UNHAPPY WITH TRACKER

[BCO]

When I purchased my Panda in July 2007, I could save some cash on my insurance premium with my insurer at the time by installing vehicle tracking. I ended up "signing" a 36 month contract with Tracker. Because I agreed to the contract, the cost of the tracking device was included in the monthly payments. In other words, I'm paying off the hardware over 36 months.

A few months ago I moved to a new insurance company, and with these guys, the saving on my premium that I get by having Tracker is less than the cost of the Tracker itself. In other words, it's no longer cost effective to have Tracker installed.

I contacted Tracker to find out if there's a way out of the contract - I figured that if I still owe them 20 or so months of paying off the hardware, I could pay what I owe them on the unit and then cancel the contract.

As it turns out, the only way to cancel the contract is to pay off, in advance, the sum of FULL monthly fees for the remainder of the contract. In other words, I'd need to pay for the hardware, plus 20 months worth of vehicle tracking services which would not be rendered.

I never received any kind of written contract that was signed by myself, but Tracker has a recording of the call I made when I signed up. I've just listened to the call. During the call, I agreed to a "36 month binding contract".

I believe that Tracker's using the word "binding" to imply that there's absolutely no way out of the contract (their current exit option is so ridiculous that it might as well not even be available). My gripe is that it was not made clear to me that once I'd agreed to the contract there would be no way in hell to get out.

I don't think it's unreasonable that I should be allowed to pay off what I owe them (the tracking device itself), and then not pay for services as yet unrendered. But hey I guess this is just a typical example of "fsck the consumer". Oh well, if they'd let me out of the contract in a reasonable matter I probably would have used them again sometime in the future, but as things stand now, I will never go near these scammers again, and I will strongly recommend that nobody else uses Tracker either.

 

[Freshy-ZN]

Very very interesting indeed and Ill tell you why:

I had almost exactly the same situation. I switched to another insurer and didnt want Tracker anymore. They also insisted I agreed to a long term contract and it was recorded. I insisted they send me the convo. The said they would get it sent to a my nearest Tracker office and I would have to go their and listen to it.

In the meantime I kept reversing the monthly tracker payment until I closed the account a few months later. Tracker kept sending me nasty letters and I kept telling them their fortunes. They never got back to me about the recording and for the first two years I got a call from them every few months with some arb threats. I just kept telling them I am still waiting to go hear the convo where I agreed to all their absurb conditions....

+- at end of year two I decided to make them a deal and called them up. I offered to continue paying my monthly subs if they would forget about the 18 months or whatever it is I apparently owed them. They said the only way to continue would be to settle the 18months or whatever it was I 'owed' them while I was waiting for them to supply conversation. I told them to get knotted and send me a summons.

Havent heard from them since and I still have the tracker in my vehicle although Im sure its not active.

So I agree with your assertion that they use dodgy means to get people to sign. My biggest gripe was that it was all supposedly part of my initial insurance deal. If you sign up to tracker on your own you get offered 2 options: long term where you pay off the device and once off where you pay like R3k or something then just the subs. I asked them why I was never given this choice when signing up and they couldnt answer.

Its now 3 years and I keep waiting for the summons...

 

[USZA]

Interesting to read this; I was with Netstar, and all it cost me to get out of a 36-month contract was a few hundred rand for the hardware - no need to pay future subscription fees.

As for your contract, a recording is perfectly legal and binding nowadays; and, because it's a contract, you're entitled to a copy of it, so ask for one. They should have also explained exit criteria to you, before you entered into that agreement with them.

Your assumption for having to pay only for the device, is correct; this is what happened with me at Netstar, and I'd like to think that all tracking companies operate like that.

 

[Dolby]

Yup - same thing with Skytrax when it was seperate to Tracker ...

I didn't need to pay the full contract x premiums :/ They said they'd take the hardware back if I cancelled, and that covered some of what was owing

 

[xrapidx]

Yeh - Tracker handed me over to MDB attorneys - and here's the catch - I was paying them through my insurance, the insurance (Dial Direct) has stopped paying them. I thought I sorted it out, three months later the lawyers started phoning me again, and MDB are a thick bunch of debt collectors, nothing decent about them. I told them to go fly a kite, I then phoned Dial Direct and canceled the policy. I also got Tracker to send me a letter saying I don't owe anything - they actually tried to retain me as a customer - told them to go blow a goat. They didn't even have the decency to phone me before handing me over.

 

[BCO]

Yeh - Tracker handed me over to MDB attorneys - and here's the catch - I was paying them through my insurance, the insurance (Dial Direct) has stopped paying them. I thought I sorted it out, three months later the lawyers started phoning me again, and MDB are a thick bunch of debt collectors, nothing decent about them. I told them to go fly a kite, I then phoned Dial Direct and canceled the policy. I also got Tracker to send me a letter saying I don't owe anything - they actually tried to retain me as a customer - told them to go blow a goat. They didn't even have the decency to phone me before handing me over.

My previous insurance company used to pay my Tracker subscription, but when I moved to the new insurance company, my Tracker payments reverted back to me.

 

[Ecco]

similar situation with cellphone contracts.

Bottom line is that a contract is a contract, you agreed you it, you stuck with it. Most people dont bother to find out all the terms and conditions and just sign up. If you manage to get out of the contract cheaper, its a bonus, most cases the law sides with the contract.

Try contact the insurance ombudsman and see if they can help you out.

 

[supersunbird]

So YOU sign a contract and then YOU change your insurance company and now YOU have a problem with keeping to the term of the contract YOU signed with them?

Sure, Netstar and others let people of the hook, maybe because they are nice guys, who knows...

 

[BCO]

So YOU sign a contract and then YOU change your insurance company and now YOU have a problem with keeping to the term of the contract YOU signed with them?

Sure, Netstar and others let people of the hook, maybe because they are nice guys, who knows...

Perhaps they should have better explained that once I had agreed to the contract that there was NO WAY OUT? They didn't explain the exact terms of the contract, and had I known there was absolutely no way out I might have just paid for the hardware up front. I've had other contracts (like my iBurst one), and other forumites have said the same with Netstar, where you could pay off what you owe them and then call it quits. Right now I'm obliged to pay for a service that I no longer want, and that has not yet been rendered.

 

[semiautomatix]

I had problem with Cartrack. I bought the device outright. I told them I was not receiving the service I was paying them for (they didn't answer phones out of office hours, my tracker unit had to be replaced, they've never have my contact details on record despite updating them 3 times in two years - they had to call my emergency contact for my phone number) and that the contract must be cancelled with immediate effect.

They told me I need to give 3 months notice. So I cancelled my debit order, sent them an immediate termination fax and haven't heard from them since.

No where did I agree to those terms. They can try get the money out of me, except the name on the contract isn't even mine (the spelling of my name is about 60% correct but its definitely not me) - if you want to do telephonic contracts I suggest you use call centre people who can speak English!

 

[BCO]

I had problem with Cartrack. I bought the device outright. I told them I was not receiving the service I was paying them for (they didn't answer phones out of office hours, my tracker unit had to be replaced, they've never have my contact details on record despite updating them 3 times in two years - they had to call my emergency contact for my phone number) and that the contract must be cancelled with immediate effect.

They told me I need to give 3 months notice. So I cancelled my debit order, sent them an immediate termination fax and haven't heard from them since.

No where did I agree to those terms. They can try get the money out of me, except the name on the contract isn't even mine (the spelling of my name is about 60% correct but its definitely not me) - if you want to do telephonic contracts I suggest you use call centre people who can speak English!

lol, on the recording of my application, the call centre operative kept calling my car a "Fiat Prada".

 

[apogeeza]

I'm currently fighting a car track battle. My insurance "had a requirement" that my car is satellite tracked and they ONLY use car track (wonder what kickbacks are involved there???) then the insurance dropped me as a client because I refused to another of their "requirements" and now on a new insurance, car track suddenly double the monthly payments and bill me directly, but it took them 2 months to sort their schitt out and many months later they decide to hold me liable for their error. I told them to get knotted and moved my tracker to tracetec (half price for exactly the same service) 2 months after I move to tracetec I suddenly get an invoice from car track for "Cancellation Charge" and "Unit Replacement Cost" neither of which I agreed to in the recorded contract and they cannot charge for a replacement unit when the unit was not replaced - it was returned, not replaced... I have since layed a charge at the SAPS which they refuse to investigate saying I had an agreement with car track, which I didn't: my agreement was with the insurance company, not car track !!!