AKAI PROFESSIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS!

back in august this year I purchased a brand new product release from AKAI PRO. the KEY61. Pretty sweet kit combo that with tax and shipping just under 2k. For almost 2 months now the E3 key is dead. No triggering, no sound, no life from any instrument or plugin. AKAI pro customer service about this has been nothing more than a few paragraphs of lip service. They say have to just wait, they can't help, they're useless!! I would never recommend AKAI PROFESSIONAL to anyone. building great products is useless if you can't or won't support your new product issues.

Only thing I can suggest is that you take it back to the store you purchased it from and ask for a warranty replacement. Sounds like a hardware problem.

that‘s the only (and proper) way of handling it. Warranty exchange or repair at the dealer.
Akai Pro Support is the wrong department

Echo chamber alert, but why didn't you contact the point of purchase? Your deal with them is that they provide the goods and when there's an issue, they deal with the company.

Depending on where he lives.. He bought the thing in August, it's now December.

In the US, most retail stores have like a 7-14 day return policy (Amazon has the almighty 30 day) and after that, they direct you to the manufacturer.
The US doesn't work like the EU or the UK. The retailers aren't responsible for anything service related.

Monotremata wrote:Depending on where he lives.. He bought the thing in August, it's now December.

In the US, most retail stores have like a 7-14 day return policy (Amazon has the almighty 30 day) and after that, they direct you to the manufacturer.
The US doesn't work like the EU or the UK. The retailers aren't responsible for anything service related.

Yeah unless you buy the stores extended protection plan you are at the mercy of manufacturer.

Where do you live?

Where did you purchase the unit from?

What warranty coverage came with the sale?

What reply did you receive from Akai?

In the EU I think it's 3 years of warranty for any electronic device since Jan 1 2022. It was 2 years before. That warranty is provided by the seller, they are responsible for giving you a replacement unit if the one you bought just stops working for no reason.

The only way the seller can skip this obligation is if the device show signs of mistreatment.

bitermc wrote:In the EU I think it's 3 years of warranty for any electronic device since Jan 1 2022. It was 2 years before. That warranty is provided by the seller, they are responsible for giving you a replacement unit if the one you bought just stops working for no reason.

The only way the seller can skip this obligation is if the device show signs of mistreatment.

Yeah you guys over across the pond get a way better deal when it comes to gear service. If my Behringer UMC1820 I bought for the MPC ever craps out on me, I can either deal with Behringer service, or luckily I bought it at Thomann, who has great warranty coverage, and I can go through them. But my MPC itself, bought from Guitar Center here in the US and I did buy their extended warranty, but had I not, Id be dealing with Akai after the first two weeks I owned it. GC wont touch it once its past their return period.

Sweetwater is who I prefer to buy from because they seem to have taken the Euro route. You get an addition 2-3 year warranty on a lot of products from Sweetwater on top of the manufacturer's warranty. Thats why those guys get ALL my business nowadays.

I work for ViewSonic, we do the same thing. We have a 30 day return policy IF you buy something directly from us, but since we're the manufacturer, we handle service too. When our customer service team gets calls about dead units, first thing we do is tell them to send it back to where they bought it, if they're still within the return period. Otherwise we can service it, but they'll get a brand new one as opposed to a 'refurb' if they return it straight to the retailer (if they still can).

US law is a bunch of hoops and tricky shit to jump though for just about anything heh.

BTW those Guitar Center warranties are pretty awesome for you US folks that shop there. Bought one with my Les Paul last year and even if I scratch the thing, they'll replace it straight out for the next 3 years.

Monotremata wrote:Sweetwater is who I prefer to buy from because they seem to have taken the Euro route. You get an addition 2-3 year warranty on a lot of products from Sweetwater on top of the manufacturer's warranty. Thats why those guys get ALL my business nowadays. ..BTW those Guitar Center warranties are pretty awesome for you US folks that shop there. Bought one with my Les Paul last year and even if I scratch the thing, they'll replace it straight out for the next 3 years.

Yeah, I mainly buy from Sweetwater as well because they back up all of their gear with a 2 year warranty, and they'll handle repairs and dealing with the manufacturer during that time. Guitar Center does the same as well. So, not sure where the OP is from but if it's not the EU, and its not the USA, then they certainly may have a harder time.

AKAI customer service replied to me again about two defective MPCs that I had purchased last year (I returned the first unit, second unit had even more problems). For some reason, they reply to my ticket every few months - that is how long it takes them. It is kind of amusing at this point. My original ticket was exactly a year ago, and the first reply I got about it was I think in the summer.

Anyway, they had asked me for more details last time, so I had obliged with an extensive write-up documenting all kinds of tests and trials I had done, down to room temperature. I sent them videos documenting several issues (I had sent the same videos before but they claimed they had lost them). As I have posted before in this forum, I performed extensive tests to exclude playing technique as a factor when it comes to double-triggering pads. There were other problems as well.

Customer support replied "the double triggering looks like a playing technique issue to us, sorry the MPC is not the right device for you".

They hadn't addressed a single question, and presumably hadn't watched any of the videos either. Other problems included pads triggering without even being touched (maybe this is a breathing technique problem?) and, on one of the units only, pads triggering when tapped without lighting up, then triggering again, or lighting up without triggering (this is very different for the common double trigger issue).

I estimate that I will have another reply from them around February or March. Or maybe they will ignore it completely, because why not.

e-Brainz wrote:Customer support replied "the double triggering looks like a playing technique issue to us, sorry the MPC is not the right device for you".

That is so insanely passive aggressive! Lol. I'd be **** livid.

I have opened 3 tickets over the course of 1 year. I received 3 ticket numbers, but after that nothing. It’s like a fake support tunnel. It’s made to look like they have support but in actuality it doesn’t exist. Not understanding why they haven’t addressed these issues. Warranty replacement is impossible if you can’t get a return interaction from them. I honestly believe that some of my issues could be hardware related but absolutely am disappointed that none of my requests for service have been responded to outside of generating a ticket.

jabberwalky wrote:

e-Brainz wrote:Customer support replied "the double triggering looks like a playing technique issue to us, sorry the MPC is not the right device for you".

That is so insanely passive aggressive! Lol. I'd be **** livid.

Just so I am objective, their exact copy-pasted words were "it is possible that the double triggering you have experienced are down to the playing technique" and "Unfortunately we do not feel this is the right product for you playing style".

This while disregarding the rest of my email that listed over a dozen technique variations, pad settings, and other factors that I tested and had no effect on the double triggering. Also disregarding that the double triggering wasn't the only issue.

I don't care about their tone and a corporate bs response, what I care about is that they don't even read tickets - they just want to disengage and mark another case as "resolved".

This is not a "how do I load samples" ticket, it is a ticket asking about actual problems that presented themselves in two different units, documented in detail. Bad batches happen in production, all kinds of companies deal with them all the time. Maybe **** deal with it AKAI? I didn't even ask them for money back or anything, just information.

So yeah, AKAI Professional customer service definitely sucks. I don't even want to know what the AKAI Amateur customer service is like

If they wont warrenty your stuff and its broken, disassemble it and find and correct it. I honestly never pay for a warranty for anything or put any stock in the mfg warranty.

In my experience it's proven faster for me to fix the problems myself then to worry about voiding my warranty while owning a multi thousand dollar item.

if its the keybed on the mpc key i bet it's not as tough to correct as immagined. In theory its likely as easy as: flip it over pull the cover, unscrew the pcb under the keys, look for debris on that pcb with all the contacts, qtip and alcohol it make sure all the rubber boots under the keys are sitting flush, screw the pcb back down, put the cover back on and party like its 1999.