HTC Hindrances — a VIVE VR headset customer experience

This summer my time was particularly limited, so I didn’t take any expensive holiday trip. Instead, I decided to invest my saved money into an HTC Vive Virtual Reality Kit.

I already had plenty of hardware to run VR graphics on (for other purposes) so I only had to buy the kit itself, which is 600 € in total.

This is not meant to be a review of the device; I haven’t even used it enough to properly give an opinion on the matter. This is the report of my experience with the customer support and HTC in general, the purpose of it being twofold:

1. A warning sign to anyone who might be interested in their products.
2. An example of what can be done if they try to take advantage of you as a customer.

I now understand HTC is widely known on the web as a bad company; I made the silly mistake of not informing myself better before buying. I was confident mainly because there are very few VR visors out there, the only options being HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and console-tied ones (PS4 VR): I thought to myself “since there are few competitors, neither of them can be a lot worse, right?”.

I don’t actually know if I was wrong (I never tried Oculus Rift), but I deeply regret buying a Vive now.

A promising start

The price itself did not seem very high to me at first especially considering that it was around 1000 € two or three years ago. I also thought that after all this time the technology would have settled and the product would have been safe and reliable.

After the payment the kit was delivered swiftly (a couple of working days), and I successfully installed everything in the same week I had the idea to buy it. The installation procedure is seamless and frankly that’s a big plus considering the complexity of the whole system.

I had already tried VR games, but it’s a wonder every time. Both me and my brother were very happy and satisfied; downloaded a bunch of games and had a lot of fun with it.

For almost two days.

The problem(s)

After about 7 hours of discontinued usage the headset started manifesting a serious issue. Whenever I turned it on with SteamVR the lenses were black; by activating the display mirror function I could see the stations tracking the headset correctly (the mirrored display moved accordingly) and the joysticks worked as well. After about 20 seconds the display mirror would go grey as well and the error message “The headset is connected but not tracking” popped up.

I tried all kinds of troubleshooting during the weekend, with no success. It was then when I first stumbled upon comments and threads about their product and customer service. Many people claimed their warranty was voided with no apparent reason, and they were struggling with an horrible, horrible customer support. Ironically, I started to sweat a little.

On the first Monday I started a chat with technical support. I had everything prepared and sent first all the results from possible experiments to pin down the problem (changed cables, power it up differently, etc…), so the guy I was talking to was able to close the case pretty fast. Not by solving the problem obviously, but he gave me a UPS package ticket to deliver the headset to their repair center and opened a repair case.

Here I’m going to state the first and only positive aspect of my whole experience with HTC: never, at any point, the HTC representative I was talking to was disrespectful, annoyed, rude or not paying enough attention to my issue.

One would think that’s the most basic stuff a company has to make sure holds in their customer service, but I learned from them not to take anything for granted.

So, the swiftness with which I was able to get a repair ticket and the professional attitude of the technician made me optimistic. He made me read their repair terms, stating that the time needed was 5 working days (barring shipping delays), which is pretty fast. I sent my headset, settled down and waited.

After a couple of weeks, still radio silence. The last news I had about it was the UPS tracker confirming the delivery a day after the package was sent.

To be honest I never actually believed they would fix it in 5 days, so I wasn’t even annoyed at that point. I did however try to track my repair ticket, just to be sure. There I found the first problem (if you don’t count my headset breaking down after two days): HTC repair tracking system doesn’t work.

As I understand it, it’s just that simple: there is a website online that allows you to insert your email, tracking and serial number to know what they are currently doing with your device; said website does not actually gives you the result, but just shows an error stating your ticket number cannot be found.

It wasn’t just me; you can find other people online complaining for the same issue. More importantly, the only solution seems to contact an HTC employee, possibly on their official forum, and ask them for clarification. When I questioned whether mine was an isolated case or when they were planning to fix their tracking service, they simply didn’t respond.

This process obviously defeats the entire purpose of having an online tracking service to begin with, which in turn begs the question: why is that website online? If it doesn’t work (and you know it) why not just take it down?

I suspect that this (like many other examples I’m going to list) is just a despicable practice used in HTC to slowly whittle down the ranks of people needing help from them. In fact, you can say it worked for me: after not seeing my tracking status I decided to wait a couple of days and try again. It bought them some time before I went to the next step.

That’s just me

Now, the next part isn’t really a bad thing. I mean it is, but probably just to me and/or a restricted group of sensitive individuals.

Their support forum sucks. I created an account and asked for help, which I promptly didn’t receive, but at least I was reassured. Synthesys (one of the forum’s moderator/technician) told me he was going to look into my case — namely, that I wasn’t able to track my device repair status.

He was really nice and gave me a fast response, but he didn’t really provide any insight on what the problem was or what he was going to do about it. He probably took my questions as the usual complain pack and pulled some strings to at least make sure I was kept updated.

Hi there,

Could you please provide me with your name, address, phone number, email address and any other ticket information you might have? The tracking number would be good as well. I’m in the US, but I can escalate you to one of our EU teams.

Thank you!

I was getting served, so I didn’t complain.

What really annoyed me though was the whole website. It took me no less than three attempts to post my request on the forums. The first time the thread just didn’t show up, with no explanation; when I submitted the second, I immediately received an email saying that my thread was removed for spamming, and to wait for moderator review. I waited for a couple of days (again, buying them time) and tried again, finally successful.

Next, there were the notification emails.

1. One for signing up
2. One to congratulate confirming my email
3. One to celebrate my first post (that got immediately deleted)
4. Another one to celebrate my second post
5. One to notify that my second post was removed for spamming
6. One complimenting my for my first private message (received)
7. One complimenting my for my first private message (sent)
8. And so on, for every single basic operation (reply, comment, like,…)

Almost 10 emails in the span of three days. Extremely annoying, but also detrimental. I soon started to ignore HTC emails, which led me to find out the repair team notification, delivered among the clutter, only a couple of weeks later.

Sounds like a joke

Like I’ve said, I came back to the issue only two weeks later, decided to find out where my headset was. It was only by chance that I found the repair notification (the repair tracking system wasn’t working and I was about to write on the forums again) among my emails.

If I didn’t find myself in such a tragic situation, I would have probably started laughing.

Hello,

We are contacting you regarding the repair of the product HTC Vive HMD […]

During the repair process our technicians have identified that the repair cannot be completed in warranty due to the following reason:
Liquid Damage- traces of liquid on the components of the device (oxide marks)

The cost of an out of warranty repair (spare parts + labour and logistic fee) vat included is: 274.56 EUR

Please note that if you reject the quotation you should pay the cost of inspection and logistic fee: 45 EUR

So basically I had to pay them 275 EUR (almost half of the whole kit’s price) to have my device repaired. Even better, if I didn’t agree with that, I could decide to pay them 45 EUR and have my broken headset shipped back to me!

What. The. Hell.

At this point I started spiralling down in a state of deep frustration. I thought of every minute I had used that thing (not hard to do over only two days), and couldn’t remember a time where it was closer than 3 meters to a water source. The assistance guy I talked with only asked me about falls or bumps the headset could have suffered (none). I started to realize that yes, the terms and condition mentioned the fact that if the warranty was voided for any reason, they could ask me to pay a service fee, but I was sure the product had been treated with utmost care. It was a defective product.

NOTE: the closest thing to “liquid damage” that I can possibly imagine is sweat. You’ll find other people discussing whether something as mundane as sweat can actually damage a device meant to be used (at least partly) for physical activity and in close contact with your face. I don’t actually believe it to be the case since I literally used it for a few hours, but be careful about it. Avoid using big (sound) headset that might further heat your head, wipe your face frequently and properly clean the face cushion. It didn’t help me, but doesn’t hurt to be safe.

My brother’s first reaction when briefed on the situation was more composed. He showed me that an HTC headset was sold on eBay for 200 €. Worst case scenario we could save 75 € and be done with it.

I considered that option very seriously. I was buggered by two problems:

1. Surely I cannot simply ignore HTC from that point on and buy a replacement part at a more convenient price, right?
2. I always prefer buying from official retailers.

Those were however intuitive ideas that didn’t find any practical confirmation. The repair team didn’t seem very interested in actually getting any money from me: as far as they knew I had been ignoring their notification for 20 days now, and they only had my email to contact me. No paying account or credit card; they were basically kindly asking while holding my headset hostage.

As for the official preference… That’s mainly because of warranty and support. I had already witnessed they were both worthless, so I didn’t care for that. Some guy on eBay would have helped me better than HTC.

Still, I understandably upset at spending another 200 € when I was sure there was no fault on my side. I was pretty angry, and I had long lost my interest in the actual game because of that.

I had nothing left to lose. I decided to keep complaining to HTC and see what happened.

The angry customer

First I tentatively tried to appeal in some way to the warranty void. I replied to the email but received no answer.

I then wrote a somewhat salty complaint post on the Vive support forum, which was ignored as well, even after bumping it up a couple of times (the forum allows you to post an empty reply, which is a convenient way to bump without seeming too rude). The lack of response was starting to get on my nerves.

My saving grace was finding someone else like me. The Vive user Blazen was going through a similar odyssey, having received two defective cables in a row. In that case, HTC “one replacement only” policy felt quite annoying.

We started rooting for each other and protesting louder. I also sent other emails to the repair team, getting some precious insight on the context.

HTC uses a third party companies, in my case Regenersis, to fix their products (might seem obvious but I was oblivious to it; their terms and condition only mention “their engineers”, so I assumed it was managed internally). So to recap:

1. I contacted HTC support, who opened a repair ticket and sent my device to Regenersis.
2. Regenersis found “oxide marks” on my headset and decided the warranty (with HTC) was voided. Also they held the headset hostage and asked me directly for money.
3. I complained to both of them, and received no answer from either.

The more I understood about my situation the more I was in disbelief. As far as I know, HTC itself doesn’t know anything about its repair tickets unless a customer complains about it. Also, why would Regenersis ever issue a warranty void? I’m guessing HTC pays them for every warranty-covered intervention, which should be a much easier way to get paid than asking directly to a customer — which has no reason or interest in giving them anything since eBay replacements are cheaper. I suspect Regenersis has more interest in keeping the device for themselves than repairing it.

This is a pretty wild speculation, but even after stating that on the forum I received no confirmation or denial.

As time passed, I grew exasperated. I started being more aggressive on forums and emails, finally receiving some acknowledgement; nothing actually useful (“contact support teams”), but it was a start. I found out more and more people complaining about HTC service and looked (somewhat) seriously into taking legal action against them. This guy on Youtube claims that their warranty is not legal under European law. Not my field, but his video pumped me up anyway.

Then, out of nowhere, one Saturday afternoon I received much unexpected a call from HTC. Some employee told me that my device would be repaired under warranty.

That was it.

I was so stunned and surprised that I didn’t inquire any further. I only asked to receive a confirmation email of this, which promptly arrived.

I immediately went quiet in every forum or email conversation, afraid of breaking whatever delicate equilibrium I had finally found.

After two additional weeks, for a grand total of three months (from July to September), I finally have a functioning HTC Vive kit (for now at least).

Conclusion

The thing that strikes me most of this whole story is the absolute lack of communication and expleination from HTC. In all my post, comments and emails I consistently asked clarification on my status; I was upset but polite; I never demanded to have my warranty restored, I always asked if I could appeal to the judgement that voided it.

Not once has HTC explained if this was possible. I expected at some point someone would have told me that those were the terms of the contract and that paying was my only option. Everyone was apologetic and timid, like a waiter begging pardon for an order taking longer than expected.

I didn’t want to simply play the part of the angry customer that insists on being right. I hated grumbling and criticizing, but that was all I could do. My product was defective. I had no fault in its problems. In the end, it appears it was the right call.

Besides, I got my headset back for free, but I can’t say for sure if that’s what worked. Maybe my case simply got reviewed. Maybe I protested hard enough — which wasn’t much by the way.

All in all, I can’t shake the feeling that they tried to take advantage of me. It seems like it’s a staple in their service:

1. Their product breaks, because it’s a complex technology not reliable yet.
2. They try to take advantage of the customer by arbitrarily voiding the warranty or using some other contract quibble.
3. If the customer complains they accept to serve him like they are supposed to.

The last phone call and the confirmation of my warranty really felt like hush money. Other people in similar situations were told that they (HTC) were doing an exception just for that case, but you can’t really call it exception if it happens regularly.

Bottom line: think twice before buying a Vive. The product seems to be good, but the support — which is much needed — just isn’t there; and if you do buy one and end up tangled in their dumb warranty terms and horrible customer service, don’t give up: they tend to surrender first if you are loud enough.

In the end, I hope that my headset breaking was just bad luck and that my whole debacle with HTC was just their default scamming policy (again, 100% sure there was no liquid damage); I suspect however that the Vive is far from a reliable device, and it will break again in a few months.

I don’t know what I’ll do then. Maybe I’ll try protesting again and see if it works. All in All, a really sad customer experience.

PS: if you are particularly zealous you might notice somewhere in their repair service FAQ they mention the packaging you should use to send your device to the repair center. They say to prepare it “the way you would like to receive it”.

It could actually be more precise: they will ship it back to you in the exact same packaging you used originally, bubble wrap and all. Make it count.

Edit: after a few months of usage I found no more problems with my headset. I am now even more convinced I simply received a defective product, and that the technical support tried to scam me.