BridgeCom Systems, LLCReviews of bridgecomsystems.com

I have had my BCR-40U for about 6years. When I ordered the repeater Bridge Com never sent me a tracking number, when I asked about a tracking a number I was told "you well get it when it is delivered" STRIKE ONE. When the repeater was delivered it had no manuals with it ,and it was set up all wrong. Customer service was not helpful at all. STRIKE TWO. I put this repeater on the shelf and left it . With in the last year and a half I pulled it off the shelf and took a whole winter to get it work. I finally got it to work. It was on the air for 1 year when it stopped working. Super long story short, the transmitter burned up,to fix it would require a new transmitter ,then I would have to send it back to Bridge Com for reprogramming because they put a code in the repeaters, so you have to send it back to them for repairs at $120 an hour. STRIKE THREE. After some research this 40 watt repeater was to only used at 20 watts of. Bottom line with parts,shipping and labor its going to come close to $1,000.00 to fix it.

I purchased a 440 fm repeater from Bridgecom, I sent it back to have a DMR upgrade. This worked out fine. After about a year the finals went out on the transmitter. Not their fault. What the problem is, is they are not going to support the unit. They want me to ship it back, charge me $80 to look at it and if they can't fix it they will return it to me at my cost. I wouldn't recommend buying any high priced gear from someone who stops the support so early

My experience with BridgeCom Systems in Smithville MO began two years ago. At that time I became interested in Digital Mobile Radio (DMR), a burgeoning field in amateur radio. I heard about BridgeCom Systems from two friends in my local amateur radio club who spoke highly of the company and their products. After doing extensive online research I found the company's website and also discovered literally hundreds of YouTube videos produced by their staff about all facets of DMR. The videos were easy to follow. They covered the basics of Digital Mobile Radio from unboxing their radios to the complex task of programming them. I was a college professor for 40 years and was actively involved in assessing colleagues teaching effectiveness for promotion and tenure. I can attest that the quality of instruction on those videos is outstanding. Each member of the staff teaches the respective topics in a clear, concise and stepwise manner. No former knowledge is assumed. I was also impressed that the CEO of the company (a licensed ham radio operator) was actively involved both in teaching and producing the videos. BridgeCom Systems provides video courses through BridgeCom University free with the purchase of their products. They also have ongoing webinars about recent advances in amateur radio. I submit that level of consumer support is unparalleled. Then there is the radio! I purchased the Plug and Play package which included the AnyTone 878UVII Plus, the SkyBridge hot spot, the Ultra Code Plug, a spare battery and the four year protection plan. I heard on airwaves and witnessed in YouTube videos the complexity of programming AnyTone radios. The process is far from intuitive and not for novices or newcomers. I have been an amateur radio operator (Extra Class) since 1958. My career was not in the fields of electronics, technology or engineering. So I took BridgeCom Systems' recommended course of action. I let the pros do the work. The radio came to me completely programmed and ready to use on hundreds of national and international Talk Groups. While I heard other hams discussing their utter frustration with programming or debugging their AnyTone radios, I was making contacts with fellow hams across the United States and in 70 countries around the world. Every contact I made the operator I talked with complimented the clarity of my signal and the excellent quality of the audio. I found that BridgeCom Systems' contention, unbox the radio and talk to the world in minutes, was spot on. After using the radio for a few months some problems developed. The radio was intermittently dropping the audio from the station I was working. Also, there were a few minor features of the AnyTone 878 that were inscrutable to me. That meant going online to Technical Support and putting in a "ticket." That was easy and effortless. I received an acknowledgement of receipt of the request literally within a minute. Within a day, a technician, Jeremiah Mulford, contacted me by email to set up a remote session to address the problem. Every time I had difficulty with the rig I followed up online with Jeremiah. In all cases the matter was solved immediately. Jeremiah is the resident expert who deals with customer support. In our encounters I found him patient, responsive, brilliant, pleasant, knowledgeable and able to solve my problems immediately. There just aren't enough superlatives to describe Jeremiah. My wife managed a large Real Estate Company and she marveled when I told her about his commitment to the consumer. He became a household name. She would say "have you talked with Jeremiah today." BridgeCom Systems also has a Support Group on Facebook. There is no fee to participate. When new members join there is a welcoming message from the CEO. I go there almost daily and have learned so much from the expertise in the group. This is yet another example of BridgeCom Systems' outreach and customer support. I have no personal or political affiliation with BridgeCom Systems. I write this in all honesty as a fellow ham with six decades of experience on the airwaves. If you are an amateur radio operator, Old Timer or novice, who is interested in DMR look no farther than BridgeCom Systems in Smithfield Missouri. You will get a high-quality radio, superlative customer service and a seamless transition into the fascinating field of Digital Mobile Radio.

I purchased AnyTone AT-D578UVIII Plus through desertcart.ae (just like they sell on amazon.com). I received the radio with BrigeCom University free coupon which I redeemed on their website. There was also a super nice note saying... "Our 5-Star Customer and Tech Support is fully equipped to assist you!. ..." and so on super nice story. I had little idea what I would get on contacting them for small support regarding an option in programming software. I received a on-liner email response saying ... since the radio wasn't ordered from us, you will need to contact your support. Well, the radio clearly came from them since I was able to redeem their free University coupon inside and with all the BrigeCom notes inside. On confronting the support with this evidence I met with an outrageous and audacious reply ... desertcart.ae has sold you a stolen radio and that I should only buy directly from their website. By the way, which also implies that they are saying that even Amazon.com also sells stolen radio. I wonder if desertcart.ae (and amazon.com) stole radios from their warehouse or what :D :D Not sure about the BrigeCom company but some of their support people are sure bunch of unruly people having an ill-conceived mindset. I couldn't find a way to respond to BrigeCom's response, so I am responding by editing my comment: I don't see any sticker on the product box that says Amazon ASIN but there is a sticker with a number and a text that says "AnyTone AT-D578UVIII Plus Tri-Band and Step-by-Step Course Included". Moreover, the very fact that I was able to redeem your university course coupon code indicates that the product did came from you if not directly maybe, as you said, someone purchased from you and sold it on desertcart. Irrespective of how it reached me, it is not a stolen product, it was legitimately purchased from your store whoever did it and I purchased it from desertcart. You are stubbornly stuck at one point that since I didn't purchase the product from you directly from your store so it doesnt belong to you and so you wont provide any support... what kind of logic is that??

My Complaint is with the poor, non existing support within days of my purchase. If they treat people like this how can anyone trust they will stand behind a 1 year warranty? I Ordered a 878UVII plus on Amazon, it didn't work out of the box. I could not receive anything in VFO mode, not even NOAA Weather Radio which my $25 Baofeng picks up easily, nor could I receive a transmission from another radio tuned to the same frequency in the same room. I contacted Bridgecom on the phone and they wanted me to set up an appointment with tech support, which was a week out. I never received the call, so I emailed, Jerimiah said he called me twice and left a voicemail, yet my phone never rang and it shows nothing in the history for voicemails or incoming calls from Bridgecom. I even added the number to my contacts prior to the appointment. That was it, no further attempts to help me after that, I had no choice but to return the defective radio to Amazon. It may have just been something simple in the settings, but I guess we will never know. Here is the kicker, the owner of the company called me after I left this review (phone was working just fine that time)and personally set up an appointment for tech support today, this time it was on Google meet, so I said OK I haven't dropped the radio off at UPS yet so lets give it another try, I got on the meeting and waited, again no one showed up AGAIN! Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! I got duped twice!

Ordered an Anytone 578. Received a broken radio that was buzzing loudly out of the box. Spoke with Jeremiah and he said I needed to pay to return the item for repair. ITS BRAND NEW!!! They would not accept return. Credit card dispute FTW. Buy from a company that will make things right when this happens.

This company has an enormous marketing machine. I suppose that is also where all their energy goes. Their website and their teaching activities are at first glance great. I fell for it, ordered an expensive digital handheld radio, and a week later a Skybridge. I also bought the one year subscription to their Bridgecom University. Looking back, the radio did upon arrival not make a sound on analog, but I assumed it was the setting and I waited for the Skybridge, that is an expensive accessory to arrive. In the meantime I got no access to the University videos, I paid 150$ for 4 weeks ago. Over the last 2 weeks I have 3 tickets standing open with them, with complaints about things that are wrong. None of them was addressed. Chatted with their chatline, 3 times was promised it would be actioned and gain tickets created, did not happen. Upon installing the Skybridge it is now clear that the speaker of the radio I waited 3 weeks for to arrive just does not work ! Again a phone call and a new ticket. The company remains mute. On their website they have only 4 or 5 stars. I gave them 1 start for this apalling behaviour and complete lack of customer service. The review never made it to the website, so they only publish those of people raving about them. What does that tell you ? Never again and buyer beware. Follow my advise: buy local.