Alesis is undeserving of your business

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:23 am

patrick_like_static

Just to make you feel better.

I had a SONIC hard drive for my Sonic System. Nothing but problems with it. I paid $800.00 for it and all Sonic kept telling me was to reformat the drive when I had problems with it. After a year and two days it failed. Sonic refused to warranty it so I was out the $800 for the drive plus an additional $800 for the new drive.

I purchased a new Sound Designer II setup from Digidesign. No mention from them that it was soon to be an orphaned piece of equipment with no support. When they announced that the "life cycle" had ended and that there would be no tech support for the hardware or the software I got somewhat upset. I called Digidesign and got the national sales manager on the line. He told me that I should be glad I had to upgrade since I would be getting a brand new Pro Tools system and that with the NEW system I could do many things that I could not do with my Sound Designer II. I asked him what the upgrade path was and he said there was none and that I would have to buy the ProTools system from them and that there was no credit or trade in value for the equipment I had just purchased. Having just spent what I considered a major amount of money for something that was now obsolete I was not a happy camper. The national sales manager of Digidesign went on to inform me that there were places in So California that were making $3500 a week with their ProTools rigs and that I could pay off the purchase in short order. I then informed him that I lived in Ohio and that $3,500 a month was a stretch. I have never bought another Digidesign product since.

I bought a complete Sonic system and from day one it had problems. I worked with my local pro audio dealer and he was great but when I tried to contact Sonic all I got was the run around and never got any real help from them. This went on for weeks and months and I was not making any money off my purchase because it was never working. Every time I would call tech support they would tell me that my SONIC CARE was about to expire and I would have to purchase a new contract from them to have my questions answered. There favorite thing to tell me was to reformat my hard drive and that would take care of all the problems which it did not. I finally gave up on Sonic and went with WL and sold the Sonic system to a local school of music at a large loss.

You are NOT alone in your frustration and I hope you can get this worked out soon. One additional word of advice. If you are considering going to MOTU equipment look carefully at how really cheaply it is built and how the connectors are attached to the chassis (they are not) so your chances of having problems down the road are pretty much 100%.

I don't want to say you get what you pay for since the Sonic System and the Digidesign systems I had were expensive and they did not work from the get go BUT as in most things the more expensive the cost the better it SHOULD work.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:58 am

I feel better only because misery loves company. I'm sorry to hear about all the outrageous treatment. My experience was offensive. Yours is egregious. I don't see how companies can do things like that.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:17 am

There are products from a certain company that I won't use. The reason? I spent quite a bit of money to buy a piece of software. I could not get it authorized on my computer. Despite numerous emails, snail-mail letters and direct phone calls I could not get satisfaction, either on the form of assistance in resolving the problem or getting a refund.

I know that one person not buying their product will not affect their business. But I also work as a consultant helping people set up their home studios. These people now also know of the problem, who will tell their friends, who will tell their friends...

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:53 am

Okay. I'm having a similar issue with my Onyx Satellite. The firewire on the dock is crapping out. Tried emailing support. Nothing. Tried the forums. Nothing. The moderators of the Mackie forum have not logged on since February. Nice. Fortunately for me, my product is still under warranty. Still, this is a hassle since I will likely have to mail this thing out after I get an RMA from Mackie. Incidentally, from what I can tell, there is no phone support outside of the U.S.

The Pod still works so I can use the preamps without the dock but what a pain! I had my reservations to begin with but now I'm thinking "Mackie? Never again!".

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:51 pm

hueseph wrote:

I had my reservations to begin with but now I'm thinking "Mackie? Never again!".

I wouldn't go that far...

Overall, Mackie makes some very nice and high-quality/low-dollar products. I have a 15 YO 1202 which has been stood on, dropped 8 feet, rained on and it still works like a champ.

However, the Satellite was designed as a budget conscious piece and many have complained (including myself) about its quality.

It just has to be taken at face value - a $199 piece of gear trying to accomplish the same thing as a $1000 piece of gear just isn't going to cut it in the long run. This goes for anything - Alesis, Mackie, Motu, etc.

Get what you can out of it, then put it in the bin...

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:30 pm

Yeah. I suppose I was a little hastey in my comment. Just frustrated with support. I suppose if nothing else, I got a couple of decent pres for $200. Not bad really.

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