Posts Tagged Apple

Now, this might seem like a bit of a rant but once you see the pics below you’ll understand my point.  I had a job yesterday on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and while I know the area pretty well I didn’t know the directions to the actual street in Buderim so I put my iPhone GPS app Navigon to work (AUS$69.99 in the iTunes store) to point me in the right direction.

I was headed up the Gateway motorway and then onto the Bruce Highway to Buderim, a trip of just under 100km.  This is what Google shows as the directions

Google Maps' directions for BNE to Buderim

Perfect, I already knew the directions so I just tapped the street address in and set the phone aside and planned to wait until I was only a couple of km’s out to check the actual directions to the street.  After about 20 mins of driving Navigon piped up “Turn left in 1 km”.  WTF?

Turn left up a dirt track?

Navigon wanted me to turn left up a dirt track instead of simply heading straight up the motorway at 110km/h.  Why would that be?  Ahhh – so I can get to Buderim, Navigon’s way.

280km v 96km... F*CK YOU Navigon!

I guess you can see the problem above?  If not maybe you actually work for Navigon (or should work for Navigon!)

So, I’m not stupid and I didn’t listen to the Navigon lady (I liked to call her Moneypenny, but now I refer to her as B*TCH) and just kept driving the way I knew.

Where the problem lies is that the only way I saw the whole map above was by getting out of ’street view’ and zooming out on the overall map and seeing where the problem lay.  Last night I had dinner with a friend in Brisbane who has a German au pair.  She rightly said that she would have followed B*TCH word for word as she had no idea where Buderim was, turning the one hour motorway trip into a 4 hour trip through the countryside.

This got me to thinking, how many times had B*TCH given me the run-a-round?  So I tasked her with showing me the way back to Brisbane, a route I knew perfectly well.

Ummm, see the problem here?

I was on the M3 motorway heading in to the city and it wanted me to take a 12km detour and join up to a point 2km straight ahead of where I was already heading.  I didn’t fall for that one but then I realised – how many times had I fallen for this in the months I have had the app?  I have worked in Melbourne and Sydney, two cities that I don’t really know my way around perfectly well and for the most time I followed B*TCH word for word.  Now I wonder, where had she taken me?  How much extra fuel had I used?  How much time had I wasted?

To cut a long story short, I want a refund of AUS$69.99 from you Navigon – your product is faulty and therefore I should be entitled to a refund.  And maybe while refunding my money you could spare a thought for all the people who follow B*TCH word for word!

UPDATE – Just went into the Apple Store to request a refund, filled in the form in detail and got this helpful response.  Cheers Apple

UPDATE II – Filled in another form on the Apple site and after a few days got this response below -

Dear Cameron,

##### here. Your request for a refund for “MobileNavigator Australia [ Version 1821064 ]” was carefully considered; however, according to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale, all purchases made on the iTunes Store are final. This policy matches Apple’s refund policies and provides protection for copyrighted materials.

You can review the iTunes Store Terms of Sale for more information:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/sales.html

I would also contact the Developer of the app and check to see what they can do for you. I have included their name and a link to their website.
Developer  is :
Navigon
Website:
http://www.navigon.com/portal/int/produkte/navigationssoftware/mobile_navigator_iphone_eu.html;jsessionid=4EA4C55BEE6DB33292E88B0EFF1B18F1.kmf-website-3

Sincerely,

#####
iTunes Store Customer Support
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/

Please Note: I work Sun ,, Tues, Wed , Thur , and Fri  8AM-4:30PM CT

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

So, I am going to forward my messages to Navigon and see where it ends up – if I have no luck there then off to a relevant government authority to see what can be done.  IT’S THE PRINCIPLE DAMMIT!  You can’t sell something that clearly doesn’t work properly and then refuse to ‘refund,replace or repair’.

UPDATE III - Just got a reply back from Navigon (see below), unhelpful to say the least.  So, it’s off to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) tomorrow, will report back with any updates.

Dear customer,

thank you for contacting the NAVIGON support team.

With regards to obtaining a refund please contact the App store as you made your purchase at the App Store.

For further information on your product please see the link under :

http://www.navigon.com/portal/de/produkte/navigationssoftware/mobile_navigator_iphone_eu.html

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Yours sincerely

________________
NAVIGON Support Team

NAVIGON AG
Berliner Platz 11
97080 Wuerzburg
Phone for United Kingdom: 0871-2880154 (0,10 GBP/€/min. Fixed network, mobile tarifs may vary)
E-Mail: support.uk@navigon.com
Web: www.navigon.com

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