Many of you know that I've been a long time fan of Ume voice in Novato California and their headsets that have superior boom microphones with wind canceling and analog noise canceling that is really brilliant and clear. Up until recently, my main complaint was that they didn't offer a bluetooth version...
Recently, I realized that I have a stack of Ume Voice The Boom v4's that have all gone dead. One at a time... The microphones always go before the speakers so they all work for hearing people but none work for talking into. This is quite annoying. Annoying enough for one person to have seven of these headsets that I traditionally had rotated through to keep one working. Their motto to whisper and be heard is basically a joke 'most of the time' since it's more like 'yell and pray your headset hasn't died!'.
Last year, I ordered the UmeVoice The Boom model "E"; thinking how comfortable it would be to have a headset without an ear hook... I waited weeks (over 6) and weeks only to finally receive the headset dead on arrival. I called immediately and sent it back RMA under warranty... Two weeks later, it's returned as "fixed" (same headset just 'fixed')... Well, I am so excited that I immediately try out this headset and it works flawlessly for about a week... Then, bamn, microphone is dead again. I call and RMA it again... I get the RMA number and just forget to send the thing back, it's there, sitting in the box dead.
Today, I called because I'm out of working TheBoom headsets... Seven dead headsets, not one working. Several have gone back on RMAs under warranty before. The adapter cords, always a clunky solution to go from 2.5mm to 3.5mm for your iphone or blackberry have always died within weeks of getting them. So I have about 20 of those laying around dead... Very depressing.
What did customer service tell me? Well, it's too bad but only one headset is under warranty at this point and the "E" that I didn't send back originally but got the RMA number for (twice) is no longer under warranty so I can send it back now with the SAME RMA # but it's not covered under warranty... This is really bad customer service; they have just alienated a long time repeat customer.
I'm done. I wish I had more great things to say about these guys but the best thing I can say is that their headsets, when they work, are very good. I've had at least two (one v4 and one model E) arrive dead on arrival and one model O that had a sharp broken piece of plastic near the ear piece that cut me pretty well once (before I sanded it off). Quality control at UmeVoice is basically non-existent. I am convinced that they are the largest employer of deaf mutes in Novato for quality assurance. Nothing against deaf mutes but they shouldn't be used for EQ'ing audio devices or testing them. Just my opinion.
The Boom model O, E, and v4 are the ones I've used and can't recommend to anyone any longer. I hope that you find another solution that works as well as this one did for me for the brief time that their products did work. For now, I'm switching to the Plantronics Voyager Pro; probably the best headset available in bluetooth for sound quality. As a side note; my Plantronics MX510 was the backup headset I always fell back on when my Ume voice headsets have died in the past and despite not having as good noise canceling or wind noise reduction, their quality and customer service is light years ahead of Ume voice and I've never had to send one back for any type of repair...
Any questions? Feel free to email me directly.
Best,
-Alex
