H2OAudio Interaction - Horrible Customer Service - iDive 300

[LandonL]

I talked to someone who is wanting to sell/trade an iDive 300 case. It is a case so you can use an Ipod while diving, something that can be somewhat useful for long deco stops.

This particular iDive doesn't have the headphones that came with it, so I called H20Audio to see how much it would be to get the headphones. They refuse to sell them. The basics of the conversation are that a $350 product is trash if it is out of warranty and you need headphones. This should just serve as a warning to possible future customers, do not buy their products, because when they break you are left out in the cold.

After my last message in the online chat, I called their sales/help dept. and the same person I was chatting with answered the phone. The conversation went the same as the chat, except I told her I was going to post this experience on Scubaboard. Then the woman hung up on me, and when I walked back to the computer my chat was ended.

To me this qualifies as horrible customer service.

 

[H2O Audio]

Thanks for your honest post about your experience with our customer service team. It is correct that the iDive 300 has integrated headphones. It is one of only two products in our line that have integrated headphones, and was designed that way specifically because each time you have a connection or joint in a waterproof product, that's a place where there's a possibility of water entering the case. So in order to make our cases truly water-tight and to perform at the extreme depths that the iDive case is rated to, we found it was best to make the headphones an integrated piece of the iDive case. The iDive does have a 1 year warranty just like every product we make, and therefore customer service did give you the correct answer...we simply don't have iDive headphones by themselves, because the are always assembled at the factory as a part of the case. In our testing, making the headphones removable compromised the performance of the case and that was something we found unacceptable. I hope that helps explain our design a bit more and helps you understand that it wasn't that our customer service team was refusing to help you, your request was just not something we could accommodate at this time. But we always welcome feedback about our products, and do take into account customer comments as we design future generations of our line.

Happy Diving,
Dana
H2O Audio

 

[gmanstan]

Makes sense to me. But this whole thread could have been avoided had the customer service done a better job of explaining. Preventative action is so much better than having to clean up later !

 

[Mitchell Teeters]

Seems like H2O could offer a service of fixing this for a small fee. If the "new" customer bought it for say $200, and H2O charged $50 for this fix the "new" customer would be a head of the game. I don't have this product, but see that it is integral AND you are SOL if it breads will keep me from buying. Just saying.

 

[Phil_C]

So what would H2O do if this happened to an idive during warranty if they can't fix it because they don't have the parts ? This would force them to replace the whole unit. Not good business sense unless they are supremely confident in their product, in which case why didn't they use this as a marketting excercise and replace this one?


Surely the publicity they could have generated from this, "we are so confident with our product and this was so unuausl that we replaced it without quibble" and so on, would have been tonnes better than the negative publicity they have ended up with. A quick win and such cheap publicity that I sometimes wonder about companies marketting strategies. They could have had a good rep as a company and another happy customer, instead they have got a very negative customer, who will by human nature continue to spread abad message about them, and negative publicity on an international forum. Phil

 

[jimmy71]

While I do not like to, I think i have to side with the H20 people. The headphones are integrated and not sold separately. The person that the OP should be angry with is the one who sold/is selling the used Idive case.

I have used and broken a few products that if they fail under warranty, the seller has no choice but to replace the entire unit. The cost per unit is not that much. The cost is usually in development and tooling.

 

[LandonL]

While I do not like to, I think i have to side with the H20 people. The headphones are integrated and not sold separately. The person that the OP should be angry with is the one who sold/is selling the used Idive case.

Well, I obviously did not buy the device, but you are missing part of the point. The headphones are not available at any price for any customer. This means that no matter who the customer is, once this thing is out of warranty you are SOL if you need any support even if you pay for it. Your forgetting that they won't even fix the device if I were to send it in and pay them.

For example, what if I bought it new and the headphones broke 13 months later? The company would apparently tell me "tough luck, its broken, we can't/won't fix it even if you pay us and now you need to buy another one". If this were a $10 product, ok, but a $300+ product? Why would I pay $300 for a product that is unserviceable in the event of a failure?

Lets relate this to other products. What if the hose on your regulator busted and lets just pretend the thread on the 1st and 2nd stages is proprietary. How would you feel if they told you that you had to buy a whole new reg set from them, because they won't replace your hose even if you pay them?

What if your headphones broke on your iPod? Should you have to buy a whole new iPod? What about the transmission in your car? Should you haul it to the junk yard and get a whole new car?

Anyway, I did not know they were built into the case. The rep could have easily told me that, but did not. The images make it appear as if there is a connector, so you can obviously see why I was so frustrated. It doesn't sound like a very good design to have headphones built in to the case anyway. I mean headphones are probably one of the most common failure points on personal media devices. Now add water and pressure to that mix.... what is the expected life of the product?

I appreciate the company coming on here to post, but notice they said nothing about the behavior of their rep (who I think is the one posting). She hung up on a possible customer.... that alone is rude, disrespectful, and a clear sign that I should not do business with this company. Do they have an excuse for that as well?

 

[ajduplessis]

I understand their explanation and design to keep the product dry and leak free. I would however like to know if they will back that design philosophy with device replacement should their product leak?????

If not hen the whole support, design thing makes no sense. Like they say, put your money where your mouth is.

 

[nickbutcher]

The headphones in the iDive 300 are NOT integrated into the case. There is a gland that can easily be unscrewed under which is a standard 3.5mm stereo jackplug. Anyone capable of applying some PTFE tape could perform this task.

The headphones also appear to be identical to those fitted to the older iRiver housing that this company once sold. If you can get hold of one of those, you could do the job yourself.

I can't believe that they don't have some of these headphones knocking about. I'd be quite happy to sign some sort of waiver accepting full responsibility for flooding the housing if I installed it myself. The housing's no better than a paperweight now anyway.

The headphone cable on these units are notorious for failing due to an inadequate strain relief yet I got the same 'no can do' response from H2O Audio.