Support

Richard Zalewski

How many of us have received telephone support from k..wood or y..su?  Very few if any I would suspect.  However, I had a great conversation with support that helped me answer some questions and problems I was having with my 6600M and V3.  All answered and all is well.  Do I think the hardware or the software is perfect?  No but I am enjoying my new radio and I truly think the support so far is A+.  Thanks Flex!

Lucas - W6AER

I would agree with 100%. While the software is not perfect, as expected there are a few minor issues but when I called about something minor, I was talking to support in under 2 minutes. Friendly and resolved in a few minutes. It is very nice to see this level of service and I am sure the minor bugs in v3 will be resolved rather quickly. There is nothing really that has stopped me from using the radio. I am glad I upgraded, and while this upgrade is perhaps not for everybody, I am going to really benefit from it in the long run. 

Ernest - W4EG

Thank you for asking the QUESTION!
I do not think you'll receive many reply on this subject.
Thank you ***** Richard and Lucas*****  for your reply... 

Cal N3CAL

Fake news???  Wow,  I wasn't aware Flex was back to doing phone support!  You guys must be special!  If you look on their website there is no longer any tech support via phone.  The following thread states Flex could no longer do phone support.. Everything this year has been via trouble ticket and email:
 
 https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/does-flex-still-have-an-tech-support-phone-line

Joe N3HEE

Indeed, Flex support is first rate !  They have taken great care of me too.  Now if we can get them to do the same with their software we are in business.

Mark_WS7M

I bought a new Icom 7100 from HRO on a Saturday.  I got home from Denver at 5:30.  I plugged it in and it didn't work.

Luckily I think this happens enough that a phone call to HRO and they shipped out a new radio with a return shipping label.  But I was without a radio I'd spent $$ for from Saturday until Wednesday.

Now that this 7100 is over 3 years old it failed again.  I cannot get a call to Icom.  I can talk to a receptionist who will setup an RMA for me.  Estimated time and cost to repair:  3 weeks, $150.00.

So technically speaking for some reasons there is no Icom phone support either.  You can certainly talk to some one to RMA it but that is about it.

There are Icom forums but nothing like this forum here.

I agree with Joe.  Flex support has been great.  Yes they want you to create a trouble ticket but if the problem is one that can be solved without shipping the radio back I believe they would rather do a call.  You won't get that from Icom.

I realize I am not the authority on Flex radios but since my start with them in 2015 I have helped about 3 people either make sales decisions, setup questions, and even logged in via TeamViewer to help someone get things setup.  I did this for free because I believe in the product and want people to be successful with it.

Tonight I was going to do a TeamViewer with a FRLogger user that was having issues but it turned out a reboot of his computer fixed his issue.  Looks like the firewall was blocking things.

So that leads me to my point that many strange issues I've seen with my radio often are gone with a fresh restart.  I leave my radio on 24/7 but I probably restart it about once a week or every two weeks.

All that being said, the Flex Radio line is not for everyone.  I've run into a few hams that are so tied to their ways of operating knob radios that they just can't get their head around what the Flex is doing even if they have a Maestro.  

Not saying these guys are dumb or anything like that but it is a new paradigm to operate a Flex Radio.  What you used to do simply has to change.

Gene Duprey

My brother bought a Icom 7610 last year and it is no longer putting out 100 wt., onely about 60.  He called Icom and their answer is that he does not know how to operate the radio.  His a retired Radio engineer and has been a ham for 40+ years, and worked as a repair tech. at Henry Radio years ago, so he was quite put off by their reply.  Every time I have called to Flex with a question or a problem, rarely, I have received quick and efficient help.

Gene, K1GD

Lionel

I have several years ago. Gerald called me with an engineer on the line to talk about a really weird behavior with 5000. Fixed it! Last year my 6400 started to behave oddly, odd noise on the spectrum. Videos and info exchanged with Flex over a week. Engineering couldn’t duplicate, field day was coming up. They sent me a new one, I returned mine. Field day was great. Yeah, I’m a pretty happy customer.

Eric-KE5DTO

Actually, we have indeed beem taking support phone calls and even added a v3.0 hotline option for folks that needed assistance with their upgrade.  This is something we will continue to experiment with over time to find the best fit to support our customers.

Patrick

Yes, had the t/r switch. Problem also. Overdrove the t/r switch when changed config and drive power did not reduce. You can do it a couple of times but will not survive more then that . There is a config change in the amp to prevent this. Contact Elecraft for procedure. The amp went back to them twice for this. And to their credit the amp , they repaired it the second time for free.

Cal N3CAL

Eric,  thanks for the update on this!  I must have missed the press release on the V3 hotline option if infact there was one?????    What's the phone number? 

Cal/N3CAL

donato cardarelli

Hi
Me too, I agree
I am an old user of Flex and when needed it I got always good support (recently for DAX configuration) with remote access to directly verify and modify what needed.


for new 6XX series,  I was really disappointed of commercial politics of Flex (and I wrote many times about it) , but for support let me say, as always really good

In EU land the hardware  support is really good too

Eric-KE5DTO

It’s our main line: (512) 535-4713. Option 2 (for support) then option 1 (for v3 update help).

Steve K9ZW

I've had to ask for support on a number of occasions, including some needs with other ham's FlexRadio gear. 

On a couple reach outs I was out on an Island with varying levels of phone and/or internet at the time.

In every case I've gotten great support from FRS, and directly from FRS.  

Problems solved by emails, my providing links I could use, and by phone.  

I've had radios (and a PGXL and a Maestro) go in for development upgrades, PIN updates or because something broke - usually my fault) with great results.

FRS by beating expectations actually has raised the bar on themselves for support, and has provided pressure for other manufacturers to step it up. 

If you have ever had to send in an IC-7800 (which now they ask you to send to authorized third parties), or a FT-1000/2000/5000, or in the day say a Orion II/Omni VI/VII/Jupiter, you learned all about patience. 

• You learned that unless you read it on a ham forum you might not find out very much about the problem you were having, as the manufacturer wasn't saying much.
• You learned that there might be an unpublicized update/recall/PIN-like thing that unless you complained you weren't going to find out about.
• You learned that you were going to almost always pay for shipping.
• You learned about having very little idea when you radio might be sent back.
• You learned about having to push to get the full story of the repairs when it was fixed.
• You learned about the long extended wait for updated/replacement parts to be built/imported. 
• And you learned that you might not even know what proportion of your repair would be covered under warranty until the end of the repair job.  

None of these manufacturers offered "poor" service, as their interpretation was the ham marketplace didn't want to pay for more and was okay with the status quo.

FRS (and as mentioned a few other great firms) raised the standards.  And our hobby benefits as a result.

I'm not so certain many of us can point to very many products we've bought where support FRS and the best of our hobby have taken their support to.  Maybe avionics (some) or medical - but I'm not coming across it many places.  

Does every system always work perfectly?  Not usually.  That is why the performance is measured, the metrics examined and benchmarked, and the system is tweaked.  

That FRS is experimenting with some varied support-delivery techniques is fantastic.  Seems they FRS team is not content to rest on their laurels, and wants to push harder at providing excellent support.

One thing I should add is FRS's support rates really high on effectiveness.  Whether emails from a support ticket. being pointed at a prepared how-to-fix article or by phone, they get it done.  I'm going to make the 11th phone call to the phone service provider (the first letter of their name is their grade in my book) in the last six months to sort out technical & billing issues with our move.  I started logging the minutes on the phone with these folk, with over 250 minutes - more than four hours - wasted on the phone for the 75% resolution they have achieved during this six months.  Would it be that FRS would teach these folks how to do real customer service!

73

Steve
K9ZW

Doug

Flex is the best IMO but as far as Icom goes I use the shop in MI. that guy almost walks on water. Great tech and great to talk on the phone. His name is Matt and leave a message and Matt himself will call you back. I can't say enough about him.