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They are showing so much respect and care for their customers that is almost unbelievable. Kudos to their will to analyze and also document about a single prob

They are showing so much respect and care for their customers that is almost unbelievable. Kudos to their will to analyze and also document about a single problem so thoroughly. I never bought a Bose product before, but reading this honestly makes me think about it... If any company would cost a premium for being as careful as they are, I would definitely pay for it.

KingFelix 7y ago
They are pretty amazing. I got a pair from the Amazon re:mars conference. I would have never spent that amount of money on headphones, must have for travels. So good
noncoml 7y ago
I disagree. The great customer support is just PR and an image they managed to create. When it comes down to costing them money to do the right thing, they don't. The headphones won't turn off, but Bose refuses to make it right for the users: https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/QC-35-I-is-Turning-On-By-Itself/m-p/277366#M55150 https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/QC-35... Note, the "solution" is buy new headphones if yours are our out of warranty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bugTnRbnhQ&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bugTnRbnhQ&feature=youtu.be Edit: Wow, downvoted to -1 :/
- caseysoftware 7y ago
  Your Bose community link is broken. Maybe add the correct one?
  - noncoml 7y ago
    Ooops sorry, fixed.
- trog 7y ago
  Bought my partner a pair of these (super expensive) headphones as an Xmas present and her experience is a little similar. Battery life on hers plummeted after about 18 months to the point where if they're fully charged at night, by the morning with no use they're at 20% or less. Was super unimpressed with Bose support, both in store and online - they offered to wind back the firmware for us, or our other option was buy a new pair. It's interesting reading about this not-turning-off bug as maybe something like that is happening which is killing the battery overnight.
  - noncoml 7y ago
    Yes, your symptoms sound like this bug. Unfortunately it is hardware and not software.
  - lstamour 7y ago
    Another user elsewhere in this HN thread says it might be caused by an app keeping the microphone awake — that the hardware on/off switch might be software-controlled, which does somewhat make sense if you want to “shutdown” the headphones firmware and disconnect the headphones before powering down...
  - moltar 7y ago
    Mine are 3.5 years old. I use them daily during all working hours and sometimes weekends. The only thing that went thus far were the leather cups (twice) that are fortunately easily replaced. OEM are $$$, while after market alternatives I found to be just as good and are only $. My battery is still strong. Probably around 10-12 hours of use.
    - ornornor 7y ago
      > The only thing that went thus far were the leather cups (twice) that are fortunately easily replaced. OEM are $$$, while after market alternatives I found to be just as good and are only $. The analysis in the page discussed in this thread doesn't match what you're saying: knockoff cups are inferior and degrade noise cancellation.
      - mrunkel 7y ago
        No, that’s not what the analysis said. It said that the one pair of aftermarket cushions were of inferior quality. No findings were made of all aftermarket cushions.
        ornornor 7y ago
        I don't have anything to sell, if you want to roll the dice on aftermarket earcups, knock yourself out :) But you paid 300-400$ for headphones, to me it's worth paying the OEM premium just to make sure they keep delivering the quality and experience I was looking for initially when I paid the high price. Otherwise, you might as well buy the lowest priced noise canceling headphones: you'll get a commensurate experience but you won't break the bank. Anyway, to each their own :)
- wozniacki 7y ago
  What has your experience been with the multipoint feature of Bose QC35 IIs? I'll make do with above average noise cancellation; doesn't have to be top shelf in that aspect. I mainly want multipoint[1] and Bose I've been told does it absolutely seamlessly more so than the Jabras, Sennheisers etc. [1] What is Bluetooth multipoint, and why isn’t it more popular? https://www.soundguys.com/bluetooth-multipoint-explained-28601/ https://www.soundguys.com/bluetooth-multipoint-explained-286...
  - blinkingled 7y ago
    Yeah it works well enough. I have an iPad and my S10 connected and it works as expected. Are you looking for any specific use cases?
  - noncoml 7y ago
    Very positive. IMHO they have the only Bluetooth implementation that doesn't suck. I had no problem with having it paired to multiple devices and switching from one to the other.
  - mattmaroon 7y ago
    It works great. I didn’t know that all Bluetooth headphones don’t do that.
    - cepth 7y ago
      Incredibly, the Sony WH-1000XM3 (the 3 in XM3 is because this is the 3rd generation of the product) at this point still doesn’t have it. Similar price range, and maybe the closest direct competitor to the QC35/700 series in terms of audio quality and noise cancelling, yet it’s still missing this feature.
      - mattmaroon 7y ago
        My Airpods pro don't have it either apparently.
      - Despacito2019 7y ago
- in_cahoots 7y ago
  I managed to get a free replacement and upgrade to QC II for my out-of-warranty headphones just by asking nicely a second time after the first offer of a discount. There’s a lengthy thread on their forums posting the phone number you need to call.
  - Klinky 7y ago
    Having to find a magic phone number on a forum is NOT good customer service.
    - Andrex 7y ago
      Having to call customer service to get customer service is not good customer service?
      - Judgmentality 7y ago
        Only if the number for real customer service is publicly available, which I'm guessing it's not if it's considered a magic phone number buried deep in a forum somewhere.
  - Godel_unicode 7y ago
    I'm always amused by how often just being nice to people manages to unlock customer service doors. Listening to people in the offices I've worked in talk on the phone has been pretty eye-opening about how terrible, entitled, and just plain mean people can be when things don't go perfectly. I'm sure there are bad customer service people out there, but I really wonder how often reports of bad customer service are actually just pointing out that the poster was a jerk. See also Yelp reviews.
    - curiousgal 7y ago
      Being nice even when the company is at fault pays off. I ordered a base model Dell XPS 15 (i3 8gb) which got delayed about 3 weeks. After going back and forth with the support I finally asked nicely if it's possible to get an upgrade as a make up for the time lost. I received a maxed out model (i7, 1tb SSD, 32gb, GPU and 4k screen).
- innagadadavida 7y ago
  Have the same issue with mine and many times the battery would've discharged when I need it the most. Horrible switch design. Someone on their forums posted how you can fix it: > So I removed the old switch slider and spring, used 96% ethyl alcohol to clean the bottom part of the switch left on the PCB (filled it with alcohol, let soak for a few minutes, then used tiny cotton wool balls and a pair of pointy tweezers to clean the contacts, then dried it off using compressed air).
  - ungamed 7y ago
    Its funny, I needed to clean my old nintendo GBA with the same method.
- smilekzs 7y ago
  > is just PR I would not dismiss the tremendous engineering + coordination effort required to pull this off as "just" PR.
  - atoav 7y ago
    If you do this, while simultaneously keeping a practise of wearing out your user's battery with no option to switch it off and no option to change a worn out battery (except to buy a new device) — then calling this a PR move is not far fetched. Bose might care, but they care magnitudes less when it goes against their environmentally unsustainable business practise.
    - t-writescode 7y ago
      How is their response to quality issues of noise cancellation, what this article is about, in any way related to batteries dying out?
      - atoav 6y ago
        Intended to reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22783497 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22783497
- Thorrez 7y ago
  What would be the right thing in this case?
- foobar1962 7y ago
  I'm not going to down-vote your post, but I do disagree utterly. The linked article from Bose blew my mind on how far they are willing to go for customer support.
  - hordeallergy 7y ago
    Why would one downvote for disagreeing?
    - cbg0 7y ago
      Simply because it's easy and anonymous.
- nl 7y ago
  When it comes down to costing them money to do the right thing, they don't. The investigation outlined in this would have cost a lot of money. The headphones won't turn off, but Bose refuses to make it right for the users There are plenty of countries (outside the US) with powerful enough consumer protection agencies to force Apple to change it's practices (eg, the ACCC in Australia[1][2]). If this really is a widespread manufacturing fault we'd see them forced to act elsewhere. [1] https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/undertakings-registers/apple-pty-ltd https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/undertakings-regist... [2] https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/apple-australia-gives-undertaking-to-accc-to-improve-its-consumer-guarantees-policies-and-practices https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/apple-australia-gives-...
  - wtallis 7y ago
    > If this really is a widespread manufacturing fault we'd see them forced to act elsewhere. Pretty much every Apple product is far more popular and has a higher public profile than any one Bose product. It's entirely plausible that Bose gets away with not fixing flaws because the products and their flaws simply don't get enough attention.
- john_alan 7y ago
  I've had a great experience with Bose. The only premium product I bought were the QC35s, but they replaced mined even after 2 years (in EU) due to a sound issue. I'm impressed with this reach out, something Apple are unlikely to do (even though I use their prem products)
- adelpozo 7y ago
  I also had a great experience with Bose costumer service a while ago. I had them for more than one year. The audio was cutting off in one of the headphones. I emailed them about the issue and I got a new pair mailed to me right away. No fuss. I didn’t have to mail mine first. They got a customer for life with me.
  - CraneWorm 7y ago
    The deal seems to be working great for them since you give them free advertising.
- poglet 7y ago
  Hi, I had the same problem as you and was very disappointed. Up until this problem I was very happy with the QC35, which I have used for hundreds of hours. I followed the below YouTube video a few weeks ago, and the problem has not returned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3qHSaWi4X8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3qHSaWi4X8 The process took about 20-30 minutes and was relativity easy, however some parts are quiet small and it took a few tries to get them into the correct position. The problem is the switch becomes loose and touches multiple contacts, making the headphones turn back on. Don't bother with all the other troubleshooting advice Bose has told people to do (updates, resets, pair & unpair etc), the problem is a physical problem with the switch.
  - simonlc 7y ago
    Wow I've had this issue for a year now, and just yesterday was thinking about taking it apart to fix it. This just made the task much easiser!
- hugofloss 7y ago
  I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but mine was fantastic. When I had problems with my pair of Bose headphones they immediately sent new ones, even out of warranty.
- t-writescode 7y ago
  Isn’t this a different topic than a change in their noise cancelling properties? I thought that’s what this article is about.
chenglou 7y ago
I’ve had nothing but positive customer experiences from Bose (5 times, from 2-3 different shops). I’ve made a note to voice this feedback the last time they served me. Now I did =) I no longer use the earphones, but I can vouch for them.
- Mandatum 7y ago
  I bought 2x QC30's (in-ear), first and second generation. First I had to replace because it stopped charging after 10 months. I used them single every day, and I loved them. They were my first pair of active noise cancelling anything, and they completely changed my anxiety levels at work. I remember thinking to myself 2 days after sending them back to Bose to be looked at, that I was so much more stressed without them. I was sent a refurbished pair with new earplugs in the box 5 days later. This is almost unheard of in Australia. That pair has been going strong for the past year, they get used when I travel long-haul - I carry them as backup. My second pair I bought because my workplace let me expense up to $250 on headphones, they had some damage which Bose was kind enough to offer replacement for free, but now that COVID hit I've been unable to send them in for replacement. Luckily I have my backup!
dannyw 7y ago
They released a product on Kickstarter that had various connection issues and batteries. They tried to fix it, but when it appeared mechanical instead of software, they posted a honest response, offered and encouraged everyone a full refund.
dartdartdart 7y ago
Nah they hold out on innovation until it's too late. They've had the NC crown for so long they fell complacent and Sony took their crown easily. Sony's XM3 is so, so far ahead. Just compare the feature sets and you'll see that Sony fits more for less (albeit the mic is had and USB c input is missing).
- tillcarlos 7y ago
  A year after the Sonys came out they made the NCH 700, which beat the sonys in microphone performance. I could even chew or wash my hands or sit in a noisy cafe without the other people in the call hearing it. The audio quality might be better with the Sonys, but at least they answered to the Sonys in a timely way. I had no bad experience with those yet and used them for almost a year already. No idea about customer support. I know this thread is about the QC model, but I wanted to throw this in here. IMHO bose is not behind at all.
  - dartdartdart 7y ago
    The 700 model is in my opinion a QC35 II wrapped up in a pretty package with more microphones put in and a artificially high price tag to be exclusive. I recommend you pull up the the product pages for both and compare side by side. Sony put their efforts into producing custom chips that could upscale low res audio, they created the LDAC codec, put in chips that can detect your environment and adjust ANC accordingly, they have airplane pressure neutralization. Mind you this is all a year before the 700s came out and can be found for half the price of the 700s. They've also come out with numerous other ANC headphones since then at lower price points. Bose may look prettier to some, but Sony is probably 4 years ahead of the game in terms of features, cost at scale, and product offerings in the space.
    - hnhg 7y ago
      Except you can't connect to 2 devices simultaneously with the XM3s meaning that many of us got the Bose instead ;)
    - jmiserez 7y ago
riazrizvi 7y ago
I bought my first pair of QC 20’s in 2015, and experienced mechanical failures over the years as you might expect. They replaced the first two pairs free. Then they let me buy the next two at cost. Considering I use them about 70 hours a week every week, I think their customer service has been absolutely fantastic. I’m waiting for their in-ear noise-cancelling wireless earpods that are due out this year. I don’t care how much they cost.
- verelo 7y ago
  Wow. I bought mine back in 2009ish, they survived till around 2014 after near daily use. I wanted Bluetooth so i upgraded to the qc35 and they’re my current pair. I am super brand loyal now, but i will admit my AirPods are taking a lot of my ear time.
  - dzhiurgis 7y ago
    I went to Sony's and then started working from home, but still got AirPods Pro. Haven't used Sony's for months.
- pimeys 7y ago
  I find that alarming you need to get new headphones so often. I've used my boses while commuting for over a year now with no trouble luckily, but this doesn't sound good. My office headphones have always been Beyerdynamics. I've owned a pair of dt880s and now dt1770 pros and used them almost daily. The 880 I bought in 2003 and 1770 in 2016. Both work with no trouble and deliver perfect sound. I expect them to last for a few more decades...
  - Godel_unicode 7y ago
    The qc20s are earbuds, it's been my experience that they die more often. Partly from being in bags and pockets, and part from the wire-bud connection breaking down. Part of the reason I only buy mmcx models, so you can replace the wire when it wears out
    - 7y ago
pdpi 7y ago
I had two sets of QC20i break on me in the exact same way (the glue on one of the earbuds failed and the earbud just split open). First was in warranty and they replaced it no questions asked. Second was just out of warranty and they wanted £150 for a replacement set. I'm not paying £150 for something that's failed twice in the exact same way, so I bought some Shure monitors instead. The passive reduction on these is as good as, maybe better than, the active cancellation of the Boses, and sound quality is way better.
- ss3000 7y ago
  I too swear by my Shures. I've tried quite a few NC headphones/earphones over the years but they've all had issues with distortion, wind noises, etc to some degree, whereas my Shures can passively cut out just as much noise as the best of them while never introducing weird artifacts that break immersion and take me out of the music. I just wish they'd release a fully wireless version with the same comfort and fit (not the replacement cable+dongle thing they currently have).
  - ycombonator 7y ago
    Your wish granted. Shure Aonic 50 released 5 days ago ! https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/headphones/aonic50 https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/headphones/aonic50
m1sta_ 7y ago
I've owned a number of Bose products and have found every one to be void of disappointment. Great company.
basejumping 7y ago
I have the QC35 and besides the noise cancelling they are crap. The bluetooth drops off when I'm sometimes only 8m away, the battery life is low, but the most annoying thing for me is the multi devices connectivity. They will connect to both my iphone and mac at the same time, but never in the way I intended to. A lot of times I need to turn off the bluetooth on the iphone, or turn the phones on and off several times, or desperately try to connect/disconnect the phones to the mac, do this a few times a day and see how it feels. There is no option on the phones to switch between devices, or even to stop multi connectivity, the phones know better and will connect to the device which is 'closest'. Good luck when you sit at the desk with the laptop and the phone on it. The only way is to use the Bose supplied app, which is full of dark UX patterns. Every time it asks me to create a Bose account, to connect my other social accounts, etc. And it doesn't even solve anything, do I really need to open my iphone and open the Bose app to turn off a connected device every time I start the headphones? By comparison my Beats solo are much better, for range battery and connectivity, but they don't have noise cancelling.
- liendolucas 7y ago
  > I have the QC35 and besides the noise cancelling they are crap. This is the main reason why I have never bought a Bose product before (and probably never will). I've heard this assertion way too many times about Bose headphones, that besides noise cancelling they are average (if not worse) headphones overall and of course way too overpriced. I've switched to ear monitors and to be honest that turns out to be a good enough noise cancelling solution at least for me (provided that you get a good fit). I tend to just use wired headphones as you get rid of the potential issues that you mention: bluetooth and battery. Hope that good headphones companies keep manufacturing wired headphones in 10, 20 or 50 years time but I see that hard as laptops and phones are slowly deprecating the beloved jack connector.
- floriferous 7y ago
  I have the exact same experience, switched to airpods for my phone, and bose for my computer. Their Bluetooth setup is abysmal ! Hate using these QC 35 for that reason.
- beeforpork 7y ago
throwaway_pdp09 7y ago
First thing I do with a hagiography like this is look at the poster's profile. 1 comment ever, and voted to the top.
blub 7y ago
This is the same company that was spying on what their customers are listening to. Their headphones (I think it was the NC ones) require an app for configuration and that was uploading track names to their servers.
- Hnrobert42 7y ago
  You can delete the app after doing firmware upgrades. Of course, the monitoring should have been opt in, but at least it is not required.
abcd_f 7y ago
On one hand we have this. On the other hand we have genuine Bose replacement cushions that start to flake out not two years after very light use. Not aftermarket, but their own ridiculously expensive units bought directly from them. I have no explanation for this except for it being due to planned obsolescence practices. So they can publish as many reports (that tested a whooping 10 returned units!), but it doesn't undo the ill will created by their products falling apart on schedule. Caveat emptor and all that.
- rmoriz 7y ago
  I can confirm this. Looks like an ingredient of the plastic/fake leather part is deteriorating pretty much exactly at the 2 years mark. Mine was idling one year after some months of use and then started to fell apart, the prior QC15 was then heavily used when its ear pads started to crisp after 2 years.
  - jimmyswimmy 7y ago
    Amazingly, this happens even if you don't touch them. I bought a pair and misplaced them in my house. Around 18 months later I found them, unwrapped them and found the pleather coming apart. Seems like the very definition of a manufacturing defect. I won't be buying Bose again!
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- snowwolf 7y ago
  It cost me £25 for replacement cushions which they fitted for me in store. https://www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/headphones/headphone_accessories/qc35-ear-cushion-kit.html#v=qc35_earcushion_acc_black https://www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/headphones/headphone_a... Which I had to replace after 2 years of weekday daily use of 3-4 hours a day. I’m not sure I class that as ridiculously expensive.
  - sudosysgen 7y ago
devy 7y ago
I have owned 3 pairs Boss QC noise-cancellation headphones (QC15, QC25 and QC35). While they are generally considered to be a reputable brand, and their software/firmware might be the best, their hardware design is NOT. I noticed that their QC15/25 has a major flaws on the battery compartment design cause its wiring prone to wire fatigue and as a result it will inevitably end up with a broken side. This is very well known in the community.[1][2][3] And after warranty expires(usually 1-2 years), Boss charges you $100 for a refurbished replacement (required that you sent your broken headphone back to Boss before you get your replacement) instead of just fixing yours (which should be much cheaper). Highway robbery! [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u2GBBZbAyQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u2GBBZbAyQ [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlb094awkoo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlb094awkoo [3]: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/10706/How+to+fix+power+to+Bose+QC2+headphones https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/10706/How+to+fix+power+t...

KingFelix 7y ago

They are pretty amazing. I got a pair from the Amazon re:mars conference. I would have never spent that amount of money on headphones, must have for travels. So good

noncoml 7y ago

I disagree. The great customer support is just PR and an image they managed to create. When it comes down to costing them money to do the right thing, they don't. The headphones won't turn off, but Bose refuses to make it right for the users: https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/QC-35-I-is-Turning-On-By-Itself/m-p/277366#M55150 https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/QC-35... Note, the "solution" is buy new headphones if yours are our out of warranty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bugTnRbnhQ&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bugTnRbnhQ&feature=youtu.be Edit: Wow, downvoted to -1 :/

caseysoftware 7y ago
Your Bose community link is broken. Maybe add the correct one?
- noncoml 7y ago
  Ooops sorry, fixed.
trog 7y ago
Bought my partner a pair of these (super expensive) headphones as an Xmas present and her experience is a little similar. Battery life on hers plummeted after about 18 months to the point where if they're fully charged at night, by the morning with no use they're at 20% or less. Was super unimpressed with Bose support, both in store and online - they offered to wind back the firmware for us, or our other option was buy a new pair. It's interesting reading about this not-turning-off bug as maybe something like that is happening which is killing the battery overnight.
- noncoml 7y ago
  Yes, your symptoms sound like this bug. Unfortunately it is hardware and not software.
- lstamour 7y ago
  Another user elsewhere in this HN thread says it might be caused by an app keeping the microphone awake — that the hardware on/off switch might be software-controlled, which does somewhat make sense if you want to “shutdown” the headphones firmware and disconnect the headphones before powering down...
- moltar 7y ago
  Mine are 3.5 years old. I use them daily during all working hours and sometimes weekends. The only thing that went thus far were the leather cups (twice) that are fortunately easily replaced. OEM are $$$, while after market alternatives I found to be just as good and are only $. My battery is still strong. Probably around 10-12 hours of use.
  - ornornor 7y ago
    > The only thing that went thus far were the leather cups (twice) that are fortunately easily replaced. OEM are $$$, while after market alternatives I found to be just as good and are only $. The analysis in the page discussed in this thread doesn't match what you're saying: knockoff cups are inferior and degrade noise cancellation.
    - mrunkel 7y ago
      No, that’s not what the analysis said. It said that the one pair of aftermarket cushions were of inferior quality. No findings were made of all aftermarket cushions.
      - ornornor 7y ago
        I don't have anything to sell, if you want to roll the dice on aftermarket earcups, knock yourself out :) But you paid 300-400$ for headphones, to me it's worth paying the OEM premium just to make sure they keep delivering the quality and experience I was looking for initially when I paid the high price. Otherwise, you might as well buy the lowest priced noise canceling headphones: you'll get a commensurate experience but you won't break the bank. Anyway, to each their own :)
wozniacki 7y ago
What has your experience been with the multipoint feature of Bose QC35 IIs? I'll make do with above average noise cancellation; doesn't have to be top shelf in that aspect. I mainly want multipoint[1] and Bose I've been told does it absolutely seamlessly more so than the Jabras, Sennheisers etc. [1] What is Bluetooth multipoint, and why isn’t it more popular? https://www.soundguys.com/bluetooth-multipoint-explained-28601/ https://www.soundguys.com/bluetooth-multipoint-explained-286...
- blinkingled 7y ago
  Yeah it works well enough. I have an iPad and my S10 connected and it works as expected. Are you looking for any specific use cases?
- noncoml 7y ago
  Very positive. IMHO they have the only Bluetooth implementation that doesn't suck. I had no problem with having it paired to multiple devices and switching from one to the other.
- mattmaroon 7y ago
  It works great. I didn’t know that all Bluetooth headphones don’t do that.
  - cepth 7y ago
    Incredibly, the Sony WH-1000XM3 (the 3 in XM3 is because this is the 3rd generation of the product) at this point still doesn’t have it. Similar price range, and maybe the closest direct competitor to the QC35/700 series in terms of audio quality and noise cancelling, yet it’s still missing this feature.
    - mattmaroon 7y ago
      My Airpods pro don't have it either apparently.
    - Despacito2019 7y ago
in_cahoots 7y ago
I managed to get a free replacement and upgrade to QC II for my out-of-warranty headphones just by asking nicely a second time after the first offer of a discount. There’s a lengthy thread on their forums posting the phone number you need to call.
- Klinky 7y ago
  Having to find a magic phone number on a forum is NOT good customer service.
  - Andrex 7y ago
    Having to call customer service to get customer service is not good customer service?
    - Judgmentality 7y ago
      Only if the number for real customer service is publicly available, which I'm guessing it's not if it's considered a magic phone number buried deep in a forum somewhere.
- Godel_unicode 7y ago
  I'm always amused by how often just being nice to people manages to unlock customer service doors. Listening to people in the offices I've worked in talk on the phone has been pretty eye-opening about how terrible, entitled, and just plain mean people can be when things don't go perfectly. I'm sure there are bad customer service people out there, but I really wonder how often reports of bad customer service are actually just pointing out that the poster was a jerk. See also Yelp reviews.
  - curiousgal 7y ago
    Being nice even when the company is at fault pays off. I ordered a base model Dell XPS 15 (i3 8gb) which got delayed about 3 weeks. After going back and forth with the support I finally asked nicely if it's possible to get an upgrade as a make up for the time lost. I received a maxed out model (i7, 1tb SSD, 32gb, GPU and 4k screen).
innagadadavida 7y ago
Have the same issue with mine and many times the battery would've discharged when I need it the most. Horrible switch design. Someone on their forums posted how you can fix it: > So I removed the old switch slider and spring, used 96% ethyl alcohol to clean the bottom part of the switch left on the PCB (filled it with alcohol, let soak for a few minutes, then used tiny cotton wool balls and a pair of pointy tweezers to clean the contacts, then dried it off using compressed air).
- ungamed 7y ago
  Its funny, I needed to clean my old nintendo GBA with the same method.
smilekzs 7y ago
> is just PR I would not dismiss the tremendous engineering + coordination effort required to pull this off as "just" PR.
- atoav 7y ago
  If you do this, while simultaneously keeping a practise of wearing out your user's battery with no option to switch it off and no option to change a worn out battery (except to buy a new device) — then calling this a PR move is not far fetched. Bose might care, but they care magnitudes less when it goes against their environmentally unsustainable business practise.
  - t-writescode 7y ago
    How is their response to quality issues of noise cancellation, what this article is about, in any way related to batteries dying out?
    - atoav 6y ago
      Intended to reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22783497 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22783497
Thorrez 7y ago
What would be the right thing in this case?
foobar1962 7y ago
I'm not going to down-vote your post, but I do disagree utterly. The linked article from Bose blew my mind on how far they are willing to go for customer support.
- hordeallergy 7y ago
  Why would one downvote for disagreeing?
  - cbg0 7y ago
    Simply because it's easy and anonymous.
nl 7y ago
When it comes down to costing them money to do the right thing, they don't. The investigation outlined in this would have cost a lot of money. The headphones won't turn off, but Bose refuses to make it right for the users There are plenty of countries (outside the US) with powerful enough consumer protection agencies to force Apple to change it's practices (eg, the ACCC in Australia[1][2]). If this really is a widespread manufacturing fault we'd see them forced to act elsewhere. [1] https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/undertakings-registers/apple-pty-ltd https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/undertakings-regist... [2] https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/apple-australia-gives-undertaking-to-accc-to-improve-its-consumer-guarantees-policies-and-practices https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/apple-australia-gives-...
- wtallis 7y ago
  > If this really is a widespread manufacturing fault we'd see them forced to act elsewhere. Pretty much every Apple product is far more popular and has a higher public profile than any one Bose product. It's entirely plausible that Bose gets away with not fixing flaws because the products and their flaws simply don't get enough attention.
john_alan 7y ago
I've had a great experience with Bose. The only premium product I bought were the QC35s, but they replaced mined even after 2 years (in EU) due to a sound issue. I'm impressed with this reach out, something Apple are unlikely to do (even though I use their prem products)
adelpozo 7y ago
I also had a great experience with Bose costumer service a while ago. I had them for more than one year. The audio was cutting off in one of the headphones. I emailed them about the issue and I got a new pair mailed to me right away. No fuss. I didn’t have to mail mine first. They got a customer for life with me.
- CraneWorm 7y ago
  The deal seems to be working great for them since you give them free advertising.
poglet 7y ago
Hi, I had the same problem as you and was very disappointed. Up until this problem I was very happy with the QC35, which I have used for hundreds of hours. I followed the below YouTube video a few weeks ago, and the problem has not returned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3qHSaWi4X8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3qHSaWi4X8 The process took about 20-30 minutes and was relativity easy, however some parts are quiet small and it took a few tries to get them into the correct position. The problem is the switch becomes loose and touches multiple contacts, making the headphones turn back on. Don't bother with all the other troubleshooting advice Bose has told people to do (updates, resets, pair & unpair etc), the problem is a physical problem with the switch.
- simonlc 7y ago
  Wow I've had this issue for a year now, and just yesterday was thinking about taking it apart to fix it. This just made the task much easiser!
hugofloss 7y ago
I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but mine was fantastic. When I had problems with my pair of Bose headphones they immediately sent new ones, even out of warranty.
t-writescode 7y ago
Isn’t this a different topic than a change in their noise cancelling properties? I thought that’s what this article is about.

chenglou 7y ago

I’ve had nothing but positive customer experiences from Bose (5 times, from 2-3 different shops). I’ve made a note to voice this feedback the last time they served me. Now I did =) I no longer use the earphones, but I can vouch for them.

Mandatum 7y ago
I bought 2x QC30's (in-ear), first and second generation. First I had to replace because it stopped charging after 10 months. I used them single every day, and I loved them. They were my first pair of active noise cancelling anything, and they completely changed my anxiety levels at work. I remember thinking to myself 2 days after sending them back to Bose to be looked at, that I was so much more stressed without them. I was sent a refurbished pair with new earplugs in the box 5 days later. This is almost unheard of in Australia. That pair has been going strong for the past year, they get used when I travel long-haul - I carry them as backup. My second pair I bought because my workplace let me expense up to $250 on headphones, they had some damage which Bose was kind enough to offer replacement for free, but now that COVID hit I've been unable to send them in for replacement. Luckily I have my backup!

dannyw 7y ago

They released a product on Kickstarter that had various connection issues and batteries. They tried to fix it, but when it appeared mechanical instead of software, they posted a honest response, offered and encouraged everyone a full refund.

dartdartdart 7y ago

Nah they hold out on innovation until it's too late. They've had the NC crown for so long they fell complacent and Sony took their crown easily. Sony's XM3 is so, so far ahead. Just compare the feature sets and you'll see that Sony fits more for less (albeit the mic is had and USB c input is missing).

tillcarlos 7y ago
A year after the Sonys came out they made the NCH 700, which beat the sonys in microphone performance. I could even chew or wash my hands or sit in a noisy cafe without the other people in the call hearing it. The audio quality might be better with the Sonys, but at least they answered to the Sonys in a timely way. I had no bad experience with those yet and used them for almost a year already. No idea about customer support. I know this thread is about the QC model, but I wanted to throw this in here. IMHO bose is not behind at all.
- dartdartdart 7y ago
  The 700 model is in my opinion a QC35 II wrapped up in a pretty package with more microphones put in and a artificially high price tag to be exclusive. I recommend you pull up the the product pages for both and compare side by side. Sony put their efforts into producing custom chips that could upscale low res audio, they created the LDAC codec, put in chips that can detect your environment and adjust ANC accordingly, they have airplane pressure neutralization. Mind you this is all a year before the 700s came out and can be found for half the price of the 700s. They've also come out with numerous other ANC headphones since then at lower price points. Bose may look prettier to some, but Sony is probably 4 years ahead of the game in terms of features, cost at scale, and product offerings in the space.
  - hnhg 7y ago
    Except you can't connect to 2 devices simultaneously with the XM3s meaning that many of us got the Bose instead ;)
  - jmiserez 7y ago

riazrizvi 7y ago

I bought my first pair of QC 20’s in 2015, and experienced mechanical failures over the years as you might expect. They replaced the first two pairs free. Then they let me buy the next two at cost. Considering I use them about 70 hours a week every week, I think their customer service has been absolutely fantastic. I’m waiting for their in-ear noise-cancelling wireless earpods that are due out this year. I don’t care how much they cost.

verelo 7y ago
Wow. I bought mine back in 2009ish, they survived till around 2014 after near daily use. I wanted Bluetooth so i upgraded to the qc35 and they’re my current pair. I am super brand loyal now, but i will admit my AirPods are taking a lot of my ear time.
- dzhiurgis 7y ago
  I went to Sony's and then started working from home, but still got AirPods Pro. Haven't used Sony's for months.
pimeys 7y ago
I find that alarming you need to get new headphones so often. I've used my boses while commuting for over a year now with no trouble luckily, but this doesn't sound good. My office headphones have always been Beyerdynamics. I've owned a pair of dt880s and now dt1770 pros and used them almost daily. The 880 I bought in 2003 and 1770 in 2016. Both work with no trouble and deliver perfect sound. I expect them to last for a few more decades...
- Godel_unicode 7y ago
  The qc20s are earbuds, it's been my experience that they die more often. Partly from being in bags and pockets, and part from the wire-bud connection breaking down. Part of the reason I only buy mmcx models, so you can replace the wire when it wears out
  - 7y ago

pdpi 7y ago

I had two sets of QC20i break on me in the exact same way (the glue on one of the earbuds failed and the earbud just split open). First was in warranty and they replaced it no questions asked. Second was just out of warranty and they wanted £150 for a replacement set. I'm not paying £150 for something that's failed twice in the exact same way, so I bought some Shure monitors instead. The passive reduction on these is as good as, maybe better than, the active cancellation of the Boses, and sound quality is way better.

ss3000 7y ago
I too swear by my Shures. I've tried quite a few NC headphones/earphones over the years but they've all had issues with distortion, wind noises, etc to some degree, whereas my Shures can passively cut out just as much noise as the best of them while never introducing weird artifacts that break immersion and take me out of the music. I just wish they'd release a fully wireless version with the same comfort and fit (not the replacement cable+dongle thing they currently have).
- ycombonator 7y ago
  Your wish granted. Shure Aonic 50 released 5 days ago ! https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/headphones/aonic50 https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/headphones/aonic50

m1sta_ 7y ago

I've owned a number of Bose products and have found every one to be void of disappointment. Great company.

basejumping 7y ago

I have the QC35 and besides the noise cancelling they are crap. The bluetooth drops off when I'm sometimes only 8m away, the battery life is low, but the most annoying thing for me is the multi devices connectivity. They will connect to both my iphone and mac at the same time, but never in the way I intended to. A lot of times I need to turn off the bluetooth on the iphone, or turn the phones on and off several times, or desperately try to connect/disconnect the phones to the mac, do this a few times a day and see how it feels. There is no option on the phones to switch between devices, or even to stop multi connectivity, the phones know better and will connect to the device which is 'closest'. Good luck when you sit at the desk with the laptop and the phone on it. The only way is to use the Bose supplied app, which is full of dark UX patterns. Every time it asks me to create a Bose account, to connect my other social accounts, etc. And it doesn't even solve anything, do I really need to open my iphone and open the Bose app to turn off a connected device every time I start the headphones? By comparison my Beats solo are much better, for range battery and connectivity, but they don't have noise cancelling.

liendolucas 7y ago
> I have the QC35 and besides the noise cancelling they are crap. This is the main reason why I have never bought a Bose product before (and probably never will). I've heard this assertion way too many times about Bose headphones, that besides noise cancelling they are average (if not worse) headphones overall and of course way too overpriced. I've switched to ear monitors and to be honest that turns out to be a good enough noise cancelling solution at least for me (provided that you get a good fit). I tend to just use wired headphones as you get rid of the potential issues that you mention: bluetooth and battery. Hope that good headphones companies keep manufacturing wired headphones in 10, 20 or 50 years time but I see that hard as laptops and phones are slowly deprecating the beloved jack connector.
floriferous 7y ago
I have the exact same experience, switched to airpods for my phone, and bose for my computer. Their Bluetooth setup is abysmal ! Hate using these QC 35 for that reason.
beeforpork 7y ago

throwaway_pdp09 7y ago

First thing I do with a hagiography like this is look at the poster's profile. 1 comment ever, and voted to the top.

blub 7y ago

This is the same company that was spying on what their customers are listening to. Their headphones (I think it was the NC ones) require an app for configuration and that was uploading track names to their servers.

Hnrobert42 7y ago
You can delete the app after doing firmware upgrades. Of course, the monitoring should have been opt in, but at least it is not required.

abcd_f 7y ago

On one hand we have this. On the other hand we have genuine Bose replacement cushions that start to flake out not two years after very light use. Not aftermarket, but their own ridiculously expensive units bought directly from them. I have no explanation for this except for it being due to planned obsolescence practices. So they can publish as many reports (that tested a whooping 10 returned units!), but it doesn't undo the ill will created by their products falling apart on schedule. Caveat emptor and all that.

rmoriz 7y ago
I can confirm this. Looks like an ingredient of the plastic/fake leather part is deteriorating pretty much exactly at the 2 years mark. Mine was idling one year after some months of use and then started to fell apart, the prior QC15 was then heavily used when its ear pads started to crisp after 2 years.
- jimmyswimmy 7y ago
  Amazingly, this happens even if you don't touch them. I bought a pair and misplaced them in my house. Around 18 months later I found them, unwrapped them and found the pleather coming apart. Seems like the very definition of a manufacturing defect. I won't be buying Bose again!
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
snowwolf 7y ago
It cost me £25 for replacement cushions which they fitted for me in store. https://www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/headphones/headphone_accessories/qc35-ear-cushion-kit.html#v=qc35_earcushion_acc_black https://www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/headphones/headphone_a... Which I had to replace after 2 years of weekday daily use of 3-4 hours a day. I’m not sure I class that as ridiculously expensive.
- sudosysgen 7y ago

devy 7y ago

I have owned 3 pairs Boss QC noise-cancellation headphones (QC15, QC25 and QC35). While they are generally considered to be a reputable brand, and their software/firmware might be the best, their hardware design is NOT. I noticed that their QC15/25 has a major flaws on the battery compartment design cause its wiring prone to wire fatigue and as a result it will inevitably end up with a broken side. This is very well known in the community.[1][2][3] And after warranty expires(usually 1-2 years), Boss charges you $100 for a refurbished replacement (required that you sent your broken headphone back to Boss before you get your replacement) instead of just fixing yours (which should be much cheaper). Highway robbery! [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u2GBBZbAyQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u2GBBZbAyQ [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlb094awkoo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlb094awkoo [3]: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/10706/How+to+fix+power+to+Bose+QC2+headphones https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/10706/How+to+fix+power+t...