Paul_M

LOL - laugh out loud
IMHO - in my humble opinion
BTW - by the way

The chirps aren't arm/disarm I'm talking about cos I have these disabled (too boy-racer for my liking, the indicator flash does me fine). It's things like the warning chirp when you activate auto-arm bypass, I'm pretty sure it's the control unit as all the other quirks appeared at the same time.

I agree that Clifford's reliability has become questionable of late, many of that is probably down to poor installation but much of that fault must lie squarely with Clifford. They are the ones who insist on the "authorised dealer" scheme, don't sell to the public and basically try to force customers to use authorised dealers via warranty issues etc. Yet there are known cases where cowboy installations have been performed by these authorised dealers which totally undermines the system (no reference to any of the installers on here).

If they insist on using their current system then they really should be making more active efforts to route out the bad apples who are giving the whole brand a bad rep. It seems as long as the units are being sold they don't give a toss - plus the authorised dealer system helps to keep prices artificially high by reducing competition.

However I would still say some of the problems are down to hardware faults, which is 100% a fault of Clifford's. There are other brands out there which don't seem to suffer those hardware faults anywhere near as much, although I couldn't say for sure as I don't work in the industry meaning I'm not in a position to make that judgement.

chiark

Interesting.

It would be very useful to have a response from Clifford on this?

Regards,
Nick.

alexf

It's a shame that Clifford can't spend as much time and effort making their products available via their dealers as they do persuing unathourised ones.

I've had a replacement keyfob for my Concept 50 on back order with them, via my local Clifford dealer, for well over 2 months now with little sign of it appearing this side of the New Year. I've rung several other Clifford dealers in the North West and they're all having the same problems regarding parts and accessories from Clifford. I emailed Clifford at the beginning of October highlighting this problem but was told by Mark that I had to order through my local dealer

I've had Clifford alarms and immobilisers on all of my cars over the last ten years, but I'll be spending my cash elsewhere in future.

wannaB4

Alexf, The newer remotes can be modified to work with the c50 I beleive, will double check tomorrow and post

luddite dave

Why don't you tell us Nick@AVS what this amazing 100% reliable alarm product is rather than telling us how 100% you are at installing,from Luddite Dave (above average clifford installer)upt north.

Nick@avs

The answer to the $64,000 dollar question Dave is COBRA! As I'm sure the majority of people in the vehicle security industry would agree this is probably the most reliable product on the market today and is simply "light years" ahead technically to Clifford. You only have to "thumb" through this forum to ascertain that the majority of people who have purchased Clifford product are far from happy and are now experiencing "buyers remorse"!

I put a hypothetical question to you Dave, if you were the accessories manager for a major car manufacturer and were contemplating sourcing a product to be installed at "point of entry" as a standard fit would you choose Clifford? (We're assuming you value your job at the point of this decision)!

I would like to add at this point there are several other manufacturers who also have a good reputation for reliability. My personal experience includes Meta and Autowatch which IMHO are good,reliable products.

Going back to the start of this debate, it's my opinion that Clifford's dated dealer strategy serves only to keep margins high for themselves. Remember, they do not sell many units compared to manufacturers like Cobra but the profit margins must be great!

Paul_M

I would be inclined to agree that Cobra is far more reliable in my very limited experience.

My Impreza had an old Cobra system fitted when I bought it, which I upgraded to Clifford C600. The Clifford was great for about a year but it's since started playing up as so many of them seem to do. The Cobra I have since fitted in my Audi as a cheap and cheerful system mainly for remote locking, and it still provides sterling service to this day. Never had a single problem with it in either the Impreza nor the Audi. Plus the keyfob is on the original battery.

I've got a Mondeo as well that I've owned for years, installed a Clifford C50X (older generation) onto that about 5 years ago - it has been pretty reliable but sometimes if the car's battery goes flat and you jump-start, as soon as power is connected the alarm starts wailing and won't respond to either of the two keyfobs. The system can be switched off with the valet switch but still won't respond to the fobs for a random time (could be minutes, could be days) then suddenly it will start responding to both again.

The older Cliffords IME are still far more reliable than the G4 range, but even then I'm getting more convinced by the day that there are other systems out there which are far less likely to show quirks/faults over time.

luddite dave

To even suggest cobra is as good as a clifford alarm makes me LOL. Just because something is reliable doesnt make it better.theres a lot more reliable cars made than subarus,but does that stop people buying them,no,because as with people who buy subaru's and cliffords they are after something a little bit different and not just run of the mill stuff.I'm sure if there were as many subaru's out there with cobras on we might see more entries on scoobynet with cobra related alarm problems.As i've said before i have been fitting clifford for years and haven't had anywhere near the amount of problems i see on scoobynet pages,that leads me to the conclusion there is alot people fitting clifford badly causing false alarms and cars not starting etc just because clifford didnt make it idiot prove to install like cobra,meta,autowatch etc,etc,etc.Clifford alarms need to be installed by time served,industry trained auto electrical engineers, not some one who thinks they can install just because they have been fitting european crap for years.

erinyes

which mark are you @ Directed?

[Edited by erinyes - 12/24/2003 5:31:05 PM]

mark@wrx

I let an authorised dealer have two attempts at getting me a reliable Concept300 on my car. Both times the unit started to fail either by the siren going off or me being locked out of the car! When it started to go again, I binned it and bought a different CAT1 system and have had no problems since. The dealer has told me that they have since stopped supplying Clifford as they had too many problems with them, and not just on Scoobs, and couldn't even get spares sent out from Clifford!

C

I've had nothing but trouble with Clifford alarms

I have mates who own shops who used to be Clifford delaers but pulled out due to non payment of warranty work etc.

They looked at mine & confirmed yes they were all good installs, but i had sensors failing all the time, false alarms, the imoobiliser not turning off, the whole system failing etc etc

Next car will definately NOT be having a Clifford fitted

ChristianR

iTrader: (1)

I on the other hand have had no problems with the clifford alarm installed on my scooby.

Living in Jersey, the local clifford dealer, and the one in Guernsey refused to install the top of the range one!! So I had to fly Doctor Clifford over to install it, great job and working very well, and with no problems! (touch wood!)

doctor CLIFFORD

Cheers mate
Happy Newyear ?

Harry_Boy

All interesting stuff.

Just to add a bit of perspective here, I had a Concept 600 and Blackjax fitted by Max the Clifford Dealer in March 2002. Absolutely nothing, repeat nothing, has gone wrong with this system.

Surely this proves that, when it comes to complex kit such as the Concept range, the quality of the installation is of paramount importance.

STi_IOM

IMHO lots of people shout and complain when something goes wrong. Not many of us will stand up and say "Mine is fine".

I had my concept 500 fitted a year ago by guys in Wigan, no probs at all except for beeping when big vehicles pass it but customer service is second to none.

I am a totally satisfied Clifford customer.

philz

Me too. I had a Concept 300 with various extras fitted about 18 months ago by GAP, no problems with it so far.

M0NEY

I had mine installed by DR Clifford and was excellent service.

All round top bloke and have sent customers his way

Had one problem with the Clifford when the fuse went, call to Dr Clifford and all was sorted

st179

i also has a concept 500 fitted from Dr Clifford on my last car, good bloke who knows his alarms. Had no problems with the alarm at all