Fiire experience

[colinjones]

Blake

This all sounds very positive - I might say that regularly participating in the forums and getting their members on-side (like Andrew/TotallyMaxed from Dianemo/CHT does all the time) could be a rich source of sales/referrals for your organisation.

I can say that I "evangelise" about LMCE all the time - invariably to interested responses - yet the most common reason people end up not "getting around to it" is because they are not committed to the process of building their own system from scratch, especially without dedicated, professional support to back them.

If the forum members could confidently point to Fiire as a "solution provider" with support, in the same way as I have several times to CHT, this would benefit the forum in terms of penetration and yourselves in terms of sales. Currently, I would not feel confident at all doing this (from reading on the forums and going through the fiasco of trying to purchase a Fiire remote). But if you can turn it around and even add value like providing local build, purchase, support and distribution points outside NA so people living in the boondocks like me in Sydney can get better access, then the sky is the limit!

[justdeb]

Hi Jim,

I am still yet to get it to work. I have spent many hours on the net looking for a way to get past my current issue. I can basically get the unit to annouce itself to the router and it will fail at the point it starts the "diskless setup" comes up. In addition to this i have found that if you plug a mouse and keyboard into the unit it then goes further and attempts to install the diskless setup, but stalls/hangs at the point where it installs the usb device.

In relation to my dealings with Fiire - i am still waiting for someone to respond/followup on my email of 25/06/08. I have sent another email to them this morning and will see whether i get a responce.

I am also trying to speak to someone in Fiire who might have an answer to my troubles - but havn't spent alot of time chasing it at this stage due to work commitments.

Rgrds
Justin

[Kaempy]

Hi Jim,

Thank you for the positive words of encouragement.  I agree, this will be a challenge.  I am excited about LinuxMCE and see a huge opportunity for the software in terms of whole home media and automation.

To answer your question, we have partnered with PC Design Lab in Rochester, New York.  Dave is the owner and he is committed to LinuxMCE as well as drastically improving customer service and product build quality.

Thank you all for your patience. 

[Apneadiver]

Justin,

Best of luck w/ Fiire.  Please do post your thoughts, after you've had time to devote to getting the hardware working to whatever level it can achieve.



Blake,

I thought your assembly partner might be closer to where I live.  Thanks though.

 - Jim

[justdeb]

Hi All,

Latest update on the fire situation . I still have not heard back from anyone that i emailed regarding my problems, missing disks or the incorrect frieght charges. I am also still trying to get the fiire station up and running. I have been playing with this one and another MD (generic pc) all night. I have managed to get it running to a point with the assistance of some people in the forum. I have decided to spend tonight solely on the fiire station and will hopefully get it sorted out. If not i might be sending some more emails to Fiire to see whether i can get them to assist me. I don't see that i should have to pay for support as it hasn't worked since i got it - but it may go down that track. Will post my findings in the near future.

[Monkgs]

Ok. After trying to deal with Fiire over the past week I'm at my wit's end.

I knew something was up from the moment I first hit the Fiire homepage. No reputable business would let their website fall into such disrepair. From broken links, PHP errors, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, it was clear that this was not a reputable business. Alas, they were the only ones producing the famed LinuxMCE remote. I bought several of them over a week ago, and paid using Google Checkout.

Some sort of error occurred with the checkout process, yet my credit card was charged in full (total order just over $500). Not surprising given the number of PHP errors their website generates. A week after the purchase, the online Fiire store still reports "Google Processing" as a status. Clearly something has gone wrong.

I spent the last week pounding their phone lines, e-mail accounts and online chat applet. Their phone line is an automated attendant, which isn't setup properly. The tech support option just redirects you back to the main menu. If you hit the sales line it rings, but usually goes to voicemail anyway. Of the 20+ times I've called I had "Adrian" pickup once. See details below in the chat log. From his accent on the phone and poor English skills I would presume that Fiire outsources their support to India. Although he claimed to be in San Jose with the rest of the company. He also couldn't help me at all, and had to "e-mail his colleagues" to track my order.

After the aforementioned week of pounding their phone lines, e-mail accounts and online chat applet I finally got through to "Adrian" with the online chat. Here's a copy of our chat conversation. Some interesting points, he identifies Blake Tablak as a sales guy and not the GM he has made himself out to be in the posts in this thread. More dishonesty from Fiire, what a joke. A sales guy comes on here, pretends to be the head honcho, promises big change, and it turns out he's just the salesman trying to get more suckers to invest in a Fiire system.

   Matt: Question: I would like to know why my order has not shipped yet. Order number 104.
   adrian: How May I help You?
   Matt: Could you please look into the status of my order.
   adrian: what is your full name?
   Matt: ****** ********
   adrian: ok, I'll ask one of my colleagues to see if it's shipped or not
   Matt: thanks
   adrian: please, tell me your email
   Matt: *******@*******.***
   adrian: thx
   Matt: are you still there?
   adrian: yes
   Matt: have you determined if my package has shipped?
   adrian: i sent an email to my colleague beacuse he's right now in another location
   Matt: are you outsourced by fiire?
   adrian: nope, i am in san jose with the company
   Matt: the company is in los angeles
   adrian: it's registered there
   Matt: don't you guys have a tracking system for orders?
   adrian: there is one but it's optional
   Matt: so everything is done by hand?
   adrian: not quite, google checkpout has a tracking system but we don't use it
   Matt: don't you guys stock these remotes? shouldn't it have been shipped last week when I made the order?
   adrian: we have stocks of them of course
   adrian: but our sales man is handling them, i know few things about it, i am only the support guy here
   Matt: can you give me his phone number?
   adrian: yes, but from the bureau
   adrian: the personal number i can't give it to you
   Matt: ok what is his work number?
   adrian: 408.627.4806
   Matt: that is his cell?
   adrian: the office number
   Matt: what is his name?
   adrian: Blake Tablak
   Matt: I called it, but it was not the Fiire office. It was a voice recording.
   adrian: yes, I know
   Matt: you told me it was the office number
   adrian: his office
   adrian: e has his own office
   adrian: i treid 2 times to call him on his cell but nothing till now
   Matt: I thought blake was the GM of Fiire?
   adrian: GM=general manager?
   Matt: yes
   adrian: no, it's not him
   Matt: who is the GM?
   adrian: Jeff Laughlin
   Matt: I thought he was the owner
   adrian: oh no
   adrian: anyway, during this day he will tell me an answer
   Matt: please forward the info to my e-mail *****@*********.***
   adrian: no problem sir

There was literally a 5 minute delay between each response. That conversation lasted a very long time. The whole conversation reeked of outsourced phone support. Which seems pretty par for the course given the other crap that has been misleading and dishonest. Even giving them the benefit of the doubt in that regard, it seems this company is a mickey mouse little outfit. Apparently their sales guy doesn't even hold an office at the head quarters. Do they even have an office? Their website says they are based out of Los Angelas, but this guy says everyone is in San Jose. It all seems so shady to me that I see no valid reason to give them anymore of my business in the future. And if my order's not filled and shipped soon my comments are going straight to the securities and fraud division at Google checkout.

[justdeb]

Hi Demus,

Well this is interesting. I sent blake an email (blake@fiire.com) and he advisd that he would look into it. I have also sent jeff (jeff.l@fiire.com) a number of emails and was told that they would look into it. To date neither Jeff nor Blake have replied to my emails. I too was overchargd for freight - almost $200 and all i was advised that this is something they need to look into.

I did receive an email from support on how to get my fiire station up and running - i was told to download some files and copy them to a specific directory. I did that and followed their instructions to a t - Guess what it didn't work and i sent an email back to them advising so - lets see if i get a responce......


Justin

[Monkgs]

Yea, so no e-mail back on my stuff today, like I was promised by Adrian. I filed a report with Google's fraud division. They attempted to call Fiire, but could only get the voicemail, surprise surprise. I directed the google rep to this thread (and other Fiire threads). They made an official (??) report, and Fiire has a few business days to respond. If its not handled satisfactorily they will lose their merchant account. Although the Google guy did point out that this does not mean they have to resolve my situation in particular.

I'm just gonna let it be for a few days and see what happens. If nothing comes of it by then I'll just wash my hands of it all and have Visa do a chargeback.

[justdeb]

hmm,

that is interesting. I might have to follow that avenue as well. Whether it will do any good time will tell. I think the old addage of Cavet Emptor - let the buyer beware ! - holds a lot of truth at this point in time. I will say this though - the fiire station is currently making a good bookstand - expensive but ..... possibly lesson learnt.

As at 1940 Australian EST no reply from Fiire... surprise surprise !!!

Regards

Justin

[Monkgs]

I too received e-mails back finally, along with a tracking number. Although the tracking number indicates that the item has not been dropped off yet. At least there is consolation that my e-mails were not going to some black hole. I reserve my comments until I have the package in my hands.

[justdeb]

Hi Guys,

It looks like you are getting somewhere in terms of getting your products that u ordered. Can i suggest that you check your freight charges if you choose to use their method of freight. When u get your bill pay particular attention to the weight of the item that you were charged for and what the actual declared weight was when u rec'd the goods. For example i was charged for the equivalent of 20lb and the declared weight when shipped was only 9. This amounted to almost $200 to me as i was shipping it to australia. Secondly please check to make sure you get driver discs and the necessary documentation as this was something i found out after trying to get the fiire station up and running.

FYI the email i rec'd from support was from Adrian as well. He has not replied still to my last email that was sent. In some respects i can't blame him as he is probably the only 'support' person they might have and might be a little busy. ha ha ha.

FYI -> I placed my order and was charged for it and it was alomost 16 working days before it was shipped.

Regards

Justin

[Monkgs]

Like I said before, they haven't actually shipped anything yet. I've already bought into their empty promises once before. So far it is not looking good for them. This could just be more lip service.

My e-mail reads:

Hello,

My colleague confirmed that your order will be shipped today. Sorry again for the delay.

Best Regards,
Adrian

The google checkout applet sent me the tracking number. USPS reports "The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper on August 12, 2008 to expect your package for mailing. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date."

[Monkgs]

LOL. Still not shipped by the end of business today. How do these guys stay in business?

[Zaerc]

LOL. Still not shipped by the end of business today. How do these guys stay in business?

Well, apparently some people keep sending them money.

[Monkgs]

LOL. Still not shipped by the end of business today. How do these guys stay in business?

Well, apparently some people keep sending them money.

LOL. Touche. Still nothing as of today.