You always hear horror stories when it comes to customer service experiences. But today, I’m going to briefly talk about a very positive experience.

About 10 months ago, I bought a pair of V-MODA Vibe earphones. I had been hunting for a good pair of headphones for a while and after reading positive reviews, I decided to go with the Vibes. After all, I was going to be in NYC and I figured that earphones were more portable than bulky headphones, even if the sound quality wasn’t at the same level. I had read that the Vibes came with plenty of bass when compared to other earphones. Plus, Amazon had them for much cheaper than retail and I had a discount coupon, courtesy all the change I had accumulated in three years at Adelphi. Thus, I bought the Gunmetal Black pair. I let them “burn-in” for a few days since the out-of-the-box sound was very muddy. I loved these earphones and they worked well with my laptop and my Zen.

Now, a few weeks ago, I noticed that there was a tear in the insulating wire near the left ear bud. The ‘phones still worked so I went on using them. Recently however, the left earpiece just stopped working. If I jiggled the wiring near the jack, it would work, but not otherwise. Since I still had a warranty, I got in touch with V-MODA’s customer service via their online contact form. I told them what had happened and I got a reply the next day, asking me to send my pair back so that they could ship a replacement. No questions asked.

I only had to pay for shipping. Initially, I thought I would have to pay for shipping both ways but they actually told me that I would only pay for shipping the earphones to them. Note that I never used the phone to contact them. I prefer email as it saves me time and money! So I shipped off the faulty earphones, sans all the bundled accessories, along with the receipt and an explanation of why I was returning them. Before I sent if off however, I noticed a new color - Midnight Blue - that had been introduced recently. I asked if I could get that color for my replacement pair. Guess what, they did exactly that. My replacement earphones are Midnight Blue and they shipped 2 business days after they got the faulty ones.

It appears that the wiring issue was common and a lot of people had it. They’ve since changed the wiring a bit and I’m hoping this pair will last me longer than the first one otherwise it’s bye-bye V-MODA for me.  Good products need to be backed up by good customer service and quality and V-MODA has to ensure better quality control.  I don’t have a picture of my old pair but here’s a comparison of the old pair and the new pair (pictures courtesy Amazon):

Notice the improved jack which has added strain-relief and the changed design also makes it easier to insert and remove the jack from a headphone socket.  Further, the new wiring is cloth-based, unlike the rubbery material used earlier.  Note that the picture above shows a dark blue but the actual color of the earphones is more of an electric blue.

It’s time to burn these in. I just set up a huge playlist that runs for two days and encompasses all the genres I listen to. I butt in every now and then to check how the ‘phones are doing. Now, granted that this wasn’t a short post, but how often do you hear positive customer service stories? I wish more companies were like V-MODA.