WARNING: Why you do NOT want to purchase Clarion Navigation Products

MAX675VDII:                                                                                             NAX970HD:

That system worked well in my automobile and did get me around the United States in my travels of 2007 and 2008 with few problems.

In July of 2009, I took another one of my annual road trips around the United States. Before I left, I checked to see if there was an update for the navigation system. The only update listed was for 07 08, which is only one year newer than the one in my system which is 06-07. In a call to Clarion technical support, I was informed that a newer update was not yet available. 

On my 2009 travels, I found that stores, restaurants, and other destinations had changed names, moved, or closed. A few of those would be expected with any navigation system, but there were more than what I had experienced with my previous navigation system in a previous automobile.

Since August 2009, I have been checking monthly for an update for my navigation system. There have been none.

I checked with my local dealer who installed my navigation system and called Clarion technical support multiple times, as well as sending three certified letters to Mr. Matt Matsuda, (now, former) President of Clarion USA. I asked Mr. Matsuda for either an update or a modification to my system to provide accurate mapping and data. My letters were totally ignored. Only after contacting the Better Business Bureau in late 2010, did I get a reply from Mr. Tony Alvarez, Customer Service Manage at Clarion.  Their offer was a free 07 08 upgrade if I remove this web site.  That was 3 year old information.  I refused.

Recently, I contacted Mr. Alvarez and Mr. T. Hayashi, the new president of Clarion US.  Mr. Alvarez replied with the same offer of the 07-08 software update. 

My last cross country trip of May-June 2010, not only underscored the badly out-of-date software, but also gave me misdirections. Although the map on the MAX675VDII display showed my route to be straight ahead, the voice navigation instructed me to turn left or right. I also experienced directions telling me to turn onto roads that do not exist. THIS SYSTEM IS BECOMMING UNRELIABLE

I purchased this system expecting to be able to update the navigation maps and information at least every two years at some reasonable cost.  It appears, however, even with the NAX970HD unit still listed for sale on many web sites, that Clarion is no longer supporting the MAX675VDII – NAX970HD system. I could understand that if the system was over 5 years old, but, since this system is only a little over 3 years old, that is an unacceptable practice. So much for Clarion’s commitment for “ Providing customer satisfaction and happiness with superior products and services”.

Here is a list of the people at Clarion who have your money and do not care about their customers: (I believe their email addresses are correct)

        President:     Mr. Tom Hayashi      email: thayashi@clarionus.com
        Senior Vice president of Retail Sales:      Mr. Ralf E. Engelbrecht      email: rengelbrecht@clarionus.com
        Vice President of Marketing:    Ms. Sally House    email: shouse@clarionus.com
        Vice President of Marketing & Product Planning:        Mr. Adam Thomas    email: athomas@clarionus.com
        National Sales Manager:     Mr. Fred Roetker    email: froetker@clarionus.com
        Customer Service Manager:  Mr. Tony Alvarez    email: talvarez@clarionus.com 

If you are one of the thousands of people who purchased a Clarion navigation system with a broken promise of regular software updates send your complaints to these individuals along with a copy to the Better Business Bureau.  (Don't bother to write, based on my experience, they ignore letters.)

DO NOT PURCHASE CLARION NAVIGATION PRODUCTS:

THE SOFTWARE IS BADLY OUT-OF-DATE

CLARION DOES NOT SUPPORT THEIR CUSTOMER BASE

THE SYSTEM IS PROVIDING MISDIRECTIONS

 Purchase your navigation products from a company that guarantees annual software updates!

For further information I can be reached at this link dakatz45@msn.com