So it’s been a while since it happened; I’ve had time to calm down, they’ve had time to rip off a bunch more people. It’s time I tell the story about my wrangle with Logitech’s Customer ‘Support’.

You may remember that I had some problems with my Logitech Bluetooth Headset. By the end of all of that, I just wanted to return the headset, get my money back, and try something else entirely.

That’s when things got interesting.

Basically, it went something like this…

Them: We’re not going to be able to send another replacement product sir, since we’ve already done that and it hasn’t worked.

Me: That’s fine, I don’t want to return it, I want my money back.

Them: I’m afraid we can’t do that either sir, we can’t issue a refund on the product because we don’t believe it is defective.

Me: So what am I supposed to do?

Them: We believe your phone is faulty – take it to a Nokia store and have them fix it.

Me: There’s nothing wrong with the phone – the headset doesn’t work with your bluetooth hub on my computer.

Them: We believe your phone is faulty…

repeat

So there you have it – basically they replaced it a couple times, it still didn’t work, so they tell me to piss off. End of story – no other options. Brilliant.

I now officially hate Logitech, it’s just a pity that they still have some products I really like (such as the diNovo), otherwise I could entirely boycott them.

I finally found one that works! One last shot, I thought I’d have a look at the Jabra FreeSpeak 250. They’ve been in the market for a while, and seem to be pretty popular, so they must be doing something right.

Eventually, I got the FreeSpeak to work perfectly with Skype on my iBook (you can even set Skype to use it, but the system to use normal audio out which is very cool). I also got it to work on my iPAQ, but it’s shaky at best, and requires me to drop into a completely open Bluetooth profile, with all security and encryption of any kind turned off… but it works. It works beautifully on my Nokia 6230, even re-connects when the handset goes out of range and then comes back in (although if it’s away for too long, then it won’t).

I am yet to get it to work reliably with the Logitech diNovo Bluetooth Hub, but I am now resigned to the fact that the Hub sucks. I think either the Hub, or the WIDCOMM drivers don’t really support the correct profiles to make the headset work, which is a pity, but I can live with that. I’m moving to a PowerBook soon as my main machine anyway, so then it won’t be an issue.

Go to hell Logitech.

As of this Friday, I’ll be heading off on an intense trip around the world. I’ll be out and about for nearly a month and a half, and I will hopefully be posting from all over the place in that time.

My new iBook is going with me, as is my AirPort Express, Nokia 6230 and HP iPAQ H5550. I’ll be stopping off in Honolulu (Hawaii), Sydney (New South Wales), Perth (Western Australia), Singapore, London (England), Chicago (Illinois?), Minneapolis (Minnesota), Los Angeles (California), Las Vegas (Nevada). Some of those are just lay-overs, some are for longer stays (a couple days). It should be interesting to say the least.

It will be interesting to see what access is like in different places, and hopefully spot some cool technologies around the place. Stay tuned to hear the latest as I progress 🙂