One of the supposed benefits of the participatory web, at least according to the books I read, is that it brings parties into more meaningful conversation with each other. This works at the individual level, but also at the level of companies, political parties, local government, etc. communicating with customers, members, etc. I am of the opinion that this communication should be balanced – both positive and negative. So, if I promote a product or service, I should also be able to complain.
I have been a fan of the Flip camera. We have owned one and purchased others for our kids and friends. I think it is a good product. Six weeks or so ago, our Flip stopped working. It would turn on, but then froze before it would get to the menu. I searched online and found that this was a common problem in the original Flip and later versions had a reset button. The idea of having to reset a computer device made a lot of sense to me and it seemed a good description of the problem I was having – no way to reset. Anyway, I contacted customer support, sent the camera in, and three weeks or so later my Flip was returned and it would start again.
Last weekend I had the first occasion to actually use the camera. I was fishing and someone in the boat caught a nice walleye. I started the Flip and encountered the same problem – no menu and no way to turn the camera off. If this was a car, at some point I think they declare the product a lemon. Perhaps this was the case with my camera. I connected to the Pure Digital site again and filled out the customer support form including the “incident number” from the first problem and waited. The customer support site indicates that Pure Digital will respond within 4 hours (during working hours). That was several days ago. No response. Last night I filled out the form again. Nothing so far, but it is not quite 4 hours.
Now it is time for fair and balanced. This is a complaint.
P.S. I received a reply two days after submitting my inquiry. This time instead of sending in the Flip I was asked to take the batteries out for 2 days and then put in fresh batteries. This can’t be a reasonable solution if this happens often.
