iRex - Misleading Advertising

[jæd]

Originally Posted by vvoi666

this case will be a field day for any lawyer (my brother is a lawyer and he looked into this).

Yeah... Lets all litigate and waste more of Irex's time...

TBH I've basically given up. Not on the Iliad or on Irex but on mobileread.com. When I first posted on this forum everyone wanted e-books to succeed and its was a brave new world. Now it just seems to be few nasty characters who just want to see them fail... I've been trying to keep positive, but its got to the point were every topic on the Iliad seems to be harp endlessly on a few problems of the device.

Lets forget that Irex were the first to market a device to consumers (even if they didn't originally want to...). Lets just whine at some minor issues repeatedly...!

Personally I think the Iliad is a ground-breaking device and I'm 100% satisfied with it as it is... I also think the 2007 device sounds a good replacement...

But... No more posts for me on this forum...! I've got better things to do than hang around doom + gloom merchants...!

[emkay]

Just been over at the iRex website, and my post there agrees with a lot of comments here.
I don't want to see iRex going under as a company, or disappearing under a pile of steaming bad publicity. They do have a legal case to answer though, and the best thing for them to do to head that off would be to give existing owners a *very* good upgrade deal.

BTW, I really really hope they have taken on board everyone's wish for suspend mode in designing the new hardware...
How about charging via USB too? They missed an open goal on that one.

[emkay]

Jaed, I appreciate your positive comments around here, it gives a bit of much-needed balance. So don't go!

But really, if you look at things fairly from both sides, there are reasons for complaint. The iLiad is a very expensive device, and people have invested a lot of money buying it on the basis of specifications given by iRex.

It's not fair that iRex should promise XY and Z then only deliver X. The device specifications just aren't correct, and that is not fair. It's not really relevant if you are 100% happy with it as it is. That isn't the issue.

Anyway let's keep this discussion reasonable... I get tired of all the iRex bashing that goes on around here too.

[Riocaz]

jæd:

I never advocated litigating. I suggested contacting your local member of the EASA. iRex don't seem to understand that they are operating illegally. Contacting advertising standards is the correct procedure in this matter as it indicates (without litigation) to iRex that they have a number of customer who are aware of proper process and are unhappy at being treated in this manner.

I will also point out that the new website states specifically reading and writing, whereas the old techspecs were purely reading. Writing on the iLiad uses power. So this may be the difference.

To comment on your other statements:

Originally Posted by jæd

I've been trying to keep positive, but its got to the point were every topic on the Iliad seems to be harp endlessly on a few problems of the device.

Few problems?

We have 1 working format (PDF).

We have several formats which simply don't work in a usable manner. We have other things which simply don't exist.

We have just over 50% of the stated batterylife.

You might call these a few problems I feel differently.

Originally Posted by jæd

Personally I think the Iliad is a ground-breaking device and I'm 100% satisfied with it as it is... I also think the 2007 device sounds a good replacement...

No arguement that the iLiad is groundbreaking. It's very good at what it does. And I have no issue with that. I have an issue with the fact that wahat is does is less than a half (IMO) of what it should do according to the specifications given when they started selling it. However had the specifications stated it would do what it does now,and nothing more. I probably would still have bought it.

I'm very glad you feel you have enough money to spare replace your iLiad within a year of the original. You obviously have more disposable income for me good on you.

Onto other people's comments:

As for the people that said they may have meant a work week.

A week is 7 days. If they diddn't mean 7 days then that is their fault for not being clear. They have had since September to correct this mis-understanding and despite posting on here and their forum they havn't done so.

Even so, the new iLiad needs a larger battery to get to 15 hours. How does this bode for the existing ones? Yes we apparently will have the option of a battery upgrade. But from the way it's been worded implies this will not give us what we were told it would.

Lastly can an admin type please change the name of this thread?

I originally wrote it when rather annoyed (and my original message was completely different). As we are unable to remove our own postings I tried to change the thread title to "iRex - Misleading advertising" but it didn't change the thread itself just the first message.

[ali]

Originally Posted by jæd

Yeah... Lets all litigate and waste more of Irex's time...

Boy, let's settle this. You are repeating the argument how happy you are with your Iliad, and how sufficient it is for you, as if Irex was your little sister that you have to defend and protect under all circumstances.

Are you able to take an abstract point of view? Say, something is advertised to have features X and Y, but in reality only has X. Now XFæn (who just loves everything X) and YBoy (more on the Y side he is) each buy one, and YBoy finds the device is unusable. Manufacturer claims it will add Y some time, but never does, and YBoy gets angry. Now XFæn comes along "Hey, it does X, everything I want, wow, wow, stop whining!" You think that's useful? Could it be XFæn thinks his own needs must be enough for everyone else?

No abstract point of view? More concrete? NP:

What if product is a car, and the specs say "over 210 horsepowers", but it has less than 150. Now YBoy might be driving in races and needs that power, but XFæn comes along "Hey, the trunk is large enough so I can go shopping with it!"

What if product is an embedded device, and the specs say "MP3 player", but there is none? YBoy might have been looking for an MP3 player, and bought an Iliad over an iPod, because the Iliad has the bonus feature "e-Reader". What should XFæn say?

What if product is an eBook, and the specs say "e-Ink", but there's just a black-and-white-LCD with backlight? YBoy might have bought it because eInk is better for the eyes and gets angry. But XFæn comes along "Hey, LCD is sufficient for me, I don't read in sunlight anyways, stop your complaints."


Can you really say that your point is more than "What's sufficient for me must also be sufficient for everybody else"?

[CommanderROR]

OK everybody...this is it then. Things have finally come to a breaking point.

The next move iRex makes will make the difference between life and death I guess...but perhaps this point in time is already over...who knows.

I can sit here, pretty relaxed, and read these postings. It still hurts to see that I really have wasted a lot of money for a device that is barely adequate as a backup reading solution (my girlfriend uses it from time to time to read a bit, but even with that gentle useage the battery drains much too quickly).
I can sit here pretty relaxes since I have the STAReBOOK. The device is far from perfect, especially when it comes to formatting text, but amazingly I can live with that AND there is a realistic chance of improvement in the forseeable future.

I'm going to be following this development pretty closely anyway, since I still feel pretty bad about the whole iRex affair, 680€ is a lot of money for a student...

Let's keep things civil but let's also state quite clearly that this is the finaly line that never should have been crossed!

Oh, and I changed the titel...I hope it's okay that way.

[Riocaz]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

Oh, and I changed the titel...I hope it's okay that way.

Perfect CommanderROR. I appreciate it as it was a remnant of a post I wrote in anger and should never have posted.

[jæd]

Originally Posted by ali

Boy, let's settle this. You are repeating the argument how happy you are with your Iliad, and how sufficient it is for you, as if Irex was your little sister that you have to defend and protect under all circumstances.

I wasn't going to post but...

My main point is the the battery life of the Iliad has been known since the first units got shipped to consumers. Since then Irex have stated that they will attempt to improve the battery life through the firmware updates. And, although I haven't quantified it, I have seen this happen... As far as I can tell Irex have said they will continue to improve it. I see no reason to doubt this...

There are some problems with the device, but it appears that every thread on the Iliad touches on the battery problem at some point, even though this was known a long-time ago. It makes reading MobileRead.com very dull as each thread descends into complaining about battery life...

I used to read mobileread because I am interested in new expereinces, in new information. But lately the Iliad section carries nothing new. Just a constant rehash of the battery (and other) issues. I'm currently looking forward to 2.9, based on Irex's plans. But I know already what the mobileread crowd reaction will be...

Would I defend Irex like my "litte sister"...? Nope. Irex is just one company making e-ink products... At the moment I'm assuming that there will more e-readers in the future from them and others. And when I come to replace my (then) aging Iliad I will be doing it objectivly based of features/user experience...

And yep, I am happy with my Iliad. I find it very useful. And I realise that there is a vocal minority who aren't. Its just I'm not prepared to spend my time reading though all their posts...

And anyway, I think everyone (myself incl.) is taking this way more seriously then it is...

[Moonraker]

hmm... looks like I bought myself a very expensive pdf reader.

I wanted rtf and html ... as promised by iRex.

[Riocaz]

Err did they ever say rtf? I though it was just plain txt?

jæd: You may feel that being mislead is a minor issue. I and Ali feel otherwise. Are we vocal? Yes! Are we a minority? Do you know that for sure?

Are the 1.3 million people who signed an official online petition again road tolls in the UK a vocal minority? Or are they a statistical anomaly as my government seems to think? The opposing petition had less than 4000 signed up to it the alst time I looked. Out of 53 million people both sides are a minority. But without asking everyone you can never guarantee that you know exactly?

Unless someone (You/Me/iRex) poll _all_ their customers and release the responses publically neither you or I know exactly how many people are upset by their actions.

And I find your implication that because we are a vocal we must be the minority and that our views are not important because they don't match yours frankly rather insulting.

[jæd]

Originally Posted by Riocaz

And I find your implication that because we are a vocal we must be the minority and that our views are not important because they don't match yours frankly rather insulting.

Look at the number of Iliads currently out there, and look at the number of people posting...

[emkay]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

It still hurts to see that I really have wasted a lot of money for a device that is barely adequate as a backup reading solution (my girlfriend uses it from time to time to read a bit, but even with that gentle useage the battery drains much too quickly).

Hmm, a device with 10 - 11 hours of battery life, barely adequate? OK, I can see you are pissed off with iRex, but I can't take this too seriously...

[ali]

Originally Posted by jæd

My main point is the the battery life of the Iliad has been known since the first units got shipped to consumers.[...]

I'm order #383, among the first batch. Riocaz is #388. We are these first users through which it is known.

Originally Posted by jæd

As far as I can tell Irex have said they will continue to improve it. I see no reason to doubt this...

Max. another 10%, then it's over. Quoting karel.

Originally Posted by jæd

And anyway, I think everyone (myself incl.) is taking this way more seriously then it is...

Wow. You are unbelievable. Is it possible for you to understand that for some people, 650 Euros is really a lot of money? "A lot" as in "the biggest expense in the year"? And wasting all your money on something that doesn't do it's job (the one the buyer wanted it for, not the one you have for your Iliad?)

Two proposals:
(1) Buy my Iliad for 650 Euros, and you'll be double-happy.
(2) Borrow me 2826 Euros at 10% interest. I'll give you 70% of what I owe you, and we'll both make a profit: You can be happy for being such a clever businessman, and I win enough money to make up for the Iliad.

[edit:typo]

[Riocaz]

Originally Posted by jæd

Look at the number of Iliads currently out there, and look at the number of people posting...

Do you know how many are out there?

Do you know what they all think? Have you asked them?

Are they aware that iRex is intending to renege on their stated specifications?

Hell do we know the answer to the last one? At the moment all we have is speculation on a throwaway comment made by Karel. We could be mis-understanding the situation entirely (which I mentioned earlier)

No you only have your opinion to go on.

Your opinion is perfectly valid, but you don't appear to believe other people's are if they don't agree with you.

[jæd]

Originally Posted by ali

Wow. You are unbelievable. Is it possible for you to understand that for some people, 650 Euros is really a lot of money? "A lot" as in "the biggest expense in the year"? And wasting all your money on something that doesn't do it's job (the one the buyer wanted it for, not the one you have for your Iliad?)

Why not put it on Ebay...?