iRiver support responds...well sort of

[ivan]

I did end up buying a iHP-120 in February and am mostly satisfied. (I lust for on the fly play lists and a real random play fix.) I was pretty surprised though when in March I received a response to an email I sent iRiver America in January. It's a basic "fxxk off" we're too busy or I don't know what to do so lets respond with some stupid excuses email. No comment on the lack of community but I didn't expect that. It's also interesting that this email was sent to like 5 or 6 addresses and "support" were the ones to respond.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ivan xxxxxx [mailtoxxxxxxxxx@xx xxx.xxx]
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 8:49 PM
To: webmaster@iriver.com
Subject: Outdated information on iriveramerica.com

While investigating whether to purchase a ihp-120 I found a lot of outdated information on the iriveramerica.com website when compared to the iriver
international website. Since you are pushing american customers to visit iriveramerica.com and not the international site you really need to fix the
information. Here is what I noticed:

1) The latest firmware for the ihp-120 on the iriveramerica website is version 1.17. The latest firmware for the US ihp-120 on the international site is version 1.40.

See
http://www.iriveramerica.com/support...0_firmware.asp
and
http://www.iriver.com/support/download_view.asp?idx=485

2) There is no link on the iriveramerica website to download the iriver caption editor. It can only be found on the international site. I saw the lyrics feature is being promoted with the 1.40 firmware so american users should be able to download the software from their website not search for it on the international site.

See
http://www.iriveramerica.com/support...20_support.asp
and
http://www.iriver.com/support/download_view.asp?idx=96

3) On the iriveramerica website there are no dates shown alongside files available for download. The international site always shows the release date of the download.

See
http://www.iriveramerica.com/support...20_support.asp
and http://www.iriver.com/support/download.asp

4) The physical specifications for the players on the iriveramerica website are only given in metric. American customers expect to see units in inches, weight in ounces and temperature in fahrenheit. Comparing your products to competitors is tedious.

See http://www.iriveramerica.com/products/iHP-120.asp


For the sake of your american customers I hope you
update this information. Myself I haven't decided
whether to purchase a ihp-120. Chiefly because after
reading the international forums it's clear that you
don't keep in contact with your customers. The
products I am leaning towards, the Neuros Audio Player
and Rio Karma, have comparable features and a lower
price but what really sets them apart from you and
Apple Computer is that they discuss issues and ongoing
development with their customers. If you wish to see
what I mean take a look at the discussions at
http://www.neurosaudio.com/community/forum/ and
http://www.riovolution.com/forums/

From:"iRiver America Customer Support" <support@iriveram erica.com>
To: "'Ivan xxxxxx'" <xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx .xxx>
Subject: RE: Outdated information on iriveramerica.com
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 23:01:51 -0800

Hello Ivan,

I apologize for the delayed response, each point raised took careful
consideration. Please let me address each of the issues your email has
brought up.

1. Here at iRiver America we send each update through additional
levels of testing before we make them available to our large customer base. We want to be sure that every item on our web site is held to the highest quality standards.

2. Here in the US the caption editor is not popular and we have
removed it so customers are not presented with software they will likely not use. We will be adding to other sections of our web site in the
future.

3. Dates will not be provided for firmware and other files because it
can make files seem old, even if they include all necessary updates or
enhancements. Every file posted at iRiverAmerica.com will be the most
recent version we recommend to our customers.

4. This is the first request we have heard of putting the measurements
into standard units. We believe metric measures do a better job of
outlining the details in the size differentials of our players. We
will consider using standard measures in the future if so desired by our
customers.

If you have any further questions pleas feel free to contact me directly.

Carter xxxxx
iRiver America
xxxxxx@iriveramerica .com

[FlameGrilled]

The response to item 4, is pretty much a big pile of the smelliest BS.. a real dungball in the making.

The response to item 3 figures about the same, and i can't imagine how they can qualify much in the way of additional testing and deciding which is the right versions to approve (item 2)- after all, they are no more expert on firmware quality than the people at iRiver proper.. less so i would imagine.

If you measure dimensions etc on an even equal basis, which units are used make no difference to the impression.

In fact, it's commonly metric measurements that cause the most confusion - i still use imperial (i.e. non-metric) as it's more normal for us oldies to use it

FG

[tpilk]

So, according to their response, they will only stand by the 1.17 firmware as "the most recent version we recommend to our customers." That's creepy.

Why release 1.40 in US guise if it wasn't up to their Hurculean standards?

Either way, at least they bothered to write back.

[jpburton5150]

wow what a bunch of empty sentences... they seem so distant from the international iRiver, they need to work on their communication within the company, and about the iRiver America "Additional testing"? you could at least put it up as a beta or something...

[HeartsOfWar]

I have sent one e-mail to IriverAmerica support and received feedback within 24 hours. Actually 8 hrs to be exact.

They answered every question that I had.... I too asked about the different Firmware issues and they said the same thing... Not exactly, but very close.

Their support seems pretty good to me...

[Mike]

It's good that they're being responsive, but they seem to be a bit disconnected from what users want and do--especially in "testing" the parent company's own firmware and using that as the reason not to be making it available in the local country site. Plus, does that mean that they will be coming out with their own firmware or telling the parent company that they don't approve of the January firmware upgrade?

[Poltergeist]

Yeah, I'm sure that iRiver America do a great job....

For instance if it wasn't for the fact that... "Here at iRiver America ... We want to be sure that every item on our web site is held to the highest quality standards."

Why, you wouldn't learn that... " You can adjust the recording levels for the iHP by setting the "Bit rate (kbps)" within the Main Menu (Main Menu / Record / Bit rate) of the iHP."

The above taken from iRiver America iHP-100 FAQ...

Now how many of you knew that!

<end of sarcasm>