The sound quality is so amazing that I feel compelled to just keep sending them back each time they break, which is about every 4 months, like clockwork. Each return takes about 10-14 days..

Why cant they just fix the problem and get it right?

She went to look to see if the package was received and I gave her my tracking number. She checked it out and processed my replacement right then and there.

I should be receiving my replacements within the week. If I don’t I will update my comment, but I’m hoping for the best.

I didn’t have a receipt for that pair anymore so I purchased a second set, hoping (stupidly) that it was just that pair that was bad.

Nope.

October of 2008 the connector failed and I had…one ear that worked.

Yay me! I was smart enough to purchase the second pair directly from V-Moda. I filled out the form, sent it back after awhile (work was very busy, I couldn’t get to the post office immediately) I got the replacement in late November. Here we are, 28 days later. 28. My new style Vibe Duos just lost the right ear driver, just like last time.

And no one is at V-Moda to talk to today. This company seriously needs to be closed. I’ll be contacting the BBB on Monday. I will then call V-Moda and inform them that I will do everything in my power to see to it that the company is put out of business and that management for V-Moda

Still not sure that it would be a huge success like my bacon sunglasses are sure to be.

So, I called them direct at

to let them know that I knew that they’d actually signed for the inbound (defective) unit today mid-morning, and that I expected a turnaround the same day, the same way: immediate shipment by UPS Next Day Delivery. This was after I’d made the same demand by email, but gotten this canned reply:

“Russell,

We process replacements in the order in which we receive returns. Also, we ship out replacements UPS Ground. If we do not process your order within three business days, please write back to us. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Rock On,”

To which I had immediately replied:

“Actually, I _don’t_ understand: you have the item overnighted _to_ you, but can’t see fit to do the same on the way out? You do realize, yes,
that this is my *third* warranty replacement by you, after *two* at TekServe in Manhattan? That’s *5 replacements* in 9 months, and a cumulative couple of months, roughly, of “dead device time” as well as turnaround time for me, on something I spent decent money on?

This isn’t acceptable. How you plan to stay in business unless you dramatically _improve your reputation_ for respecting your customers? Doesn’t anybody there actually care about us, the customers?”

A few minutes after I hit “send” on that reply, I called 888-866-3252 (aka “888-VModaLA”), which is a now unpublished number, and chose phone tree option #2 (#1 is Sales) to speak to a customer service rep. I got Kathy, whom I believe I’d spoken to the first time around, last May, in a similar interaction before they’d moved and changed their (also then) unpublished number. She said she was just then in the process of reading my email, and started reading me a canned script reiterating the mail I first received.

I told her that would be unacceptable, and pressed my point about having the replacement shipped the way the defective unit had been shipped: immediate UPS Next Day Delivery, handled then and there. She said that normally they have a fulfillment house in another city – Chico, I believe – fulfill these requests on a non-urgent basis, but that she would take care of it immediately, from stock at hand, today.

Within minutes, she sent me a UPS tracking number, and I expect my – 5th! – replacement on Monday morning.

Hope this helps others.

By March 2008 – a few weeks later – I’d experienced my first headset failure. TekServe replaced the headset on the spot. Several weeks later, another failure; TekServe again graciously replaced the unit.

In May 2008, another failure. This time, understandably, TekServe asked that I ship the defective replacement to V-Moda directly. Before doing so, I looked up the telephone number of their “customer service” department and surprised a real person at the company. I was directed to their website and told to email them with a description of the issue; I received a standard “here’s your case number” autoreply and asked to ship the headset on my own dime along with a printed and hand-completed warranty form.

It took me a couple of weeks from the time I mailed the defective unit (the 3rd I’d had since having purchased the original) by USPS Priority Mail to the day I received the replacement for _that_ one.

A couple of months go by, and another failure. Same drill again. This time, the replacement unit (around early August 2008) comes with a major change in the plug design: apparently more robust, and the joint is offset by about 30 degrees, in an apparent attempt to relieve mechanical stresses on the wire/plug junction. This time, I’m encouraged: they’ve apparently addressed a quality-related design issue, maybe they’ve addressed the overall build quality issues too.

No dice. About 6 weeks later – a few days ago – same failure mode: one speaker out, the other functional. Yet another email to V-Moda customer support.

This time, they immediately reply and tell me they’re generating a UPS Overnight mailing label on _their_ dime. They did, I receive it within minutes, and ship by UPS today. Today, UPS Tracking indicates the defective unit is out for delivery in Los Angeles (I mailed it from Manhattan last night) and I’ve told V-Moda to be on the lookout for it, and to expedite the replacement: I want turnaround _today_ and overnight shipping, and I want the unit tomorrow.

We’ll see.