[ckacosta]

I have been a loyal customer of Shure for 5 years.  I have dealt with the crappy build quality of the E4 and SCL4 because of their good support.  I have returned my phones for warranty replacement 4 times in 6 years.  I have always received a new retail package until today.  I sent in my fourth pair a week ago (they crapped out after 6 months) and today I received an envelope with a loose pair of SCL4's.  No accessories, nothing but the loose phones in a plain envelope.  Is this a joke?
I now have no reason to stick with Shure if this is how they ship "new" replacement phones to a long time customer.
 
I don't like getting a new pair of phones every year.  All I want is a good set of phones that will last me for years.  With Shure, you always need to have a cheap pair of backups that you can use while you are waiting for your replacements to arrive.
 
I guess it's time to upgrade to a different brand.

 

[Michiyo-Fir]

My shure 210s were quite well built. They went into water, got dog chewed and still worked fine
until they got sucked into our auto vacuum.

I suggest going to customs! I was a shure fan for quite a long time and I've just switched to customs about a yr ag. And I've never been happier with the sound quality.

 

[kmhaynes]

Sounds like you need an Etymotic HF5 or ER4.

 

[ckacosta]

I am looking at both of those, as well as Westone 2, CK10, and DBA-02.

 

[mvw2]

What do you physically do with the earphones to go through that many?

 

[rawrster]

The E4 has a manufacturer defect where the cable cracks unless it has been fixed in the past year or so. When I had mine it cracked in around 8 months or so having treated them very nicely.

 

[ckacosta]

I have absolutely babied my last two pairs.  I wear them over the ears, but I am very gentle with them and keep them in the clamshell.  The cables always fail in the same place no matter what I do.

 

[s1rrah]

Quote:

I have been a loyal customer of Shure for 5 years.  I have dealt with the crappy build quality of the E4 and SCL4 because of their good support.  I have returned my phones for warranty replacement 4 times in 6 years.  I have always received a new retail package until today.  I sent in my fourth pair a week ago (they crapped out after 6 months) and today I received an envelope with a loose pair of SCL4's.  No accessories, nothing but the loose phones in a plain envelope.  Is this a joke?
I now have no reason to stick with Shure if this is how they ship "new" replacement phones to a long time customer.
 
I don't like getting a new pair of phones every year.  All I want is a good set of phones that will last me for years.  With Shure, you always need to have a cheap pair of backups that you can use while you are waiting for your replacements to arrive.
 
I guess it's time to upgrade to a different brand.

Did the "accessories" break too? Or just the earphones.
 
I too have dealt with Shure's service department and I have found them to be nothing short of outstanding.
 
I wrote a funny letter to them describing how I got my E4's silicon tip stuck in my ear and almost had to go the emergency room and then simply requested a new set of nozzles for my E4's (the newer ones with the notch); instead, Shure sent me a boxed, new set of SE530's ... for my trouble, I guess.
 
Just last month, I sent those same 1.5 year old SE530's in for warranty service (slightly split cable); Shure sent me a brand new set of SE530's, LOOSE, and in a sealed plastic bag. No accessories.
 
I am quite okay with this. My accessories didn't break. I still have them. Why would I diss on Shure for not sending me new accessories? I didn't return my accessories, just my ear phones.
 
If you returned your accessories, then you didn't read the *bold* print on their warranty service page.
 
Anyway ... don't understand why you would be upset; Shure's service department is one of the best in the bidness, mang.
 

 

[Marcus_C]

Quote:

I have absolutely babied my last two pairs.  I wear them over the ears, but I am very gentle with them and keep them in the clamshell.  The cables always fail in the same place no matter what I do.

I can sympathise with this, I had three pairs of shure's fail on me in a little over 6 months and I had had enough by that time I switched to etymotic. None of my replacements came as loose in an envelope though, I presume they were new ones not manufacturer seconds or something like that? I found their customer service very good actually but I was getting rather too familiar. The word is with the newer models they've sorted the majority of the issues but i'm afraid I won't be going back to them any time soon, it's a shame as I quite liked the sound.

 

[ckacosta]

When my first two pairs were promptly replaced, I was singing Shures praises just like you are. 
My complaints are:
- Build quality sucks.  I love the sound, comfort, isolation, etc.  For the first six months they are awesome.  Unfortunately, the cables crack and crackle, every time.  But, I have dealt with this because of the sound quality and the service.
- Receiving a "brand new" pair of expensive IEM's loose in a paper envelope.  Based on my previous experience with Shure, this shocked me.

 

[jarrett]

Quote:

I have absolutely babied my last two pairs.  I wear them over the ears, but I am very gentle with them and keep them in the clamshell.  The cables always fail in the same place no matter what I do.

I know how you feel...the cables just 'go'. I've owned two Head-Direct, RE2 and RE0, I'm having the RE0s replaced as we speak and purchasing another brand on top of that. My first quality earbuds, the Ety ER6i, lasted me two years.

 

[Anaxilus]

I had similar experiences w/ my Shures as stated above.  That and the general sound is the reason I have no Shures anymore.  Granted I hear the new models ending in '5' sound better and that new 535 is built like a beast, second only to the housing of say the HJE900.  

 

[JackKontney]

The SCL4 is now discontinued; could be that Shure just doesn't have any retail packs left. Or were you hoping for a free pair of 425s?
 
Can't comment on the packaging except to note you didn't say they were damaged...

 

[mic1]

Soooo, what are you asking? Should you move on to another manufacturer? I used the E3c for three years and E4c for damn near five, never had any service issues with either (guess I'm just lucky). Four replacements in six years sounds hard to believe, I would say no matter what you do, Shure doesn't owe you a dime. Maybe you are actually suffering from OCD where everything must be perfect, or considered not acceptable. I did break a nozzle while changing sleeves on my 535's (partially my fault, as I hadn't heard of the freezer trick) and Shure had a factory sealed replacement at my door in 9 days. I couldn't ask for better service. I also think that based on your issues and others on the forum, Shure has listened and is trying to address the cableing problems they've had in the past. In any case, I don't believe a product that is shoved in your ear and has cables attached that are constantly being pulled, wrapped up, etc. are going to last for more than 5 years at best. One things for SHURE, you can't beat the sound and you might change brands and then be disappointed from another perspective.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

You can't beat the sound? Shure makes some of the worst sounding and overpriced IEMs nowadays. They can't even get on first base with Weston and Sennheiser in the game.
 
Nothing beats the Etymotic customer support.
 
Quote:

Soooo, what are you asking? Should you move on to another manufacturer? I used the E3c for three years and E4c for damn near five, never had any service issues with either (guess I'm just lucky). Four replacements in six years sounds hard to believe, I would say no matter what you do, Shure doesn't owe you a dime. Maybe you are actually suffering from OCD where everything must be perfect, or considered not acceptable. I did break a nozzle while changing sleeves on my 535's (partially my fault, as I hadn't heard of the freezer trick) and Shure had a factory sealed replacement at my door in 9 days. I couldn't ask for better service. I also think that based on your issues and others on the forum, Shure has listened and is trying to address the cableing problems they've had in the past. In any case, I don't believe a product that is shoved in your ear and has cables attached that are constantly being pulled, wrapped up, etc. are going to last for more than 5 years at best. One things for SHURE, you can't beat the sound and you might change brands and then be disappointed from another perspective.