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This article was published on July 20, 2016

Angry Vive owner bashes HTC customer service for losing his VR set


In addition to maintaining a blog on virtual reality, VRGamingEvolved also runs a YouTube channel where he reviews various VR experiences with his HTC Vive. But for the past several weeks, he’s been involved in a tedious customer service nightmare with HTC that has rendered him unable to do his job.

The complications first began seven weeks ago when he sent in his HTC Vive for a routine repair and maintenance procedure after experiencing issues with the display of the headset.

Unfortunately, when the set came back, the glitches continued to persist.

After a series of futile exchanges, HTC customer service accused VRGamingEvolved of lying about his malfunctioning Vive and refused to provide further assistance.

If this wasn’t enough, the customer service rep he spoke to claimed that the repairs team had replaced the faulty cathode ray tube which was causing the reported issues.

While this misleading explanation could fool someone less familiar with the technology, it immediately alerted VRGamingEvolved that HTC customer service is not giving him the full story – VR headsets don’t have cathode ray tubes.

Forced to deal with the issue alone, the YouTuber reached out to HTC Vice President Daniel O’Brien, who offered to send the device to Dynafix (HTC’s repair shop in the Netherlands) again – this time to replace the broken display.

This is when things went astray. When the ten day window (within which HTC promises to fix malfunctions) passed, VRGamingEvolved got in touch with customer service only to find out his headset had vanished without a trace.

At present, the YouTuber is still trying to get back his beloved Vive headset, but to no avail: He tells me HTC customer service cannot tell him where the gadget is or when he can expect to receive it.

Given the importance that HTC places on virtual reality, the company can’t afford to alienate potential buyers with shitty customer service.

VRGamingEvolved is not the only one struggling with HTC customer service; other users have also complained about the company’s inability to handle repairs appropriately.

If HTC is to overcome its financial woes, it needs to face its customer service problems head-on and do it as soon as possible.

In any case, the HTC Vive is a wonderful product. All it needs is a customer service team that represents it accordingly.

As VRGamingEvolved says: “HTC Vive is great when it works, but it’s a horrific ordeal to get it fixed when it doesn’t.”

You can watch the video where VRGamingEvolved details his anguishes with HTC Customer service here.

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