind waiting on hold, getting disconnected,
emailing, and recalling while trying to get answers from JPI, Airtex
Interiors, Shaden, Wells Fargo Mutual Funds. Email, voice mail, and the
hold button have become convenient excuses for companies to simply ignore
their customers. To top it all off yesterday DirecTV was supposed to install
an upgrade package at my house but they had the wrong work order and refused
to install what I'd actually ordered... after 4 phone calls totally over 40
minutes of my time he'll come back on the 23rd of October. Thanks a
freaking lot. Anyway, I digress....

A friend of mine tried the eFlyBook system on a trial basis and wasn't
satisfied with the cost/feature/value of the set up. He ultimately sent it
back. He also liked the concept.

Not to hi-jack your thread but to issue a pirep on another infight mapping
product that I will no longer recommend is the FlightPrep/tablet/MS
combination. The onscreen sectionals and low alt enroute charts are just
too clunky to navigate and view. The stability of the system is marginal at
best. I've not had many problems at altitudes as high as 11k, but it often
crashes when switching between screens or views. When it works, it works
great... when it doesn't... it is cumbersome and clunky. The XM weather
seems to work fine but add GPS, a moving map sectional or low enroute chart
or terminal procedure with multiple views and Windoze throws up it's hands
and begs for mercy. I tried to talk to a company representative at OSH
about the crashes and once he knew that I already owned the product he
totally ignored me. It was not a very comforting feeling to watch him turn
his attention away from a current customer and towards a potential victim.
I was not impressed and will not soon forget it.

Again, I'm sorry for your problems with the eFlybook and I thank you for the
pirep.

Jim

[Peter R.]

Jim Burns > wrote:

> Customer service seems to be nonexistent at many companies.

You noticed that, too? Perhaps the planets are all aligned in that certain
special way, or perhaps these companies have finally decided to callously
abandon customer service altogether, but either way I have had my fill of
poor customer service these past few months as well.

--
Peter

[Matt Barrow]

"Peter R." > wrote in message
...
> Jim Burns > wrote:
>
>> Customer service seems to be nonexistent at many companies.
>
> You noticed that, too? Perhaps the planets are all aligned in that
> certain
> special way, or perhaps these companies have finally decided to callously
> abandon customer service altogether, but either way I have had my fill of
> poor customer service these past few months as well.

When was the last time you heard of someone out of CS being made CEO, as
opposed to someone from Sales, Marketing, or Accounting?

[Peter R.]

Matt Barrow > wrote:

> When was the last time you heard of someone out of CS being made CEO, as
> opposed to someone from Sales, Marketing, or Accounting?

Accounting and operations are the two common CEO farms, from what I have
seen in fifteen years of consulting at these companies.

--
Peter

[[email protected]]

Well, I may not have been able to garner enough sales of my product to
keep it going (just shut down my flight planning software business
selling AirPlan), but my customers always told me that I gave good
customer service. I guess that it was because I always responded to
their questions and actually wanted to fix their problems (and make my
product better).

Unfortunately the aviation market is small and tough to penetrate,
especially if you are working part time on a shoestring budget like I
was. I wasn't willing to quit my day job and invest a lot of my own
money on marketing without some indication that there was a real return
to be had, and that may have been the main reason why I wasn't able to
succeed.

I know Dennis Megarry and I suspect that he will try to fix this
problem. I don't know what the ultimate cause of the problem is, but
if I had spent $1200 on a unit and it puked, I wouldn't give up on
getting it fixed. You should try pinging ARINC and see what they say
if Dennis doesn't respond.

Dean Wilkinson

[Peter R.]

> wrote:

> I know Dennis Megarry and I suspect that he will try to fix this
> problem.

He used to post here regularly, but that was a few years ago now.

--
Peter

[Jim Burns[_1_]]

Rant <on> and just hit delete now, because some of what is posted below is
so stupid it makes me ashamed that I deal with companies like this.... but
if you want to feel assured that you're not the only one... read on.

Yesterday I called JPI to ask which crimper or die number they now recommend
to crimp the terminal ends onto their wiring harness leads. The AMP # in
the install manual is no longer available. I've got to make at least 52
crimps and I'm not against buying a specific die or crimper if it will help
me do a better job. I specifically called their tech department, not sales.
I got put on hold so I punched the timer.... 18 minutes on hold.... finally
the guy answers. "I don't know, let me look that up" hold... punch the
timer again.... 8 minutes.... "I don't know, I can't find it... I THINK the
wires are EITHER 22 or 24 gauge, something like that." So I hung up. I
couldn't handle being put on hold again only to get another response like
that.

I don't know.
I think.
Either.
Something like that.
From a company technician.
26 minutes of holding and less than 2 minutes of conversation without an
answer.

I fought with Wells Fargo Mutual Funds for 5 weeks trying to convince them
that I was me after internet access to my account was dropped. They said I
didn't have my SSN attached to my accounts. I said everything worked last
week, why not now? They insisted that they didn't have my SSN. I asked
them who they sent the 1099's to last year... first they said I didn't get
any. I asked them if they wanted me to fax them the copy I was looking
at.... then they said well, we sent them to you... I asked them who's SSN
where the 1099's made out to... they said me.... I asked them what SSN was
on the account then... they read me my #.... I told them that was MY SSN...
they said sorry, your name doesn't match. They left out an initial. They
said it could be two different people. I asked with the same SS#? married
to the same woman on a joint tenant account? living at the same address? Ge
tting 1099's and paying taxes for each other?! They said YEP. Here's your
sign. I told them I was glad that their phone conversations were recorded
for customer satisfaction and that they need to replay mine daily. They had
me convinced that I had lost my mind.

One day last month our DTN satellite news service suddenly dropped the
energy futures market quotes. So I called them. "Because our fees from the
Chicago and New York Exchanges have gone up, we've had to limit your
subscription and several items have been deleted but can be re-added at
additional cost." Ok, I'm not paying any more money to get what I used to
have, what do I have to do to drop the service? "Let me transfer you to our
Retainment Team" Hold.... 10 minutes later a salesman asks me which service
upgrade I'd like to purchase! I explain the whole scenario and he puts me
on hold.... another 5 minutes and I get the 1st person again... I asked her
if she leased or owned her car... lease... I asked if I was her car company
and came to her house one day and told her that the cost of tires had gone
up, so now I'm taking one back or she could upgrade to a new lease package
and have her tire back what would she think?.... she got my point.... a
week later a new system showed up on UPS and everything works like it did
prior to the interruption. BP off the chart all for nothing.

Over 14 days ago I requested a quote from Airtex for some interior pieces.
First phone call and the owner of the company insists that my rear baggage
compartment doesn't have any interior pieces, it's all bare aluminum panels.
I told him that of the dozen or so C model Aztecs that I've seen, all of
them, including mine had factory installed padded vinyl interior panels.
I'll send pictures. Pictures sent with a specific list of requirements. No
response yet... I've left messages and voice mails... "I'll put your number
on his desk..." no return phone calls, no reply to my email.

Here's your sign... it says "We don't want your business"

Jim

[Peter R.]

Jim Burns > wrote:

> Here's your sign... it says "We don't want your business"

I have several similar rants, too, but fortunately I am now in a cool
meadow where the wind lightly dances off the leaves trees and the sun
glistens off the babbling brook. Only happy thoughts fill my mind. :)


--
Peter
BP 109/78 and holding...

[Jim Burns[_1_]]

ROFL!
You must not have kids or employees hehe ;)
The funniest thing about it is how all these things happened one after
another and continued to happen. If everything is equal I need to buy a
lottery ticket because good times must lay ahead! :)
Jim
Zenning and Ohmmmming...


"Peter R." > wrote in message
...
> Jim Burns > wrote:
>
> > Here's your sign... it says "We don't want your business"
>
> I have several similar rants, too, but fortunately I am now in a cool
> meadow where the wind lightly dances off the leaves trees and the sun
> glistens off the babbling brook. Only happy thoughts fill my mind. :)
>
>
> --
> Peter
> BP 109/78 and holding...

[Viperdoc[_1_]]

OK- here's another follow-up. After multiple calls to Dennis Megarry (who
always seemed like a nice guy, very personable, etc) with no response, as
well as sending emails to Irex with again no response, I just received an
email from Arinc, who apparently instructed Dennis to send me a new
replacement unit, even though the screens are generally not covered by
warranty. According to prior conversations with Dennis, up to 20% of the
units arriving from Irex were defective and needed return.

I hope that the unit will arrive shortly, and will post if and when it does.
However, obviously Arinc, MyAirplane.com, and Irex should mutually determine
a warranty policy since they are a joint venture.