Can anybody help me - seems that this company does not have any support. Called the support line Friday and never received a call back.
-While scanning a house, I repeatedly got “Scan failed” in certain areas and spent ~30 minutes troubleshooting with no luck. This isn’t the first time; it happens often.
-I also frequently see “Possible alignment issue detected” even when I’m in clear view of the previous scan.
Any ideas on causes or fixes?
Hi Stephen,
We’re sorry for the inconvenience you experienced on Friday. It seems our support team attempted to return your call but unfortunately missed you. While we strive to answer every incoming call, there are times when it may go to voicemail. In those cases, our team makes it a priority to call back the same day.
Our support team is continuing to reach out to you by phone, as we believe a quick conversation is the fastest way to resolve the issues you’re experiencing and get you back to scanning smoothly.
We look forward to connecting with you soon!
iGUIDE Support
Create a Support Ticket
Phone : 1 (855) 505-1723 or 1 (226) 546-1723
Hours: Mon-Fri, 8:00AM – 6:30PM EST and Sat, 8:30AM - 5:00PM
No, no one has contacted me except for the call I received this morning, which makes it three business days. I didn’t get a voicemail or anything at all. I’m hoping the sketch will work, because it’s a five-hour drive to the house.
Did you reboot the Planix - that usually fixes the “scan failed” problem for me. It’s usually because of a disconect between the app and the device.
Alignment issues are not uncommon - it’s not about being in clear view of the previous scan it’s about the scan having sufficient reference points to previous scans to correctly align itself. For example you may scan a bathroom within clear view of the last scan in the hallway but it has minimal reference points so it will possibly misalign. The way to avoid that is to do a scan in the doorway too so that you progressively allow for reference points going into the bathroom. This can happen in other sitautions - I’m just using a bathroom as an example. Quite often you can fix an alignment issue anyway in seconds by doing it manually in the app but if not then delete the problem scan and make sure to progesively scan the space to give sufficient progressive reference points as you go. Remember - just being in view of the last scan is irrelevant to alignment.
Do you get a misaligned scan on the first scan? I am guessing 30% of my scans are misaligned, don’t have to be going into another room to get a misaligned error. As for the Failed Scan I have rebooted, still did not fix the problem, now on my last project I got it on my first three scans. Change the mghz corrected it, but the changing mghz that did not work the previous time.
Seems you have a faulty system. I’ve always found the support team to be very responsive. In a recent problem I did not get the end solution I wanted (you can’t always get what you want) but I have no complaint about their response and follow-up until I closed the ticket.
This company has been extremely frustrating to deal with. Everything takes far too long< They feel there might be an issue with the camera and they insist that I ship the camera back at my own expense. I’ve had alignment and connectivity issues with this camera since the very first day, and yet they expect me to pay for their defective product. Completely unacceptable. In my opinion, this is not a trustworthy or reliable company to do business with.
It sucks you’re having problems and I can only imagine how frustrating that can be. Keep in mind that many larger INTERNATIONAL companies have that same policy of “you ship it back, we’ll ship a replacement”. Some companies will offer a tougher policy of “You pay for a new unit, we ship it ASAP, when we get the faulty unit we will refund you”.
In the time you spent “venting” you could have had the unit packaged, labeled, and ready to ship back. In the big picture, paying return shipping can be factored into the Cost of Doing Business.
For many of us, their Customer Service has been exceptional and sets a high standard that many other companies could learn from. Wait till you try to get help with a Matterport Equipment issue (like pulling teeth).
Good luck and hopefully your replacement unit will be flawless and you’ll enjoy using iGUIDE to it’s full potential ASAP! It’s a great product, service, and company to work with, at least for most of us.
Have a nice afternoon,
Allen
Well said Allen.
Ron
Fair comment Allen but as I just discovered it depends on where you live. The cost of shipping a camera back to iGuide for repair (insured) from BC is ridiculous. It would be about $1000 return. THAT is a crazy expense.
To make things worse iGuide has a policy that if the camera is touched by an unauthorized repair shop - they will not work on it in future for anything, even if I’m paying for the repair. It’s pretty much blacklisted.
My unit needed a minor fix to the charging port. I could have driven it 3 hours to a reputable repair place in Calgary for an easy same day fix but that option was not possible because if I ever needed more techinical repair in the future I would be out of luck and the unit would be unservicable junk. So I was faced with $1000 in shippping for a simple solder job on the charging port - or I could risk sending it uninsured. iGuide did offer that if I used the unauatorized shop in Calgary they would not leave me without support in future and would “work something out” but it was a very vague verbal promise that I did not feel was very reliable.
In the end I discovered by myself - iGuide never mentioned it - that it is possible to buy an external charger for the battery and that’s what I did - it was the least expensive option.
Canada is quite a large country and if iGuide is going to have such stringent repair policies then they also need at least one authorized repair facility in Western Canada - preferable Alberta to be in the middle.
The cost of insured shipping to Ontario and back was so high that I was on the verge of purchasing a new core unit (more expensive but better risk) until I stumbled on the battery charger.
So yes, I agree that in general they are very good and helpful, that particular situation was very frustrating. It’s time for iGuide to get an authorized repair facility in Western Canada.
The cost of shipping a camera back to iGuide for repair (insured) from BC is ridiculous. It would be about $1000 return.
Which courier quoted you shipping that was THAT expensive?? When I shipped a Planix back to iGuide for repair I think it was about $90 insured. That’s a cost of doing business.
I understand that as photographers who rely on our gear every day (and particularly during busy season) it’s not an ideal situation for you, but I don’t think you’ll find any vendor who won’t void warranty if someone who doesn’t know what they are doing (i.e. untrained, unauthorized) tries to fix something. Those best intentions could cause unintended consequences.
Overnight shipping isn’t new so quick repair turnaround time is possible. But for all my mission critical equipment I like to have backup gear exactly for situations like this. Crap happens and when it does it’s a lot less stressful for me and my clients if I have contingencies in place like a backup iGuide camera.
I hope you find a satisfactory outcome.
Thanks so much for your comments, we really appreciate the feedback and questions.
Just to help clarify a few things around our warranty and repairs. iGUIDE offers a one-year warranty from the delivery date, covering any defects in materials or workmanship, as long as the system is used as intended and serviced by authorized parties. If something goes wrong during that time, we’ll take care of repairing or replacing the affected parts and cover the return shipping costs. You’ll just need to send the system to us following our shipping instructions. If the repair isn’t covered under warranty or the warranty has expired, customers are responsible for the shipping costs to us, which can vary depending on your location. In cases where it’s not immediately clear whether the issue is hardware-related, we may ask that the system be returned to us at the customer’s expense until we can complete a full investigation.
Thank you for the suggestion to have authorized iGUIDE repairs available outside of our head office. As iGUIDE continues to grow globally, this is something we’ll bring to management for further discussion.
If you have any questions or need help with a specific situation, our support team is happy to help!
iGUIDE Support
Create a Support Ticket
Phone : 1 (855) 505-1723 or 1 (226) 546-1723
Hours: Mon-Fri, 8:00AM – 6:30PM EST and Sat, 8:30AM - 5:00PM
Hi Leroy
The quotes came from FedEx and Purolater. There were slight variations but shipping both ways would be $500 and insured would be close to $1000
This was a minor soldering job - an intermittent problematic loose connection at the charging port. It wasn’t under warranty. When the cost of shipping became known, I researched and sourced a reputable service provider in Calgary that provides techincal work for industry. I’m quite certain they could have done the job competently. This would have been a quick job for them. I was willing to drive 3 hours to get it done in Calgary because there was no reputable business I trusted to do it in my area (East Kootenay, BC). Regardless - if they did damage something the cost for iGuide to subsequently repair it would be on me - my risk. However iGuide initially told me they would never touch it again, which pretty much ruled out me taking it to Calgary. They then said they would “work something out” but that didn’t sound like something I could rely on. In my view it’s similar to GMC refusing to work on my vehicle ever again because Canadian Tire did an oil change.
Having two units is not a feasible option in my rural area - I do a lot of photography but not a lot of iGuides. Regardless though - if I did have two, I would want them both to work.
Thanks - yes I did find a solution as I mentioned - I sourced an external battery charger from the same manufacturer as the battery for $250 and accepted that as the cost of doing business.
I’m quite happy with iGuide in general but I was responding to Allen’s comment and pointing out that just shipping it for repair isn’t quite as simple as it sounds - especially for those of us who do not live in the east.
Cheers!
The quotes came from FedEx and Purolater. There were slight variations but shipping both ways would be $500 and insured would be close to $1000
That’s wild.
In my view it’s similar to GMC refusing to work on my vehicle ever again because Canadian Tire did an oil change.
I understand your point but that’s maintenance vs repairs.
I’m quite happy with iGuide in general but I was responding to Allen’s comment and pointing out that just shipping it for repair isn’t quite as simple as it sounds - especially for those of us who do not live in the east.
I get it. But it’s no different that the rest of the gear that I rely on daily. There are no Canon-authorized or DJI-authorized repair shops near me in Western Canada. They all require shipping and waiting, and that’s why I like to have contingency plans in place whenever possible.
Glad you found a solution.
Hi Ashley,
Is that to say that when I returned one of our Planix cameras for warranty repair earlier this year and I paid for shipping to you that I should be re-imbursed for that cost?
I wholeheartedly agree. Where I live in RURAL North Carolina, we don’t have ANY type of local support/service etc. Our Next Day Air parcel services are a MIN of 2 days and sometimes 3 days so we just plan accordingly.
We have at least a backup of every single piece of equipment we use. When you’re running & gunning you don’t have time or the luxury of waiting on equipment to get returned/repaired/serviced (Whatever you want to call it, it’s DOWNTIME). We carry, to every single job, a backup of everything. With proper planning and budgeting it’s not that hard to do over the course of a few months and it CAN save you a job and $$ in a pinch, especially if you travel more than a few minutes to a clients property/listing.
One of my favorite and most painful lessons is:
1 piece of equipment is exactly enough to cost you a job. If you don’t have a backup you are GOING to have a failure and lose time, money, and potentially clients. It’s not a matter of IF you’ll have a failure, it’s a matter of WHEN.
2 is ONE and 1 is NONE in our industry. This goes for camera, Planix, Drones etc. We’ve had a failure (or crash or hatch crushing) on just about every piece of equipment at one time or another and learned the above lesson the HARD way. It costs more up initially but it’s an Insurance Policy for YOU on YOUR company.
Plan for the worst and HOPE for the best.
Yep, I agree 100% on everything you just said. My background in IT drilled into me the idea of having backups of backups and contingencies for everything because eventually you can count on something going sideways.
That said, I get it that can be difficult to justify the expense of having backup gear, so I sympathize with Chris’s situation.
OK, bad analogy - it’s like GMC refusing to ever work on my vehicle ever again because Canadian Tire repaired a loose connection in the wiring harness. It wouldn’t happen. Being forced to spend a ridiculous amount in shipping by that policy is the only aspect of this I really have a problem with. They also should have known and told me, there’s an external battery charger available because I first found mention of it on iGuide’s USA website.
Having spent most of my working life in operations and emergency response I don’t have much patience with prioritizing policies over effective solutions for no good reason. I think this is an opportunity for iGuide to reevaluate their policy and what purpose it serves. Policy fixation is like target fixation - you miss the bigger picture.
Cheers!
They also should have known and told me, there’s an external battery charger available because I first found mention of it on iGuide’s USA website.
That would have been useful info for you to be told rather than have to find out on your own.
policies over effective solutions for no good reason
I expect there are very good reasons why the majority of vendors that I deal with – both large and small – centralize their operations. Chiefly, it’s very expensive to maintain multiple locations. That’s not a policy issues, that’s just reality.
That’s not what I’m referring to. I’m referring to the policy of refusing to ever work on my Planix ever again if I have a simple, quick, affordable fix done by a reputable company in Calgary instead as an alternative to running up the cost by hundreds of dollars to send it to them. Even if the Calgary company damaged my Planix that’s on me. It’s my risk.