[DJGeorgeT]

I think you should contact Razzer:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/461156/s-flo2-impressions-thread/2550#post_6959739

 

[debitsohn]

Quote:

@Darkchaser Sorry that your player is not back to you, we are looking into your situation, it seems your RMA was misplaced here and we are trying to track it down, my main concern is that it may have been misplaced and sent out for another person who had an RMA. We are sorry about this and i will try and have it resolved in the next 1 - 2 days.

@debitsohn The normally turn around time for when we get an RMA to when we get it back out is normally 2 - 3 weeks, keep in mind we need to send it to the factory in China and they take a week to fix it and send it back, once we get it we test it and send it back out, all in all it takes about 2 - 3 weeks to be done. We do not count the postal transit time when we refer to how long an RMA takes.

@DJGeorgeT  i think you will find the S:Flo2 will last over a year, majority of Nationite players last past their warranty, we still see people coming to the forums who have been using their S:Flo1 for the last 2 years everyday and not having a single issue with it. The QC that Teclast provides is no different that what you find over at flextronics or foxxconn. If you want to gauge how bigger brands QC are, just check how abundant refurbished versions of their products are available, the majority of units that make up refurbs tends to be new units that were sold and then went defective. I can go on, but the point is, the QC on the S:Flo2 is no less or better than big brand names, but in the end there is always a chance a unit going bad.


Just a note on warranty, we always uphold the warranty part of any purchase through our site, i know there are probably a few here that have had to send their S:Flo2 or earphones for servicing and can probably vouch that we do have a relative quick turnaround. As for our forums. we do lock order related posts on our forums, but we never lock posts that criticize a product or lock posts that highlight a possible flaw in model, we always kindly ask those that have an order related issue to use the support ticket, where we do try and give prompt replies and help as best we can.

still no update on my sflo? do these months its not in my possession count against my warranty time? because it sucks that for 1/4 of the warranty period, its in your possession for repairs.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

Razzer for public office! I hope you get the joke

 

[thesingularity]

Looks like I have no choice but to send the S:Flo2 back for repair (it's still under warranty).
Questions ...
How long does this take  ... i.e., the whole turnaround time? I've read a few accounts that I may be waiting months. Is this true?
I'm not sure it's cost-effective for MP4Nation (or any company) to perform component-level troubleshooting/repair. I'm guessing they simply replace the whole stuffed PCB and/or touchscreen. Is this true?
 
Can someone point me to threads/posts (either here on head-fi, on the MP4Nation site or elsewhere) which discuss the reliability and troubleshooting of this the S:Flo2. Reason I ask: I have several friends/family members that are interested in purchasing this unit. However, the unit may be turning out to be unreliable -- regardless of Mp4Nation's "generous" 12-month warranty (many unreliable automakers from US and Korea offer very generous warranties; however, Toyotas and Hondas, which offer only modest warranties, outlast and are far more reliable).

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

Looks like I have no choice but to send the S:Flo2 back for repair (it's still under warranty).
Questions ...
How long does this take  ... i.e., the whole turnaround time? I've read a few accounts that I may be waiting months. Is this true?
I'm not sure it's cost-effective for MP4Nation (or any company) to perform component-level troubleshooting/repair. I'm guessing they simply replace the whole stuffed PCB and/or touchscreen. Is this true?
 
Can someone point me to threads/posts (either here on head-fi, on the MP4Nation site or elsewhere) which discuss the reliability and troubleshooting of this the S:Flo2. Reason I ask: I have several friends/family members that are interested in purchasing this unit. However, the unit may be turning out to be unreliable -- regardless of Mp4Nation's "generous" 12-month warranty (many unreliable automakers from US and Korea offer very generous warranties; however, Toyotas and Hondas, which offer only modest warranties, outlast and are far more reliable).

Before you do this.  Did you keep holding down the power button past the clicks?  I was fooled a few times in the past letting off the button right after hearing the click before the button lit up.  Just asking so you don't waste your time.
 

 

[debitsohn]

Quote:

Looks like I have no choice but to send the S:Flo2 back for repair (it's still under warranty).
Questions ...
How long does this take  ... i.e., the whole turnaround time? I've read a few accounts that I may be waiting months. Is this true?
I'm not sure it's cost-effective for MP4Nation (or any company) to perform component-level troubleshooting/repair. I'm guessing they simply replace the whole stuffed PCB and/or touchscreen. Is this true?
 
Can someone point me to threads/posts (either here on head-fi, on the MP4Nation site or elsewhere) which discuss the reliability and troubleshooting of this the S:Flo2. Reason I ask: I have several friends/family members that are interested in purchasing this unit. However, the unit may be turning out to be unreliable -- regardless of Mp4Nation's "generous" 12-month warranty (many unreliable automakers from US and Korea offer very generous warranties; however, Toyotas and Hondas, which offer only modest warranties, outlast and are far more reliable).

make sure youve done all u could b4 sending it in. 
Shipped out USPS priority flat rate box on August 10th
reported receiving the unit on August 26th
October 6th no timetable, no updates, no nothing. they just say that they are telling the "factory" to hurry up.

 

[thesingularity]

Quote:

Before you do this.  Did you keep holding down the power button past the clicks?  I was fooled a few times in the past letting off the button right after hearing the click before the button lit up.  Just asking so you don't waste your time.
 

I've tried every iteration of the power-up "process". Besides, and as I noted in my orig. post, it's not just power-up ... the unit also does not respond to its USB/power port -- either connected to a computer or the wall-wart pwr adapter it comes with. Something catestrophic happened -- e.g., IC or diode or transistor, etc. in (I think) the pwr ckt failed/burned-out -- either at the last functional turn-off or at turn-on.
Folks, this and debitsohn's account of MP4Nation's warranty "service" does not speak well for Mp4Nation. No Sireee Bob! It doesn't matter how good the unit sounds; if it's unreliable and "breaks", you're not listening to anything ... and for a long time.
One more lesson: do not trust this unit's internal memory. I lost 8GB of music and podcasts -- and a lot of those were painstakingly/time-consumingly playlisted (set up in folders/directories) just for best playback in the S:Flo2. Sigh!
 

 

[thesingularity]

Quote:

October 6th no timetable, no updates, no nothing. they just say that they are telling the "factory" to hurry up.

And yet  Mp4Nation/TecLast product-owners know how often MP4Nation sends them (us!!) spam emails about their latest deals! I get at least three emails/ week from them about some offer. So where are they getting the parts for these in-stock items, while our in-service units are put in limbo?
I have a bad feeling the "managers" of this company count on huge volume sales only. I don't think they ever factored in (much less care about) product reliability or after-sale product service/support.
BTW: the signator on the MP4Nation emails is somone called "Raz". Is this "razzer001" of this forum?
 

 

[Hero Kid]

Quote:

BTW: the signator on the MP4Nation emails is somone called "Raz". Is this "razzer001" of this forum?
 

Yep.
 
Just so you know - MP4Nation simply rebrand the Telecast T51 as a s:flo2. So Telecast actually make the player - thus it is "beyond their control" how long they take to manufacture.
 

 

[thesingularity]

Quote:

Just so you know - MP4Nation simply rebrand the Telecast T51 as a s:flo2. So Telecast actually make the player - thus it is "beyond their control" how long they take to manufacture.

"beyond their control"?! There is simply no excuse for poor customer service, regardless of OEM.
MP4Nation sells a lot of units, no doubt. And given the amount of problems and failures I've thus far read about (wish I had done my homework on this issue back in July as I would NEVER have then placed an order for their product!) MP4Nation should have a proactive plan -- like keeping spare 'boards and other plug-n-chug parts in-house for quick turnaround times for customers sending in their garbage units. Of course, they don't have such a plan because, as I noted earlier, the company is out for high-volume sales only. And because they are located overseas, there is no native-country protection (e.g, here in the USA, we have several govt-based consumer-protection agencies, and non-profit watchdogs like BBB). The only way to keep companies like this in-check is via forums like Head-Fi or eBay's reputation-ranking system.
I have a sinkingly bad feeling we (early customers of their products) are their alpha and beta testers. If their products do turn out to be highly unreliable (i.e., they get a lot of returns), they'll simply disappear ... and pop up later under a different brand, disguise, mask.

 

[Hero Kid]

Quote:

"beyond their control"?! There is simply no excuse for poor customer service, regardless of OEM.
 

 
Of course there is no reasonable excuse for bad customer service - but manufacturing times are still beyond their control. All they can do is put pressure on Telcast , nothing more.
Don't get me wrong I'd never buy anything from MP4Nation and I agree their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

I am afraid Teclast has nothing to do with it. There are a handful of MP4 player manufacturers in China that source these players to Teclast, MP4Nation, Onda, etc. So Raz instead of going to Teclast, needs to go to the manufacturer itself. The manufacturer might not be China based, but Taiwan or Korea. Raz has little control. Like I have said before, you buy these players knowing that when they break, you need to go buy yourself something else or be without a player for months and months.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

October 6th no timetable, no updates, no nothing. they just say that they are telling the "factory" to hurry up.

Starting from 1st of October every years, China National Holiday generally run for at least two weeks one week*, just so you know. What ever issue you have with any Chinese business in mainland China will be dealt will after the factories / business re-open when the holiday ends, it is not an issue unique to MP4Nation-Teclast communication.
 
*my mistake, sorry.
 
Quote:

"beyond their control"?! There is simply no excuse for poor customer service, regardless of OEM.
MP4Nation sells a lot of units, no doubt. And given the amount of problems and failures I've thus far read about (wish I had done my homework on this issue back in July as I would NEVER have then placed an order for their product!) MP4Nation should have a proactive plan -- like keeping spare 'boards and other plug-n-chug parts in-house for quick turnaround times for customers sending in their garbage units...

There is no technician or tools on MP4Nation to service the S:flo2, not to mention it does require some skill to crack S:flo2 open safely (*the whole thing is clamped / glued tight together) and instrument to do diagnosis. If you search around for pictures of S:flo2 inner, you should know there is almost no plug-n-chug parts inside the DAP - even the battery is custom made and soldered in. Teclast is supposed to provide the tech support, and probably that is how the whole rebranding works / contracted.
 
Yes, there are a lot of complaints about s:flo2, but you should also note that not many people will come to forums and post 'wow, my s:flo2 works just fine today, like many days before it'. Forums are great place for complaints and rant, but hardly the best place for getting out the whole story.
 
Quote:

I am afraid Teclast has nothing to do with it.

Well, Teclast is indeed the original developer of S:flo2 / T51, so they do have everything to do with it.

 

[thesingularity]

Quote:

Yes, there are a lot of complaints about s:flo2, but you should also note that not many people will come to forums and post 'wow, my s:flo2 works just fine today, like many days before it'. Forums are great place for complaints and rant, but hardly the best place for getting out the whole story.

Well, mine worked perfectly for almost 3mos, and failed surprisingly and catastrophically (all-of-a-sudden, w/o warning). In comparison, my Cowon X5s are also very unreliable but they don't (for me, anyway) fail catastrophically (their Toshiba HDs are extremely robust for one thing). I disagree with you about forums, especially ones as active as Head-Fi: statistically significant info can be "gathered" by careful readers, effectively culminating in the better part of a complete picture or "whole story". E.g., simply gauge the length and # of posts in this thread. Can you point to a better "place for getting out the whole story"?
ClieOS:  I detect a possible protective bias on your part. Are you, for the record, part of the professional industry ... as a developer, promoter or journalist?
 
HeroKid wrote:
"Of course there is no reasonable excuse for bad customer service - but manufacturing times are still beyond their control."
I was not talking about manufacturing (of new units). My issue is with service and service parts/components. IAC, manufacturing times don't have to be "beyond their control". Reason: Mp4Nation is a major buyer of Teclast OEM, so they have lots of $$-based political control.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

It really does not matter if it is Teclast or Mickey Mouse who makes these s:flo 2. The fact it is that it is a Nationite brand. And if a player under warranty breaks, either Raz needs to service it or replace the defective units and quickly and not give out excuses. And you should not be supporting him slacking off either.

Have a nice day...
Quote:

 
Well, Teclast is indeed the original developer of S:flo2 / T51, so they do have everything to do with it.