Archos tech support - just crap?

[mitchelln]

I have sent 3 technical support emails to Archos now. For each one I get an email saying they will respond within 2 days (which is crap in itself), but they simply don't. 5 days has gone past for my first two now.
What is the general view of their support? Do they only respond to French emails?

[Budwzr]

Archos tech support is handled by an outside company. Sales is done by Archos employees. Try calling sales and see if they can put you through to a supervisor or manager.

[Andy W]

This is a VERY good tip in my view.

Only if you deal with actual Archos company employees will anything get done about the terrible after sales support that many of you experience...if sales staff have to go to their weekly meetings and all they do is moan about complaints that have got put throught to them then some very necessary improvements might result.

[Bartoman]

Yeah, I'm with you on this one, now.

I sent in a tech thingy, and here was what I told them:



And here was the reply:



Makes a lot of sense, right?

You'd think that the people who handled the tech support would at least take the time to actually read the messages right?

Yeah, I'm gonna call the sales team, and see what that gets me.

anyone got the US number?

[Icosphere]

Hi I agree totally... Their support is non-existent... I have had no replies too! If this is how they handle customers then they will go down soon I'm sorry to say... The product is only good if there is a strong after-sales support for them.. We'll wait and see...

[Budwzr]

Yeah, I'm with you on this one, now.

I sent in a tech thingy, and here was what I told them:



And here was the reply:



Makes a lot of sense, right?

You'd think that the people who handled the tech support would at least take the time to actually read the messages right?

Yeah, I'm gonna call the sales team, and see what that gets me.

anyone got the US number?

After reading your "tech" question, I'm starting to side with Archos. Sound quality is a subjective thing, and means something different to different people. There is a manual EQ you can adjust, bass boost, and there are EQ presets. What more can you reasonably expect Archos to do?

Tim S. has always given me great support, if you answer his question, he will probably tell you to set the 604 EQ to "flat" so their is no enhancement, and adjust the sound on your stereo's EQ.

[Bartoman]

Sir,

Some may be relatively ignorant to sound quality, and think that it should all sound the same.

I, on the other hand, do take close notice to what I'm listening to. And by sending the message in this format, and wording as such, I tried to explain what the sound was doing.

Perhaps you have a reason as to why the unit sounds underpowered when the bass kicks?

I've been messing with audio for more than a few years, and it's not something that can be fixed through the already discovered equalizer that my unit sports.

I didn't buy the 604 because it looks pretty. I bought it because it's got more good/great reviews than the rest.

So, whereas Tim S. has given you some really helpful advice, and direction, he shot me back an answer that had no relevance whatsoever to any part of the question asked.

I'm honestly not meaning to be rude, but did you even look at the question I asked?

[mitchelln]

Archos tech support is handled by an outside company. Sales is done by Archos employees. Try calling sales and see if they can put you through to a supervisor or manager.

Oh dear, so they've gone down the outsourcing road have they. This never works.

I should not have to run up a phone bill calling a sales guy to try to get them to badger support. I am in the UK, so call costs will be high. This is simply ridiculous and I will now think twice before buying another Archos device.

I don't understand why Archos is risking their position like this. They have the reputation of selling top end players at top end prices. They've pretty much got the high end market sewn up at present. However, competition is now hotting up and they risk blowing it.

I have just sent an email to uk-sales@archos.com, us-sales@archos.com and france-sales@archos.com. Let's see what happens!

[Budwzr]

Sir,

Some may be relatively ignorant to sound quality, and think that it should all sound the same.

I, on the other hand, do take close notice to what I'm listening to. And by sending the message in this format, and wording as such, I tried to explain what the sound was doing.

Perhaps you have a reason as to why the unit sounds underpowered when the bass kicks?

I've been messing with audio for more than a few years, and it's not something that can be fixed through the already discovered equalizer that my unit sports.

I didn't buy the 604 because it looks pretty. I bought it because it's got more good/great reviews than the rest.

So, whereas Tim S. has given you some really helpful advice, and direction, he shot me back an answer that had no relevance whatsoever to any part of the question asked.

I'm honestly not meaning to be rude, but did you even look at the question I asked?

Yes, I did read the question.

The answer is that audiophiles are never going to be happy with sound coming from a low-power portable device playing compressed music.

Check the frequency response range on the specs for the answer to your bass question. And as far as muddled goes, maybe your peaks are clipped in your mp3s?

Maybe the sound file has been over-compressed, maybe the gain is too high?

Another option is to try using a Burr-Brown headphone amp. I have one. With an inline amp, you can lower the source volume until the distortion goes away, then use the amp to boost it back up.

[Budwzr]

Another option is to buy a low impedance set of earphones. Personally I like the Shure line. Shure invented the directional mic, and are the market leaders in professional in-ear monitor headphones. Check out the E2C model.

Here's a link to a good headphone amp. I own this one and can honestly recommend it, although it is pricey. But if you want to really crank up the Boston or Styx or ZZ Top, this is a must have.

http://www.practicaldevices.com/

[mitchelln]

I have still had no response from Archos for any of my queries! Can you believe it?

Archos tech support is handled by an outside company. Sales is done by Archos employees. Try calling sales and see if they can put you through to a supervisor or manager.

Oh dear, so they've gone down the outsourcing road have they. This never works.

I should not have to run up a phone bill calling a sales guy to try to get them to badger support. I am in the UK, so call costs will be high. This is simply ridiculous and I will now think twice before buying another Archos device.

I don't understand why Archos is risking their position like this. They have the reputation of selling top end players at top end prices. They've pretty much got the high end market sewn up at present. However, competition is now hotting up and they risk blowing it.

I have just sent an email to uk-sales@archos.com, us-sales@archos.com and france-sales@archos.com. Let's see what happens!

[mitchelln]

Still nothing. Even after emailing their US, UK and French sales emails.
This is unacceptable behavior. Archos obviously don't care once they have extracted your cash from you.
I am now going to write to the UK office expressing my dissatisfaction!

I have still had no response from Archos for any of my queries! Can you believe it?

Archos tech support is handled by an outside company. Sales is done by Archos employees. Try calling sales and see if they can put you through to a supervisor or manager.

Oh dear, so they've gone down the outsourcing road have they. This never works.

I should not have to run up a phone bill calling a sales guy to try to get them to badger support. I am in the UK, so call costs will be high. This is simply ridiculous and I will now think twice before buying another Archos device.

I don't understand why Archos is risking their position like this. They have the reputation of selling top end players at top end prices. They've pretty much got the high end market sewn up at present. However, competition is now hotting up and they risk blowing it.

I have just sent an email to uk-sales@archos.com, us-sales@archos.com and france-sales@archos.com. Let's see what happens!

[roylovelock]

if you have purchased the unit from a large shop such as currys then just return it to them, i had a gmini402 that failed to keep bookmarks when turned off and they exchanged it np when the unit was 9months old and started a new warrenty starting from that date.

[mitchelln]

I bought it online and I'll no doubt have agro sending it back as the vendor will probably argue that it's not physically faulty. My gripe is with the AAC support - it does not support seeking or fast forwarding. There's also a bug in shuffle mode where it doesn't show the tags.
Plus, Archos have really got my back up here. Particularly as the AAC playback is an extra feature I've had to pay for. It's not fit for purpose in my book. I can't stand companies that treat their customers like this. It is unacceptable. I shall battle on!

if you have purchased the unit from a large shop such as currys then just return it to them, i had a gmini402 that failed to keep bookmarks when turned off and they exchanged it np when the unit was 9months old and started a new warrenty starting from that date.

[nukeypearce]

I found if you set the eq to custom, the first band all the way up but 2, second and third band off completely and the 4th and fifth up full it gives a better response. I find that one more suitable to rock/metal than the standard presets.

Nuke

[mitchelln]

I finally got a response by emailing us-info@archos.com (the only email that seems to work). They told me that none of my emails had been received (even though I got the "You will get a response within two business days emails back for each one).
The subject line of the email I finally received from Archos that had bounced around the organisation ended in **SPAM**. So it looks like all email sent to technical support is being flagged as spam and discarded.

If you need help I can only suggest that you send it to us-info@archos.com. Perhaps if they get enough queries on that address they'll fix the support one!

They promised to look into my queries, but here we are 10 days later and I've heard nothing.

Still nothing. Even after emailing their US, UK and French sales emails.
This is unacceptable behavior. Archos obviously don't care once they have extracted your cash from you.
I am now going to write to the UK office expressing my dissatisfaction!

[nukeypearce]

if you have purchased the unit from a large shop such as currys then just return it to them, i had a gmini402 that failed to keep bookmarks when turned off and they exchanged it np when the unit was 9months old and started a new warrenty starting from that date.

...here here... any ideas when currys will start selling the new gen 5? My 504 has gone a bit faulty!

[Icosphere]

I finally got a response by emailing us-info@archos.com (the only email that seems to work). They told me that none of my emails had been received (even though I got the "You will get a response within two business days emails back for each one).
The subject line of the email I finally received from Archos that had bounced around the organisation ended in **SPAM**. So it looks like all email sent to technical support is being flagged as spam and discarded.

If you need help I can only suggest that you send it to us-info@archos.com. Perhaps if they get enough queries on that address they'll fix the support one!

They promised to look into my queries, but here we are 10 days later and I've heard nothing.

Still nothing. Even after emailing their US, UK and French sales emails.
This is unacceptable behavior. Archos obviously don't care once they have extracted your cash from you.
I am now going to write to the UK office expressing my dissatisfaction!

Unfortunately I get the same response from uk-info@archos.com - same old rubbish...

Customer support is totally crap.