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I would like to share MY and many others' very poor choice of headphones - the WH-1000XM3
Last year I spent 300+ EUR on a pair of headphones which broke by itself not even 9 months later, while stored in the carrying case. While I did appreciate the noise cancellation and very good audio performance of the equipment, I will forever complain about the materials and design of the product which are by no means up to par.
Here is the complaint I sent to Sony in my country (Romania):
Headband strap on left side has cracked during normal use. The product has been used between 2 and 6 hours per day, always handled with exceptional care and stored in the supplied carrying case. Given the nature of the design of the product, putting it in and taking it out of the carrying case requires adjusting the headband and using the folding mechanism.
It is my finding that the materials used are not strong enough to withstand forces applied during normal use, considering that the headband has to adjust and flex each time the product is taken out of the carrying case and put on the head, or laid to rest around the neck.
During the day of the defect manifesting, the product had only been used for barely 5 minutes in the morning and then stored in the original supplied carrying case, not being moved, dropped or otherwise forced in any other way. In preparation of the second use round of the day, I took the headphones out of the carrying case and put them around my neck, as it is normal to carry them, during which I found that they felt flimsier than usual and uncomfortable, with a pointy protuberance on the left side of the headband.
This is how I found what I will show you in the pictures below - the headband strap has cracked without any kind of dropping or forcing other than normal usage movements, rendering the product unusable under normal conditions - it is now uncomfortable to wear and the toughness of the outward structure of the headphones is now insufficient and under normal usage movements the whole left cup assembly could come loose from the top headband exposing the wires and folding mechanism. The newly developed dent is a scratching or cutting hazard to the neck and can also clip hair into it.
I was required by the service center to pay around 90 EUR for the repair, which I will not do. I have measured the broken part and it is a merely 2 milimeter plastic strap that is supposed to take all the forces of bending the headband when putting your headphones on your head or when storing them in the supplied case/pouch/thingie.
I find it absolutely impossible to accept that Sony is treating their customer base as morons. I have had countless support calls with the official Romania support number of Sony (+40372723019) and their support forms on the website or email addresses, all to be told that this is a problem with my handling and usage of the product and not a recurring problem.
I believe this is a recurring problem that has popped up so many times here on the forums and on several other outlets like distributor websites and independent reviews, not to say that this has also been a problem with a different product from the same family that was prone to the whole headband cracking.
I have started posting reviews wherever I can to spread the word about not buying this questionably-constructed product and I invite you all to do the same.
Here are all the other threads that Sony support dismisses as all being user faults, even though they are all in a common failure point of the product and in short terms of usage:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2KP9SL1SUA7R7/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07GDR2LYK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3PJHVNC64LUCC/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07GDR2PH9
https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx1UIVMLSVN6IIO/4/ref=ask_al_psf_al_hza
https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/edbpbr/wh1000mx3_broke_warranty/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/9rljs3/does_the_1000xm3_still_have_the_hinge_cracking/
Please don't be dumb and buy Bose or JBL or Audiotechnica or just about anything else that actually has a warranty that you know... solves stuff.
Update (BAD NEWS):
I have contacted Sony support in my country by phone, email and website ticket but everyone is telling me it´s damage I caused and I need to pay 90+ EUR for the fix. Sony Support is outsourced through a company called SYKES and they are bragging what a good financial gain they help Sony with in their reports - https://www.sykes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sonypresentation.pdf
These outsourced call center agents and email representatives DO NOT work for Sony and they refuse to pass the issue to actual SONY people. It´s incredible that these topics have so many people complaining and Sony tries to tell us there´s no problem with the product and to pay for the repairs out of warranty in their overpriced service centers with overpriced parts!
Is anyone official even reading these forums?!?!
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