[Kakyou]

Harry,

Actually I agree with you on that. I understand that the poor sap who has to read the email I sent is not necessarily responsible for any poor service I have received in the past.

However. Honestly I don't care anymore. I have been anxiously waiting for this technology to mature since electronic paper started making the rounds five years ago. I own practically every ebook device ever made and have worked with companies like Palm, Rocketbook, Sony, iRex, Bookeen and Amazon. I even have a first batch Sony Librie somewhere under a stack of papers somewhere.

I have seen this segment of technology appear, flounder, resurge, die out and reappear again and I applaud the efforts of those who try new things. What I can't condone is lazy, sloppy behavior however.

Sure I have received defective products before, or had shipments delayed, or had my emails unanswered. But never with the frightening consistency that iRex can maintain. Over the years since it's formation iRex has struggled with this time and again. But it seems as though they still haven't learned even the basics of how to run a business. Sure they have some great innovators, but if they can't give their product appeal, then the story ends there and innovation can meet a premature end.

I evaluate product for enterprise use and in some industries there is significant interest in the functionality that iRex has brought to market. But my recommendations for their products stay consistently down. Wait, the functions and stability are not there yet. Wait, the company has not developed a product support structure that would be considered acceptable for enterprise adoption. Wait, the company has to eat through their funding eventually and some more mainstream consumer electronics company will buy up their patents and IP for a song.

So to get back to it. You are right. No need to be rude in the support request. Sure they have already ignored all my other emails and attempts to contact them. Sure the only responses I ever do seem to get come from postings to public message boards, and then usually delayed and unsatisfactory.

But I really just don't care anymore. This company has made me look back at my dealings with Sony almost with fondness. Go ahead and throw my requests to the bottom of the queue. I'm not expecting any better.

Oh, and as a former customer service manager for a technology products company I can tell you that certainly many support reps will bury irate contacts. We eventually fired those people.