Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/02/2025

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased three of Totem Labs’ gps compasses almost two years ago. The compasses were marketed as mesh network communication devices. Estimated delivery time was 3 months after purchase. For the next year and a half, they pushed delivery timelines month after month, changed the fundamental nature of the products description, and eventually shipped me three units.
  
  The units I received were now sold as gps, not mesh network (completely different technology) and did not function at all when used for their intended purpose, at festivals and events. At the event I used them, I met dozens of other users who also expressed the deceitful messaging about delivery times, how the company changed the description of the product multiple times, was vague and unhelpful in customer support communication, and most importantly that all of their units did not work.
  
  Following this event, the company sent out a massive marketing campaign lying about all of the positive feedback they received, and how it was an overwhelming success.
  
  I am making this report because of the almost year and a half delay, the shady marketing and communication practices, and the continued lies that their product is actually functional.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/05/2025

  We take complaints like this very seriously at Totem. There are several points to address here, and we hope that this issue can be resolved fairly for everyone involved.

  1) Purchased 3 units almost two years ago

  Totem has existed for 17 months. We incorporated with the State of Tennessee in January 2024, and begin accepting pre-orders for our product in March 2024, a little more than one year ago. These were explicitly described as "pre-orders" and customers were not charged until units shipped, meaning this customer did not "purchase" any product from us at that time. They did, however, pre-order a product that was still in the development phase. When we were ready to begin shipping units in October 2024, which was later than we originally forecasted, we notified all customers beforehand and gave them ample opportunity to cancel their order beforehand.

  This product was in pre-order from a brand-new company.

  2) Pushed delivery timelines

  As with all new products, especially those from new companies, ESPECIALLY hardware products, it is common for delays to occur in the rollout timeline. From product development, to manufacturing, to international supply chains... This is completely normal. Tile, a similar GPS product, delayed their rollout for over a year on Kickstarter. The same is seen with countless new hardware products every year. This is completely normal for any company developing a new product who refuses to ship the product until it meets their standards for quality.

  We have sent public updates every single week, starting in November 2023, via our weekly Newsletter, Totem Tuesday. We also publish the newsletters on our website's blog, and promote them across all our social media. Each week we were completely transparent about current timeline expectations, and shared all the information that was available to us at the time. Throughout this process, any customer could cancel their pre-order very easily, by contacting our Customer Service team via the chat on our website. They would not even need to request a refund, because we did not accept payment from customers until shipping began.

  3) Changing of the fundamental nature of the devices

  The fundamental nature of the devices have not changed. Our products are not sold as GPS-only. They employ the Unity Mesh Network whenever 3+ devices are in-range of each other. The technology has remained exactly the same throughout the process. 

  There were a few specs that changed throughout the product development cycle—most notably, the device was originally marketed (during the pre-order phase, when no customer $$ was accepted) as having up to 72 hour battery life. During the process, we spoke with many customers who said they would rather have a smaller battery and lighter device, than a heavier device with 72 hours of life. So the final product now maxes out at around ~26 hours battery life, but of course this depends on usage and environment.

  All changes to product specs, including that minor modification, were explicitly communicated on our website as they changed and all customers had the opportunity to cancel their order at any time if they no longer wanted the product.

  4) The products don't work

  We have over 31,000 customers in 60+ countries around the world, with nearly a hundred review videos on YouTube from actual customers sharing their experience. Multiple major media outlets have published independent product reviews, including SPIN Magazine most recently.

  We also allow returns of all products within 60 days of receipt, and also offer a 1 year warranty for any defective units.

  ***** contacted our Customer Service team and requested a refund after his festival—despite him being outside our 60 day window, we still allowed him to return and receive a refund. ***** has already received his return label, paid for by our company. It's unclear as to whether ***** had defective units or not, but it is statistically unlikely that all his units were defective as we see a 2-3% defect rate with our units currently.

  There were over 1500 Totem users at the festival ***** attended (*** *** *****) and our team was on-site every day, providing product support. Our team spoke with hundreds of people who were having a great experience with their products, however we also spoke with many who were not. Over 90% of these users were having issues simply because of user error, with it being their very first time trying the device, although it does sound like ***** practiced with them beforehand—which is great, because most customers at *** did not. The small minority who actually had defective units, were immediately replaced on-site by our team. Unfortunately ***** was not one of the customers who came to receive product support on-site, so we only learned about this after the fact.

  Overall, we regret that ***** had this experience and hope to earn his business back in the future. We strive for a great customer experience each and every time here at Totem.

  We also hope that ***** will retract this complaint. In his messages with our Customer Service team, he did threaten to lodge a BBB complaint if we did not waive our policies and allow him a full return/refund of his devices, despite being outside the window. 

  We did allow him a full return/refund of his devices, and he has now been made whole.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/06/2025

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I placed a preorder for 4 totem compasses in March 2024, the company said they would begin shipping in October 24’ and have continued to push back and delay shipping my order weekly for 4 months as I still have not received any products since the company took my payment in August 24’
  
  I want the company to fulfill my order that I paid for six months ago and for them to stop delaying shipment.
  
  They are not providing timely updates and refer to a a “rollout tracker” that is not updated regularly.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/21/2025

  Thank you for sharing your concerns with our team. We understand and acknowledge your frustration with the delayed shipping timeline. Our ultimate goal is to be as transparent as possible with our customers, and we truly appreciate your patience while we have worked through the fulfillment process of all preorders. As mentioned during the preorder phase, our initial shipping timeline was estimated for October 2024. However, due to unforeseen challenges in production and logistics, our rollout schedule was adjusted. We understand that waiting for a new product, especially one placed months in advance, can be frustrating and we take your concerns seriously.
  
  Regarding updates, we have been diligent about updating our Rollout Tracker with each new update from our manufacturer. We also take the time to provide shipping timelines each week within our Totem Tuesday Newsletters that are sent to all customers and converted to static blogs on our website. We apologize if any gap in communication has resulted in frustration or hassle on your end. Luckily, we will be fulfilling all preorders very shortly and rollout updates will not be necessary!
  
  We assure you that fulfilling your order is a top priority, and can confirm that your package is in transit to your doorstep as we speak. If you have any questions regarding your Totem Compasses once you receive them, please reach out to us at *******************. We are more than happy to help in any way we can!