Finally tasted "denied warranty" on free gift from Anker

I just wanted to let the community know that finally I had a warranty replacement request denied for 2 free gift items.
No hard feelings from my end though. Support did tried to help but finally denied my request for a replacement.
For the reasons of issue with the product, I no longer recommend getting these.

Issue: The item in question is Zolo Halo smart speaker (with Alexa). I had 2 of them (one given as a beta test product in Dec 2016 and the other I won in a contest in Aug or Sep 2017).
Both these speakers have developed a weird playback issue in past few months. They start playback fine (either online streaming or through Zolo play app) but within a few minutes (that can be anywhere from 1 to 10 min) it automatically pauses the play. If using Zolo play app I can see that the song is still paying on my phone, its the sound that is not coming out from speaker. In that case if I pause and play the song from phone, sound starts again from speaker. In the streaming option I have to say “Alexa continue” and it starts playing back on the speaker. This happens again and again.
Both speakers have the latest firmware and I have factory reset them multiple times but the issue persists.

I requested support for an exchange for Zolo Mojo (with Google) if possible but they said “Our warranty will not cover the free gifts”. They also said that this is our first attempt to do smart speaker and there is always will be “learning curve” whenever we are doing something new.

Since I have the same issue on 2 separate pieces of hardware made and procured at months apart, I am no longer recommending this smart speaker.

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I’m sorry to hear this… that payback issue is very weird.

Thanks for posting. Very few members post negative remarks and you are one of them. Good to know that you did all you can they still don’t function as intended.

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Sorry for the trouble, and I knew the warranty issue wasn’t gonna last. As they get bigger they can only offer so much help for free products. But still, I wish they would have helped you.

Sending you a pm now @kumar.sachin

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Thanks for sharing that. I’ve been wondering if they would replace free gifts or not.

@Anjou1888 you weren’t wondering, as you already knew the answer when you commented in another thread when someone asked and I informed them of Ankers warranty policy

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I was wondering. Because someone else also commented that anker May still replace a broken item that was won in a drawing.

…in Germany there is a saying: “einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul” Hard to translate word by word - but it means if you get something for free take it - and thats it. Dont Argue.

Of course I can understand that you are dissapointed.
But it is a present …and there are the rules …

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Thank you for sharing this with us. Of course, it’s understandable that Anker won’t replace a free item. At least they tried to help you troubleshoot. I’m sorry that both units failed on you though. In this situation, it worked out for Anker since it was a new product for them and they needed feedback, even if it took awhile. Good or bad, it is what the company grows with.

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Absolutely, I agree with you.
Hopefully I can help them in troubleshooting this further as needed. If they need the faulty units back, I’m ok with that too :slight_smile:
They didn’t ask for it though. Looks like Zolo Halo has no future…

I’ve had success with other tech companies that are in the same exact market as Anker, that more than willingly sent replacements for free items but I understand their stance.

At least you got them for free :smiley:

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