Joey7489

iTrader: (21)

For three years now Ive been relying on Valentine One for my radar detectors. They seem to have created an unbelievable radar detector that scores big points with every major radar testing company that there is. However, what those companies dont experience is Valentines customer service.

A few weeks ago I drove past a speed trap and my V-1 didnt pick it up, however my buddies valentine did. I figured hmmm this doesnt seem right. So later that night, I decided to throw my other valentine in the car (I have 2), and pass the same speed trap. Sure enough this valentine went whacko. I figured well my other Valentine must need some repair work.

Keep in mind I have 2 valentines. One of them I bought directly from Valentine.
The other was purchased 6 months ago through EBay.

The next day I decided to go ahead and ship my V-1 back to Valentine for what I assumed would be a warranty repair. The one that was I sent back to them was the one I bought off of ebay.

I get a phone call a few days later saying:
"Sir why is this radar here, theres no paper or anything in the box explaining to us what the problem is." Well turns out UPS forgot to put the paper in the box with my explanation. So I sat on the phone for 45 minutes explaining what was wrong with the radar.
The man reassuringly said
"Oh ok sir thats no problem we will go ahead and fix it and get it back to you."

2 days later I get a phone call from Mike Valentine. "Hey, well there seems to be nothing wrong with the radar. We are going to go ahead and send it back to you. We checked it out and it seems to be picking up radar just fine."

^^ He couldnt have been nicer. He was very friendly in reassuring me that my radar would be back in my hands in no time.

2 weeks later...... Still no radar at my doorstep. As I pick up the phone to dial Valentine 1 and ask them where the hell my radar is, my phone rings. I couldnt get to that phone in time so it went to voicemail. Little did I know it was Valentine1 calling me. The voicemail said "Hey, we repaired your radar and its ready to be shipped out to you. Theres going to be a $45 repair charge because the radar is out of warranty. It seems that you bought this radar from somebody else and not directly from us... The warranties are untransferable so you need to pay for out of warranty repair plus shipping."

Im thinking to myself... WTF.. I talked to Mike the other day who said theres NOTHING wrong wtih my radar and now they are saying they fixed it, its out of warranty and I owe them money. Yeah right.

My mom calls in asking to speak to a supervisor.

Mike Valentines wife answers. "Thankyou for calling Valentine one this is Margaret may I help you?"

My mom replies: "Hey. I just want to let you know how friendly Mike Valentine was to my son. Your his wife arent you?"

Margaret Valentine: "Excuse you maam, but my marital status is none of your business okay?"

My mom: "Okay thats fine. But can you send our radar back please. Supposedly there was nothing wrong with it 2 weeks ago, but now someone said there was something wrong with it and we owe you guys money. Thats ridiculous."

Margaret Valentine: "Well. We accept Visa, Master card and American Express. How would you like to pay maam?"

My mom: "Your not even listening to me. I own a business and I know how a client is supposed to be treated."

Margaret Valentine: "Well we fixed the radar. It was out of warranty. We need money or we wont send it back."

My mom: "You dont understand Margaret. Its not about the money. Its the fact that somebody called my son saying we dont owe money and there was nothing wrong with it. And yesterday we receive another phone call saying we owe $45 for fixing it. Nobody called us BEFORE fixing it telling us we would owe money. We knew nothing until after the repair was done. If somebody called us PRIOR to fixing it and informed us there would be a $45 repair charge then that would be fine. But we dont get a phone call until AFTER the repair was done, so basically it leaves us no choice. And if there was nothing wrong with it in the first place why do we owe money?

Maragret Valentine: "Maam I already told you the payment methods we accept. How would you like to pay. This is ridiculous. Just pay us already. Your not getting anywhere."

My mom: "Ive NEVER in my life had somebody talk to me like this. Valentine is your company, you should be a little more respectful. Your not even listening to my requests.

Margaret: "Goodbye." click....


Maragaret Valentine is a ******* skank bag *****.
She hung up on my mom and my mom was on the verge of tears. That wasnt even the whole conversation. I just basically summed up the main points.

SOOOO.. I stepped in and called Mike Valentine. Not to mention when the answered the phone you could hear Margaret laughing in the backround and she goes. "Wow theyre calling back again." Mike was acting like a ******* DOUCHE bag to me the whole time. Until the end that is.... When I mentioned to him that I own 2 units of his. I have a sister who might be buying one shortly. And also 2 of my friends are looking into buying Valentines, because they love how mine works.

^^^ Once I told him that his attitude changed completely. He was being nice to me, saying we will get to the bottom of this and call you back. Hes working for money and business, not for customer satisfaction.



I used to 100% recommend valentine to everybody. And now, they just lost 100% of their respect from me.

98_Formula

iTrader: (15)

thanks for posting up. i was going to purchase a V1 but i'll just move over the the Passport 9500i instead. customer service can make comparable products a very easy decision!

six_string_wiz

Why didnt you post it in the General section???That would be where more people see it.
I too was looking at V1s

Joey7489

iTrader: (21)

Keep in mind Mike Valentine was worse then she was. Accusing us of being a chinese tag team.... Because the guy I bought the radar from off ebay was chinese I guess?????

wvaboy

iTrader: (3)

how did you know where to ship it?

anyone that owns a v1 should know it's a 45 dollar basic charge no matter what, and only the original owner gets a 1 year grace period on that.
the 45 dollar charge usually includes free upgrades also.
for a 500 dollar radar detector, i think a 45 dollar charge is suitable. sounds like you just didn't know there was a 45 dollar charge for looking at it.

kott0n

No, he owns two. He obviously thinks there worth the money.

His point is no repair shop of any kind should do work without your consent.

ITs also amazing that owners would act like *** hats.

Camaro Ryder KV

iTrader: (12)

$500 for something that says ur getting radar'd, how moronic is that, just dont speed. then ull have $500 in ur pocket.

LS1 Freak

iTrader: (7)

Man that sucks, if I were I would have went to their office and just f-ing go nuts on them, the hell with them, I got V1 and when it brakes I wont get another one, ****'em I get tickets anyway.lol. sorry to hear all this man,take care!

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

Okay...so you bought a faulty radar detector through Ebay, and wanted it fixed. Warranties don't transfer...that's industry standard. No surprises there. If there was something wrong, you should have reasonably expected to be charged something.

There was a mix-up of some sort on their end. Okay. It happens. That's life.

Now, after going to their website, I read this:


Your unit was over 1 year old (or out of warranty), so $45 is the standard charge regardless of whether or not there is a problem. That covers their labor. You obviously didn't have a big problem, so the charge didn't exceed $45.

I don't really see what the issue is here. If you click on "Service" on their website, it says it plain as day.

wvaboy

iTrader: (3)

thank you, that's exactly what i was talking about.
he owns 2 so you should have known better, ie, how did you know where to ship it. it's clearly marked in the manual as well.

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

He should have did some research of his own and figured out there was a $45 charge for any type of work done by them. I'm sure they were in disbelief that someone would send them a radar detector with no note saying what was wrong and no money to repair it, and then expect it to be done out of their good graces.

StoleIt

iTrader: (3)

Dude, only make one thread about the subject please.

Your other one was moved to sponsor feedback.

nofearracing28

iTrader: (7)

Its 45 dollars....from the looks of what is all done to your TA, 45 dollars should be an investment. I've spend more money on worse things than that before.

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

Valentine Research isn't a sponsor, and this isn't an issue at all...the original poster failed to read the instructions posted on their website.

MC Ray

iTrader: (1)

None of you bother to realize his problem isn't with the charge, but the way the OWNERS OF THE COMPANY talked to him and his mother. From what I gathered, they were basically told, "Give us money or we're keeping the radar, and we don't have time to explain our policies to you worthless peons."

wvaboy

iTrader: (3)

he was supposed to send 45 dollars WITH THE RADAR DETECTOR. end of story.
he didn't, they aren't sending it back without it. what's the problem?

and i have a feeling there's 2 sides to the story. i'm sure if mr. or mrs. valentine took time to fill us in on the other half of the story (and they shouldn't have too), it would make more sense.
doesn't sound like there was a problem until he realized he owed 45 dollars and had to get mommy involved.

Torkman15

iTrader: (2)

If I didnt miss anything the problem actually started with the fact that there was a charge weather he knew up front or not said problems root was the $45.00 CHARGE.

redchevcam

iTrader: (2)

SHUT UPPPPPPPP,this post is irritating. THe fact is....the customer service was ****. I would have been pissed too. I know someone who has had to deal with this dipshit and he is a total joke. The radars are awesome, expensive, and the way i see it....if you are spending soooooo much money on something that does soooooo little.....shouldnt there be little room for error and/or malfunction? yes things break, yea, this is life. but most of you are missing the point......CUSTOMER SATISFACTION....#1 in any business relationship. You dont make money without it. By Him posting on here about how crappy he and his mother were treated i bet valetine looses quite a few sales that he could have made. and another thing you guys arent seeing, he said he DIDNT CARE about the fact he had to pay 45 bucks......it was that he was told that there was nothing wrong with it and 2 weeks later he finds there WAS something wrong with it and now he cant have his radar back. 45 dollars or not.....they need to get things strait at valentine, period

wvaboy

iTrader: (3)

it doesn't matter if anything is wrong or not, it is still 45 dollars.
what don't some of you guys get?

here lies the question and the whole problem. and as mentioned several times before, it has been answered. i guess he is supposed to ship it back at company's expense also.

so you want your radar detector back still not working correctly?
that would be an easy fix for him.

MikeG

iTrader: (33)

Everyone ragging on the OP for not reading the companies policy is missing the point of the post. The money or the company policy is not the concern. The misinformation, attitude, and lack of communication from Valentine is the issue. That is what is unacceptable about Joey's ordeal.