ProjectDenz
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2010
- Posts
- 1,647
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- 74
So, I am very annoyed right now. Why? OK let me tell you.
So my pair of Atrio MG7s which I bought at the end of January died, the cable had stiffened up and the rubber earpieces have fallen apart on me, exposing the cable. This lead to the left earpiece losing sound. I mean it sucks that a $200 headphone (it's $200 here in Australia if you do buy from an authorized dealer and get warranty) has fallen apart after only a few months of light use, and I treat my gear with respect for the most part. But it's no biggie right? Just send them back in and get them replaced.
Well, that was all fine and dandy until I just go them back just now. Great, I thought to myself as I opened my package, they haven't sent me a new pair, just some refurbished pair with the old packaging I sent my broken pairs in with. The only thing new was the tips, even the case was old.
There's a few things that I have noticed that have bugged me:
- The first thing I noticed was that the headphone jack was worn out, as in the gold plating off the jack has worn out a bit. Great, this is a worn out pair I thought to myself.
- Second thing I noticed was that the strain relief on the 3.5mm jack is separated from the body of the jack. This effectively means that the jack cable has no strain relief at all and will probably fail a lot quicker than if it did have a strain relief. Fantastic, I thought to myself, it looks like either the cable has failed at the jack and they have done a dodgy job or replacing it or they just didn't see it as a problem somebody who pays $200 for something would care about.
- The third thing that bugged me was the earpiece. The earpiece looks a bit worn out (and I know what a brand new one should look like). The plastic earpiece looks a bit scuffed with wear and tear scratches and the FS logo is a little faded. Not even my few month old pair looked that faded or scuffed. One of the nozzles also has a little bit of ear-residue (or dead skins cells from the ear or maybe earwax) at the stem. Fantastic, somebody has stuck this in their ears and used it for a while. Also the rubberised part looks a little worn out (because the cable tugging the rubberized part tends to wear out the rubber over time, causing the rubber to wear out and separate from the plastic earpiece a little bit when tugged slighty).
You know I would forgive all these things because I am not really the meticulous 'expects-everything-to-be-perfect' type of guy, but the next thing really got to me.
- The fourth thing that bugged me, oh and this is the most important part. THE LEFT EARPIECE DOES NOT EVEN WORK AT ALL. No matter what I tried I could not get that left earpiece to work and produce any sound. Fantastic, I thought to myself, not only do they give a used pair of headphones that looks in a more worn out condition than when I gave my old pair in, they couldn't even give me a working pair.
Doesn't Future Sonics even test these things when they try to repair broken pairs of headphones and shove them back to customers who need a replacement? That's really annoys the heck out of me. I've wasted time waiting for these things to go to and from both sides of Australia (takes 2 weeks to go to Western Australia and back to Victoria) and money on postage, and now I have to send them back, wasting even more time and money without any guarantee the next thing I receive from Future Sonics will be any better than the last (well I guess you can't get any worse than the thing not even working).
So that's just me venting guys. I will never buy another Future Sonics product so long as the build quality and after service quality is still this dodgy. As a person who has studied a bit of management accounting it astounds me how some companies, especially relatively boutique companies working in the niche market of quality headphones, can allow such poor quality control and warranty practices.
The reseller (Headphonic) I bought these from themselves told me my replacement would be 'white box', although I thought that meant that they would be a no-packing 'oem' pair, not a manufacturer refurbrished pair. But I hold no grudges against the reseller as they have done nothing wrong as I was told before hand that Future Sonics is the one who hands out these pairs to the reseller when warranty claims are made.
I don't know how consumer law runs in the USA, but in Australia such practices are frowned upon. Maybe I should ask for a refund or store credit at least.
Thanks for reading my long rant, I would like to hear your comments.
The below picture is of the jack, showing the separated strain relief from the jack and how worm out the jack is itself. Sorry for the bad quality. I had some pictures of the earpiece but the quality of the picture was so bad that there was no point to post it (camera again, sorry).
So my pair of Atrio MG7s which I bought at the end of January died, the cable had stiffened up and the rubber earpieces have fallen apart on me, exposing the cable. This lead to the left earpiece losing sound. I mean it sucks that a $200 headphone (it's $200 here in Australia if you do buy from an authorized dealer and get warranty) has fallen apart after only a few months of light use, and I treat my gear with respect for the most part. But it's no biggie right? Just send them back in and get them replaced.
Well, that was all fine and dandy until I just go them back just now. Great, I thought to myself as I opened my package, they haven't sent me a new pair, just some refurbished pair with the old packaging I sent my broken pairs in with. The only thing new was the tips, even the case was old.
There's a few things that I have noticed that have bugged me:
- The first thing I noticed was that the headphone jack was worn out, as in the gold plating off the jack has worn out a bit. Great, this is a worn out pair I thought to myself.
- Second thing I noticed was that the strain relief on the 3.5mm jack is separated from the body of the jack. This effectively means that the jack cable has no strain relief at all and will probably fail a lot quicker than if it did have a strain relief. Fantastic, I thought to myself, it looks like either the cable has failed at the jack and they have done a dodgy job or replacing it or they just didn't see it as a problem somebody who pays $200 for something would care about.
- The third thing that bugged me was the earpiece. The earpiece looks a bit worn out (and I know what a brand new one should look like). The plastic earpiece looks a bit scuffed with wear and tear scratches and the FS logo is a little faded. Not even my few month old pair looked that faded or scuffed. One of the nozzles also has a little bit of ear-residue (or dead skins cells from the ear or maybe earwax) at the stem. Fantastic, somebody has stuck this in their ears and used it for a while. Also the rubberised part looks a little worn out (because the cable tugging the rubberized part tends to wear out the rubber over time, causing the rubber to wear out and separate from the plastic earpiece a little bit when tugged slighty).
You know I would forgive all these things because I am not really the meticulous 'expects-everything-to-be-perfect' type of guy, but the next thing really got to me.
- The fourth thing that bugged me, oh and this is the most important part. THE LEFT EARPIECE DOES NOT EVEN WORK AT ALL. No matter what I tried I could not get that left earpiece to work and produce any sound. Fantastic, I thought to myself, not only do they give a used pair of headphones that looks in a more worn out condition than when I gave my old pair in, they couldn't even give me a working pair.
Doesn't Future Sonics even test these things when they try to repair broken pairs of headphones and shove them back to customers who need a replacement? That's really annoys the heck out of me. I've wasted time waiting for these things to go to and from both sides of Australia (takes 2 weeks to go to Western Australia and back to Victoria) and money on postage, and now I have to send them back, wasting even more time and money without any guarantee the next thing I receive from Future Sonics will be any better than the last (well I guess you can't get any worse than the thing not even working).
So that's just me venting guys. I will never buy another Future Sonics product so long as the build quality and after service quality is still this dodgy. As a person who has studied a bit of management accounting it astounds me how some companies, especially relatively boutique companies working in the niche market of quality headphones, can allow such poor quality control and warranty practices.
The reseller (Headphonic) I bought these from themselves told me my replacement would be 'white box', although I thought that meant that they would be a no-packing 'oem' pair, not a manufacturer refurbrished pair. But I hold no grudges against the reseller as they have done nothing wrong as I was told before hand that Future Sonics is the one who hands out these pairs to the reseller when warranty claims are made.
I don't know how consumer law runs in the USA, but in Australia such practices are frowned upon. Maybe I should ask for a refund or store credit at least.
Thanks for reading my long rant, I would like to hear your comments.
The below picture is of the jack, showing the separated strain relief from the jack and how worm out the jack is itself. Sorry for the bad quality. I had some pictures of the earpiece but the quality of the picture was so bad that there was no point to post it (camera again, sorry).
