Findster Avis 171

Love the Findster can walk with peace of mind that I know where my Dobermann is at all times

The Findster duo I purchased started off uncertain. I had it for several weeks and the radar and tracking seemed off (radar did not work at all) I live in an area of thick deep woods and fields..my three dogs 2 Great Danes and a collie mix have a tendency to want to explore and we have had a couple of scares where we spent days and night looking for them..couple of days ago it happened. Turned my back and gone into the woods all 3. The petfinder duo quickly let me know the direction and the distance they were going and had them back within the hour!!! So relieved to know the exact direction and area they were going. Map and radar both worked fantastic. Best purchase I ever made!! Side note the duo did disconnect at one point but reconnected short time after! I recommend this highly!! And a fence is also being installed in the near future. Can never be to safe!!

I purchased the findster duo when it just was released. I liked the Idea of no monthly costs. The findster works fine. I accept that it has not the same range as a gsm tracker. But until now no problems with the range. Its range is enough for is. Why not 5 stars? The pet module needed replacement, I think that was to soon given the usage. After replacing that one, there were no updates possible on the guardian. I asked for help thru the app. I got soms tips and trics, but nothing worked. It turned out that my guardian module is too old to match the new pet module. Findster is sending me a new guardian module! That is a super solution and 5 star service.

The device is hit and miss as often disconnects while my dog is off lead exploring so not great at all!! Beware of automatic enrolment into the findster care membership. I've had money taken for this. Having to submit a claim through paypal as the company have used my card details from my purchase of the tracker. I requested a refund which they've ignored. Who needs a virtual vet??!! Such a shame as I had high hopes for this. A friend bought one and it died after getting wet....again no customer care so it went in the bin.

Love this place. I will come here any day I don't have work. Only bad thing is the smell is a little off but I don't mind it but my kid didn't really like it but still. I will come here 100 more times before I die. I recommend this place for anyone.

I have tried two previous pet trackers in the past year for my cat, and both came up wanting. They only worked what seemed like half the time, and ended up being as frustrating as they were helpful. Findster was more expensive up front than the other two, but easily rationalized with the lack of a monthly fee, so would cost less over time. I decided to go for it after the experiences I had with the other two. I'm very, very glad I did. The technology it uses seems much more reliable than the other GPS trackers I've used, and I'd say the Findster works 95% of the time. It does exactly what it's supposed to and it does it well. I'm really happy with the reliability it provides and the functionality of its features. I was a little worried about the size of the Findster on my cat (12 lbs), but it's just about fine. A little big, but totally wearable for him and he seems totally OK with it. It's very lightweight, so it doesn't seem to bother him at all. The only downside is that it has a shorter battery life than the other trackers, but I just charge it after every time he comes in - a small adjustment to make and not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Really pleased with the product.

We use this on our mid sized cat so needed something not too bulky. Most importantly, no monthly fees! The app is really amazing and we actually have a lot of fun with it knowing Rocky’s paw prints!

Buyers beware!

When I ordered my tracker, it says it comes with a free month trial of their Vet subscription. When I created my app account to use the tracker, I didn’t enter in my card or order information, and I didn’t show any interest/use their vet messaging service. A month later I got a charge of $4.03. I was baffled and reached out to customer support immediately. They have not explained how they connected my card information to my app account and they have refused to refund me my money. Looking through their community comments on their Maven page, I’m not the only one who has been through this. As $4.03 is such a small amount- many other people may be subscribed without realising it.

Definitely check your bank statements!

It’s such a shame because I really wanted to use a “No Monthly Fees” device that was effective while hiking. I did hours and hours of research and this was the best fit for that need. But now I just can’t trust the technology if the company itself isn’t dedicated to supporting its customers.

Update 1/08/2021

The company has replied to my review here saying

“ Hello Stephanie,

Thank you for your review.
As you can see from getfindster .com/store, a monthly fee is automatically charged after a trial of 30 days. This fee is for Findster Care, an additional service we provide. If you want to cancel, simply contact our support and we'll do it.

Best regards,
[Customer Service Representative's Name]”

Should they edit their reply, I have a screenshot of the original text.

Again- they do not explain what information they retained to connect the information from making your purchase, to your account you create via the app. There are a vast number of people that could be signed up without realising it, as $4.03 (the 3.99+tax) is such a small amount it could go unnoticed without a diligent review of one’s spending.

Let the record show did reach out to the company on multiple occasions and they refused to refund my money. I have since taken additional steps to make sure others are made away of this issue and to make sure this never happens to anyone again. I’ll update as I find out more.

Update 4/21/2021

Per Findster's request, I removed their Customer Service's Representative's name. Which is a joke, because they signed their name within their reply. Seriously, look at all their replies, it's signed by the same person. Now if only they were so willing to give me my money back!

UPDATE:
I have just received an email telling me they will only refund my 3.99 unwanted subscription if I remove the below review. I am beyond disgusted with the behavior of this company.

—
Please be careful with this app. I ordered because I didn’t want to sign up to a monthly subscription but they still continued to charge me via Paypal. When I asked for a refund they said it my fault!
Additionally I had accidentally registered my cat as a dog and tried to amend on several occasions but they continued to send be automated dog messages. The activity tracker battery seemed to reduce in capacity after 1 month and is not accurate in terms of locations.
I am really quite disappointed all round and still awaiting a refund on the vet subscription! 😩.

We been using the Findster tracking device for more then 3 years. We live in the countryside with no mobile phone signal and it works brilliantly to see where our Bengal cat, Bobacat, is roaming and to go and get him if he don't return when it get dark as there are plenty of foxes and badgers around.
There has been a lot of improvements over the last few years. In the early days we had a few technical issues but it was sorted out quickly by the support department. We use 2 modules and change them around after 6 hours.

I still stand by my review but I will add that the company has returned my money they sent a prepared slip to be returned by a courier at no cost. They would like me to close my post down but I still stand by the fact that the product just doesn’t cut it. Facts are facts. More needs to be reviewed to make this product better. I have seen quite a few reviews that haven’t been good for the company. I am sorry for that but this is about showing the public that the product has problems. My dog went miss twice with the tracker on and I had no hope of finding him. It didn’t track him but instead said he was right next to me. Then another time when he was with me twice this happened it said he had wondered outside the save zone.

We love our Findster! We spent quite a lot of time researching options, and went with Findster because we liked not having a monthly fee like so many other options have.
I really like the tags and the App is easy to use. We have also gotten a kick out of having a vet available by chat - it has come in handy and saved us a couple trips!
One of my tags dropped and got run over by a car, and Findster very kindly replaced the tag for us. A+ for customer service :)
Would definitely buy again and recommend to our friends with other wanderlust-y dogs!

Easy to order. Delightful communication during dispatch and delivery. The devices were easy to set up and have worked well so far.

Purchased twice! Great and accurate but the following advance features would be nice; Camera on collar/ voice activation to talk to pet or people that come across pet/ longer battery/ and definitely smaller sleeker module for pet.

OK.
Works perfect. At home in the backyard and in the country(cabin).
I could see the dog on the tracker but not in line of sight, walking around a corner on the dirt road -COYOTE time . The dog and the coyote were close together, popped the coyote with rock.

Updated review from 5 star to 1 star:

So the modules worked great as per the below review until one day the guardian module / unit you holds’ button got stuck. This prevented all use of the GPS system as you can no longer connect them to get accurate positioning. This is when my long struggle to return this item to Findster with DHL started… Findster were helpful and provided the return DHL pre-paid label to print off and the RMA and invoice documents, with a waybill. So I printed everything off, packaged up as instructed and dropped in my local DHL drop off point which was a 30 minute round trip in the car (January 2021). A week later I found this had been returned to sender (my family’s home as ordered it there for Christmas…) as the waybill had been ripped off by DHL shop owner… my mum returned this to me at her cost of £3.10 with Royal Mail. I contacted Findster who advised to re-send but they would need me to purchase the return shipping and gain a refund on my receipts as DHL were no longer posting to Portugal due to new Brexit regulations… I decided to wait until they had figured this out and kept the faulty module safe. I have now just tried to return this to Findster (July 2021) whereby I was requested to print everything off again and package, so I did… again! I was then told within 2 hours (just before I dropped off at the DHL Drop off point AGAIN) that it was the old label and a new one would need to be attached which they provided… back to the printer AGAIN. Dropped off with DHL 30 minute round trip AGAIN. Package has been returned this week with a note from DHL stating (invoice missing) I did not attach the invoice to the outside of the parcel as had no idea this was a thing (it is inside the parcel with the RMA, faulty module and other documents).

Therefore I have now given up and refuse to waste my time emailing for a new label, packaging up and dropping off AGAIN, wasting my time and money (printing and packaging for a 6th time and dropping off with DHL for a 3rd time). It is now in the general waste bin for collection by someone who won’t return this to me! Talk about damaging the environment but if it’s good for Amazon it’s good for me! If you want any of the proof of this epic endeavour above to investigate please get in touch as I have all the evidence of my several attempts and recommend you raise this complaint with your DHL Contract manager, as they have not only cost you 2 lots of shipping for passing my parcel from the parcel shop to my door but cost me around 3 hours in wasted printing, emails and dropping off. I will only change this review if an apology from the DHL Contract manager for you is received. I don’t want vouchers this isn’t an appeal for anything other than GET YOUR RETURN SHIPPING SORTED SO OTHERS DON’T WASTE THEIR TIME LIKE I HAVE AND LESS MODULES GO DIRECTLY TO LANDFILL AFTER 3 MONTHS OF USE!!!

Overall review in hindsight: Buy if you need a tracker as no subscription fees is great but god help you if you have a warranty issue after 3 months like me…! I probably wouldn’t buy now knowing what I know. There have been no new updates or integrations since I started using and they still have no voice control so always washing hands after touching module to put on cat before turning on, on the phone app.

Original review: A really great product that gives peace of mind anytime your beloved pet goes out. I really like being able to look on the map and see my cats 🐈‍⬛ GPS location and see his adventures in real time without the cost of on-going subscription that other similar trackers have, so if you factor this in this pays for itself after 2 years and you still have a lifetime of use to enjoy. I would highly recommend this durable and easy to use product and the app is always being updated to give the best experience. Thank you! :-)

horrible and insulting customer service, the worst ever. they charged me for a monthly subscription without permission and refused to refund it. this took 30 emails and they never addressed what I was asking for and in the process insulted me by saying 'don't you know how to read' when in fact the agent never has read what I was asking for. Just sent me a label to return the product. I had to file a complaint with my credit card company to get the subscription refunded.

Product does not work for what I need it for, real time tracking in the woods. 2 mins after I put it on, my dog took off after a deer and Findster could never find him or me.
Sometimes the app does not locate one or both of us.
When working, it updates tracking about every 20-30 seconds.
Will not work in wooded areas.
Findster pet module can get lost if dogs are playing
Light weight, compact
did not test if for range,
the Whistle works a little better but cost more,
Dogtra Pathfinder or Pathfinder Mini works perfectly, 2 sec GPS update, 9 mi range, but cost more, much bigger unit.

response to Findster's 2/1/21 reply to this review:
"you got mad for no reason."
No, we merely asked, for the third time, if you would refund the $3.99 unauthorized charge, to which you replied
"name removed" (Findster Technologies)
Jan 22, 2021, 16:56 GMT
Peggy, do you know how to read?"

So, Findster does not thoroughly read customer emails like we don't exist,
then to make matters worse, Findster rep says WE can't read
then to rub salt in the wound, Findster rep posts in TRUST Pilot that we "got mad for no reason."
So, Findster does not thoroughly read Trust Pilot reviews like we don't exist and trolls away,
So, by the evidence, who doesn't know how to read???
So, Findster goes down the rabbit hole over $3.99 and after 30 emails they still haven't read our communication or comprehended anything and this trolling will drag on for years.
1/30/21 The Findster supervisor read all the emails and "apologize(d)" "the way she ("name removed") answered you was unacceptable"
2/1/21 Findster rep ("name removed") goes on Trust Pilot and insults us yet again

It's only when something goes wrong, do you find out what a company is really about.

In accordance with Trust Pilot guidelines, I have all of the original correspondence and can make it available as needed.

UPDATES:
On Feb 14 Findster claimed to Trust Pilot that I did not buy their product. This after they posted a reply here on Feb 1 acknowledging the purchase and refund of the subscription. I had to send the purchase receipt and I included all the emails we traded. So now this review is 'verified' by Trust Pilot.
stay tuned-this will probably go on for years

On March 6 Findster filed a request with Trust Pilot that I remove the name of the agent that has been hounding me. After 2 months they found something else to waste my time, about 20 hrs so far. Stay tuned here for the next update.

On May 21 Findster filed a request with Trust Pilot that I edit my review. After 5 months they found something else to waste my time, about 21 hrs so far. I have had to ask Trust Pilot to step in and protect me from harassment. Now I have to go the police dept. to see what they can do. Maybe the Federal Trade Commission will help. Trust Pilot has been very professional and 'Trustworthy' in this matter, they don't cave in to pressure and intimidation to change reviews. Check back here for the next update.

We've been using Findster ever since our Jack Russell Freya was lost and found last spring. It's a great tool and peace of mind for sure. I like to check how much mileage she puts on in a day and it's been actually quite eye opening, in particular together with the map feature. Customer service has been excellent, in particular helping to synch her profile saving all her data when we had to replace the pet module (it did not break or get lost, Freya had chewed it up lol). The data is slow to load, but this might be the internet in our rural setting. Lately I find the km don't load properly or there's a days lag. I love the levels, daily goals and badges and am hooked, but I cannot find any explanations how Freya will get to the leaderboard or do I need to sign her up?
Overall a great tool, does not replace proper training or the leash of course, but peace of mind and Freya never leaves home without it!