no charge for sti firmware update! =)

[ninjajim4]

hi guys,

just wanted to relay my own experience with bel customer service.

first i've only been in possession of an sti for 3 days, having bought it off of fleabay for $305, shipped! i picked it based off of craig peterson's review on his site, who i gather is not a popular guy around these parts. i won't open that can of worms, but generally speaking i am just glad to to have found this forum to get more than one single person's opinion on the best out there, and also for the wealth of information, which even let me know of the issue in the first place.

anyway, so once i found out about this problem, i gave bel a call and told them i needed the firmware update for my sti, and they took my info down and issued a service order number straight away, no questions asked. i told them i got it as a gift. i was worried that this was going to be an issue for it being out of warranty, but nope, free of charge.

so... i just wanted to put this all out there for anyone who was worried about bel's customer service, which i've read on here seems to be poor. my first impression was a good one. in truth, i think what's owed here is thanks to this community for softening them up for me! my sense was that they've been getting a lot of calls about this, and the guy definitely acknowledged there was a 'software problem'. interestingly enough, he said it was only for some weeks of '07, which implies older ones might actually be ok (mine's 4206). nonetheless i'm sending mine in for that autodimming fix and whatever else.. might as well have the latest and greatest.

i'll be putting it out in the mail tomorrow, and they said once received it should be 10 days turnaround, maybe even faster. i'm not clear if that included shipping time or not. i'll post when i get it back.

obviously i haven't had much time with it to see how good it is (actually only plugged it in once), but i'm excited to see how it performs and feel fortunate that i haven't had to put up with any bugs and hopefully won't see any when i get it back from bel.

it's my first post, but i've already gotten tons of this site in a few short days, so cheers to you all!!

[thestaton]

hell yeah! keep us updated. always glad to see positive stories, over negative ones.

[focalcivic]

hi guys,

just wanted to relay my own experience with bel customer service.

first i've only been in possession of an sti for 3 days, having bought it off of fleabay for $305, shipped! i picked it based off of craig peterson's review on his site, who i gather is not a popular guy around these parts. i won't open that can of worms, but generally speaking i am just glad to to have found this forum to get more than one single person's opinion on the best out there, and also for the wealth of information, which even let me know of the issue in the first place.

anyway, so once i found out about this problem, i gave bel a call and told them i needed the firmware update for my sti, and they took my info down and issued a service order number straight away, no questions asked. i told them i got it as a gift. i was worried that this was going to be an issue for it being out of warranty, but nope, free of charge.

so... i just wanted to put this all out there for anyone who was worried about bel's customer service, which i've read on here seems to be poor. my first impression was a good one. in truth, i think what's owed here is thanks to this community for softening them up for me! my sense was that they've been getting a lot of calls about this, and the guy definitely acknowledged there was a 'software problem'. interestingly enough, he said it was only for some weeks of '07, which implies older ones might actually be ok (mine's 4206). nonetheless i'm sending mine in for that autodimming fix and whatever else.. might as well have the latest and greatest.

i'll be putting it out in the mail tomorrow, and they said once received it should be 10 days turnaround, maybe even faster. i'm not clear if that included shipping time or not. i'll post when i get it back.

obviously i haven't had much time with it to see how good it is (actually only plugged it in once), but i'm excited to see how it performs and feel fortunate that i haven't had to put up with any bugs and hopefully won't see any when i get it back from bel.

it's my first post, but i've already gotten tons of this site in a few short days, so cheers to you all!!

Interesting, since Bel does not warranty product not bought by an "authorized dealer", but in this case since it is a software upgrade and the recent bad stories about customer service they are trying to get some good feedback. I wonder how long it will last.

[ninjajim4]

i was surprised myself which is why i decided to post it up. given the deal i got it for, i was willing to pay -- and fully expecting to.

maybe if i'd said where it really came from they'd have been less helpful. but on the other hand, he got everything ready first and asked where i got it second, so maybe they're standing by their product. like i said, he didn't seem to have any problems acknowledging there was a problem...

[TQUILL]

The previous owner may have registered it through bel or bought it directly from bel maybe? So that might have helped the customer service process.

[spankyaf]

You caught a break... this is Bel afterall they cant even own up when one of their products has a major glitch

[KnightHawk]

It's an equivalent of a recall regardless of where you bought it. I think that will be nice of Bel to do it to improve it's overall image that has been badly beaten up. I believe customers will have increased loyalty when Bel takes good care of their customers.

[spankyaf]

It's an equivalent of a recall regardless of where you bought it. I think that will be nice of Bel to do it to improve it's overall image that has been badly beaten up. I believe customers will have increased loyalty when Bel takes good care of their customers.

An equivalent of a recall... you've got to be kidding??

Where's the public announcement and the effort to inform customers??

Bels trying to do this on the hush hush .... my opinion of them is even lower than when the problem was first detected

[MEM-TEK]

My opinion of them is even higher since they not only re-flashed my in-warranty STi but also threw in a new smart cord, a new windshield bracket plus four new suction cups.

[thestaton]

My opinion of them is even higher since they not only re-flashed my in-warranty STi but also threw in a new smart cord, a new windshield bracket plus four new suction cups.

that's what kind of service employees get j/k!