...also known as how I broke AND fixed a Tom Tom One v3 in about 3 days.
So my wonderful parents popped one of these guys underneath the tree for me this year. I was obviously elated, and relieved. You see, I believe my internal compass was destroyed by an Acura dealership a few years back, but thats another story.
Anyways...
I desperately need gps, it is not a toy for me. I cannot find things 5 miles from either my house, or work. It's a serious problem.
So I unbox this little guy, boot him up, and get all geeky smitten-like. It's all good until I try and plug the sucker into my mac. Now Tom Tom says they support "teh mac" and indeed they had software available. So I install, load, plug and wait. It appears the TomTom mac software is lacking behind it's windows counterpart in a huge way.
So here is my journey into hell:
Day 1
1. TomTom Mac software prompts me to install an update NOT designed for my unit
2. I install it and the update proceeds to whork my TomTom to the point where it wont start up.
3. I call TomTom technical support over 20x times before I get through their busy signal (apparently the lines were/are jammed with holiday techsupport nightmares)
4. Tech support has no clue why this happened, asks me to reformat and re-download my maps. Oh but wait! They need proof of purchase. So I have to call my parents and get them to scan the receipt and mail it to me, so I can submit it. Not very christmassy if you ask me.
OH and due to holiday server traffic from new units, I cant get my maps for 2 days. More specifically "If you don't see it in 2 days, call back"
Day 2
5. I wait 24 hours and call back about another 20-30 times to talk to someone, they add the maps, but they wont show on my application. "Wait about 35 minutes, it takes time, call us back if you don't get them"
6. I don't get maps. I proceed to redial for about 20 minutes of busy signal, it finally picks up, only to feed me a recorded message that they are closed for the day. grr.
Day 3
7. Call back again 10-15 times. Talk to someone, they say that the "mac compatible" maps weren't added. So they add them at this point. The maps finally show up, and it takes me an hour to download them. So I hang up.
8. I install the maps, unplug the unit and reboot. I still get the blinking red x of fail. I am infuriated.
9. Call TomTom back and speak with my first really knowledgeable customer service agent, I recite my tale of woe for what feels like the 9th time, we try a few things, he explains that there is no such thing as "mac compatible maps" and that who ever told me that is insane. We spend about 30 minutes on the phone. He tells me to send the unit back to Office Depot.
10. So I call Office Depot, and they wont take the unit because I don't have the box it came in. This, like so many things these days, came wrapped in a turtleshell of hard plastic that you must take a chainsaw to in order to open.
So I lose it. I hang up on the lady and curse the mouth-breathers employed by office depot and their mangers and their managers (everyone is a manager at these places)
11. I get back in touch with TomTom and try and issue an RMA for the unit. Which will take about 3 weeks to perform. (yarg)
12. I get a bolt of inspiration, I was never convinced this thing was actually broken physically. It's a software issue, it CAN be fixed. So I grab a PC, install TomTom, reformat the unit, download the maps and updates and 3 hours later SUCCESS!
13. I document the issue for TomTom and send it via email, I have yet to hear back.
So Finally...
Mac users beware! the Disk Utility app in the gui will not correctly format a TomTom unit to Fat32. You can try the cmd line app, instructions are here
I highly advise you to just find a pc and do it that way until TomTom gets their act together on the mac.
