Verizon Connect Reveal

Pros

I'm too disturbed by the customer service to comment positively about the software

Cons

We had been with Fleetmatics/Verizon Connect for 12 years. We rec'd little support though a couple of years back, a sales rep called to have us sign a new contract with an annual autorenewal. This November we were researching Fleet tracking options and called F/VC to find out when our contract was up. We were told at the end of January so mid-December, we reached out to them to tell them that we weren't going to renew (we found another provider with more services and lower prices) and asked what we needed to do. The man who introduced himself as our "Customer Success Partner" told me that our contract requires 60 days notification so we were stuck through Jan 2020. I explained that we hadn't been informed that when we called. He sent me a copy of the contract and told me "too bad" that my company should understand who it is doing business with. He said in no uncertain terms we were locked in through Jan 2020. I asked to speak to his manager but was told she was out of the office but well aware so if I called her the next day, I wouldn't have any better success.

I did a search on New York State law and learned that a contract w/ autorenewal needing notice of more than 30 days requires the vendor to notify the signee of their renewal timing by certified mail (or in person) betwn 15-30 days of the deadline or it's not enforceable. Within 24 hours I received confirmation that the contract will terminated this January and not the following!

Pros

We liked Fleetmatics. We liked that power units and trailers could go on one page. We liked the reports the program offered. The Irish were friendly, and easy to work with. They were always knowledgeable, and helpful.

Cons

The tablets lost connection with the truck in no cell service areas. Verizon never announced updates. When updates occurred, they would interfere (take presidence) over the logbook in use, blocking drivers from logging in/out from breaks, and creating excessive unassigned miles. The gps would say 195 miles when we travelled 12 miles, not accurate. A vehicle we did not own showed up in our fleet. Vin numbers and vehicle data came up missing. Very unpredictable and inaccurate data. Portions of the program were inop for long periods of time. Notifications for events occurring in the future, how does that happen? Techs support not all on the same page as far as procedure when we called in. Some fixed things, others said there was no fix. Clearly not all trained, and the gap is huge. Some were argumentative.

Pros

its easy to use to locate a truck. I really like the feature where i can get directions to a truck it is such a useful tool.

Cons

i don't like that its so hard for me to pull a report from the data. I just want to be able to pull a spread sheet that will have the information in one place for each truck. like for it to read simple not have to look everywhere for it
For Example
DATE:, Trk #,Engine on:,Stop Time:,Idle Time:,Travel Time:,Distance(mile),Start/End Time,VIOLATIONS
6/1/19- 001 H M H M H M H M 101.1 H M 2 SPEEDING
6/2/19- 001 H M H M H M H M 101.1 H M 2 SPEEDING
6/3/19- 001 H M H M H M H M 101.1 H M 2 SPEEDING
6/4/19- 001 H M H M H M H M 101.1 H M 2 SPEEDING

Because right now i have to read the whole report look minute by minute to get to the end of the report for that information. I think this way would be way easier for me to get & pull the data i need. Plus i have to go through the replay to see if there were any speeding or braking violations with what the speed is with how fast the where going. Looking forward to maybe seeing this happen.

Pros

Allows me to spend less time on fleet management and more time on other duties. Allows for driver accountability. Before we used manual logs to write in mileage. There were many gaps. Vehicles would be driven 100s of miles with no documentation of where they had been. We were also able to identify dangerous driving habits (90+ mph with a vehicle load of students!). We use it to provide dynamic routing to pickup students that have had their off-site schedule change. Finally, I have a good handle on maintenance and vehicles are serviced on time, because I can plan ahead. We even use it to track car washings. Training is great, customer service has always help me out in that regard.

Cons

There is no way to easily display current mileage. You must go into the edit vehicle function to display current mileage. There is no way to display the mileage of the vehicle during a trip. It will display the mileage traveled during the trip but not the actual vehicle odometer reading. Not a huge deal, but there are times where it might be useful (forgot to write down mileage of service that I performed in-house). Calculated mileage will drift over time, sometimes by a few hundred miles, so you should be adjusting about once a month by comparing actual vehicle mileage with program calculated. Add a driver as user is challenging if driver is not defined as a user first. Customer service is usual great, but it took me almost a month to get additional fobs last time.

Pros

The software is relatively intuitive....which is good because the customer support is the worst I have EVER experienced with any product! If you enjoy figuring things out on your own, you will really love this product. You can make it work for you with a little experimentation and some extra time invested.

Cons

The customer support is non existent. They have a lot of nice people answering the phone that are very sorry for your troubles...."someone" will get back to you within 24 hours. Unfortunately when they get back to you they are unable to assist you so they will elevate your issue to the tier 2 rep. The tier 2 rep will then get back with you in 24 hours. The tier 2 rep will likely be unable to help you...but they are also very nice, courteous folks who are sincerely sorry for your issue. The tier 2 rep will elevate it to a high priority and you will be contacted within 24 hours. The high priority rep will email you and ask if you have completed the proper documentation and send the forms to you....these will be the same forms you received and completed prior to this whole cycle beginning. Save the original forms so you can just resend it. It will save you time. I am sure by now you get the point...I have waited well over 6 weeks to get a device installed in a vehicle for fleet expansion. This has happened on more than one occasion. At present I am looking for another vendor who has equivalent technology with a matching suite of genuine customer service. My advice would be that you continue to look elsewhere and see what you can find before you are trapped in a 24 hour service cycle!