Audiovox Class-Action suit - Is yours defective?

[Newsboy]

I am considering starting a class-action lawsuit against Audiovox for failure to repair my Maestro. Specifically, failure to honor their warranty, false advertising, and deceptive business practices.

Reason being that I sent my Maestro back for warranty service recently with a very detailed list of five specific problems I was having. I just received the unit back, the only service performed on it was "Customer complaint n/f (not found)", and "Hard reset". I specifically detailed in my letter that performing a hard reset did not fix the problem. So now I have a PocketPC that I trust so little that I dare not use any longer, since I've lost my data more than 5 times in the past two months.

I also just heard from my best friend who purchased a refurb from CompUSA for her brother for Christmas. Same story, he's been having very specific issues, like the unit shutting off after 2 seconds, and Audiovox just returned it, un-repaired.

This is utterly frustrating. I have a device that has failed within the warranty period, they won't fix it, and now I'm out $300!!!

If you have a story about Audiovox's failure to repair, please post it here. Perhaps if they hear enough voices, they'll change their practices. Barring that, I would not be beyond initiating a class-action suit to get my (our) money back. I'm not a fan of lawsuits in general, but people who break the law should pay!

[ECOslin]

I sent mine in for depot maintenance about the battery lasting less than 3 hours in average usage. Customer problem not found. I recently had the occurance of taking it from the docking station about 7am, and having it dead, when I took it out of my bag to use it at 10am. I had to restore the whole thing from scratch.

I've started Activesync to backing up every time it hits the cradle. I thought about selling it and found that there is just not enough of a market of used Audiovox's to come near what I've spent. I was thinking of selling it and buying something with a better rep.

I've been feeding different programs to it, to find it's niche, in my life. I have shown off it's bluetooth connection with my desktop, but that's not a real purpose yet. It's also more impressive when I pull it out and it works. I pulled it out to help sketch some design ideas for someone, and found it had no paint program. Which I've since resolved with Jinzo paint.

I was certain that it might make a good inventory checklist device (and groceries), using Listpro. But it dumped the data and listing updates when the battery crashed.

I'm waiting for some good hardware hacks for the battery, I've tried the software registry hack for the battery, and Battery Pack 2003, and neither has stopped it from saying the battery is dead almost with one hour remaining. My best device, and most reliable, is still an old IBM z50 Handheld with it's 14 hour battery, built-in modem and basic apps.

I am more convinced, after writing this, that $150 on Ebay doesn't sound so bad after all.

Edward

[Paul]

I've had some problems with my Maestro.
After hearing about the "repair process" and the fact that I use my PPC daily, I decided not to send it in. I figure I'll keep using it till I buy a replacement.

1.Delayed/no reponse to power button presses.
2.Backlight would not work on occasions. (holding down power button for 5 secs doesn't work, have to manually navigate to backlight menu in the dark! Thankfully, Battery Pack makes that a little easier.)
3.And yes, battery life is pretty low (<3hr) especially with my Netgeart MA701 WiFi CF card plugged in. I hear the Axim folks are getting ~9hrs! (I know, new device, new battery but still...)

[hgwte]

I had a major issue with my Maestro (the screen went out ) I sent it in and I thought it was still under warranty but the LCD wasn't covered. I spoke to a customer service person and they told me $75.00 but when I called back the price had jump up to almost $200 dollars. I told them I will just by a new one and I did the DELL Axim X5 (400 MHZ). The battery life is superb and device itself feels more sturdy in your hand. The cradle is so unique it lights up the world "DELL" in blue. You get more for your money when purchasing this DELL Axim X5 $299 with rebate.