SPOT Reviews 138

Customer service is not available. I can't imagine they are so busy that you have to wait more dan 45 minutes before the pick up. But the woman who picked up in the end helped me and solved the problem quick.

Would be a big improvement if you could send your questions by e-mail.

Some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced, terrible. Coverage is bad and the devices constantly break, one spot of rain breaks them.

Go with Garmin.

Salesperson blatantly lied about the nature of the service. I used this device one time for a hunting trip. I was told it was a 30 day service that did not renew. Returned from a deployment 6 months later I find $300 in charges in my account it was linked to. Called, spoke to a CS rep, they told me no managers were available. Then they told me they’d have one call me. Never received that call. Filing with Colorado consumer protections and marking the charges fraudulent with my bank. This company is unethical and the equivalent of an eastern hemisphere call center. Stay far, far away from their products and services.

In the Northern parts of Norway and Sweden (Abisko) the spot service only delivers 10%-15% of the check-in messages. Customer service blames is on the weather. The service map reports good service. The check-messages did not provide confidence on the delivery of a SOS requests although customer service says it should be better. In other areas I had a better experience with their service. Just not in the northern parts of Norway and Sweden.

Regardless of technical performance of the SPOT platform, customer service is run like a bad scam. Hour long hold on the phone. Constant transfer to other specialists, misuse of expired credit card. It took me many hours to cancel my account.

Instead of focus on safety and saving lives, SPOT, operates like a scam subscription service targeting senior citizens.

Boo!

UNRELIABLE SERVICES. I've been using SPOT services for work and recreation for over 15 years. Over the past few years the GPS check-in service has been unreliable. The device shows check-in message has been sent when it has not - this has resulted in a search being initiated. Unacceptable. I just cancelled my service and will sign up with a more reliable provider.

I used this company 6-8 years ago, the customer service was so bad I gave up trying to contact them and changed to a false CC number to stop them billing me.
I was sceptical trying them again but hopeful things had improved. The easiest part was buying a device, everything else was more expensive and complicated that expected. There's an activation fee, plan fee, flexi plan fee, a text package fee, a fee fee, a fee-fi-fo-fum, and all in US dollars in case it wasn't expensive enough. After coming to terms with that the site is not intuitive, and you'll need to contact support in US business hours.
Using the 'I'm ok' feature in clear view of the sky in Australia worked 30% of the time.
Since cancelling the plan (easier this time), having paid the flexi plan, I'm now faced with paying the $120 USD all over again, unless I can be bothered with a lengthy process contacting customer service - based on everyone elses experience on here - don't bother - look for a company with decent customer service.

I used SPOT Gen 3 to send OK messages during a 5 week trek in northern Norway. Less than 10 % of the daily messages resulted in an OK message to the recipients. I was within the primary satellite coverage area. Messages were sent with a clear view to the sky, mostly in a flat, open terrain.

Useless system.

Also their web pages, registration procedures etc. are terrible. Billing system is hard to understand.

They inputted the wrong bank number and couldn’t deposit the money owe to me. They said a check would be mailed to be. I have not received the check and when I contacted them they said I had to wait 20 business days before they can reissue another check. They said their system would not allow them to direct deposit again even though it was their error. This place is a SHAM,

Was using a Spot Gen3 to track my progress through Ukraine, and allow a specialist rescue team to follow my progress. However the Spot stopped tracking, I changed batteries despite them being new ones, and reset tracker. Nothing worked, the Message Envelope started flashing green for couple days despite not sending messages. Attempted to contact Spot Support but only available via Chat on USA Office hours, no email, or online support options which is completely ridiculous considering the premium monthly fees paid. On my return home I cancelled my subscription, expecting an email asking why so I could at least tell them why I was unhappy, but all I got was a confirmation of my subscription being cancelled! Done a bit of research and currently looking at the Garmin Inreach Messenger as a replacement.

Tried using their updater for Spot Gen 4 as I needed a firmware update. It only works on Win 10 as it is 32 bit and Win 11 (which has been out for years) doesnt accept 32 bit software. There is a converter for Win 11 but its VERY COMPLEX to use and I cant.

We were in the canadian rockies. None of our messages went through and we received no messages. Reached out to Spot and they refused to help us out at all. I would never recommend this to anyone. Were we in a life or death situation, we would have been dead.

Start with their closed weekends...hikers hike weekends,I haven't been able to track myself or arrange anyone else...there was a time all this was easy,I've had it for years...I'll be cancelling

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY - GO ELSEWHERE!

Absolute scam. I deactivated my account instead of suspending it, as it wasn’t clear what was what from the website. When I went to get cover for another month, they charged me the activation fee and the flex charge AGAIN. That is another €60 on top of the monthly subscription. I had already paid the €60 two months before when I first bought the tracker. When I rang up and explained, asking to only be charged once for the flex fee and activation fee, I had the most horrible, frustrating customer service from Maria who refused to help out at all. She was very stubborn and rude, telling me it was all my fault and refusing to make any effort to be flexible.

One star, do not use this company, complete waste of money.

I have been paying for my spot service for 4 years. This year I finally had a problem with the billing.

I have been purchasing the flex plan since July 2020. Last year I added the Search and Rescue addition for $29.99. I was informed via email it's going to increase to $39.99. My contract is set to renew August 31, 2024. I had deactivated my plan October 31, 2023. No charges since.

I'm going to start using it for the summer starting tomorrow so I went to reactivate it. I clicked "reactivate" and it then popped up a window saying I'll be charged $16.11 for my service for a month. Cool, I agreed and clicked the button.

Then I went to my billing history to see they charged me $86.12. I immediately called, complaining that I was told it would be $16.11. The person I spoke with put me on hold for ten minutes, came back and told me that her supervisor says that they have a "window" where they can re-bill, so that's what happened, but I'll get my services until August 31, 2025.
I told her that I didn't want this, I was planning on cancelling my SAR before then, and I had an entire month left, so I shouldn't be charged.
I was told there's nothing that I can do except request a refund. So I requested a refund for the SAR for $39.99. I was then told I still had it until August 31, 2024 (which is what should happen) and I would receive my $39.99 refund after this timeframe.
I asked why I couldn't get the refund now, I was just charged for it ten minutes ago. She informed me that it was their billing department, they're very backed up and refunds take 21 business days.
I was so frustrated I accepted this resolution and hung up.

Stopped and canceled services, still got charged. You cannot delete your credit card information. You are trapped by this very obscure company. PLEASE BE AWARE and stay off.

Very poor customer service.
I've been paying my SPOT subscription for years and activating the device as and when needed (there are two separate and significant charges!).
Last month I was billed for my subscription and when I found out I thought I had by mistake activated the device....I logged on and deactivated my account. I immediately realised my mistake and got in touch with SPOT to ask if it could be reactivated as I had just paid 12months in advance.
I was told that it was not possible and if I wanted to use my device again, I would have to re-activate it and pay the 12month subscription.
I understand it was my mistake but one would expect a company that cares about its customers to make an effort and forgive a one-off mistake.
I'll think carefully about activating it again and I'll probably sell mine.

Thank you for the amazing personalized and efficient customer service from everyone especially Juliana and Alejandro !!!

This company is a rip-off. they say you can deactivate at any time, but when i tried to reactivate my account, they charged me TWICE, once to re-activate, then they added a FLEX charge that is equal to 2 more months. they insist it is to allow me to deactivate at any time, so it is really just double charging even after i pay a fee to reactivate my account. i'm sorry i bought the device.

I’ve been using SPOT Gen3 and Tracker since 2013. Plain Tracker/Tracer for my Down Syndrome son - to keep tabs on him as he moved around on our 600 acre ranch in the Alaska wilderness. Worked ok for that need.

I found an app called SPOT BUDDY which worked great since they use Apple Maps for our area and it was clearer than the google maps. The SPOT app is crap btw.

SPOT GEN3 was ok but granted - we live in the boondocks and satellites/GPS coverage are not super. Many times folks/friends did not get my messages. They could track me on google maps and I used premade texts as to my whereabouts.

Never had to use SOS or even Help from friends.

The concept is ok but business practices are definitely shady and unprofessional.
To second some of the negative reviews that go back to 2014:
- Almost never answer texts on their website by or emails. I’ve only been able to get a human ONCE IN ALMOST 10 years.

- Unexplained duplicate $40 charges on my card. When I FINALLY did get a person on the line they tried to barter and haggle with me… unprofessional 😩

Nevertheless I kept the service until I lost my SPOT3 on the Alaska range. Now it’s impossible to cancel my subscription bc they are either out of business or completely fraudulent. 😱

I might have to change my card if I see another charge on it.

Looking for another GPS tracker that won’t break my wallet n or get a RockyTalkie radio.

Frustrated in Alaska
2/2023