Here is a letter that I sent to Meade regarding their products and customer
service:

Mr. Steve Murdock, CEO, Meade Instruments
August 12, 2004
6001 Oak Canyon
Irvine, California 92618-5200

Mr. Murdock,

My name is Tom Galland and in May of 2001 I was overjoyed when I purchased
my 10” LX200GPS with the high grade coatings and various other equipment,
which included but not limited to, a 416XTE camera, the 616a color wheel,
and other assorted accessories which total more than three times the price
of the telescope. I have enjoyed the telescope tremendously and considering
the fact that it is not the best that money can buy it has performed to my
satisfaction, the camera and other accessories are another matter.

I understand that your main product are telescopes and that you have
discontinued your line of CCD cameras and that I am but a small customer in
the vast number of customers that you have but I need to be heard and I need
to know that you care about even your smallest customers.

Since I purchased my equipment in 2001 I have returned the camera on several
occasions because of failures in the proper operations of the camera and
have been dismayed at the quality control and your customer service. I
believe the first time the camera went in was for a cable connection
problem, which took some time to repair and return, and then there was a
problem with the chip not being centered properly in the case, which again
took some time to get the camera back from repairs. The combination of my
lack of knowledge, and my own learning curve, and the time it took to get
better acquainted with the equipment was very tedious, at best, but then
when confronted with the defective problems, I found I wasted many hours due
to the incompetence of others. It took some time to realize what the
problems were and how to remedy them. I spent several months trying to get
the camera and associated equipment to work properly only to find there were
manufacturer defects that were causing the problems, at one point the
shutter was not working on the 416XTE camera and I took a chance to open the
case, for the first time, to find metal shavings jamming the shutter open,
this is on a brand new camera.

There is a web site I must mention, which I visit quite often by the name of
“Mapug.com” they have very instructive remedies to the problems that people
are having with the LX200 telescopes. Listed within the archives of this
site are the numerous complaints and issues that YOUR CUSTOMERS have.

As I continued to use the camera it began to freeze up, I can only assume
that it was because I had opened the case. When my camera began to show ice
crystals on the chip I looked into sending it into your repair center but
the cost was prohibitive ($200.00). One of the remedies for internal icing
on Mapug is to bake the camera/desiccant at low temperature, while the case
is open, to remove the moisture that has seeped into the camera, and then
replace the desiccant to help keep it dry. By this time I had collected two
other Meade 416XT cameras for the purpose of comparing the cameras to see
what the differences were and to see if what was happening with my XTE was
happening with the other cameras. One of the other cameras also began to ice
up. I wanted to sell the two extra cameras so instead of paying the $200.00
I tried the baking remedy on the first XT and it worked great and I sold the
camera. Subsequently when the XTE started to ice up I tried it on the XTE,
this time I was not so lucky and I had to send it in to your service
department for repairs. I sent my XTE, my last XT that I had, and my color
wheel in for repairs.

The color wheel was another one of those hidden problems I was having. After
several sessions, (maybe 50), I found that the color wheel was sticking and
not rotating properly. When I put the color wheel onto the camera and I snug
it down to the camera it would not work I would have to leave it just loose
enough to hold but still make contact for the electronics to work, it would
take several minutes (5 to 15) to get the adjustment right and if I moved
the camera or telescope for some reason I would have to go through it all
over again, it was not easy to have to deal with.

When I heard back from your service department they told me that the chip
was damaged on the XTE and that it would have to be replaced, I bit the
bullet, after deciding that I had damaged the chip by low baking and told
them to go ahead and replace the chip. This is where my frustration level
hit its peak. I paid $215.50 each for the service on the two cameras and I
believe another $285.00 for the new chip and I think another $200.00 or so
for the service on the color wheel. When I got the cameras back I tried the
XTE only to find that the shutter was not working properly so I called and
again I returned the camera to your service department. The camera came back
in a relatively short time, which I was pleased with but I noticed that it
was not the same camera. The case indicated that it was just a 416 no XT or
XTE just 416, I was quite upset that I did not receive my original camera
back and I was given something else. I called your customer service and they
told me that they have not made any plain 416’s in several years and that it
was my XTE in another case. They said that if I wanted to send it back they
would put it into the proper case and send it back. I had already sent the
camera in so many times I wanted to get some use out of it and see what
happens, even though there was no way to tell that it was an XTE, I had
already missed many of the special astronomical sightings and targets
because of the problems with the cameras.

To my total disgust the camera performed horribly, I compared it to the
other XT camera to make sure it was not something I was doing wrong, the
camera was absolutely bad. I called your service department and talked to
John Piper and he instructed me to send the camera in and they sent me
another camera in about two weeks and it was labeled 416XTE. This last
weekend I wanted to catch up on some of the summer targets before I would
have to wait another season and I spent about 16 to 18 hours taking pictures
and thinking that everything was working right, WRONG, the color wheel got
stuck some where along the way and all of my work was wasted.

I called John Piper this last Monday and of course I had to leave a message,
and I was not a happy camper, so the message was not the kindest of
messages, but I have yet to hear back from him. I told John, in the message,
what had happened over the weekend with the color wheel and asked what I
should do.

I have worked in the past for quality control and customer service and I can
tell you from my experience that what I offered and delivered to my
customers far exceeds any customer service that I have ever received from
your company. I have another friend that lives here in the high desert and
he also has had problems with his camera and your customer service, if you
would like to check, his name is XXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Besides the many hours I spent on the learning curve to understand and use
your equipment I have spent several hundred hours trying to sort out the
problems that I have had with the equipment that I purchased from your
company and with the exception of the telescope itself I am not pleased, in
fact I am totally disgusted, I am normally a patient person but your
products and customer service have taken me beyond my limits. There are many
other issues with wrong product delivery, faulty products, that I have not
mentioned in this letter, I would like to know what you can do for me to
make me a happy customer once again.

I will not post this message to the Mapug site or any other site unless I
feel you have not satisfied me regarding my discontent with your customer
service and lack of quality control.



Needless to say they did not restore any kind of faith in the quality of
their customer service. Mr. Murdock sent me one of the NEW SDI cameras as a
gift to try and please me while my camera was back at their facility for
repairs. Mr. Murdock said that I could call him direct at any time if I had
a problem with the camera in the future. Well guess what..... The camera
came back and it still had something on the chip (dirt, dust, whatever) I
tried to call Mr. Murdock for several days to no avail so I talked to
whoever customer service person answered the phone and explained the
situation, the guy told me to go ahead and send it in and there would be a
$200.00 fee for servicing the camera. I blew it...... after explaining the
situation to three other people they agreed that it could be sent back and
repaired at no cost.

I have never been able to get the DSI to work and since then, in December, I
bought an SBIG camera and could not be happier with my progress with CCD
imaging.

Bottom line...... Meade makes a great scope, good luck with their service
department and I personally would not trust any other electronics that they
sell.

Tom Galland,
http://www.pcplushobbies.com/Oak%20Hills%20Observatory/Toms.html
May clear skies always prevail!!!

-----Original Message-----
Of Ian Rhodes
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 3:39 AM
Subject: RE: The new Meade DSI Pro

Richard

I would sell the original and put the money to a Starlight Express
instead. You will also have support with that......... see below


Transcipt from Meade Europe

Dear Mr Rhodes,

Meade Instruments Europe gives service and warranty for goods imported
by us. For direct-imports from the U.S., please contact Meade
Instruments, Irvine.

With best regards,

Rüdiger Maaß
APD Service
Meade Instruments Europe

Tel.: 02861-931760
Siemensstraße 6
46325 Borken


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 6. April 2005 14:40
Betreff: RE: AW: HELP Needed DSI

Hi

It was purchased on E-Bay from a dealer in the states of whom I have
many Meade accessories from, inthe past. It was purchased on my
behalf to get round the fact that it is considerably more expensive
overhere than anywhere else except New Zealand even when I have paid
the customs and excise charges.

So the unit is brand new and had not been out of the box before it
arrived with me.

The unit was tested again last Saturday at many different settings in
the manual and automatic mode and still with problems of a unknown
nature. It appears that the camera cannot cope with varing different
light levels making it impossible to focus on anything terrestial or
deep sky.

I have managed to take darks which seem to suggest that the camera is
working correctly but when it is pointed at stars it appears to
streak down the screen without any clear definition. It does
recognize that something is there and in the right place but can not
focus clearly on it. The telescope is perfectly colminated and the
focus mechanism is working properly and the camera has been set to
match the flip mirror which is all ok. I noticed that on Saturday for
a period of two seconds that the camera did focus perfectly on the
eskimo nebula and surrounding stars implying that for some reason it
responded properly and suggested that the expected result would be
stunning, unfortunatly I could not capture this as it dissappeared
just a quick.
The setup consists of a Latop Avent 7003 P4 2Ghz 512mb Ram XP
Professional

PCMCIA USB 2.0 Card with own power supply

Autostar supplied with camera

Incidently I bought a USB hub with Tetronic support and new USB cable
yesterday to try this with which had 24 K gold contacts and still the
same result.



A final note is that I have tried this with a f3.3 Focal reducer and
still the same problem.




Thanks

---- Original Message ----
Subject: RE: The new Meade DSI Pro
Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 20:19:33 -0500

>Hey guys -
>So, I bought the new DSI and haven't even used it yet - low and
>behold
>Meade releases a new "pro" version..
>From what I can tell, it would cost me an additional $200 after
>filter
>costs and it will have a higher resolution / sensitivity.
>Now, without evening using this DSI and coming from the 10D world
>anyway, do you guys think it would be worth just selling this new DSI
>and putting that towards the pro version or is it too early to tell?
>
>Thanks for your input!
>Richard
>http://lxd55.com
>http://lxd75.com
>http://scopetrader.com
>http://lx200.net
>
>====================================================
>For help and information on the Acceptable Use Policy, visit
>http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/pages/Subcrb_AcceptUse.html
>
>MAPUG is hosted by Software-y-Ddraig (Dragon Software)
>http://syd.tigranetworks.co.uk
>====================================================
>



====================================================
For help and information on the Acceptable Use Policy, visit
http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/pages/Subcrb_AcceptUse.html

MAPUG is hosted by Software-y-Ddraig (Dragon Software)
http://syd.tigranetworks.co.uk
====================================================

====================================================
For help and information on the Acceptable Use Policy, visit
http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/pages/Subcrb_AcceptUse.html

MAPUG is hosted by Software-y-Ddraig (Dragon Software)
http://syd.tigranetworks.co.uk
====================================================

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