Earlier this year, a Doors page titled Let Rip with Techno Rage detailed people’s common frustrations with everyday technology and its associated retailers. It struck a chord with so many of our readers that our mailbox was in-undated with moans, groans and even a few positive examples of good customer service. Below, we give vent to your views; and in a separate article, we challenge the technology and retail industries to justify their current practices.
POOR-QUALITY PRODUCTS FOR A THROWAWAY SOCIETY
Last spring, I wanted a mini hi-fi. My dealer recommended a Teac REF 250 DAB as good, up-to-date and reliable. Within three months, it had broken down. It has taken a further three months to get it repaired, and I see from advertisements that it has been superseded by a new unit with MP3 capability. Great!
John Watkins, Coleford
I bought a Linksys Wireless G router and a Philips Wireless G300 SI streamer. After a Himalayan expedition to install the router, streamer and software, I tried to view our family snaps on the television. The streaming rate was a pathetically slow 15-35 seconds per picture, movie files didn’t work and disappointment reigned. In disgust, I returned the lot to the supplier.
Jim Butterworth, York
I purchased a Canon digital camcorder in July 2003. Within about three months, the picture quality proved faulty and it was replaced. Recently, because of another fault, I have sent it for repair. I have just been told that the cost of repair will be £225 or more. A new camcorder can be purchased for £250-£350.
Alan M Murray, Ilkley
I was thinking of buying the Sony V3 “multimedia” computer, and have been looking around for deals. However, John Lewis told me it thought the V3 was shortly going to be replaced by the V4, so I checked with PC World (which was only interested in selling me the current model) and Sony Centres (which don’t seem to get involved with Sony computers). I phoned Sony on its expensive 0870 number (and had to hold for about 15 minutes), only to be told that it had no idea whether a new model was coming. So how do I find out?
Michael Brookes, Bournemouth
It is often cheaper to buy a new mobile phone than it is to pay £30-£50 for a replacement battery. This results in mass disposal of old and useless equipment that could have been built to last, with serviceable parts.
Brian Yim Lim, Pinner
NEEDLESS MERRY-GO-ROUND OF UPDATES
“Technoia” is not an acceptable price to pay for progress. So much isn’t progress at all, but change for change’s sake. Perfectly good kit is rendered useless through no actual fault, but simply to force us to buy something else to do exactly the same job.
Stephen Dent, Bath
Nowadays, I will not “upgrade” unless there are qualitative improvements in the new product on offer. It is not enough, for example, for a PC to be twice as fast as the old version; it also has to be capable of doing things not previously offered and for which I consider that a genuine need exists.
Andrew Luck, London
After a relatively short life, the MiniDisc recorder/player appears to be impossible to buy, and discs are in scarce supply.
EW Lighton, Crewe
Not long ago, we were told that the VCR was dead, and that DVD was the medium of the future, offering a quantum improvement in picture quality. It did. So why do we now need HD DVD and TV? How long will it be before we move to Super HD, then Super Duper HD?
Clive Norris, Ballykeeran, Ireland
I am thinking about buying my first camcorder, but image storage is a mess of contradictions. Do I go down the digital route — and, if so, do I opt for mini-DV, full-size DVD, memory stick or solid state? With today’s model becoming yesterday’s at alarming speed, I have given up.
Chris Dodson, Ilkley
I am not a techno ignoramus, but nor am I a geek. I have a five-year-old PC, need to upgrade to go onto broadband and just want good, sensible, unbiased help before getting out my credit card. At the moment, it’s a nightmare: the specs change every week; as soon as you’ve bought something, it’s obsolete; and you probably buy something you really don’t need. Net result: one consumer lost in technobabblespace.
Alex Grenfell, Shaldon
The sheer array of models offered by many hardware manufacturers — laptops, phones, MP3 players and so on — is bewildering and frequently gratuitous. Many of these models seem to exist to gratify manufacturers and confuse customers. I’m all for choice, but not at the expense of clarity, transparency and cost.
Nick Shilton, Kingswood
I recently purchased a new Apple Mac PowerBook G4, running OS 10.4, and find that I cannot use my costly Palm (handheld computer), as the old software is not compatible with the new operating system. When I try to download new software (Palm 4) from the Palm website, it won’t run. So I am left with an expensive piece of kit that was useful, but is now defunct.
Diana Dill, London
GUARANTEES AND AFTER-SALES SERVICE
Staff training, demonstration facilities, backup service and installation are vital to a dealer like me, but the cost puts us traditional retailers at a price disadvantage compared with the internet. The concept of pushing good backup service might sound good, but in reality, when customers can save a couple of hundred pounds online, that’s where they go.
Clive Kirby, Aldridge
Even if you purchase additional support and an extended warranty, you may find you are not covered when things go wrong. I purchased a computer, a scanner and a printer from Dell three years ago. The printer, an Epson C82, broke down when the inks dried on the print heads. Dell, which sold me the printer, would not cover this under its extra support because it was not a branded Dell product. Epson acknowledged the probable cause, but refused to offer compensation as it was more than a year old.
Fred Tuite, Kilkenny, Ireland
My two-year-old Linksys wireless broadband router stopped working, so I checked the online help but to no avail. I work in IT and ran a few checks, but, even so, had to enlist an IT-support specialist who proved the router was at fault, and charged me £150. Lapses in Linksys web support included: nothing in the knowledge base to resolve the problem; firmware downloads were out of date; contact number on the support e-mails was unobtainable.
Steve Kirk, Stratford-upon-Avon
On software packaging from large retail outlets, it states: “If you have any difficulty loading this software, please contact 090... Calls are charged at £1 per minute.” What sort of customer service is that?
Jackie Lover, Kingswood
AND NOW HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS
My Jabra Bluetooth headset inexplicably stopped working while under its 12-month warranty. I had no receipt but, because the number on the unit identified it as within warranty, the maker asked me to mail the headset to it and provided me with a replacement immediately, by post.
Simon Tulitt, Yoxall
I bought an Olympus digital camera for £250 in February 2004. It had a shutter problem in December 2005. Jessops, the retailer, said that it was not worth sending away, as the warranty was for one year only. If I had bought it in April 2004, it would have been covered for two years. I phoned Olympus, and was told to send it in for an estimate. It then repaired the camera at no charge and gave me a further six months’ warranty. Olympus could not have been more helpful.
Dave Adams, Dudley
