The saga of the DrumKAT, revisited
Last night:
Do you never check your mail? I emailed you *four days ago*. Your customer service is somewhat below par.
Please tell me whether I can get a refund or not. I'm not rich enough to be able to let this amount of money slide, when I don't have a fully working product in return for it.
Andy
This afternoon:
Hi I'm Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner , I got your email & left out of town . I really don't know what to say Right Now , the drum machine worked & you sent an Email & Feedback stating it was in good condition . So let me get back to you in the next few days . I can't let you have the unit and give you a refund the only thing I can think of right now is to send it back & get it Fixed please check you midi cables ect. Thanks Ray
Just now:
Sorry I got impatient. I'm just somewhat crushed by this - I've been wanting one of these for a long time, and when I finally get one, it doesn't work.
I left the feedback after unpacking the unit. Since I'm in the UK, I needed a different power adaptor, so I couldn't switch it on, but I thought I should inform you that it'd arrived. For some reason I chose to do that through feedback, rather than email, which was stupid, I guess.
After a couple of days I finally got an adaptor, turned it on, and played around for bit. Three drum pads weren't making any noise when the machine was plugged into my old keyboard, but I attributed that to the keyboard being faulty. However, the same pads are also used for controlling the drum machine's interface, and after about an hour of frustration, I realised that the pads weren't working at all, since the drum machine itself wasn't seeing that I was hitting them.
Thing is, the machine itself switches on, and seven out of the ten pads do work. I guess something like that could slip past a casual inspection. It's just that the machine is pretty much useless without those three pads, and most definately is not in "excellent condition", and does not "work perfect", "sound great".
This has put me off eBay, now - I don't think I'll ever buy something like this again unless I can test it beforehand and verify that it actually is working as it's meant to be.
If you agree to process a refund through BidPay, I have the thing boxed up and ready to ship back immediately. I understand that obviously you can't let me keep it and still refund - I was just desperately trying to cut my already large losses.
If I send it back, the manufacturer do a service part (Force Sensing Resistor replacement) which should restore the missing pads:
https://www.alternatemode.com/serviceparts.shtml
It's cheaper than I thought it was, but unfortunately, it still wouldn't be economical for me to buy that.
Please let me know if you're okay with a refund, so I can send this thing on its way.
Andy
Sigh. Well, at least I got a response. For the last few days I'd been almost convinced that he'd sold the unit untested, gotten caught out when it didn't work, and had decided to just ignore the problem and bank the money, and hope I didn't kick up a fuss with eBay. I'd already submitted a positive feedback when it arrived, so there was no danger of negative feedback - hence the first, pissed-off email. I guess I should remember to think before I email...
Regardless of whether I get a refund or not, I've still wasted a lot of money. I think it hurt even more because this is the first time I've had enough money (from computer building/repairs over summer) to go out and buy something I really wanted, and things have just gone wrong at every step.
Meh.