Very POOR customer service experience

[Melvin]

Hello CamMan,

I understand how frustrating an experience that has been for you. So after firmware update smart play cannot play the dav files the cameras are recording? Are you exporting the file using smart play to any other format? Are you recording video to an FTP location?

[tstone3]

MELVIN... Exactly as expected, still no callback as promised by you from Mario or Luis!!! What needs to happen to escalate this so that I can get some resolution???



CamMan - I appreciate you adding that I am not the only one receiving this customer support. I would find it hard to believe I was the only one with the support I've gotten (actually lack there of). I want to like this product, and I think it could be great, but AMCREST sure is making it easy for me not to pass my recommendations on to anyone else. I haven't left feedback on Amazon either as I still hope that they will make this right. Good luck with your issues as well.

[mlahonta]

I'm trying to get a message to your leaders so you can better support your product. I just bought this NV4108E and this IP3M-954E and I need to go over some things with someone. So I call the tech support.

This is when I realize just how bad things are with your company. The web site shows this nice helpfull chat window with these proper American fellows just ready to help you buy. But when I call support it's some person in India, who barely speaks the same language as me. There is a disconnect there.

So I proceed to try and work with the fellow. I tell him that I didn't get an alert this morning. I know by now that this could be for a multitude of reasons. The camera could be offline, the network connection could be down, the box could be turned off, the sendto address could be bad, the SMTp settings could be bad, motion detection area could be poorly defined, many things could be wrong. So what do I get?

"When was the alert supposed to be?"

"Well, about 8:10am I guess."

"You using gmail?"

"Uh, not for my outgoing mail server"

"Yeah, gmail had a problem just around that time today. P2P settings, blah blah blah."

This is when I realize just how bad things are with your company. Firstly, he's jumped right to the thing that isn't his problem. Secondly, he didn't hear me when I said, "not for my outgoing mail server." I realized just who you have supporting your software and politely told him he had answered all my questions and hung up.

Fix it. That's really bad.

[tstone3]

Melvin,
Can you please help me out, this is truly getting out of hand... I am now being told the system which amcrest agreed to replace is on backorder (3-4 weeks). I was told that they could not duplicate my problem in their lab and because of this I am unable to review any footage which pretty much makes the system useless. This has now been going on for nearly 2 months. I had previously asked for an upgrade because of all this hassle and they completely avoided that question and now that the system i have is on backorder, I was hoping they might step up to the plate to make this right... Please see my most recent email response from Rico, is this acceptable customer service in your eyes? Can you please HELP? Can you put me in contact with someone STATESIDE that will actually be able to HELP ME?

Thank you in advance...



Rico Pennington (Amcrest)
Aug 10, 10:31 AM CST

Hi Tstone3,

We regret to inform you that our 720 16 channel Eco DVR inventory is currently out of stock. We are expecting to have these items back in stock within 3-4 weeks. We understand that this can be an inconvenience, and we are working on possible solutions to this matter. However, at the time we are unable to send out replacement units for this product.

Once we receive these items we will proceed with processing your RA for shipment.
We have created your Return Authorization Number: RA50077467588.

However, we can add your name and RA# to our list so we can reserve a replacement unit for you. Please let us know if you'd like to proceed with reserving a replacement unit.​

If you have additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to inform us.​

Thank you and have a nice day!

[Melvin]

Hello tstone3,

Our tech team could not reproduce the issue you encounter with the product, so the ideal solution is to replace your system. Unfortunately the product you have is out of stock as per RMA department and they have put you on hold list for replacement and will be processed on priority basis.

[tstone3]

Melvin,
What about the 2 months I have already been waiting up to this point? And now you want me to wait another 3-4 weeks (again, which i highly doubt is the case either) and be satisfied? My system if cannot be replaced with the same system (because of a backorder) should in my opinion be replaced with the upgraded model for all my frustration. I put the cameras in to monitor suspicious activitiy at my business and have not been able to do so, this is why I am so frustrated. I have proposed being upgraded to the (AMDV108116-8B-B) DVR and a response wasn't even given, can you make this happen or talk to someone that can?

Thank you,
tstone3

[tstone3]

Just tried calling in to see if I could try talking to someone on the phone, AGAIN! After 20 minutes of trying to get thru to "Calvin" I was told I was being transferred to someone who could help and was hung up on. This is by far the worst customer experience I have ever received. NOBODY can seem to help me...

[Melvin]

Hello tstone3 ,

Our RMA team has emailed you with their extn to reach them directly. Please call us asap.

[CamMan]

Hello CamMan,

I understand how frustrating an experience that has been for you. So after firmware update smart play cannot play the dav files the cameras are recording? Are you exporting the file using smart play to any other format? Are you recording video to an FTP location?

Hello Melvin,
I just read your response...and I understand you have no idea of my familiarity with computers or have direct knowledge of what I've been through with the other "support personnel", in particular the questions and answers already addressed. So, I will answer your questions. The files are saved in the dav format (.dav file extension). I also save the files per the cameras default naming system. At the time of this original post, I was not able to view the files, so Smart Play could not be used to change the format for exporting, which I had tried just in case...figuring maybe I could just change the file format and view them outside of Smart Play...but as I said, that did not work. I have no other way to change the format of the files. I have not tried changing the format since. I have been recording the video to an FTP location...a NAS which is a direct part of my local network. I have copied the files to the computer drive with the Smart Play software on it. I've even tried copying the files directly into the Smart Play file system, but it made no difference. Contrary to the stated ability of the Smart Play software, I used to be able to play the recordings directly from my NAS as well, without having to copy them to my desktop PC. This is probably possible because it is an in-house networked NAS. Either way, it has not worked right since.

Now that I answered those questions, perhaps you could answer a couple for me which may be useful to me.
1 - Can I revert to the prior firmware for the cameras? (The last person I contacted said he would find that out, along with stating someone call me back. Maybe he found out...but I was not contacted and told if I could revert to the prior firmware.)
2 - If I can revert to the old firmware, can you send it to me for each of the respective cameras?
3- If the two questions above are answered with a YES, then what would I be giving up or what bugs would I be reintroducing? Am I giving up security fixes? Bug fixes? Your firmware update site does not tell why a new firmware was issued, which would be very helpful to know, because I would not have updated the firmware if I knew the concerns the firmware reissue addressed did not affect me. So, what did the firmwares address?

Also, with persistence, I've uncovered an interesting nugget which may help in evaluating the issue with the camera firmware, though it behaves more like a Smart Play software issue, though I had not updated/changed that software installation prior to the issues with viewing recordings. Here is the nugget: The recordings play once, so long as I change the name of the saved video recording file. I cannot play them again unless I again change the name of the video recording file. Even once in Smart Play (as per the sidebar listing loaded/viewed videos) I cannot repeat the viewing. I have to change the file name and reload it into Smart Play. That does not sound like a firmware issue, unless there is some encoding in the video from the firmware relating to the naming of the file that is referenced in the Smart Play...which I know the firmware names the file...so maybe that is where the bug is. Perhaps you could forward this to someone who can look into the issue.

I look forward to a positive response from you Melvin. I'm sympathetic to you having to deal with the frustration of folks like myself. I bought the cameras from a U.S. Company figuring I would receive U.S. support.* I did not expect to have language barriers and perhaps other issues such as time zones (out of country in nature) causing issues with support. I passed up buying cheaper products that were not from U.S. based companies. I read your "About Us" on your website before I bought the two cameras and read this:

* "All of our US sales ship from within the United States and are guaranteed by our local US warranty and support services out of our Houston, TX, location."

Unless Houston Texas is now a part of India, I confirmed this is a lie, as your sales staff confirmed all the support services are out of India. It makes me wonder Melvin...are you in India as well?

The thing is, in Texas or India, it wouldn't bother me if the people answering the phone to provide technical support were fluent in the English language. I have friends who speak English as a secondary language, and often there are misunderstandings when it comes to the details of things. Some people I know consider them to be stupid as a result, but I know that is not the case, and I defend them on that level. But when it comes to electronics/computers and technical support, the base level of communication needs to be there in order to progress with resolving issues. There is no progress if someone cannot even get beyond asking the same questions over and over. They always want to log into my computer directly, and that ain't ever gonna happen when I can go through the settings myself, even ahead of the instructions being given, and confirm the settings are all good. I hope I did not offend anyone, as this paragraph was intended only to show why I expected to have a better support experience than I've had.

Thank you for replying Melvin, and as I said earlier, I look forward to a positive response.
CamMan

[CamMan]

No reply in over two weeks since I posted these details. No private message, no email. I STILL RECEIVE SALES EMAILS THOUGH! Gotta love it.