Alfie,
Thank you for taking the trouble to respond to this thread and for your e-mail.
Yes, I was disappointed when I learned that a later version had been released so soon (a matter of a few weeks at most) after my purchase of V7, particularly as I had contacted Command on Line specifically to establish whether or not a later version was due. Indeed during my discussion with your representative – which was early on the evening of the 16th of April, I was told that if he knew of one then he would certainly tell me. On that assurance I made my purchase. You have again confirmed that you had no advance knowledge of this upgrade and for the benefit of you and others now following this thread, I accept what you say. That is that Command on Line did not know at the time of my enquiry of the impending withdrawal of V7 and the issue of V8.
From what you say, your suppliers of CD’s offer a superior service to that offered by your DVD suppliers by giving their distributors advance notice of their intentions and here lies the potential for a lesson. It might benefit your DVD suppliers to know what potential harm they are doing by failing to provide their distributors with advanced notice that newer versions are imminent. Other hardware and software suppliers manage to achieve this. Indeed some withdraw software/ hardware in advance and make customers wait for the new version and some even offer to replace software for a small handling/postage charge if it is upgraded within a certain time frame after purchase of and earlier version. I hope you will find an opportunity to convey to your DVD suppliers just how much improvement in their customer facing service they need to make. It cannot be to the benefit of the customer or firms’ reputation to keep such immanent changes a secret. That, is in my view very bad practice.
Thank you too for your kind offer of a discount on further purchases. I doubt I will have cause to take advantage of this offer of recompense but it is important for others to know the level of integrity you are endeavouring to achieve when conducting your business.
The rest of my earlier post was aimed at suggesting to potential travellers that it would not be wise to continue using V7 for a protracted Western European journey as many road changes had taken place. What I did not mention in my first post was that throughout my travels my passenger was using a Via Michelin 980XT New Edition portable Sat Nav. device with the latest maps and camera information in it. I purchased that device a month or before my Command disc up grade. The intention was to use the Michelin Guide aspects of the device for Hotels, Restaurants, Points of Interest (I had preloaded WiFi Hotspots, speed camera positions etc) but in reality it was on and used throughout the journey for navigation and traffic up date duties as well. The Michelin performed well and the traffic up dates were more specific than the Command – this, presumably because it has a text to speech facility which enables it to warn verbally about high winds on certain roads, blockages to certain parts of carriage ways and the length of potential traffic jams etc. Some of this information was available from Command but only in text form. Incidentally Michelin are no longer in the business of producing any more Sat Navs. They ended that business just after Christmas. Nevertheless I purchased the 980XT as I wanted the Michelin Guide facility which will continue to be up dated.
Thank you again Alfie for taking the trouble to put the record straight. I hope my additional suggestions will be of use. My apologies to those who feel I have hijacked this thread.
Kind Regards
Mike Harding
... its nice to be back in a Merc after 2 Audi's !
