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Tread Lightly With BridgeCom Systems re: mic issues

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kayn1n32008

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I had [still have] a problem with two, brand new, just purchased microphones in December. My two mic's short out when you stretch the coiled cord longer than 6" to its original length. It's the strain-relief part of the plug, where it plugs into the side of the 878UV. I just received an email from one of the "tech guys" at BridgeCom Systems.

BridgeCom Systems will NOT warranty the microphones! I believe that this is important info AND should be so stipulate in their advertisements and on their website.

BridgeCom BCS-200 Water Resistant Speaker Mic
[I don't see any mention about non warrantied microphones here, do you?]

It's an O.K. mic. Glad I only paid $16 each for them. I could have been out $60. I know, it's an easy fix, but a customer should not have to repair the BridgeCom slip-shod quality control, even if the mic's do come from China.

What they should do is send me two, new microphones, and I would return the "defective" ones. This way, they could isolate the problem, rather than ignoring it and perpetuating the problem onto other unsuspecting ham radio ops.

I'm just wondering how many hams who bought these mic's have yet to discover the problem...

So, before you buy anything from BridgeCom Systems, be sure that the item is warrantied.

Vry 73 de Alain
You paid $16 bucks for a garbage chinesium speaker mic, what did you expect exactly?

Throw it out, and buy an OEM Kenwood KMC-45.
 

TGuelker

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It appears to me this may be a common issue, and if Bridgecom warranties every defective microphone, that will put a big hit on their bottom line.

As others have recommended, I would dispute the charge through your credit card.

The only other option is to return the radios.

In a perfect world, you would get a RMA and pay for shipping to them. Then they will determine the cables were abused.

They might offer you a discount on a new microphone if you pay shipping.
 

PACNWDude

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On a similar note, I was turned away from Bridgecom Systems, as they constantly send updates on your "training status" and the use of their radios. Bridgecom University comes with many of their products. I selected the option that I was experienced in DMR radio, and training sites at something like 2.5%, same as it was when I purchased an 878 Anytone variant radio several years ago. Emails come in spurts and there is always some reference to my "training". Luckily, there are now many vendors for Anytone hardware (what little I tolerate spending money on), and I will not try to argue with their customer service to get off their list, I just send it to the "spam" folder now. (I usually use my older Motorola XPR6550 radios for the original use case of my Anytone878 radio, but have not needed any warranty or customer support otherwise).
 

rescuecomm

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I had a Anytone 878 develop a audio problem about two months after purchase. They replaced it under warranty. For me, I'd open the mic case and check the hole in the face for flash. If no go, then I would cut the curly cord and toss it. This stuff is hamburger and milkshake money and not worth returning. What's the fuss?
 

Alain

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I had a Anytone 878 develop a audio problem about two months after purchase. They replaced it under warranty. For me, I'd open the mic case and check the hole in the face for flash. If no go, then I would cut the curly cord and toss it. This stuff is hamburger and milkshake money and not worth returning. What's the fuss?
No fuss!

That's what I said in my original post! It's an easy fix, but the point, the principle of the discussion continues to be BridgeCom should be held accountable for ANY problem incurred with ANY BRAND NEW PRODUCT that is stipulated as NEW, sold as NEW, and does not work right out of the box. Just replace the bloody mics, BridgeCom.

I don't think that this is an unreasonable request, do you??

If BridgeCom wants to sell defective goods, knowingly or otherwise, without any warranty, they should say so, right up front, right next to the photo of the mic on their website, rather than making a potential customer drill through their website every time to see if or if not a part, which is defective, is returnable as unusable, regardless whether it costs $16 or $30. This goes way beyond just being a matter of money.

What's the fuss. BridgeCom?

rescuecomm, do you understand my position now?
 
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rescuecomm

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I understand your position. I understand their position that there is no profit in replacing your speaker microphones. Unfortunately for consumers, a lot of things work that way. Fixing the cables on your mics is probably not easily done. I was thinking about the two Baofeng SMs I have with low audio. Another poster made me aware of the problem. Yep, mine too!

At least they were cheap compared to the write protected Motorola HTs I bought used off the bay.

Have a nice day and get yourself some coffee.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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I understand your position. I understand their position that there is no profit in replacing your speaker microphones. Unfortunately for consumers, a lot of things work that way. Fixing the cables on your mics is probably not easily done. I was thinking about the two Baofeng SMs I have with low audio. Another poster made me aware of the problem. Yep, mine too!

At least they were cheap compared to the write protected Motorola HTs I bought used off the bay.

Have a nice day and get yourself some coffee.
It is a lack of customer good will. If they want to sell crap and not stand behind it, they either need to clearly state that the item is sold as-is or state a 7 day return policy on same page as the item, not bury it in amongst their myriad of "policies". Otherwise they could raise the price a bit and offer a 30 day warranty. Really they should do the latter and apply it to all accessories. For two of them to arrive broken means the entire lot is probably bad, they should check a few more and send entire lot back to the supplier for credit. If I am going to buy "broken stuff" the ham fest is only a week away.
 

kayn1n32008

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No fuss!

That's what I said in my original post! It's an easy fix, but the point, the principle of the discussion continues to be BridgeCom should be held accountable for ANY problem incurred with ANY BRAND NEW PRODUCT that is stipulated as NEW, sold as NEW, and does not work right out of the box. Just replace the bloody mics, BridgeCom.

I don't think that this is an unreasonable request, do you??

If BridgeCom wants to sell defective goods, knowingly or otherwise, without any warranty, they should say so, right up front, right next to the photo of the mic on their website, rather than making a potential customer drill through their website every time to see if or if not a part, which is defective, is returnable as unusable, regardless whether it costs $16 or $30. This goes way beyond just being a matter of money.

What's the fuss. BridgeCom?

rescuecomm, do you understand my position now?
You bought a cheap ass chinesium speaker mic, made in a factory that obviously has zero QA/QC.

Stop. Buying. Cheap. Ass. Garbage.

Seriously, it's a $16 speaker mic, and you expect a warranty? Be happy if it works, and toss it out if it doesn't and learn a lesson. You get what you pay for.

Now go buy a KMC-45, that will work, that the manufacturer will warranty, and will stand behind.

*****ing that Bridgecom isn't giving you a warranty, on a $16 mic, isn't even going show up on their radar. They don't care, they won't care.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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You bought a cheap ass chinesium speaker mic, made in a factory that obviously has zero QA/QC.

Stop. Buying. Cheap. Ass. Garbage.

Seriously, it's a $16 speaker mic, and you expect a warranty? Be happy if it works, and toss it out if it doesn't and learn a lesson. You get what you pay for.

Now go buy a KMC-45, that will work, that the manufacturer will warranty, and will stand behind.

*****ing that Bridgecom isn't giving you a warranty, on a $16 mic, isn't even going show up on their radar. They don't care, they won't care.
7% failure rate on Amazon. But for $62 you can get your money back.
 

Alain

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You bought a cheap ass chumminess speaker mic, made in a factory that obviously has zero QA/QC.

Stop. Buying. Cheap. Ass. Garbage.

Seriously, it's a $16 speaker mic, and you expect a warranty? Be happy if it works, and toss it out if it doesn't and learn a lesson. You get what you pay for.

Now go buy a KMC-45, that will work, that the manufacturer will warranty, and will stand behind.

*****ing that Bridgecom isn't giving you a warranty, on a $16 mic, isn't even going show up on their radar. They don't care, they won't care.

kayn1n32008,​


So far, everything that you've posted revolves around price. It's NOT about the price, it's the cost. Think about this kayn...

I just went to Amazon and found this Kenwood mic. It costs $175.00. Guess what the country of origon is??? Scroll down, you'll find it...



1707443336296.png

BINGO! So, you see my misinformed friend, it's not the price, that's what I've been trying to tell you...
 

mmckenna

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BINGO! So, you see my misinformed friend, it's not the price, that's what I've been trying to tell you...

Yeah, but what he's saying is that quality control costs money. $16 doesn't get quality control. $175 does, but to be fair, that is a top tier GPS enabled microphone that lists for $265. You can get real Kenwood mics much, much cheaper
 

MTS2000des

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One gets what one pays for. For some reason, hams are attracted to feces pieces radios like flies are attracted to hot garbage.
Whether it's the toy walkie-talkie SOC based trash can radios with turdy, low muffled transmit audio and wide open receivers, to cheap accessories, they can't get enough.

Buy once, cry once. A quality Icom or Yaesu radio comes with a quality warranty, quality stateside support, and an overall quality product that doesn't fall apart out of the box.
 

kayn1n32008

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kayn1n32008,​


So far, everything that you've posted revolves around price. It's NOT about the price, it's the cost. Think about this kayn...
Cost, price. What ever.

Not sure what you expect when buying a $16 cheap ass rebranded Chinese junk.

You're learning a lesson here, if your open to it. Buy garbage cheap Chinese ****, and you get to throw it out when it doesn't work. It's not worth it for Bridgecom to warranty it, because it cost far too much to ship it back to some garbage manufacturer IN China to get warranty.

Learn your lesson, and buy from REPUTABLE manufactuers for batteries and audio accessories.
I just went to Amazon and found this Kenwood mic. It costs $175.00. Guess what the country of origon is??? Scroll down, you'll find it...



View attachment 156333

BINGO! So, you see my misinformed friend, it's not the price, that's what I've been trying to tell you...
No, I haven't. I'm not misinformed.

There are plenty of reputable companies that manufacture their equipment in China. They ensure that there products are produced to their QA/QC requirements.

I do question if the product you linked to is an actual Kenwood product or not, the ONLY reference I found on Google was to the Kenwood Europe website for that model, but its discontinued.

I did find a KMC-45D, the updated version of the KMC-45


Country of manufacture listed as Malaysia...

Keep buying $16 dollar speaker mics and hopefully 1 out of 5 actually works. Or buy a KMC-45D for $78 and save yourself the headache of wondering if it will work or not.
 

kayn1n32008

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Cost, price. What ever.

Not sure what you expect when buying a $16 cheap ass rebranded Chinese junk.

kayn1n32008,​


So far, everything that you've posted revolves around price. It's NOT about the price, it's the cost. Think about this kayn...
My entrance into DMR was a CS700. radio cost me like C$250. I got a speaker mic with it. Same physical design as the old Motorola Radius speaker mics of the GP300/P110/P1225 portables. Same 2 pin plug too. It was part of the package.


Turned out that $16 speaker mic sounded like garbage. Used it once and I threw it on the junk pile.

I then went down to my local motorola dealer and bought speakermic for a CP200D. paid close to $100. Night and day difference in audio quality. I never looked back.

I own an AT-878whatever, and when it comes time, I'll be buying a KMC-45D for it, because I know 2 things:

1: A $16 rebranded cheap chinese speakermic will sound like garbage and probably not last very long

2: An OEM KMC-45D will work, sound good and last a long time.
 

Alain

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@kayn1n32008 said...​


"There are plenty of reputable companies that manufacture their equipment in China."

"An OEM KMC-45D will work, sound good and last a long time..."

Then you haven't read any of the less-than-stellar Amazon reviews for your Kenwood mic:


Look, this is becoming quite tedious. You love Kenwood mic's? Great. I'm happy for you; I've got no grief with you. I don't even know you. You've got your convictions, I've got mine. In all of this I have not tried to make you see anything from my point of view. I've shown

the facts, you've chosen to look elsewhere. Let's just prefer to disagree agreeably...
 

kayn1n32008

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@kayn1n32008 said...​


"There are plenty of reputable companies that manufacture their equipment in China."

"An OEM KMC-45D will work, sound good and last a long time..."

Then you haven't read any of the less-than-stellar Amazon reviews for your Kenwood mic:


Look, this is becoming quite tedious. You love Kenwood mic's? Great. I'm happy for you; I've got no grief with you. I don't even know you. You've got your convictions, I've got mine. In all of this I have not tried to make you see anything from my point of view. I've shown



the facts, you've chosen to look elsewhere. Let's just prefer to disagree agreeably...
Just took a quick look on Amazon. Most sellers were rated above 4 stars for the KMC-45D. The ones I looked at, 1 and 2 star reviews accounted for well under 15% of all reviews, even less were for ones that failed.

It's not that I 'love Kenwood mics', it's simply that an OEM Kenwood mic is is going to have QA/QC in its production process, something the cheap chinesium ones won't.

Also let's be clear, nothing that is 2 pin is going to be a high end product.2 pin plugs atr an inferior way to attach audio accessories, usually only found in low tier radios.
 

Alain

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Just took a quick look on Amazon. Most sellers were rated above 4 stars for the KMC-45D. The ones I looked at, 1 and 2 star reviews accounted for well under 15% of all reviews, even less were for ones that failed.

It's not that I 'love Kenwood mics', it's simply that an OEM Kenwood mic is is going to have QA/QC in its production process, something the cheap chinesium ones won't.

Also let's be clear, nothing that is 2 pin is going to be a high end product.2 pin plugs atr an inferior way to attach audio accessories, usually only found in low tier radios.
Had you seen this review? Here's the link on Amazon:

1707526463214.png
 
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alcahuete

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Had you seen this review? Here's the link on Amazon:

View attachment 156380

You posted a review for a Chinese knock-off. Has absolutely NOTHING to do with the real Kenwood mic.
 
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