It is very difficult for a help desk to respond to long emails where support staff are frequently armed with logic tree to deduce a problem. A Phone call is much more effective. That said the email should have been responded to, even just with a "phone us to discuss further your problem".
Perhaps Richer sounds have a standard policy to offer discounted repairs. Sounds like an excellent retailer.
Perhaps Richer sounds have a standard policy to offer discounted repairs. Sounds like an excellent retailer.I'm not dissing Richer Sounds. Their website acknowledges the customer's statutory rights, and I would expect that they would respond satisfactorily to any SOGA claim. (Which may or may not lead to a free repair)
On buying a product, you are protected by legislation such as the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended). If the product is not, when sold, of satisfactory quality or fit for purpose, you have a right to claim for repair or replacement for up to 6 years (5 in Scotland). Within the first 6 months, the retailer must prove that the goods you bought met the necessary standards. After the first 6 months, it is up to you to prove that the product was faulty when supplied: this may involve you taking legal proceedings. Further information on consumer rights can be obtained from your local Trading Standards Services.
I think Richer Sounds are stars for offering an out of warranty repair at £26 odd.
Humax - poor show
I question whether the disk was at fault at all though. Again impossible to tell without better access to box diagnostics which customers have been locked out of.
The fault appeared after a power cycle, box put in standby and power removed. My Humax can take 5 minutes, feels like 10, after pressing standby for it to be actually in standby, removing power during this time will corrupt the disk with the likelyhood being that the disk won't be ready when powering up, hence no recordings, pause etc. Waiting a while and putting it properly into/out-of standby will fix this and the recordings, pause etc. magically re-appear. Attempting to fix on-demand problems by power cycling the box this way will have only compounded the error.
As I said, impossible to say without proper access to diagnostics. If the same fault appears on the repaired box then make sure the disk has properly spun down (you should be able to hear this) before removing the power and re-booting.
Getting the disk to spin up every 15 minutes is plain stupid and unnecessary, no doubt a management/marketing requirement with engineers kept out of the loop.
I think Richer Sounds are stars for offering an out of warranty repair at £26 odd.
I would say it's quite a good price (from the retailer's point of view). If the box breaks down again in future, that would normally be good evidence that it was defective and should be replaced. That won't apply if the customer has effectively waived his SOGA rights by paying for repairs.
Getting the disk to spin up every 15 minutes is plain stupid and unnecessary, no doubt a management/marketing requirement with engineers kept out of the loop.
I wonder what percentage of users actually use the app for remote recording. If doing so is wrecking discs, that's a very good point to be raised in making a case under SOGA for repair/refund/replacement.
Thanks for all the help and advice guys.
I have to say that Richer Sounds have gone above and beyond on this one, to offer a full repair service for £26 is exceptionally good value, in response to James observations I looked at the Sale of Goods Act (and referenced this in my email to both Richer Sounds & Humax) but I think the offer of a fixed low cost repair is a compromise I'm more than happy with. I note that I could have bought this unit on Amazon for about £15 less, but chose instead Richer Sounds as I wanted the box sooner, and I'm glad I did!
Damian, thanks for your observations, to be honest I'm not sure what is going on, when the unit was at fault under the setting menu the hard drive disappeared altogether, then re-appeared when all recording returned, then disappeared again. I'm not sure if disk corruption would cause this, possibly.
I'll feedback once the box is returned.
... in response to James observations I looked at the Sale of Goods Act (and referenced this in my email to both Richer Sounds & Humax) but I think the offer of a fixed low cost repair is a compromise I'm more than happy with.
Fair enough. Be interested to hear the feedback.
The thing with SOGA though is that if after six months it is the consumers responsibility to demonstrate an inherent fault with the product. This would entail the consumer having to get an engineers report which if it sides with the consumer they can claim back.
However, even if a fault is found and the fault proved to be inherent, a replacement would be on a pro-rata basis. After two years of use there is likely to a significant deduction by the retailer.
Personally I would snap RS hand off as it is a more than fair offer IMO.
Well, this unit has been returned from Humax as not able/economical to repair. Richer sounds indicated multiple issues, 2 year's and 2 months old and the pcb (main board) failed and the entire unit is knackered. A bit of a kick in the teeth as I'd hoped this would be returned fixed, all the more galling when I bought this at the box's inception at a high price point.
I'm going to phone Humax tomorrow but given they did not respond to my original email indicating there was a fault with this unit and requesting help I'm doubtful I'll get a sympathetic hearing.
To be honest I doubt I'll buy another Humax box, given my not too great experience of owning this unit.
Sherbet66 - 11 minutes ago »
Well, this unit has been returned from Humax as not able/economical to repair. Richer sounds indicated multiple issues, 2 year's and 2 months old and the pcb (main board) failed and the entire unit is knackered. A bit of a kick in the teeth as I'd hoped this would be returned fixed, all the more galling when I bought this at the box's inception at a high price point.
I'm going to phone Humax tomorrow but given they did not respond to my original email indicating there was a fault with this unit and requesting help I'm doubtful I'll get a sympathetic hearing.
To be honest I doubt I'll buy another Humax box, given my not too great experience of owning this unit.
Sorry to hear it's unrepairable.
I would guess that a SOGA case would be a shoo-in, as you're now armed with a statement from the manufacturer stating the box is unrepairable.
Edit - Needless to say, I'm not a lawyer, so that's only my opinion.
JamesB - 8 minutes ago »
Sherbet66 - 11 minutes ago »
Well, this unit has been returned from Humax as not able/economical to repair. Richer sounds indicated multiple issues, 2 year's and 2 months old and the pcb (main board) failed and the entire unit is knackered. A bit of a kick in the teeth as I'd hoped this would be returned fixed, all the more galling when I bought this at the box's inception at a high price point.
I'm going to phone Humax tomorrow but given they did not respond to my original email indicating there was a fault with this unit and requesting help I'm doubtful I'll get a sympathetic hearing.
To be honest I doubt I'll buy another Humax box, given my not too great experience of owning this unit.Sorry to hear it's unrepairable.
I would guess that a SOGA case would be a shoo-in, as you're now armed with a statement from the manufacturer stating the box is unrepairable.
Edit - Needless to say, I'm not a lawyer, so that's only my opinion.
Thanks James,
I'll put the Sale of Goods to them and see what the say.
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