I ordered an OUTLAW 1050. When I received it, it would not turn on. I called tech support, and they had no luck walking me through the troubleshooting steps. They said that they will mail me a new one overnight.
I figured OK, I got a lemon. It happens sometimes.

I received the new one, it turns on successfully. Woohoo! I hook it up and the front right channel does not work. I try trouble shooting it myself, switching L&R speakers, checking the balance, checking the surround settings, you name it. The front right was dead.

Tech support walked me through troubleshooting steps to no avail.

2 BAD units!!! The odds of two very obvious errors making it through QC makes me question the company’s QC. They evidently did have good QC in the past or there would not have been rave reviews for OUTLAW here on this forum.

They offered to overnight me another one, what are the chances I’d get another lemon? I figured I’d gamble if the price was dropped by $100. They said no way. Probably a good thing. If they can’t find obvious errors, what are the chances they’d find more subtle errors?

I’m greatly saddened by this, I wanted this unit for about 2 years. Also, to top it off, I spent 3 hours performing quality control, packaging and shipping duties for the Outlaw company w/o compensation.

And then to top off that, They don't refund the shipping costs.

Caveat emptor,

Fresno

That doesn't sound too cool...

While we do not refund the original shipping charges on a return, we do pay for its return shipping. In the event of a swap out, we pick up all of the associated shipping charges. If you have an opportunity on Monday morning I would very much like to speak with you so that we may reach a more satisfactory conclusion. Please call 866-688-5297 at your convenience.

Best Regards,

Scott

In your product order link on the Outlaw web page, it is stated:



According to it, it seems that you should refund the original shipping charges, and let him pay for the return shipping.

Regards,

[This message has been edited by BleakShore (edited October 26, 2003).]

I appreciate your feedback, unfortunately, this policy was changed as the original delivery service had already been rendered. In addition, providing return labels has proven to be easier and less hassle for those customers who choose to take advantage of our thirty day satisfaction guarantee. Our web site was previously modified to reflect these procedural changes.


Regards,

Scott

I find your response and actions rather disturbing.

1. You just closed the previous thread titled "Outlaw quality control is questionable", so no one can respond to your last post.

2. Your statement "Our web site was previously modified to reflect these procedural changes." was changed after I pointed the fact to you.

The "policy" was obviously modified on the weekend of October 24th 2003, to be precise, after I pointed the discrepancy between the posted policy and your actual practice.

I feel unjustly treated as this makes me sound like a liar.

3. It is obvious Outlaw feels it is ok not to abide by what they say on their web site.

- The 1050 Doly EX case is one.
See "Problem with Harry Potter DVD chamber" thread, HarryPotterThread

- This shipping issue is another one.
See "Outlaw quality control is questionable" QualityControlThread

You will simply change the policy after the deed has been done. A neat trick. Totally uncool.

Regards,

[This message has been edited by BleakShore (edited October 27, 2003).]

Dear BleakShore,

Scott's answer to you previous post reflected the fact that Outlaw's return policy was modified in several locations on the Outlaw Website. When the order form was recently updated to include some pricing and product changes, an old copy of the policy was inadvertently included in the upload. You can confirm this by visiting the following link . You are correct that the order form was updated to relect your observation, however you are not correct that any intent was made to deceive. The policy change was made to facilitate returns for our customers and allows us to properly insure and track return shipments of valuable merchandise that often was not shipped properly in the past. This new policy has been much easier for our customers and has allowed us to continue to deliver the level of customer service that we have built our reputation on.

You are also correct that by closing this thread, you were unable to post a reply. As such, we have reopened this thread until this topic is sufficiently aired.

Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

Regards,
The Outlaw Webmaster

Everybody: Take a deep, deep breath.

I believe 2 things:

1. Even if a person or company always tries to do the right and ethical thing, some people will not be happy, and cannot be made happy. This is not to say they don't have a reason to be unhappy, but no matter how hard an honest person or company tries, there will be problems that can't be resolved.

2. All companies have problems with their products. However, we don't hear about all the recalls or failed units because, unlike Outlaw, there is no forum provided to easily air these problems. At Outlaw, there is a real, live person reading postings and trying to help--can't say that about most businesses.

Suggestion: Give it a week, then post what Outlaw has done to resolve the issue. Problems with products are expected--the key is what happens to resolve the problem.

[This message has been edited by michaelstano (edited October 27, 2003).]

It's very rare that a company will talk with customers and try and solve issues. I'd rather have "trouble" with a company that will at least work with ya!

Let me secound the statement that Outlaw goes the extra mile. Scott has been more than helpful and patient with my /s and has been willing to talk me through stuff while I sit in front of my system. Rather rare!

No company that sells a product has zero dfects.

The good part is that the earlier poster got two so another person could avoid the problem -

Stick with Outlaw; the system is worth the hasle & the people are great to deal with.

Yeah, try to get Sony or some other faceless company to send you a new unit (or two!) as a swap for a defective one!!!!

Outlaw support is first rate from everything I've seen.

I agree that customer support if you have a broken product is first rate. My first 1050 was DOA. I received the 2nd and a shipping label to send the defective unit back without having to take the unit in anywhere to prove it was defective. Ongoing usage support is also first rate and better than I have experienced anywhere else.

However, I am less than enthralled with the problems with 5.1 playback of some DD5.1 EX encoded source material and the Outlaws failure to supply correct information about the problem. I am disappointed that they have not announced plans to remediate the problem (even an extra cost option might be attractive). I am appalled that they have failed to even acknowledge the extent of the problem on their web-site.

Isn't the D 5.1EX flag problem fixed by simply turning on the 6th rear center channel and simply not putting the unit in 6.1 mode if you don't actually have the 6th speaker ? What is so appalling about this ? Unless you are refering to a different problem I think the forum covers the issue; however, I agree it should be added to the 1050 FAQ since I have seen several threads on this issue.

There have been a couple discs come out this year (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets being the first one) with a somewhat different form of the flag that causes the dropout problem when the center surround speaker is disabled and forces the Surround 6.1 mode to enable when the center surround is enabled (which can be a bummer when there's no speaker there).

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This thread is being closed because its current topic is already being discussed in another thread.