Anyways, my Dension, which disappeared from maxidot last Friday, never to return, is now to be replaced. Fingers crossed it is the Dension that is causing the issue :-)

Keep us posted! It would be great if this was as simple as just a faulty unit. I might give Dension a call myself as well, just in case they have any more suggestions.

mine has now disappeared from the display and hasn't come back on. Sent off a support ticket and will see what happens.

Hmm, the chances of three faulty units are slim, I think. swil00, you might want to hold fire before taking your car apart again to swap the units (although it would be difficult to resist trying!).

probably needs a firmware update

Hmm, the chances of three faulty units are slim, I think. swil00, you might want to hold fire before taking your car apart again to swap the units (although it would be difficult to resist trying!).

Too late, mine will be in a Royal mail van somewhere by now. So, we have units that did work initially ok, now two that are no longer playing ball with maxidot... Wait and see what the next one does once its plugged in. Strange that they work at first though.

probably needs a firmware update

Dension will have to develop a new FW version for this unit then, as they tried getting me to load the latest and greatest FW as part of the diagnosis incase the original had been corrupted.

Mine now appears to be.....dead :( Turned the car on after work today and the head unit reports "NO CDC". Discs 1-6 all "NO CD". Memory stick light no longer flashes, nothing. Fed up with this thing now.

I have to say that I'm amazed you're all having so many problems. Mine is perfectly faultless and has been since the day I put it in. If it hadn't been then I wouldn't have organised the group buy.

I know that many of your are many miles away but I'll offer my services to take a look at your installations should you wish to come and see me.

Most importantly, if you wish to send the unit back for a full refund then I am quite happy to oblige.

Thanks.

I have to say that I'm amazed you're all having so many problems. Mine is perfectly faultless and has been since the day I put it in. If it hadn't been then I wouldn't have organised the group buy.

I know that many of your are many miles away but I'll offer my services to take a look at your installations should you wish to come and see me.

Most importantly, if you wish to send the unit back for a full refund then I am quite happy to oblige.

Thanks.

Ben

I have resisted asking you for a refund even though Simon at Dension offered same during my first (only!) contact with him. I think its a real shame to have to do so but yet again I contacted Simon today - he was at lunch. I ran through the issues with the girl who answered the phone and left my details. She promised she would get Simon to call me when he returned. The call never came.

I work as a Technical Architect for a small IT solution provider and the golden rule is return your customers calls even if you don't as yet have a resolution, it is not only good customer service but plain common courtesy. I'm afraid that Dension are falling flat on their face in both respects and I for one am running out of patience.

I am going to give Simon one more attempt tomorrow and them I'm afraid I might have no choice but to call it a day.

Incidentally the MFD has now started only recognising the ipod intermittently so this weekend I'll probably pull the unit out again and leave it out.

Like I said, a real shame. I'm gutted.

I think it's a massive shame to be honest but I feel for you as the units don't appear to have worked as expected. I thought I'd covered it all by testing the units myself before offering them up in the group buy but it seems that hasn't covered all bases.

As for Dension UK, it is a rather new venture (as is my own business!) and I guess they are still finding their feet. Simon is the front line of technical support for the UK and I understand that he's on his own in that role.. it's a shame that calls aren't being returned as that's reflecting badly unfortunately. Hopefully in time that will sort itself out and I'm sorry you're the wrong side of it.

Let me know how you get on - and that goes for everyone.

On a side note - if any of you have Columbus units that aren't working properly, Dension are trying to sort the firmware out and only have the Skoda units to go. If you have problems with your Columbus unit please could you PM me your Columbus part number, firmware revision etc etc so I can pass it on to Dension.

I have yet to hear back from Simon, but I understand he may be a bit snowed under. He seemed a bit confused as to what the Maxidot was - seeming convinced that it was a red display - but I EMailed him a few photos.

Ben, many thanks for your offer of support. Mansfield is a bit out of my way, but if I can't get any success then I may have to trek up to see you. SWMBO is unlikely to be impressed...

The Skoda stuff is new to Dension - the display colour is a bit of an issue because on the VW stuff the normal CAN stuff is always red and BAP is white. On the Skoda it's not the same of course but the white display on the pre-facelift Octavia II is the same as the VW's red one.

Well, now have my replacement gateway unit fitted in the car and its all working properly again. I just hope that the replacement lasts a little longer than the original.

Only really tested it for a few minutes, but time will tell.

I spoke to Simon last friday morning, who promised me a call back at the end of day. Call back didn't happen :(, so I rang and he had gone home. Colleague told me there would be a firmware update on the way....

I also found out, through a looong process of trial and error over the weekend, that the PC Indexer utility they provide can't handle folders with a "dot" in the name - it just throws an error and gives up (never completes the index). In their defence, they have emailed me an updated version which allegedly fixes the problem (not tried yet) but it's another indication that their software testing seems to be woeful.

I've just had a conversation with Simon during which I had to go over my issues again as it was quite clear he hadn't detailed them when we first spoke. This included the head unit type etc. Not even slightly impressed and as far as I can tell absolutely no progress whatsoever in the two weeks or so since I first reported the problem. Apparently there is a "development guy over from Huingary today" and Simon is going to call me later...........

If I treated my customers like that I'd be sacked.

Ben, I'm going to have to PM you mate.

I'm currently going through the ticket system and nothing has worked. All I can think is that the software/firmware is incorrect and needs updating

Doesn't fill you with confidence does it. .. keep us posted if you hear anything. Forgot to mention that my unit is back from the dead, but I had to unscrew everything and disconnect it again to reset (maybe next time would be easier to disconnect the battery actually).

Same old problems with the menu though, but I think I'm going to hold out another week or two to see if they can get a firmware update out. Will be very interested to see how swil's replacement unit fares.

I don't think we can really point the finger at Simon, as by the sounds of things, he's been snowed under with problems. Dension need to get more staff in their tech help dept !

You can only help with what you know, although if he's too busy to call people back, why not just let you know that up front - probably something to do with not wanting to let on that they're that busy in the tech department.

Hopefully a FW update is on the way, as its a bit of a pain that these things keep vanishing from maxi-dot. Fingers crossed mine is more reliable this time, but it would be good to know that there is a FW update available "if" it does again.

You can only help with what you know, although if he's too busy to call people back, why not just let you know that up front - probably something to do with not wanting to let on that they're that busy in the tech department.

I completely agree. Without wanting to go all corporate jargon BS on you, it's just about managing expectations. If we were told that they are on the case and could expect a verbal update (whether good or bad) by date X, I expect we'd all be happy. To promise calls back though, and not follow through, just antagonises people.

I was frustrated to be told that they "don't guarantee Skoda compatibility with the CAN versions yet" because the website clearly implies that they do. Dension need to start listening and keeping their customers up to date. Google skoda dension gateway and this thread in in page 1 results - not a good advert!!

Edited 5 October, 200916 yr by Guinness

just checked the ipod compatibility list and noticed that they only have an old firmware listed for the classic

Hi Guys,

I thought it would probably be best if I signed up so I could provide my feedback on here.

Firstly, I'd like to point out again that Dension does not and has never offered any guarantee that the VW CAN/CAN BAP units will work in your vehicles, this is reflected in any of our compatibility lists. I have always stressed that absolutely no testing with CAN products in Skoda’s has been carried out by our R&D team. Ben kindly did some testing himself and offered to provide these units to you guys at a reduced price.

Secondly, I would like to apologise to Mr Ward that he had to reiterate his issues to me, but being the first point of call for Dension tech support in the UK I take a large volume of calls per day. I would also like to point out that my job is to provide support to our installers/distributers and that I am talking to end-users in this case to gather as much information as possible.

I would like each of you on here with a problem to provide me with the actual part number of your head unit (not model number) and the Dension part number you are installing, the quicker I have this info from everybody, the faster I can attempt to get this resolved.

Lastly, as stated to everybody I’ve spoken to, if are unhappy about waiting for a possible fix and would like a refund then please return your product to Ben.

Simon Gutteridge

[email protected]

Edited 5 October, 200916 yr by simon-dension

I

I was frustrated to be told that they "don't guarantee Skoda compatibility with the CAN versions yet" because the website clearly implies that they do. .

Please note that our compat list for Skoda states part numbers GWXX VW1/VW8

These are non-CAN/non-text solutions and they have been fully tested by our team with absolutely no issues.

Hi Simon,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to post - that in itself will improve confidence in the product and your support services. I appreciate what you're saying in that the part number stated on your website is XX, but that is simply not good enough. You cannot expect your end-users to guess what part number they will be using and guess whether it will work or not.

Following links from the very prominent Gateway advertisements on the front page of dension.com, via the compatibility list (selecting Stream/Stream MP3/Octavia etc.), you are landed at a page that clearly states "See song information on screen"

Just putting an XX in the version number is not sufficient to imply that it may or may not work. If you have not tested compatability with Skoda yet, you need to state that clearly. I can honestly say if you had done, I would not have bought the product.

I don't want to argue about it, I just want what could be an excellent product to work for me!

i'm currently full of flu so will get you those details when i feel a bit better

Hi Simon,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to post - that in itself will improve confidence in the product and your support services. I appreciate what you're saying in that the part number stated on your website is XX, but that is simply not good enough. You cannot expect your end-users to guess what part number they will be using and guess whether it will work or not.

Following links from the very prominent Gateway advertisements on the front page of dension.com, via the compatibility list (selecting Stream/Stream MP3/Octavia etc.), you are landed at a page that clearly states "See song information on screen"

[ATTACH]30939[/ATTACH]

Just putting an XX in the version number is not sufficient to imply that it may or may not work. If you have not tested compatability with Skoda yet, you need to state that clearly. I can honestly say if you had done, I would not have bought the product.

I don't want to argue about it, I just want what could be an excellent product to work for me!

Sorry.. The XX was implying 16/33. So 16 = Gateway 100, 33 = Gateway 300. I apologise for assuming that would be obvious.

Check the site you will see all the parts under the Skoda compat section are GW16/33 VW1/VW8, again, these are both non-can/non-text products.

If you had called any of our distributers/installers they would of quoted you the above parts. Ben tested the VW CAN products with Skoda and offered them to you.

Check the site you will see all the parts under the Skoda compat section are GW16/33 VW1/VW8, again, these are both non-can/non-text products.

Indeed..so how come when I click on the link to them (e.g. GW33VW1), I am taken to the page in my above screenshot, which advertises text info on the OEM screen? Perhaps it's just me, but I don't think it's clear at all. Regardless, I will get the radio out again asap, and get you the part numbers you require.