Base station broke days after warranty expiration. Same problem when I first received it

[Cheesy]

Im posting here to see if anyone can help me get my base station repaired. I bought the vive back in the summer of 2016 and upon reciveing it one of the base station motars was broken about 3 weeks into using it. Support was very helpful the first time and they were able to get it repaired and back into my hands for the comming years. Well I left for college at the end of the summer of 2017 and did not come back until summer 2018. Excited to play my vive again I turned it on and tracking issues all over the place. I debugged the base station, the same one that had problems before and lone and behold its the same issue from 2 years ago, oviously they did not fix it right. So  contacted support and quoted me a 180$ repair fee (Which is way more than what a new one retails at!).  Now I know its 2019 why am I bring up the issue now, I had a chance to talk with some people at the CES press room, (Very kind people) and told me to post my concerns here and hopefully someone can reach out to me to help get the base station repaired.  I really like the product and want to keep buying stuff from HTC but with stuff breaking down after 2 years makes me question the longevity of the devices.

[Synthesis]

 

Sorry to hear your base station has stopped working. Unfortunately, we don't repair devices that have expired warranties anymore. If for some reason, the device was deemed Out of Warranty but still within the warranty year, generally, for a base station, we would quote 90$ per base station. I'm sorry if the agent provided a misleading figure.

If there was a way to fix it yourself, I'd share that with you, but unfortunately it requires specialized equipment to recalibrate it or the tracking doesn't work at all, so it's not really something you can fix at home. Given that it's been two years, your best bet is to just replace the old unit.

Thank you,

-John C

[Cheesy]

Well then am I out $135?, I ordered the Vive when it was first released with 4 other friends and all of theirs are still working perfectly fine today. The only difference between theirs and mine was the repair conducted on the base station 2 years ago and now 2 years later the same base station with the same error shows up again (confirmed by one of your agents). To me the repair seemed like only a temporary fix and now 2 years later im out of luck?

 

[Synthesis]

 

Based on the description of the issue, I'd guess one of the two rotors failed, was repaired and then the other rotor went two years or so later. Unfortunately, it happens with any technology or mechanism that has moving parts. Sooner or later they wear down and stop working right. Our standard warranty covers 12 months for any normal failures/repairs (But not something like say, backing a truck over it or tossing it into the shower.) but beyond that period, we no longer offer repairs for any reason.

You can imagine the situation if ten or twenty years down the road we were still doing out of warranty repairs for base stations or controllers that were originally purchased in 2016. It simply wouldn't be sustainable, so there has to be a cut-off at some point. The most reasonable and consistent option is after the actual warranty period ends.

I hope that answer helps explain our policy a little better.

Thank you,
-John C

[Cheesy]

Actually its the same motor that went out, but I get what your saying, but its still unfortante that you guys think that the product does not have much longevity in it because it has moving parts and then stop supporting it after 1 year. If both go out thats $260 after a year just in base stations. I just felt that maybe if my base station never had porblems in the first place it would still be working to day and it makes me question how long the base station 2.0 will last as well? Is that also only going to get a 1 year warrenty? 

[Synthesis]

 

A one year manufacturer's warranty is pretty much standard for consumer electronics. Video game consoles, laptops, smartphones, etc. I won't name brands, but pretty much every single major electronics manufacturer has a one year warranty.

It's really more of an industry standard than anything else.

As far as the 2.0 base stations go, there is also a one year warranty for that device. You can also purchase the Advantage or Advantage+ package with Vive Pro and get a two year warranty for Vive Pro and 2.0 accessories as well under the condition that you're using the equipment for business reasons. Learn more here: https://enterprise.vive.com/us/

Thank you!

-John C