Altec Lansing Technologies
Reviews and Complaints

A L Slogan: "Sound Comes First"
Product owners ... Apparently, Dead Last in Priority. As with many companies that were once ahead of the competition, Altec Lansing emphasizes marketing over satisfied customers.
8 days and 3 calls to tech support has resulted in zilch on their part. Not one returned call.
The Boomjacket I've owned for just over 4 years died and I determined the battery was dead.
Unable to find a matching battery online, I called customer service to see if they could provide or refer me to a source for an exact (or closest) fit. After all this is a waterproof, shock resistant product that rides on an ATV.
I'd prefer to not modify the secure "seat" the battery is designed to be placed in. But, since their staff can't be bothered with assisting (5 minutes of their time) a previously ... long time satisfied customer, willing to purchase ($$) a part from them, I will locate the closest fitting battery and secure it with Alien Tape.
Not everyone is willing to do their own repair and Altec Lansing, like many others won't repair an out of warranty product. (Guessing from other comments I've read.
Many comparable products that will last just as long and don't cost as much as a result of a former reputation and huge marketing budget.
Speaker was great, rechargeable batteries don't last forever ...
Customer service was a skilled position " back in the day". I now know how they feel about existing customers vs prospective customers.
Meanwhile, I won't be buying Altec Lansing products any longer. Nor will some of the consumers that inevitably, I will share my rant with when asked about my bluetooth speakers.
They brag about having provided the sound at Woodstock.
Well, Mr Bob Dylan ...The Times They have A-Changed.

When I got the speaker it was working fine but after a little bit it got allot quieter. When I am pairing/turning it on it is as loud as it should be but when it connects all the sound is quiet coming out of it. When I am in Bluetooth settings it has a picture of headphones next to the option to pair to the mini life jacket. So I think it is stuck in headphones mode when there is no headphones in it. I've tried plugging and unplugging headphones to maybe fix it but its still quiet. What do I do?

For starters, we were very upset when we got home and plugged the VS461 Altec stereo in. It sounded awful. We had to suspend the satellites on fishing tackle from the ceiling so the 'mid range'sound could be heard.Clearly the downward facing mid- range speakers cannot operate pointing downwards. I believe this is why no other company has ever attempted to achieve this.There is no such thing as '360 degree' sound. The speakers should do their job. Nice box. We had more amusement reading your trumpet blowing statements on the box, such as 'Exceptional sound dispersion in a small footprint'.What does this actually mean? The audio jack fitting could be likened to chucking a banana down a large tunnel. We tried to finish off your sub- standard attempt at basic electronics with duck tape, cardboard and blue tack, to secure the audio jack in place. This slightly improved the noise. However, this was after many a discussion with friends and family as to whether the bass sounded better with a pair of pants wedged in the front -facing air port or not.
We were also curious to know, whilst looking at your other products on-line (in a considerably higher price range)that despite no difference in any specifications, there were increasingly more 'tempting' and glossy linguistic representations of your products as you raised the price. On examining the picture we realised it was immediately obvious that the speakers were lacking the expected casing to match the front. Was this another unique idea of yours? I would imagine that a company that only made dedicated audio equipment would actually finish the job off properly. That, I must say, certainly is 'unique'.

Dear Mr. Kumar,

I would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused to you. However, we are working on to improve our service, so you would not face any inconvenience in future.

Also, we at Naaptol are at your service to provide the best solutions for your communication needs at an affordable cost.

Further, I can see that the Altec Lansing VS2421 Speaker 2.1 has been delivered to you on 03/06/2010.

Please write us on [protected]@naaptol.com, [protected]@naaptol.com. Also, you can call us on [protected] for further assistance.

Regards,

Customer Care

I recently purchased Altec lansing VS2621, 2.1 series on April 28th 2010 from
Roopam infotech retail dealer in Andheri. The address is:

Hanuman Terrace
Shop #A-6
Tara Temple Lane, Off Lamington Road
Grant Road
Mumbai -400007

The speakers are ok but the subwoofer bass is bad, it
distorts at a volume of 25%. That is unheard of. I tried returning it on april
29th 2010 to Roopam infotech and
they tried to pass on the buck to a distributor named Balchandra (mobile # [protected]) and he said that the speakers are
ok. I was flabbergasted to hear him say that because the distortion and the
crack in the bass is evident to the human ear and does not require electronic
testing. Also he had the audacity to advise me that replace will not happen and
will need to be sent to the Altec lansing service center for repair. This is
clearly a manufacturing defect and request replacement of this speaker. Now the
speakers are brand new and do not understand the reason why I have to give it
to service center, all I need is replacement.
I travelled 56.5 Km
one way, twice to get this sorted but to no avail. Your website clearly
states in the FAQ's "If the speakers
were purchased through retail (a retail store, mail order catalog or retail
website) and they are still within store's return policy timeframe, you'll need
to return them to the place of purchase for replacement."
I've tried speakers on three different PC's at home. The
PC's are barely a year older too.

Money is not really a concern but time definitely is.
Request you to please intervene help me with this.

I was a first time buyer of your product with good reviews
from my friends and this situation is turning to sour taste. I'll never buy speakers as the are not only sub standard company but also have no customer service in India.

More ever the Service center says the speakers are fine...are they deaf, cant they tell the distortion. Oh well, it was a waste, I am writing this so you dont waste your hard earned money and stick with the market leader Creative speakers, especially th inspire series.

I bought a BX-1020 last month (20 Apr) from the Altec Lansing website. After a month (21 May) had passed and I had already forgotten about it, I get a email saying it was still on 'backorder'. I emailed customer service through the website to cancel it and got no replies. I couldn't cancel through the website because the order was still 'pending'. There was no customer service number on the DigitalRiver website to call. I had to find it on CNET. I called the number and was annoyed to hear from the rep that the product was no longer in stock - for more than a month already. I asked about the backorder email and he said it was inaccurate. I asked why didn't the company just send an email to say it was cancelled. The replies were incongruent and inconsistent. Apparently, he said the system does the backorder email automatically and the customer should know that it has been cancelled (how, I don't know), or else they could call the customer service to find out. I hung up. That was not a satisfactory experience at all. No more Altec Lansing products for me.

Very BAD customer service! I thought I was getting help from smart, technical people, but I was wrong since they tried to cheat me. They tried to sell me a ripped up box of headphones for the asking price of $99.99 . After talking to them for nearly an hour, I almost decided to buy the headphones, but I asked to check if all of the parts were in the box. We looked inside and there was earwax on the earbuds with hair in the left earbud and the charger as well as the car adapter were missing. I felt good that I checked and felt like I was being cheated. They acted as if they had no idea. I am never going there again. I feel like Costco has way better service than Fry's!

The date of this complaint is dated October 15th because that is the last time I received a response from their support center. This whole ordeal started back in March of 2008 when I lost the battery cover on the back of the unit. In order to fix this simple problem, they had me send the entire unit back to their repair center. Many responses and almost 8 months later, I still have not received my unit back. At this point, I don't even expect to see my unit ever again.

I bought a NEW Altec Lansing IM600 for my wife after reading several good reviews of this product. When the package arrived, the box looked as if it had been opened, then resealed with scotch tape. I didnt think much of it till I pulled the unit out of the plastic bag...SCRATCHES covered it...clearly USED...the instructions stated that the internal battery needed to be charged prior to 1st use...However, I pushed the power button, to find that battery had already been charged, which I wasnt surprised about, considering all the scratches. Since it was charged, I thought I'd at least see how it sounded, so I attached my wife's IPOD...nothing...until I wiggled the IPOD slighty, but if I let go...nothing. I looked for other parts that were described in the manual...of which I fould missing, the remote control, adapters and the warranty card.
So, I tried to call the company, but the phone call went to what sounded like a residential voicemail. After more attempts the next day, I sent off a long email describing my concerns. Two days went by...nothing. So, I called again, and a woman named MARIA answered. I asked if she received my email, and she replied 'yes' and that she was very sorry...and that she sent me the wrong unit. She was ready to send me a new unit, however, my wife had a time contraint as she need the unit for some volunteer work she had coming up. I asked Maria for a full refund, and she verbally agreed, and again in email, after I followed up with our conversation. She agreed to send me back an RMA shipping label, and once I received it, I sent the unit back. Yesterday, I emailed MARIA as to the status of my REFUND...and this was her response:
''We have received the Altec Lansing iM600. First of all, the product you sent us is not the one we sent you, the serial numbers do not match. Second of all, the one you've sent us is not in a working condition. Third of all, parts are missing, the remote control and adapters are not in the box you've sent us. Therefore, you have two choices, either send us a shipping label and we will ship it back to you, or leave it the way it is, we will keep the product. In any case, you will not be refunded, you've received a product in a perfect working condition with all the parts but returned a different item.
Maria,
Payless Merchandise''

So I guess now she is either having a memory lapse of our conversation, or I am now being accused of switching her supposed 'new' unit for a beat up broken down unit that I apparently had already owned...how lovely!

I've bought most of my families consumer products online over the last several years and have never had an issue with any vendor...

This needed to be made to known to other potential customers. How foolish to accuse your customer of us such misrepresentation and not consider the impact it may have on future business.

Tony
Tampa, Florida
U.S.A.