Magellan GPS
Reviews and Complaints

I contacted Magellan online because the unit had been registering the time very inaccurately and cannot seem to be reset. I was told that the only way to fix this is to purchase a minimum $130 package of updates and insurance on the unit. Needless to say I was not happy about this, but the customer service rep was not only unsympathetic, but he was condescending, judgmental, and flat-out rude. It is NOT, as he kept barking at me, his fault that the company now charges for updates, but it IS his fault that I had to deal with someone who had no patience, no empathy, no courtesy, no respect, and no professionalism whatsoever. He even refused to tell me his name or connect me to a supervisor. "There are no supervisors!" he yelled as he cut me off. This is a man who should be doing something else for a living.

I purchased a Magellan GPS RoadMate 6230-LM within 6 months it failed; Magellan replaced it with a new unit and an additional 1 year warranty. In 7 months the unit failed, I obtained a RMA number and sent it back to Magellan. Magellan replaced the unit with a unit that did not support the backup camera I had purchased for the original unit. I obtained another RMA number and returned the unit. Magellan acknowledged the receipt of the returned unit and replied they were temporally out of stock of that particular unit and it would be a month before they could replace the unit.

Once or twice a month I would send an e-mail to Magellan Service Support and would receive the same reply, "Temporally out of stock". In May 2018 they no longer responded, I was able to research the support site and found the new site. I contacted the new site and was informed that they had lost all of their information due to a computer glitch and I would need to send all prior communications to them for review. I complied with their request and sent 26 e-mails that took place between Magellan and myself.
They now are requiring the original purchase receipt for the original unit, even though I have previously furnished that information. I continue to get the runaround with no resolution. This has been going on for over 8 months.

PUBLICpublished review 6/5/15
We bought this device last August to travel in the U.S. In the fall. From the time we started using it we always has to use the reset button. The last time I tried to use it I just got coloured lines. I wrote to Magellan and they asked me to send a picture of the unit, which I did. They then came back to me to say the unit must have been dropped to cause this problem. I went back to them several times to say emphatically the unit has not been dropped, and has not been out of the car since we bought it. They are adamant it is my fault but they can't keep the stories straight. They say the cracked unit causes black lines from being dropped even though I keep telling them they are coloured lines. It is obvious they do not want to honour the warranty. So now I will buy a Garmin and not associate with this company again. I will also make sure I let everybody know that I can that Magellan does not honour warranties and will use any excuse not to do so..

I purchased a Magellan Maestro 4700 in March 2010. I registered my unit with Magellan and also have an extended warranty through AAA. June 6, 2011 I mailed back my unit because it wasn't working. I followed their instructions to return the unit. I was told I would have my replacement model with 5 -7 days. I said ok because I needed the unit before July 10, 2011. I waited for the unit and nothing. I called July 5 and was told that they hadn't received the unit. I knew they had because I received an e-mail stating that they had. The rep told me unless I gave her a tracking number she couldn't help me. I gave it to her and she said yes they received the unit on June 10. She said I would receive a replacement in 7 -10 days. I told her I wanted the unit expedited because they had the unit and I shouldn't have to wait another 7-10 days. By this time my voice was raised. She said if I kept speaking like that I would never see my replacement unit again period. At that point I asked for a supervisor. She put me on eternal hold. I hung up and I called back. The second rep apologized for their error but said he couldn't authorize expediting the shipment of my GPS. I said I wanted to speak to someone who could and was told there was no one available who could. When you call Magellan you are on hold for a minimum of 5-7 minutes and it is difficult getting connected to someone to speak to. I sent an e-mail to the "Contact Us" at the Magellan website but am not expecting a response. This is customer service at its worse.

I am having a problem with Magellan. I sent my unit off to get repaired in August of 2007. They took my credit card information to charge me for repairing the unit and said it would be a couple of weeks. A month went by and I had not received my unit back. I called Magellan and to get someone who did not speak English on the phone. They promised me it would be a week, a week later I had not received my GPS. I called back to speak to someone else that did not speak English, I ended up just upgrading the unit for almost $300 and they took my credit card information again. I have talked to the customer service department in India a dozen times and every time they give me a new date in which I will receive my new unit. Here it is December 12 and still to unit. I can not get anyone on the phone to HELP ME. I have called corporate to get the same message as the over seas number and tried to get different departments to get voicemails that are full. I finally got a voicemail that was not full and left a message for the Quality Department and never received a call back.

The screen on my Roadmate 2000 cracked and I called the support number for assistance on a Sunday. I was told the service rep (Tony) opened a repair ticket with all the information I gave them, including the quoted price for repair of $95. As it might have been my fault, I was ok with that.

HOWEVER, on Monday when I called back, I was told the price was $15 over what I was quoted the day before and there was no information included on my trouble ticket. I told them that was unacceptable and "Joe" told me that was the way it was. Not a lot of money, but still, the principle of the matter made their service unacceptable. I hung up...

Called back after two hours and got "Ralph" and I asked to escalate to a service rep in the U.S. I was told there was no escalation available. I told him that I was under the impression that Magellan was an American company, but I was informed that they are Indian; all service calls can only be addressed in India. I hung up...
Called the San Dimas, CA direct number on Tuesday and had to back in to the company through the switchboard 00 operator option. Spoke with the stonewalling receptionist who told me the service department in the San Dimas office was in a meeting and no one was available. I was transferred to a full mailbox. Called back, tried again, and the receptionist transferred me to India, even when I asked for a U.S. customer contact. Called back again and got cut off. Cut to Wednesday: tried the backdoor 00 number for San Dimas and it was not available any more. Why trouble themselves with customer complaints when they already have the money? Hmmm, sounds like a scam company to me.

The company is a total joke. I tried getting my gps fixed. I called several times, wrote emails with no luck. Finally I got someone to let me send the machine back to get it fixed. They sent me the same gps back without fixing it. When I called several times to find out why, they said it was not covered as there was physical damage. There was no physical damage the company just doesn 't cover anything. I spent way too much time fighting this company that is a joke! I am actually too mad at this company to even write this email. don't waste your time if you don't have to.

I've had a RoadMate 860T for nearly 2 years now and have been UNHAPPY with it since the day it was bought! When I first called Magellan 2 years ago (by the way, the unit cost me $499!) they told me the update map info was already a few years old and then next one wasn't coming out until 2008/09. This $500 unit was filled with POI's that had been out of business for years and didn't recognize businesses that had opened years earlier! THEY COULDN'T CARE LESS! The response was that "my model" didn't always have the most POI's! What a crock of ***! A $500 model isn't an upgraded unit? Of course they told me that if I put in specific addresses that the unit could get me there... Can't I get that on mapquest for FREE! Save your money... Magellan is garbage and their "customer service" is typical lip service!

What's gotten me off after 2 years is that I was tired on NEVER finding places I was looking for, I decided to call and check on "the update"... well... "For just $79.99" I could get the updated map! Oh yeah... they STILL couldn't tell me if there would be much of a difference in POI's... Take a dump in your car and map it with a stick and you'd be more satisfied than using this piece of crap.

Do not buy one of these. We bought one and within 1 month the screen was messed up (the pixels were degraded or damaged such that it looks like there are fireworks on the display.) Well, Magellan says it is not covered by their warranty because the screen is a component part that is not manufactured by them. So to get the screen fixed would cost an estimated $150 on this thing we just paid $450 for. Unbelievable. I for one will not be buying any more Magellan Products, and I recommend that you don't either!

Needed to have a Magellan eXplorist Gps unit repaired so I called the technical support number. Was told they did not have any parts (2 year old unit!) to fix it but I could upgrade to a new unit. When I asked how much to upgrade I was told full price! Of course they would take my credit card number... What a scam. I don't understand how a company cannot have any parts for a 2 year old unit let alone tell me to upgrade, with what they called a trade in, for full price. I'll stick to Garmin.

I bought a Roadmate 300. Shortly after using it, the cigarette lighter adaptor broke. I called Magellan technical support and they agreed to replace it at no cost. Unfortunately, their "systems were down" so I was asked to call back a week later for final details. I did so and have called back approximately 8 additional times over the past 3-4 months. Everyime, the technical support representative "promises" I would have the new adaptor within 2-5 business days. Some recent examples: I spoke to a woman named Kate on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. She created a new account # for this case but could not provide me with an RA number "because her software was slow". She "promised" she would call me back the next day with the RA number and that the adaptor would be shipped that week. No call from KAte. The day after Thanksgiving I called back and spoke to someone named Mark. He provided me the RA # (at least Kate did that) and "promised" me the adaptor would be sent out on Monday, Nov 26th and asked me to call back on Tuesday to receive the tracking number. On Tuesday, Nov 27th (today) I called back and spoke to Joshua Martin (I now know I have to get both the first and last name b/c when I asked Joshua to transfer me to Mark, he indicated there were a lot of Mark's there so he could not know which one). Anyway, Joshua indicated "there was an error in my file which he cleared". I asked his what the error was but he would not tell me. Joshua indicated that I would "probably" receive the adaptor in the next couple of days. now that he cleared the error. I asked Joshua to transfer me to the highest ranking person in his group and he indicated that he could not transfer a call but that a supervisor would call me back tomorrow. I have absolutely no expectation that that call will ever come. Completely at wits end, I tried to contact someone at Magellan HQ to see if anyone actually cared. I could not easily speak to a person of note (left a second voicemail for the head of public relations, Raphel Finelli, and unsuccessfully tried to obtain contact info for their CEO, Nathan Chan) but eventually got to someone in product sales support. This person, Vincent Bernard, indicated that the cigarette lighter adaptor was on back order and I would not get one for at least 2 weeks. Obviously, Joshua did not tell me the truth and I have no expectation that I will receive an adaptor within 2-3 weeks. I have never come across an experience like this in the past. I truly believe that the people at Magellan have forgotten that they would not be in business if not for customers. I am hoping this experience strongly discourages anyone from purchasing Magellan products.

I bought a Roadmate 800 in October last year and the windshield mount broke after 7 months. I sent 2 RMA requests via their online submission form and received no response. Finally I called tech support and *SURPRISE* I spoke to someone who is obviously in India. They said I would be receiving a new mount in 7-10 business days. Nothing. I've been calling them back every week or so for the past 3 months and get the same 2 excuses - their system is going through an upgrade or the item is backlogged. Magellan does not care about its customers - it makes a mediocre product and provides horrible customer service.

DO NOT BUY MAGELLAN. BUY A TOMTOM.

I purchased a Magellan model 360 GPS in December 2006. The street names in Sebring, FL. had been changed one year earlier and they were not updated in the Magellan GPS. I was told there was none available yet. Three months later I was told the same thing, wait a little longer and an update should be available. In August 2007 they said there would not be a map update and I would have to send in my unit and exchange for a newer model. The cost to do this is $190, the cost of a new one from Radio Shack is $199. What a deal, a $9 discount to get rid of a product that was defective from the start. The calls to India are frustrating to say the least. A half hour plus wasted for each call made. Don't waste your time with Magellan.