SPOT IS A DISHONEST COMPANY- BEST TO AVOID!!!

[CAMERONM]

Several years ago when I bought my SPOT device, I was promised a rebate that never came. It many calls to an almost non-existent customer service to finally get my rebate. Then I sold my device two years ago and cancelled my plan, but no amount of cancellation calls to SPOT or credit card disputes will stop them from billing me every year. I believe that this is a deliberate billing strategy instituted by a failing company. So I advocate avoiding SPOT, and if you have done business with them in the past, check your credit card statements!!!

[c9h13no3]

Nothing like all caps & three exclamations to make you sound sane on the internet!!!

[rlown]

Register a complaint with the BBB and have your credit card replaced with new numbers.

[CAMERONM]

"Nothing like all caps & three exclamations to make you sound sane on the internet!!!"

I know, its probably old-school. I have heard about "twitter-storms" but alas have no direct experience.

[freestone]

I know this company has been labeled by many users as predatory and unfair, the subscription, too expensive and the device itself unreliable causing many members to decide and avoid them all together, which I believe is a very compromising choice for the soloist. I am certainly not going to refute the OP on his experience but I haven't experienced the issues featured in the negative reviews...yet. The company is in a communications business (with all the hype that goes with that) and caters to the adventure minded, so subscription auto-renewal is probably necessary to make sure someone doesn't try to use the service when their subscription has expired unnoticed. For what it does, the device seems simple enough, but I can assure you that each unit is tightly controlled and synched to your account so for that reason I would never try to sell it or lend it out. I think reliability is tantamount for their success but unfortunately that comes with a yearly price tag so I pay it and use the heck out of it and try to take advantages of all the features it offers via the account website. If I do the math, the average cost per day on each trip is about $10 so I shell it out since trekking is my passion and I don't want the loved ones always stressed out when I'm "out there" and besides that, they love getting the "ok" signals and seeing where I am each night. I haven't tried it yet, but you might even be able to send the signal to HST for posting somehow. The newer units do text messages too, so maybe live TRs soon?