Owners of Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones are still trying to get the company to either fix or roll back a firmware update that removed noise-cancelling functions from their over-ear gear.
The problems date back to July and some owners seem to have managed to get Bose to exchange their cans for the company’s shiny new 700 headphones.
We were contacted by a reader who was first given a set of version II headphones when his V1 set were borked. When the updated firmware borked them as well, he declined the offer of a replacement set and was given a pair of 700s. Firmware version 4.5.2 was fingered as the main culprit.
Like all Bose gear, the cans don’t come cheap – they’ll set you back £259.95 to be precise, or £349.95 for a pair of limited edition white 700s.
Pissed-off punters have filled a deafening 182 pages of Bose’s support forums with complaints.
One has even set up a Change.org petition to beg for a pause on firmware updates until a fix is found.
The main complaint is that Bose seems to be deaf to the problem and the easiest solution – to roll everyone back to the previous firmware and restore noise cancelling.
As of Thursday, Bose was claiming that new firmware is coming soon to solve the problem, a long five-month wait for angry customers.
We’ve contacted Bose’s UK PR again but don’t expect to hear back. The company kept very quiet when firmware updates stopped their TV soundbars making any sound.
We asked if the replacement policy was open to all customers worldwide – our contact is in Europe.
One poor punter on the forum is from Brazil and pointed out it was a long trip to his nearest Bose service centre – in Mexico.
Robin Edgar
Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft