Plextor support says: "Incompatible" RWs can >destroy< your drives firmware!

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers Plextor Writer
#1

Ladies and Gentlemen,

my Plextor Premium refuses to erase any of my CD-RWs (which are on the recommended and compatible media list) lately, so I had a phonecall with the german hotline to get that problem sorted out. I am quite sure the first guy wasn’t in the mood to supply any help (he made that quite clear with the sound of his voice), so he tried to get rid of me in saying, that I had ->destroyed<- the drives firmware by using incompatible media (which I didn’t at all, but that doesn’t seemed to be the point - he didn’t got my point at all, hell, he did not even intend to listen what I had to say!), which is a load of bushpoo, but what do you think of it?

Well, I do not intend to bash the Plextor support, but my experience with these guys is just rediculous. First they dropped their support for me, because of me mentioning that I am using Alex Noe’s famous PX-Scan, then they ignored my english support request these days and after that they tried to get rid of me on the phone. My latest attempt was another call where I found a guy that finally tried to help me, but failed in that desperately resulting in asking me to write another mail to support (at) plextor.be and feedback (at) plextor.be.

Why? Am I such a bad person that I am not entitled to get support within the granted warranty-period? Is my english that horrible that they can’t understand what I am referring to? I just don’t get it and I am usually not inpolite or rude in any manner…

Sorry for the rant. :a

#2

Your english seems fine to me. Usually support in Europe is pretty good and the support here in the U.S. is crappy. Maybe Plextor Europe is outsourcing their complaints to the U.S. Just kidding folks!

#3

Thanks! :o :flower: :bigsmile:

#4

Oh man its always the same with phone support! I never really found a perfect one. Always the same: Have you plugged in the cable? Have you switched it on? If not you have ruined the piece of equipment! Grrr!

#5

I’ve heard something very similar from the German Plextor support. It’s of course nothing else than bullsh… erm… nonsense. :stuck_out_tongue:

He told me something like: if you often use low quality CD (!) media with your 716 which is not on the recommended media list, the burner tries to create an Autostrategy (for a CD?!?) and adapts to the bad media, which he writes to the firmware, and after a while you won’t be able to write even good media or to even read CD-ROMs (yes! I asked if I understood that correctly, and he repeated it!). At that point I realized that the phone call was useless.

#6

Thanks for your confirmation.

… At that point I realized that the phone call was useless.

That was the reason why I tried to call-in a second time. I was so surprised to get such an answer from an “expert” that I had to avoid laughing, but the sadness of the moment kept me straight. I wonder if I can expect an useful answer from the email support… Oh well, let me guess… :disagree: :sad:

How on earth could Plextor get such a good reputation regarding its support for the end-customer? I guess at that time there was no german support available, huh? :rolleyes:
At least that second guy tried his best… :bow:

#7

Plextor support says: “Incompatible” RWs can >destroy< your drives firmware!

:disagree:

#8

Yes, I know, but they did! If I was a believer, I would swear to god, but he doesn’t have anything to do with it. :bigsmile:

#9

Because ‘Plextor support’ is often not done by Plextor but the local reseller. The numbers listed here http://www.plextor-europe.com/technicalservices/support/contact_support.asp?choice=Contact%20support are not Plextor subsidiaries but separate companies that are the countries import and reseller of Plextor products. They probably get the tech docs and access to a support database, but i doubt they’ll aquire deeper knowledge than that by themselves.

#10

But these people should be able to recognize a faulty drive by a very detailed description - like I had provided - and handle a RMA if necessary, right? Then why do they treat people like me like completely retarded idiots? Or do I get something wrong? I have a faulty drive,the drive is in the warranty period, I contact the appropriate support and my legit requests get rejected. Do I expect too much? Am I a completely retarded idiot? :confused: :bigsmile:

:sad:

#11

Not necessarily. These are predominatly salespeople, not technicians. Also AFAIK RMA is exclusively handled by Plextor Europe in Belgium and not by the local resellers (they will at best tell you to do RMA).

Sadly because resellers mostly push boxes from A to B and have little interest in anything else. It’s best not to expect too much from them. Of course that doesn’t excuse bad treatment…

#12

You might be right and finally someone at Plextor listened to what I had to say and recommended to request a RMA. Thanks Mr. V. at P. located in B. :flower:

Hooray, case closed…

#13

Well, I think the problem is simply money. :frowning:
A good support consisting of technicians who know what they’re talking about would be more expensive than some people who get a list with predefined answers (“Answer this when the customer mentions a disc which is not on our list of recommended media! But if he begins to talk about PIF/PIE, you’re screwed, because you don’t know shit about our products…”).

#14

True, technical support can be expensive for a company which is manufacturing for a mass market like Plextor does and I don’t expect a genius with a holy spirit when I call in for support, but at least these people should be honest and friendly to their customers and pass it on to the right people if they don’t have a clue in the first place.

However, the RMA is requested and that made me calm down for now. :bow: :bigsmile:
Let’s hope that it works out this time…