[doxaman]

For the first time in weeks I brought out mine, had a look and noticed that the insullation had pulled away from the right driver.
Looking closer I noticed that it had also pulled away at the connector end!!. The driver end doesn't look too bad right now but the connector end has some stray copper wires showing through, it's kind of bunched on the end. Looks like the entire black plastic has shrunk away rather than split.
I was being really carefull with these, I hardly used them this winter at all! Now I'm waiting to hear from Shure, the business I bought them from is contacting them for me!
I knew I should have bought something cheap as a backup, I'm going on a bus trip next month

 

[listenCarefully]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danfried /img/forum/go_quote.gif By the time they develop cracks, they may be well beyond the end of the original warranty period. With the new hard-line approach Shure is taking towards warranties, that would be a cause for concern.

I am absolutely stunned that Shure would take a "hard line" approach on this. First they flood the market with a defective product and then they are going to quibble about the warranty "small print"? I bought a used Honda motorcycle that was well out of warranty and when the chrome on the wheels started to peel Honda replaced them...no questions asked and immediately. They earned my lifelong loyalty and I later bought two more brand new Honda sport bikes . If Shure isn't prepared to do the "right thing" then F__K em. I won't ever buy another one of their products and in this economy they deserve anything they get.

 

[Danfried]

Quote:

Originally Posted by listenCarefully /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am absolutely stunned that Shure would take a "hard line" approach on this. First they flood the market with a defective product and then they are going to quibble about the warranty "small print"?

I guess I should clarify what I meant by a new "hard-line approach."

Shure's new policy is that their warranty is non-transferable -- only the original purchaser can make claims under the warranty. For example, resales on Ebay get no warranty protection, regardless of whether or not they are within the two year period.

As for whether they will replace phones for the _original_ owner past the two year date, that I'm not sure about -- I was just worried that, now that they are cracking down in other ways, they may not do any replacements after two years, which was always a courtesy anyway.

Another cause for concern is that in the other poll thread, three of the twelve respondents indicate their phones broke in July-Aug. of 2007 -- "many months" after Shure is supposed to have changed their cable formulation. Did they misread the instructions, and use their date of purchase, or is the new formulation also subject to breaking?

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/all...c-link-285751/

Dang, we need more people to respond to that poll!

 

[Danfried]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doxaman /img/forum/go_quote.gif For the first time in weeks I brought out mine, had a look and noticed that the insullation had pulled away from the right driver. Looking closer I noticed that it had also pulled away at the connector end!!. The driver end doesn't look too bad right now but the connector end has some stray copper wires showing through, it's kind of bunched on the end. Looks like the entire black plastic has shrunk away rather than split. I was being really carefull with these, I hardly used them this winter at all! Now I'm waiting to hear from Shure, the business I bought them from is contacting them for me! I knew I should have bought something cheap as a backup, I'm going on a bus trip next month

This is the first time I've heard of this problem.

You didn't happen to record the datestamp, did you? If not, when did you buy yours?

 

[JMCIII]

My first pair started crackling where the cable runs into the earphone after about 8 months. Called Shure, they said return them and they immeadiately sent me a brand new pair. Can't ask for better service than that.

My new ones have lasted well over a year with no problems at all.

 

[listenCarefully]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMCIII /img/forum/go_quote.gif My first pair started crackling where the cable runs into the earphone after about 8 months. Called Shure, they said return them and they immeadiately sent me a brand new pair. Can't ask for better service than that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danfried /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was just worried that, now that they are cracking down in other ways, they may not do any replacements after two years, which was always a courtesy anyway.

How is honoring a warranty good service (it's part of the price of the product)? Furthermore, the warranty is in place to address a relatively small percentage of statistically expected failures, not a fundamental production flaw that has been built in. All but a small percentage of a given product should statistically last well beyond the warranty period and a 40% rate of failure in the first 2 years due to a manufacturing flaw is absolutely outrageous. This should be rectified regardless of of warranty limitations and to do so is not a "courtesy", it is basic sound business practice. How many people do you think would have laid out $350 or more for the e500/530 if they had known they were unlikely to have a functional pair of headphones for any longer than the 2 years Shure was prepared to honor the warranty?
I don't at all consider it a sign of good fortune that my e500s will probably make it through the warranty period. People in that position are left to worry about whether, given that almost half fail in the first 2 years, there is much of chance that their headphones will subsequently last the 5-10 years that one should expect? This is not a question that one should have to ask about a premium product made by a reputable company.

 

[Danfried]

Quote:

Originally Posted by listenCarefully /img/forum/go_quote.gif This should be rectified regardless of of warranty limitations and to do so is not a "courtesy", it is basic sound business practice. How many people do you think would have laid out $350 or more for the e500/530 if they had known they were unlikely to have a functional pair of headphones for any longer than the 2 years Shure was prepared to honor the warranty?

You know, after reading your post, I feel embarrassed. Because several weeks ago, I felt exactly as you do. I agree completely with your reasoning, and have said much the same thing in several posts.

Basically, Shure is trying to avoid a product recall, and is avoiding the basic responsible behaviour that a manufacturer normally has to do as part of a recall. They aren't telling us what batches are affected, which is normally part of a recall. Even more outrageously, they've been replacing affected phones with OLD stock that also suffers from the same defect! (It seems from a few recent posts that they may have stopped doing this, but I wonder if that is because someone realized how screwed up that was, or if they simply were running out of old stock!) Can you imagine if other manufacturers did the same thing? "This product is defective. So we are sending you an identically defective replacement. Enjoy it until it breaks again!"

I think I've gone a bit too far recently in trying to be diplomatic to all the Shure apologists and fanboys. Most of their arguments boil down to the view that -- hey, they give replacements, so there's nothing to complain about! -- or that this isn't a case of a defective product because too few people are affected. However, Shure won't tell us what percentage they think are affected, and our own poll shows serious cause for concern. Also, I definitely think this problem is not confined just to the SE530 -- other phones in the SE line are going to have the same problems.

To top it off, people with even recently made cables have had breakages. I think I should really stop holding back now when talking about Shures.

 

[listenCarefully]

Dude, being diplomatic on these kinds of forums is NEVER a bad idea. It takes very little to attract unwanted and malicious attention so don't feel bad. Your comments are sincere and thoughtful and I for one appreciate candor (even when there is disagreement).

 

[thread]

Could anyone suggest whether or not I'll get a pair of earphones with the cracking wires defect if I RMA my E500's now?

 

[doxaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danfried /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is the first time I've heard of this problem. You didn't happen to record the datestamp, did you? If not, when did you buy yours?

How does one translate a date stamp? mine had a 4 digit number 2996.
I've got the Return authorization number, I hope they accept the Paypal transaction as proof of purchase. I'm dealing with Shure Canada which is actually through a distributor in Quebec, hope the policy is still the same!

 

[elnero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doxaman /img/forum/go_quote.gif How does one translate a date stamp? mine had a 4 digit number 2996. I've got the Return authorization number, I hope they accept the Paypal transaction as proof of purchase. I'm dealing with Shure Canada which is actually through a distributor in Quebec, hope the policy is still the same!

2996 translates to the 299th day of 2006. SF Marketing just replaced mine in December, there have been rumblings of recent policy changes regarding replacements without a receipt but if you have a return authorization number already I'd say you're ok.

 

[headfone]

In October 2007, Shure replaced my E500 with E530 for the cable issue. I noted this thread in my packaging slip as well as to their cust. service dept via phone.

The bad news: my E530's cables are getting stiff after only a few months of use -- just like my E500 and E2C.

It seems as if Shure hasn't learned their lesson, or they just don't care, or they evaluated the economics and concluded that it's easier/cheaper for them to replace the IEMs for those who are (a) still under the 2-yr warranty (b) willing to dig out their receipts (c) package/ship to Shure (d) are willing to do w/o their beloved E5x0 for a few weeks.

The "good" news: The 2-year warranty resets with replacement. So Shure will prob. keep replacing, ad infinitum, as long as the issue continues and you're willing to put up w/the fuss noted above.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by headfone /img/forum/go_quote.gif The bad news: my E530's cables are getting stiff after only a few months of use -- just like my E500 and E2C.

Mine as well, also replaced in October 2007 with an SE530. The cable has not cracked--yet--but it has definitely stiffened and I am concerned. Time will tell.

 

[listenCarefully]

Actually the good news is that companies can no longer get away with this kind of stuff without suffering the repercussions. Thanx to the internet, the good/bad behavior of a company becomes common knowledge almost immediately and it is a certainty that Shure will certainly reap the harvest of it's current business practices. Something similar happened with Dell. Word of their deteriorating service spread rapidly on the web portending their loss of market share and subsequent stock plunge.

 

[headfone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by listenCarefully /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually the good news is that companies can no longer get away with this kind of stuff without suffering the repercussions. Thanx to the internet, the good/bad behavior of a company becomes common knowledge almost immediately and it is a certainty that Shure will certainly reap the harvest of it's current business practices.

Somewhat disagree because they have "gotten awy with it" so far! Note the length and age of this thread ... and the problem continues. I also personally informed them of this and similar Internet-forum threads on the topic a few mos. back. I'm sure others complained, too.

My guess is the cost/benefit economics -- some aspects of which I alluded to earlier. Another aspect is the economics of Shure throwing out their existing stock of the crappy cable. Does Shure really sell that many IEMs -- or are IEMs really a huge chunk of thier profit/business -- to "justify" maintaining a customer "reputation" for the product?

Quote:

Something similar happened with Dell. Word of their deteriorating service spread rapidly on the web portending their loss of market share and subsequent stock plunge.

"deteriorating service" and product reliability (the Shure cable problem) are not the same thing. Shure, which has horrible product reliability (at least wrt IEM cables) nonetheless seems to provide good service (IMC, they replaced one-year-old IEMs with a brand new pair). Poor product reliability w/superb after-sale service can actually raise the reputation (and stock price, etc.) of a company because of the illusion of perceived value.