SPOT Owes Me $1300. How Much Do They Owe You?

[Eric Hall]

 

I really hate going negative. I’ve never used this forum to do that before. Honestly I get kind of handcuffed being in the industry because it’s not worth upsetting a company because other companies see that and then don’t want to associate.

 

There’s this other company I can’t mention whom I consulted and helped quite a lot in the launch of their product. They made a lot of promises. I helped them a lot. I did my part. And then they forgot all about me. I can’t say who it is though. But let’s just say I won’t be helping them anymore. And it’s a lesson to me not to give away my help for free.

 

In the case of SPOT, I really have nothing bad to say about their products or services, just that that they owe me $1300. Id take them to small claims court but I’m leaving shortly for this trip. Court records are public. So is this forum.

 

So how do they owe me $1300? I became one of their brand ambassadors a few years ago. I did a bunch of YouTube videos, FB and IG posts, gear threads and product reviews. I also promoted their sales on Instagram and here.

 

So when I was in Colombia in early March my bank texts me with possible fraud charges on my debit card and asks if they’re legit. One was about $450 from SPOT. I was thinking well that’s odd! I’m a brand ambassador and they’re supposed to cover that. They sent me their global phone, Trace and SpotX to use.

 

So I called and basically got nowhere. There’s a Facebook group of SPOT ambassadors and I posted there. Someone from their pr agency contacted me and said she’d handle it. After that I spoke with their new brand manager and she asked to see my contract. I’d forgotten I’d even signed one but found the email and sent it to her. She said “your contract was only for one year.” Huh?

 

The contract may have been for just one year but her predecessors (2 of them) continued to correspond with me, treat me as an ambassador and continue to ask for my help posting content on their behalf which I did. The last I spoke with the previous brand manager was Jan 2019 right before she left the company.

 

So I got on my bank statements and looked back and son of a bitch! They charged me two years prior too!!! For a total of $1300!

 

The reality is they owe me much, much more because if I was in fact no longer under contract then I should invoice them for all the social media posts I did on their behalf. Just off the top of my head that would be at least $1,000 but I will research that now.

 

So there’s the fact they still were treating me as an ambassador, effectively continuing our contract. But furthermore, this was never my equipment; it was theirs (I will double check the contract). And at no point did they ask for it back or ask if I wanted to keep it nor ask if I was willing to assume financial responsibility for the service charges. You kind of need someone’s authorization to do that. They also erroneously charged me for the period I WAS under contract for.

 

Im packing up their stuff in the original boxes I kept and send it back because I know they did NOT belong to me and I’d have to send them back at some point.

 

I still don’t have my money back even though I was told they would refund me. They are no longer responding to my inquiries either.

 

I’ve heard people complain about their billing practices so I’m really curious now to see if I’m the only one here.

 

What’s your story?

[Eric Hall]

So turns out my bank decided in my favor and was able to claw back the $450 from March so that means they still owe me $850.

[2 Wheel Adv]

That’s terrible Eric! I still have a brand new Spot sitting inside a drawer because I was so displeased with their customer service and out right lies when trying to activate my device.
 

They wanted a restocking fee to send it back for a refund so I said the hell with it. 
 

Spot needs to do better! 
 

FYI - Garmin customer service is awesome. 

[michnus]

It is not surprising to hear that. They pulled a similar thing when I wanted to cancel my contract with them. I am not sponsored like you and just wanted to stop the service for a year. They kept trying to invoice me and in the end had to ask the bank to stop them for trying to attempt to take funds from out account.

Now that we are in lockdown we emailed them to ask if they could freeze the time we do not ride and just extend when we get going again, yes, you guessed right, no bloody way would they even consider it. I did not ask for the remained of the term off, just stop it now and when lockdown is over continue again.

[Eric Hall]

I just read the contract and I knew it said a term of one year but their two previous marketing managers, Erica Kelt and Samantha DeCastro, continued our agreement until at least the point at which Samantha left Globalstar (SPOT's parent company) in Jan of 2019.  The new marketing manager, Denise Davila, never notified me of any changes.

The contract says they'll pay for service for my original SPOT Gen 3 (since deactivated), a global phone and the Trace device.  It does say the devices are the property of SPOT and that they need to be returned (shipping today).  How can I be responsible for the service of their devices unless at some point they explicitly ask me?  I didn't buy the devices.  I didn't ask to keep them.  I never said "hey, can I go ahead and keep using your devices if I'm willing to pay for the service?"  Nope.

The SpotX device was sent by Samantha DeCastro in 2018 AFTER the supposed expiration of our contract.  She first notified me on May 17, 2018 and the contract supposedly "ended" Jan 31 of 2018, four months earlier.

May 31, 2018 I said "would you want to deactivate my Gen 3?  Don't think I'll need it now with the SpotX."  She responded 15 min later: "why don't you hang onto it and lend it to someone when they need one."  To which I assumed meant SPOT was going to keep paying for that even though at that point they had already billed me and my bank card paid (unknowingly) it.

And here's the money quote (1/17/19):  "all your contracts will be good through June 30th."

That seems to prove I had been erroneously charged if my contract was still valid until June 30 of 2019.

[Eric Hall]

I received a response saying they'd requested the refund but I haven't seen it yet.  I was told this back in roughly April and had inquired back twice with no response.  Encouraging news though.

Another follow up email says their customer care dept has been working on this.  At least I know now that they weren't giving me the Heissman.

[WADE-O Potato]

1 hour ago, Eric Hall said:

I received a response saying they'd requested the refund but I haven't seen it yet.  I was told this back in roughly April and had inquired back twice with no response.  Encouraging news though.

Another follow up email says their customer care dept has been working on this.  At least I know now that they weren't giving me the Heissman.

So even if you get your money back are you going to still use SPOT on your trip or is this going to push you to Garmin?

[Eric Hall]

8 minutes ago, WADE-O Potato said:

So even if you get your money back are you going to still use SPOT on your trip or is this going to push you to Garmin?

Great question.  I'm sending the SpotX, Trace and Global Phone back today and will be left with my Gen3 I can still use.  I had reached out to Garmin in April/May about an InReach (we're doing a review on the new Zumo XT) and they did offer me a nice industry discount so I may look at that too.  Like I said, I never had any complaints with Spot product or service.  I'm really neutral on either.  I think it's clear they both offer these services to a reasonable degree of success.

[WADE-O Potato]

10 minutes ago, Eric Hall said:

Great question.  I'm sending the SpotX, Trace and Global Phone back today and will be left with my Gen3 I can still use.  I had reached out to Garmin in April/May about an InReach (we're doing a review on the new Zumo XT) and they did offer me a nice industry discount so I may look at that too.  Like I said, I never had any complaints with Spot product or service.  I'm really neutral on either.  I think it's clear they both offer these services to a reasonable degree of success.

I think that's a good point that the SPOT is still a good product. It also makes sense to use something you already have so it doesn't cost you extra money to purchase more hardware. I do really like the Garmin inreach mini for the form factor. Also since you'll already have a cell phone the app will be nice to use. 

[Eric Hall]

SPOT made good and got this resolve for me.  I'm happy.