Page 1 of Cyberhome’s lack of support

I'd like to warn other members about Cyberhome's lack of support

I bought a Cyberhome 528 from www.dvdplayers.co.uk for Christmas. It developed a series of faults. I contacted www.dvdplayers.co.uk and was told to ring Cyberhome, who would supply a replacement.

I rang Cyberhome who promised to send a new replacement machine. They sent a battered box containing a reconditioned machine. I complained and Cyberhome said they would send another unit out and that it would be brand new.

It duly arrived and turned out to be another reconditioned unit. I contacted Cyberhome again and was told they had no new ones in stock and I would have to wait a month. I also complained to the vendor

The following day Cyberhome rang to say they had found a new machine, but it was a different colour. When it arrived, no surprises here, it was a reconditioned unit. Again I complained to Cyberhome and www.dvdplayers.co.uk.

A week on and nothing from either company. I gave up on Cyberhome and concentrated on the seller. They responded quickly this time, claiming that the last email I had sent did not arrive. It seems that Cyberhome is the only brand they stock that they do not handle the after sales service for. Cyberhome handles all that. It appears that their policy is not to replace new for new, and rather than repair your machine they will send out somebody else's machine that they have had to repair. As many people mistreat their kit, who knows what state of machine you would get back from repair?

www.dvdplayers.co.uk assure me that the particular machine is generally good and they have had little trouble from it, but acknowledge that Cyberhome is not doing a good enough job. They are reviewing their options of whether or not to continue stocking Cyberhome, but currently they still do.

I have been offered two options - a refund or pay the extra for a Toshiba (minus a £10 discount). I will take the refund.

Thats a pitty, Cyberhome DVD players I have found to be good value for money. I know people are always wise after the event but you should have gone to WHSmith for this player, You wouldnt have had all that messing around if you had. Although you have had a bad time with this machine thay are actually quite good, And I wouldnt be suprised given you got a good one and not a duffer that you`d be impressed!

I have the Cyberhome N212 bought from Smith`s 15months ago and have had no problems with it whatsoever. It even had the instructions for making it multiregion with it.

When the Cyberhome machine worked it gave good results. But I can`t help but question the ethics of a company that trys to fob off obviously reconditioned machines as new.

I have just had the very same experience this is uncanny.
And the odd thing is DVD players don`t give out their telephone number on the invoice.
I have been offered the refund or wait for it £5 pounds discount on the Toshiba player.
Is the Toshiba player any good?

It has happened to you as well? Darren Halket of DVD Players told me that I was the only one who had trouble with this player. Funny huh?

He offered me £10 off the Toshiba. I`m taking the refund and going elsewhere.

He said that the telephone number is not on the paperwork because "they are moving office". He eventually supplied me a number to dial - 0161 443 3380. Although I had to get very blunt and threaten to contact Trading Standards before he stepped in.

I only tried it once and got an answer machine. However he rang me before I attempted to dial it again. He seemed a decent enough bloke, and said that it`s only Cyberhome machines that have aftercare handled by the manufacturer and that they are "considering their options" regarding Cyberhome.

Choose your pick, but I`d say bye bye to them and go elsewhere.

Hi,

As a previous seller of the Cyberhome ADL-528 I can confirm that we have had a mountain of problems with these machines and have also experienced the same troubles with the Cyberhome Service Centre. In fact, I would go as far as saying that the quite awful "technical support" and "after sales service" offered by Cyberhome had probably tarnished our reputation somewhat.

In many instances our customers have gotten fed up waiting for Cyberhome to sort out a WORKING replacement and we have simply exchanged the unit ourselves. I can re-count a few instances where Cyberhome`s (and our own) replacements also failed out in the field - we at Mail UK never despatch or sell an untested machine, every DVD Player is verified as working before it leaves us.

Every consignment of AD-L528s we received in from Cyberhome had at least a couple of DOAs, but that could easily be attributed to their carrier so I will not make further comment on that.

The AD-L528 is supposed to be a step up from the previous machine the AD-N512, but in practice we found the 512 to be a good, reliable machine with the same level of video and audio performance.

Mail UK discontinued the AD-L528 during December 2001, having carried it for approx 4 months.

My advice to anyone considering the AD-L528 would be......don`t! Spend a little extra on a good, solid brand that you can trust.

Steve

This item was edited on Saturday, 2nd February 2002, 08:44

A friend has just asked me to help them set up the DVD player they got from WH Smith, as they were "obviously doing something wrong".

They were not doing anything wrong - other than buying a Cyberhome ADL-528 which was totally dead.

Upon returning it to W H Smith we were told "We have had loads of these back".

Nuff said!