Minelab Tehnical help.

[Captainpugwash]

Looking at alot of posts relating settings/problems mainly with the CTX and the Etrac, isnt it a shame that someone from Minelabs Technical Department dosent come on here to help us. I know its not a Minelab owned site but as it is all Minelab related, you would think that they would do us the curtousey and give an imput. We buy these machices and are left to help each other out.
Perhaps a section of the site could be made to post messages to the Techinal Department and they could post replies back. The quality of service from this company as to be said is second to none, but alot of members struggle to cope with thier machines and if it wasnt for other members helping them they might as well sell thier detectors. I realise that the forum is to cover all things ie discusion, show finds, rallies, chat and to help each other ect. But where is the help as they say from the horses mouth. I wonder what would happen if members like Goggy, Slow n low, Whigsvolt and others who pass there knowledge to others decided to leave the forum, I dread to think, my CTX would be be gone faster than a rat up a drain pipe.

[stewart73]

I must agree. Although we do have the Questions for Minelab Support subforum here (http://www.minelabowners.com/forum/f48/) it does look that even there we are basically on our own. I don't know what the actual deal is between this site and the Minelab company itself, but as you said, it sure would be nice if they took the time to participate and help out. Des does check in once in a while but that seems to be about it. Maybe Gordon has some input on this? You'd think a company would jump on the chance to have free access to a large and very interested customer base like we have here. The amount of business they must surely have gained simply by the existence of this site is massive.

[Iron Mask]

I have to agree with you both.

[jon_jn]

Looking at alot of posts relating settings/problems mainly with the CTX and the Etrac, isnt it a shame that someone from Minelabs Technical Department dosent come on here to help us. I know its not a Minelab owned site but as it is all Minelab related, you would think that they would do us the curtousey and give an imput. We buy these machices and are left to help each other out.
Perhaps a section of the site could be made to post messages to the Techinal Department and they could post replies back. The quality of service from this company as to be said is second to none, but alot of members struggle to cope with thier machines and if it wasnt for other members helping them they might as well sell thier detectors. I realise that the forum is to cover all things ie discusion, show finds, rallies, chat and to help each other ect. But where is the help as they say from the horses mouth. I wonder what would happen if members like Goggy, Slow n low, Whigsvolt and others who pass there knowledge to others decided to leave the forum, I dread to think, my CTX would be be gone faster than a rat up a drain pipe.

is everyone just using gogs tadpole pattern-i would be very interested to find out what settings others are using?

[swissrolly]

Just being the Devil's advocate (with no axe to grind)…..

In fairness why should Minelab - what is in it for them? We have bought the machine based on the pre-sales information and their marketing. They sell the machine and they offer after service (by guarantee or payment) and the rest is up to us. I honestly don’t think there is any duty to the customer at all.

I had a quick look around forums for other products that are not managed by the manufactures, iPhones, major car marques, computers and TV and none of them do it so why should Minelab be special.

Look at it in terms of Ford have sold you (or in reality you chose to buy ) a nice new car. There is a handbook and you have your driving skills. It is possible that Ford may give you common sense advice on how to reverse park a car – fair enough. However we would not expect them to give advice on how to reverse park when it is raining, starting to get dark, you are late, the kids are screaming in the back, the angle is tight, it is slightly uphill etc. These are the equivalent things in metal detecting terms we discuss on these forums. In fact that is the fun of information sharing between like minded people

We always have a choice. At the end of the day if we do not like the service from a manufacturer we can always take our business elsewhere. Will they miss you sale – no because you have already bought the machine. Will it affect their sales in 5 years time when you come to upgrade?– maybe, maybe not.

At the end of the day if Minelab were your company, in time of recession, with limited resources, it would not be top of your to do list.

…. that all said it would be nice.

[Captainpugwash]

In reply to Swissrolls coments, there are alot of companies out there that now do virtual on line chat helplines and there are numrous with the facility to leave questions and you get a reply asap. I deal with companies supplying various products everyone of them gives telephone and email help ie Samsung, another being Tesco mobile for the pittance I pay per month I have all of the above for help should I need it. To be honest I am struggling to think of any company that will not give you some sort of Tech advice so long as it would not be a safety issue.
As for your mention of the Ford Motor company you take a Driving test to say that your competant to drive the vehicle before you take it on the road, plus Ford give you a printed Handbook/Manual with the car which is more than Minelab have put in the package.

[moparado]

I was turned onto this forum by a Minelab Tech Support Technician who i called when i first got my eTRAC. He had no answers and recommended i join this forum to get my answers. So there is some kind of connection between the two. Just look at how that whole CTX release was orchestrated, there had to be some kind of Minelab involvement.
Sad to say, seems Minelab relies on this forum to answer questions by experienced users to act as a pseudo tech support team.

I'm a member of at least two other forums where factory reps will chime in with answers, bug work arounds, features, operation and in some cases note new bugs found by members.
One of the forums is owned by the manufacturer and the other is a generic public forum where two factory reps of competing companies are members.
One of these reps is an engineer who not only answers questions, but also offers to personally repair, tweek or fix products free of charge. Now there is a company who cares about its customers and doesn't let them hang out to dry once the sale is completed. A company whose products i will keep on buying and highly recommend to others.

Come on Minelab, assign someone here who can at least answer questions related to operations, tips or features. What are you afraid of?

[ARGONAUTE]

the world is what we make of it... but I think there's a lot of questions that would take up a lot of time for little gain, so it would pay if we are focused on things of a real value to us and to Minelab, and certainly we can help them identify what makes a detector better because we are serious users of the equipment. Minelab have been excellent with service and repair, and I have no improvements to offer there.

One thing that could be of a focus point is the firmware and apps for the CTX. So a section on CTX firmware and development could be a valid suggestion. Tips and features could just go into the xchange2 software couldn't it? Operation would often be answered by users on the fourm? just ideas....

[moparado]

Yes the world is what we make of it and because there's no alternative for genuine official Minelab input here.... for the most part, most here have done just that.
And yes this is an informative forum no doubt. But lets imagine a hypothetical scenario where this forum ceases to exist? Then what Minelab?

I still say the circumstancial evidence points to Minelab's reliance on forum members to provide information regarding their products at no cost to Minelab. This should not be a function of 10 forum members giving 10 different answers to a new Minelab owner's question but instead, at some point, should be Minelab's responsibility.

I really don't get why some of you come up with excuses for Minelab's non-existence on this forum.
It would be a refreshing breath of fresh air if a Minelab rep would at least occassionally chime in here.