I would like to warn everybody before you buy volumio offical products. I bought more than two years ago 1st Version of volumio primo which was great device in my opinion. Now device is not anymore under warranty and of course is broken. At first, rca connectors stopped work, than there was a problem with Tidal and finally device is permanently offline. After contacting support, I was informed that this is hardware topic but volumio has no more parts and cannot fix it. Despite that, they reccomend to upgrade and buy new primo XD
Once I asked for discount they suggest 10%. Seriously?! What is more, I had a superstar Lifetime plan assigned to my device which is now lost as device is broken. So in total I lost 900âŹ. Great! Thx @volumio for such a great after sales service careâŚ
Hi Lukasz2,
first of all, when I read about such stories, this makes me sad as I can relate to you how you can feel. From enthusiast to enthusiast, I do understand.
Now, as a leader and Volumio founder, I have to tell you that sometimes things are more complicated than what they appear. Primov1 is a device that we started selling about 8 years ago. For consumer electronics, 8 years is like a thousand years in other sectors: electronic components have a very short availability span, and despite all our best efforts to keep stocks, some third party electronics are simply not available anymore. For Primo, we stocked many and also emptied warehouses, but some specifics part are gone.
We strive to support our products longer than anybody else in the industry, but this is not totally under our control.
Now, given that you bought the device more than 2 years ago it is out of warranty, thereâs no option for us other than to provide you a store credit to get a new unit, if you liked the idea. Looks like it was not sufficient in your case.
For feedback: what would be an amount that you think would be fair?
Let me end my message saying that I think that in this occasion we did really do all that we could have done, for a device that is 8 years old. Your statement about 900 euros loss is a bit unfair, since the device was costing at the time about 600 euros and the premium (superstar) features were included, so at no cost to you.
I am looking forward to hear your feedback about how we could have handled you better and believe me, if itâs possible weâll do it for you and for all the future people in the same situation.
Thanks for quick respond. This is what actually I always thought makes Volumio special - easy access to people who are behind volumio. I regret that I had to make this post but I felt really bad with service reply.
Let me be clear, I never asked or even mentioned or request to get something from you for free. I was ready to pay and still be satisfied your client. To be honest I was quitely expecting 50% off which in my opinion is fair for both. As said - in my opinion. Let me know what you think about it.
Thanks for your feedback Luckas, and I appreciate you being clear on this. 50% for us would be very hard to manage in the context of international trade where we operate (and it would basically equal the price of your Primov1 when new).
Usually we offer a buy-back discount on currently available products. But as high would be hard. Considering everything (and this case is very peculiar! ) I think 10% was appropriate. I am sorry if this was not the reply you wished for, I do understand that.
@Volumio I have nothing against your business - youâre selling Volumio streamer it and providing a 2-year warranty, as required by law - fine.
@Lukasz2 - when you buy a product, you read the warranty terms and, as I understand it, agree to them. After the warranty expires, no one will give you anything for free.
You can always buy a case - a Raspberry Pi 3/4/5 - with a USB or I2S DAC and assemble it yourself. It doesnât cost much. The assembly itself isnât difficult either.
So, if you have the login / password details for the lifetime license (Superstar - Premium), it will work on new hardware as well.
@Lukasz2 I prefer to build my own network audio player.
In the event of a breakdown, Iâll replace the damaged parts myself.
There are many threads on the forum about building your own audio streamer with Volumio.
@volumio I saw you did edit your first message and delete info about creating new superstar code for me so I want to clarify. IF I buy e.g. Smsl n100 streamer which was built in cooperation with Volumio, will my account does have superstar featuers when I sure my account to log on it.
Just to be crystal clear: I am in no way affiliated with Volumio, apart from wearing the fashionable (and unpaid) moderator hat.
In this case, I do back the story @volumio is telling. Theyâre still offering a discount on an old unit, which, believe it or not, is actually pretty decent.
And trust me, others do it way worse. I wonât name brands, but letâs just say I have firstâhand experience:
A very wellâknown headphone brand with a wellâknown design flaw in the rechargeable batteries of certain IEMs. Battery failed twice, replaced twice⌠third failure? Sorry sir, 2 weeks out of warrantyâcomputer says no.
A Dutch company with a highâend TV line. Bought with 6 years extended warranty. TV died in year 3. Spare parts? Gone. Solution? A generous 20% discount on a new TV. Yes, this was still under warranty. Outstanding move.
@volumio I know Iâm a week late on this, but since I only get weekly updates on topics, I only just now saw this discussion. And Iâd like to offer a different perspective.
Two things: one, I think itâs unfair to use the 8 year age of the product to defend your inability to support it. You were apparently still selling it just 2 years ago, so therefore you were still able to obtain its components much more recently than 8 years ago. So, youâre basically saying that you didnât have replacement parts stockpiled for more than 2 years. Now donât get me wrong - Iâm not aware of any law that says you must do otherwise; thatâs strictly a business decision. But I think itâs unfair to point to the origins of the device in defense of your inability to support it. Rather, the relevant date is the one on which you last sold the item.
Two, considering how quickly this particular device failed, I donât think itâs appropriate to take another profit on its replacement, and I would be very surprised if your profit margin is only 10%. I think a just resolution would be a discount equal to your actual profit. In other words, you should offer a similar item at cost. This could be done privately, to avoid public disclosure of your margins, with an âNDAâ if necessary, but I think itâs the right thing to do for this customer and to let other customers and potential customers know that you stand behind your products, even though you canât support lifetime warranties on everything.
I assume the smsl n100 is great, but Iâm in doubt whether it will be possible to update the version of Volumio already after 2-3 years. Itâs somehow a closed system and therefore it depends on how long smsl is prepared to continue porting new versions. Probably not much longer than until a successor is available
so I want to clarify. IF I buy e.g. Smsl n100 streamer which was built in cooperation with Volumio, will my account does have superstar featuers when I sure my account to log on it.