APEX Inc (DVD mfgs) suck and are crooks.

The BBQ Pit
1

APEX DVD players seem great. They accept a wide range of formats, (VCD, DVD, MP3, MPG, etc) and I was lucky enough to have one of the earlier models that had a built-in PAL/NTSC converter along with several other cool features. I was really impressed with it.

Until it broke. My laser got out of alignment. Dunno how, but it was skipping or freezing on multiple DVDs. It happens, no big deal.

Apex requires you to ship your player into them for service (they won’t sell parts to anyone else).

After two hours on hold to get a shipping number, I shipped my APEX into them about 9 weeks ago.

I waited 3 weeks and got it back unrepaired. (Actually broken worse: Before, the laser was out of alignment. When I got it back, it wouldn’t even power up)

Another phone call (about 1 1/4 hour hold) and I shipped it back. I got a signed reciept showing it was delivered and signed for.

That was 6 weeks ago.

7 more phone calls with similar hold times netted me the following response repeatedly: “Yup, we got it. It’s in the back room somewhere. Let me find it and give you a call back. I’ll call by the end of the day”. I’ve yet to get any result or even a call-back. I’ve also not gotten any result from two certified letters I sent them.

They also give out phony names. (Or they’ve got 5 different people named “Martin” answering the phone. What’s funny is if you call and ask for the person’s name, they’ll say “Martin”. If you say “I’ll hold while you go check”, they tell you they can’t leave the phone on hold “It cuts off”. If you call and ask to speak to “Martin”, you’ll be told “We don’t have anyone named “Martin” here.” I actually asked one of the “No one named “Martin” here” people for his name and he hemmed and hawed and mumbled “Martin” :rolleyes: )

I doubt it’ll do any good, but I’m sending a letter to the California Attorney General in the hopes that something will happen.

In any case, the moral is “Don’t buy a product you have to ship to the manufacturer to have repaired”

The other moral is “APEX SUCKS”.

Fuck you APEX for stealing my DVD player. You suck.

Fenris

2

I don’t have anything substantial to add…well except to note that one anagram of “APEX SUCKS” is “EX ASS PUCK”.

Have a nice day.

3

That is fuckin’ surreal.

A company that encourages its customer services employees to give out phony names to customers over the telephone is an outfit that should be avoided like the plague.

4

At the risk of sounding like I’m dismissing Fenris’s complaint (I’m not, and I hope he nails them to the wall), it’s not at all unusual for customer service organizations to use “roles.” One company I worked for had a CS rep named “Sally Brown.” There never was an employee with that name, but a number of people filled the role, and the costomers could always get the appropriate person by asking for that name. It worked because it was a small company; if it were a large company, and someone called the switchboard and asked for an employee named Sally Brown, they’d probably get the same response as he did.

As I said, I’m not trying to de-legitamize the complaint–but this is (or may be) a side issue, and explaining it may help to focus on the problem at hand.

Go get 'em, Fenris!

(Spoken as a fellow Apex owner.)

5

Perhaps the Martians invaded.

6

Hehehehehe!!!— I mean, NO, we didn’t :wink:

7

The only problem I have with mine is that it does not seem to have the “secret” region disable menu. I sent an email to them asking how to disable region on the newer ones and got no reply. Later for fun I will call them and demand that they tell me the code to disable regions.

I have no need for a region free player, and probably never will. I just hate the concept.

8

I haven’t had any problem with mine yet…and after reading this, I hope I don’t.

9

Well, if you buy crappy players, from a low-buck operation, you probably won’t get top-notch service. I’m not dismissing your complaint, either…just stating a fact.

As for this…

THe “secret” menu was removed not long after Apex’s release. It’s illegal, and most of the players don’t have it. In fact, if Fenris’ had a region-free player, and sent it in for repairs, they’d probably put the fix in the software that removed the region-free feature.

Sam

10

Yo, Fenris! Don’t take your fight to Apex, take it to Circuit City!

I’m pretty sure you’re an American, and if you have an AD-600A like I do, chances are you got it from CC, as they had the exclusive distribution rights for several years.

So take it to CC, scream as shrill as a banshee, and demand that the product be fixed rather than replaced, as CC cannot now offer a product that has the same features. They went out on a limb to offer that player, as it was of dubious legality to begin with, and they probably don’t want any complaints. They might just fall all over themselves to fix whatever ails you, and if they have to send it to Apex themselves to do it, you can bet they ain’t talking to no “Martins.”

11

I don’t beleive that disabling the region is illegal, you can buy them region free from legitimate companies, but they charge a lot. Disabling Macrovision is illegal because of that dumbass DMCA.

12

Sofa: unfortunatly, I got mine through eBay. It was just after they stopped selling the secret menu version. The one I got was new-in-box though (still had the Apex tape on the box).

So I can’t go the Circuit City route.

Sam
When I actually got the human who gave me my tracking number, I asked about the secret menu: He (the only helpful person I’ve ever spoken to at Apex) said that unless the main board was blown (and it didn’t sound like it was) they had no intention of disabling that feature on my machine.

Fenris

13

Well, it’s been over two and a half months. They still have my DVD player.

I still can’t get the same person twice, I’ve been hung up on and my faxes and letters are ignored.

I’m firing off a letter to the California Attorney General today and I’m going to cc: it to the Better Business Bureau. I’m not holding my breath.

Any other suggestions?

Fenris

14

Call them again and mention the words “sue, Lawyer, etc” See if that gets you anywhere. If not, spend $25 (or whatever in your state) to lodge a small claims suit.

That should then get their attention.

My .02

15

Sorry Fenris, lost this thread and haven’t been around for a while.

AFAI had read on most Home Theater message boards, for quite a while they had been “upgrading” the OS of the units to dis-include the region-free playback abilities. Maybe they have stopped that practice.

And yes, region-free playback is in fact against the licensing of DVD players rights…which in the context of a contract makes it “illegal”. DVD machines are to be one region or another…not region-free. That is why you don’t see CC or GG or any other company that sells DVD players offering a region-free option.

Also, AFAIK, Apex was the only American manufacturer that offered the region-free ability. I could be wrong about that, though.

Sam

16

My late, lamented Sony DVD player conked out a couple of months ago and I went to Fry’s Electronics to buy a replacement. My brother told me that a friend of his had just bought an APEX player and raved about all the different formats it would play, so I looked to see if they sold them.

They did, and there was one model that played DVDs, CDs, video discs, MP3s, you name it - even CD-G karaoke discs. In fact, not only did it play CD-Gs, it had a couple of microphone jacks on the front! Envisioning karaoke through the home entertainment center, I spent a relatively short (for Fry’s) 20 minutes stalking and pouncing on an employee to help me. He went to wherever they keep the inventory and came back saying, “Mr. Smith, I feel like I ought to tell you something. We have six of these players in stock, and every single one of them has been sold, opened, and returned.”

Brother, that told me all I needed to know about APEX. I went for the Philips player instead and haven’t had any trouble with it. The only thing it’s lacking compared to the late lamented etc. is that it doesn’t have a Dolby Digital decoder built in.

17

If you’re not afraid of getting seriously hurt, I believe there is a way to realign the laser manually.

18

Fallom, I’d take the chance if I could get 'em to return the *%&*ing thing.

Chef: The wide range of disk types it accepts has a lot to do with why I bought it. If only it worked. Or I had the corpse that I could use for parts. Or SOMETHING!

Fenris

19

Boy, that’s got “Darwin Award” written all over it. :smiley: