LETTERS continued from page 9 Within two hours, I received responses from 12 different boats involving 20 radios! Including mine, that makes 13 boats involving twenty-three radios just in this one anchorage area. In addition to the 602 and 802, boats are also reporting problems with the VHF M-604 and the Command Mike. I still have a list of these responding boats with their emails. They all have expressed interest in being contacted to confirm their own information and to detail their personal experiences. I have also enclosed a few photos showing some of the microphones. As stated in my first email to Icom (regarding the third microphone), I am not normally a “brand loyal” type of person. The one noticeable exception has been the radio and communication equipment that I have installed and used since we bought our first cruising boat. When you consider the stature of a company like Icom, it amazes me that they think so little of the cruising community, that they would make the comment “hardly ever heard in our department” and deny the existence of an obviously defective product. It is my opinion that Icom should have issued an across the board product recall with free replacement of all microphones manufactured from this procurement source. Capt. Gordon Long Gordon—and to our Readers, I am very cautious when a letter comes in complaining about a product, as I want to make sure no person or company is wrongly accused. I make the decisions as to whether I will publish such letters based on my best judgment and, in this case, I believe this customer has a justified claim, and that others have experienced issues with the same defective part. Gordon Long wrote this letter to SOUTHWINDS so that the word might get out and perhaps others will write in with similar problems on this particular product, and perhaps raise enough of a stink that the manufacturer will respond favorably. It sounded like the first service administrator that Long dealt with at Icom handled it in a responsible manner, while the second one did not. If others have had this problem with Icom microphone cables—or with cables manufactured by others—please let us know. Editor
68
May 2013
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