Sometimes, you end up making a bad choice even after conducting due diligence. Such is the case with my Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 Pro earphones, which sell for $194 at EarphoneSolutions.com, a terrific online store notwithstanding my experience.
I bought the super.fi Pro 5 to use with my iPod. After reading countless reviews, they seemed to best meet my criteria — sound isolation so that I could listen at lower volumes, a comfortable fit, high quality sound, black earphones and cable to match my iPod, and two carrying cases, one with cable management.
I bought a pair in April right before my trip to ABA TechShow. I thought the earphones sounded better than average, but I heard a hum between songs. I wrote to the company to ask if this hum was normal. Apparently not so I sent off my earphones for replacement.
One month later I received the replacement. Boy, was I disappointed. In the interim, Ultimate Ears had "improved" the super.fi by making the cable thicker, removing the cable management spindle from the metal carrying case, and eliminating the leather carrying case.
I would normally welcome a thicker cable except that it was clear, no longer black. I specifically bought the black model to match my black iPod. Now, it doesn't match.
The spindle inside the metal carrying case was slick — you would wrap the cable around it, and then tuck the earphones in the middle. Apparently, this spindle caused problems. Instead of redesigning the spindle, the company just gave up and removed it from the carrying case. Now, there's no way to neatly and quickly stow away your earphones.
Finally, the original super.fi also came with a leather carrying case — good for leaving at the office. The packaging still shows the leather carrying case, but it's not included.
I feel like I do not have the product I purchased. I've written to the company to request a replacement so that I can at least sell the earphones on eBay (earphones come in hygienic packaging so once you open them up they have little resale value). My complaint has fallen on deaf ears (pun intended) — no one has responded.
So basically, I'm screwed, but at least as a publisher I can tell my story.
Update (07/30/06): I finally got around to trying the new pair of super.fi Pro 5 earphones I received. Unfortunately, the left channel sounds weak and the hum still exists. I wrote to Ultimate Ears again, and again no one responded. Typically, senior executives care more about customer service than the people who actually handle customer service so I'm going to contact the CEO of the company about this ongoing issue. I'll report back.
Update (10/04/06): As is almost always the case, when you write to a CEO, you get results. The CEO didn't reply to me, but a senior executive did. He offered to replace my super.fi Pro 5 earphones, and told me that Ultimate Ears strives to provide top-notch customer service. Since I have not heard about any other customer service problems with Ultimate Ears, I'll chalk up my experience as an aberration. I still wish the earphones came in all black though. In related news, Ultimate Ears recently announced two new consumer products — triple.fi 10 ($400) and metro.fi 2 ($80). In light of this development, I'm tempted to sell my super.fi earphones on eBay and buy the triple.fi (or perhaps the Shure E500 PTH ($500)) for serious listening and the metro.fi for outdoor use.
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
