No Thank You!!!
Update:
In less than two weeks the two tractive devices I have purchased have been rendered useless. I have deactivated/paused my subscriptions and have removed the devices from my dogs collars.
*One* of the devices had displayed a heavy battery drain from day of arrival on. For the record, I have two dogs, two devices and my dogs are almost always together. I rarely use live mode and a power save zone was setup at home.
After field work both devices were always cleaned and charged.
During charging both devices were powered off.
On one of the devices, in the power save zone, a battery drain of 10% per day or more was usual. On the field values such as a sudden and alarming battery drop from 38% down to 2% was also usual. After a reset (during field work) the app showed 28% shortly after a drop to 3% again. This happened also in live mode.
After field work I reset the faulty device. It showed 19% battery life. And after (cleaning my working collars and the devices *as always*) plugging them in to charge it showed me immediately 40% battery life.
These inconsistent values are the reason why I power them off after plugging them in to charge. (By the way they power up automatically when plugging them in to charge if powered of before charging). So I have always been going by led color when charging, not by the app and notifications.
The battery drain is in my opinion software related. The battery of the faulty device lasted almost as long as the normally working device of my other dog.
I contacted support with a bad feeling. I was quite sure they would give me sh** and they did. I contacted them explaining the issue accurately whilst asking how I can hard reset the device to reinstall the firmware.
And the sh** they gave me was ridiculous. After promising to "escalate" my case to a "technician" I received a email asking me to ensure that the device shows a red led when charging and that the ports are clean. (Duh!) Also to go outside for a minute with the device in my hand to ensure I have connectivity.
So any information I provided them with (such as battery drop in live mode - where the connection was perfect, also that the devices battery lifetime matches my other device and therefore charging is fine) was totally ignored. A long email was sent to me with a list of the the most ridiculous advice possible.
And tractive failed to simply reply to my question: How can I reinstall the firmware to rule out a software failure.
I had already planned to purchase a new device from tractive just a fewdays after I received the new units and noticed how faulty one unit was. I knew that I will be left helpless when I have any technical issues, even if the devices are new. And I was right.
However, after contacting tractive support and getting so frustrated with their responses I have decided not to purchase anything anymore from tractive. I am no longer using the units and will opt for spending my money on professional gps devices.
As I noticed already in many reviews I read online before purchasing two for myself, it's a lottery game to receive working devices from tractive. And neither do I have the time or patience to play these games. Nor do I appreciate the idiocy of the support when it comes to any technical difficulties.
Inconsistent battery lifespan values on the field and having to perform resets on the field is unacceptable for me. I don't want to worry about battery values whilst working my dogs. It's been almost two weeks of nightmares having to fiddle around so much with this one faulty device. And then having to estimate the battery lifespan by comparing my usage with my other device. No thank you.
So if your lucky and you receive fully functional devices upon purchase, good for you. May you enjoy using them and hopefully they help in keeping your pet safe. If not, I highly recommend to find pet trackers from a different, preferably more professional company. Your pet will appreciate it.
To Nora, the 4th person from tractive now. And if you would have read my messages you would understand that I have two devices of which one works great. So I have coverage here! In the communication history one of your agents admitted that one device has a "different SIM card configuration" Highly confusing to me. I would expect you to *send me a functional device as this is a warranty claim*, instead of telling me to let the batteries run out and then not replying anymore (Agent nr 2) . So each of you have a different story to tell. And you keep this issue ongoing for over 3 weeks now. Also manipulated the ticket so no survey can be sent to me to rate this horror of support. Again, these are brand new devices. Instead of dragging a customer through weeks of nonsense, I would have expected a company like tractive to simply send a new, not refurbished, device out to me and apologize for the inconvenience.