Cardo Systems Scala Rider

[stormi]

Back in August of 2011, I took advantage of my "in" in the motorcycle industry to purchase a Scala Rider G4 Powerset.
This is 2 headsets that are paired from the factory.  Both headsets also feature Bluetooth, giving you the ability to use an MP3 player and pair a cell phone and pr GPS at the same time.  It comes with a 2 year warranty, which is especially nice in Canada, because we can typically get a full 12 months of use out of it this way.

The quality of the sound is decent, if a little tinny.  The device itself is fairly easy to learn how to use, it may take a few rides before you have it all down.  The manual is available in PDF, so I carried it on my phone for the first little bit.

I enjoyed this device for the next 11 months, then it all started to go bad.  The volume Up button stopped working.  This button is actually mulitfunction, and controls a number of things, like being part of the reset procedure, moving to the next song, and others.

I contacted Cardo Systems to get warranty yesterday.  Here's how the conversation is going so far:

One of our g4s (Scala Rider G4 Powerset  for snowmobiles) appears to be failing.  The volume up button doesn't work anymore.  It does not change volume (regardless of mode) or move to the next song when in mp3 player mode.

Unfortunately, in testing, I tried the volume down button to see if that was malfunctioning as well. 
It wasn't. 
Now the volumes are low enough as to make the unit very hard to use as conversations and music are too quiet to hear over a running bike.

I have "reset" the unit per the owner's manual, by plugging it into the computer to charge.  I have also tried to update the firmware, but it was already up to date.  This did not make a difference.

Unit was purchased Aug 29, 2011.  Please see invoice attached. 
Serial Number is g104402701

The invoice I attached clearly says that it's a salesman's sample, and is sold as is.
They've denied it.  Their reason is that I purchased a salesman's sample from my rep from Parts Canada.  Therefore, no warranty.

Thank you for contacting the Cardo Systems Support Center.
 
Since this is documented as an as-is sample item, which is not supposed to be sold, we won’t be able to provide warranty support. You will need to contact the sales rep that you purchased this product from. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
 
Please feel free to contact us if we can assist you with any other questions.
 
Best Regards,

So I contacted the rep who had sold it to me and with his permission, I gave his reply to Cardo:

Hey there,

Even though it was my sample, it was still a regular production unit out of our regular inventory so they should be able to warranty it. This wasn't a special one off unit, it was just a special price to Canada reps from from our company so we could show it to our dealer network in our perspective territories.
These are regular production units as if sold to our dealer network. So if you can e-mail them back and copy my response.

Regards,

With the Rep's response, I also explained to them that it was purchased from Parts Canada's regular stock, then offered to me at a discounted rate after it was displayed during bookings to help dealers decide if they wanted to carry the product. 

Hi Edward,

Please see the response from the Parts Canada Rep I bought the item from. 

The salesmen at Parts Canada buy their samples from PC.  Then at the end of the bookings season, they sell them, if they didn't want to keep them themselves.   These are unused (They may be opened but to be looked at only) items from regular stock.

I would like to warranty this item please.

Seems like just a misunderstanding, right?
Keep reading.

Thank you for contacting the Cardo Systems Support Center.

As previously mentioned, we will not be able to provide warranty support for this product. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause but you will need to work this out with the person that you purchased this product from. Cardo Systems does not provide discounts to sales reps for product to be resold to the consumer and we will not provide warranty support for this product.

Please feel free to contact us if we can assist you with any other questions.

I felt the need to make one more attempt to get the warranty that I deserve as a paying customer.

Edward,

This was an item that Parts Canada provided a discount for the rep to purchase regular stock in order to show it to dealers to encourage them to carry the product in their shops.
The price I paid is irrelevant to its warranty status.  It's no different than an open box sale.   Do you deny warranty on open boxes too?

I was in the decision making position, Rob showed it to me, I also expressed an interest in it personally.  When booking season was over, he offered it to me at his price.   This is not a Cardo Systems issue.

I've had no response at this point, but I don't expect it to be in my favor, if there is one.  All other responses were quite quick.
I don't know if this would be the same problem for ebay purchases, or other situations, but at this point, I would say buyer beware.   The product seems flawed if it can't make it through 11 months, and probably only 3 of those months were riding use.  (It was a slow riding year for me this year)

[Red01]

I understand your frustration and IMHO they should honor their warranty in the name of good faith and positive public relations.  On the other hand, since your receipt clearly states it was sold as-is, they are well within their legal right to deny your claim.  If this is a fairly common defect and they've been getting a flood of them back, they may see this as a way to help stop the bleeding.  I haven't researched their product, but they do seem to be a popular choice with a lot of riders and I can't recall anyone ever having any trouble with one, usually nothing buut praise.  I don't really understand why they wouldn't make you happy with a wink, a nod and a "we really don't have to do this for you, but because we're nice..." and make you a happy customer that would give them good press.

I've been looking at the new U Clear HBC-200 for my bluetooth/comm needs to replace the clunky Chatterbox I currently have, but thought I might wait and see how well this new unit gets received.
The earlier models seem to have received good reviews, and this one just improves on them, so maybe next spring I'll spring for one?

[stormi]

The other product that people seem to be liking is the Sena.  I think I will be looking into an SMH-10 myself.  Much better pricing than the Scalas too.
Though the uClear looks neat, and that smaller module might catch less bugs than the G4.....   Love taking the module off to charge and having it covered in blood and gore.

It seems that Cardo's customer service is a bear to deal with in general, that's the gist I get from these threads, but I see there's an interesting trend, lots of people are having them fail at the 5 months-ish mark.  Assuming that's in places that you can ride year round, this one was right on schedule.  It's a shame too, because it was a teamset, the two are paired, but I should be able to get another brand to pair with the one that continues to work. 

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=807929
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=787390

See now I wasn't aware that "As Is" means there's no warranty.  Why would anyone ever by something like that and void the warranty?  My understanding of as-is was that it was not returnable to the store, and the manufacturer's warranty would have to be used in the event that something went wrong with the item.  That's how we used to treat as-is at the MC dealer... it's disappointing to see that some companies wouldn't have honored their warranties after that.

Since they won't answer emails from me, I might bust it open and try out my new soldering skills on it.

[Red01]

One thing is for sure, the choices in this field are getting bigger all the time. Any company that has poor customer service won't have to worry about it long because there won't be any customers left to service.

I wouldn't count on Cardo being able to talk to another brand - it seems many of these are not compatable with other brand equipment.  I think tha is hugely disappointing, especially considering in this day and age of riders from all over getting together for get-togethers... we're not ALL going to be using the same product and it would be nice if we could pair up with our new found friend.

After living with the tape-on and boom mics of the Chatterbox units I've owned - and finding both of them to be a little bothersome in that small space between chin and chinbar, I was really drawn to the U-Clear because there's no mic to mess with. 

[stormi]

One thing is for sure, the choices in this field are getting bigger all the time. Any company that has poor customer service won't have to worry about it long because there won't be any customers left to service.

I wouldn't count on Cardo being able to talk to another brand - it seems many of these are not compatable with other brand equipment.  I think tha is hugely disappointing, especially considering in this day and age of riders from all over getting together for get-togethers... we're not ALL going to be using the same product and it would be nice if we could pair up with our new found friend.

After living with the tape-on and boom mics of the Chatterbox units I've owned - and finding both of them to be a little bothersome in that small space between chin and chinbar, I was really drawn to the U-Clear because there's no mic to mess with. 

Ooops,.. sorry, I lost track of this conversation when Windows decided to reboot me without notice and punt all of my open tabs.   
Oh well, it's like early spring cleaning. 

The thing about the two systems being able to talk to each other is I -think- they should be pair-able via the bluetooth... of course with neither being able to enter a code, you may be right.  I really have no desire to give any more money to Cardo, so I can see buying 2 of the Sena's first. 

The Scala I have is the Snowmobile version. I really liked the little wire instead of a boom.  I haven't had to deal with a boom, but this mic just sticks onto the back of the chinbar, and I only notice it when I wiggle the helmet around (i.e. I have a headache or a pressure spot, etc and feel the need to fidgit), the wire disappeared under my helmet lining.