Complaint Review: We-Vibe - Ottawa Ontario

Standard Innovation Corporation and their retail product line, "We-Vibe", manufactures sex toys that are sold at a number of stores, both online and at brick-and-mortar stores.  Because of the nature of their products, the buyer knows at the time of purchase that the product they are buying can not be returned, period.  Their products are very expensive (for comparison, other vibes with a variety of functions are sold at the same retailer starting at around $15; our vibe cost $180)

My wife and I purchased a vibe at a retailer near Cincinnati, Ohio (Hustler Hollywood.)  The device has several features that we were interested in - wireless control, remote operation through an app that allows the device to be controlled over the phone, and custom programming of the device through an app on both iphone and android.  Although very expensive ($180), we felt that those features made it worth the investment.

The device does not work.  The connection from phone - to - vibe is over Bluetooth, and the device loses the connection frequently.  That is, Continuously during use.  The same thing happens with all 3 of our Android phones as well as an iphone 5s.  When the connection is lost, the vibe has to be re-paired with the app (the app has a built-in 'pair' function that bypasses the phone's pairing protocols,) a process that requires putting the vibe into pairing mode (remove it, clean it, hold the button for 5-10 seconds) launching the pairing routine on the app, and waiting for it to connect.  Because of the layout of the app, the 'settings' section (where the pairing function is accessed) cannot be easily gotten to if the phone is in an Otterbox without repeatedly tapping, or removing the phone from the case in order to reach the small icon on the edge of the screen. We have repeated this process 3-4 times every time we have tried to use it before becoming so frustrated that we've given up on it.  

I contacted the company through the email link on their app within the first week we owned the product, but never received a reply.  I then contacted them through the email address on their website, and received no reply.  Both email addresses were to the "@we-vibe.com" domain.

I then called their customer service number, and explained the problem.  I was told they received no emails from me, and then was given some troubleshooting steps - make sure there are no other Bluetooth devices in the room (there are none) and make certain the phone is within 10 feet of the device (we had already tried sitting the phone on my wife's stomach, to no avail.)  I was also told that there was an update to the app available that was released the same day I called, and it would also fix the problem.

No update was shown after a week, and trying to use the vibe once again yielded the same results, so I emailed the company, and also left a review on the app's download page.  After leaving my review, I browsed through the other reviews and found that the dropped-connection issue was reported by over half of the reviews on the app store.  The reviews also said that the remote connection feature does not work correctly, also because of frequent dropped connections.

The company responded to my review, telling me to contact them via email if the troubleshooting steps did not resolve the issue (even though my review mentioned that they say they never received any emails.)

At this point, I contacted the retailer and explained the problem.  I was told that it is a warranty issue, and needs to be handled through Standard Innovation.

I then emailed Standard Innovation directly, and explained the problem with the vibe and app, as well as the lack of response from the we-vibe emails.  The auto-reply exactly matched the ones from we-vibe, giving a case number and a promise that they would contact me as soon as possible.  As this has never happened yet, I called again and said that the troubleshooting did not help.  I received a reply from a gentleman in their I.T. department, who told me to try:  clear the app's cache and data, reboot the phone, and try to pair with the vibe through the phone's standard Bluetooth app.

That also failed to work, and no change was seen in the apps functionality.  I emailed them with the results, and also called with the results.  After a week, I received no reply.  However, during that week, 6 new reviews were posted on both google play and itunes.  All of the reviews mentioned the same problems of dropped connections.  We-vibe replied to several of the reviews with the exact same troubleshooting steps.  Not one review on either site has mentioned that they received a working replacement unit, or that the troubleshooting solved the problem.

I emailed them again, and told them that I would be spreading the details of our experience to as many friends and review sites as possible.  I received a reply an hour later; they indicated they would be sending me a new vibe as soon as I sent them my mailing address (which I did immediately.)

A few days later, an update to the app was installed.  The update's description said it fixed Bluetooth connection issues.  We tried using the vibe with the new update.  It did not change the functionality at all.

However, the update was released with a bug; the section that allows the users to play a custom program no longer displays the program correctly when it is running.

It is now 7 weeks since the purchase, and we have not received a replacement vibe, any confirmation that they have actually sent a new device, and we now have an app that has not only NOT fixed the issue, but is now broken in an area that used to work fine.

And during this time, several more reviews have been posted that say exactly the same issues we have are still happening to other customers as well.