Continue selling Rift (CV1) cables
Rift CV1 owners are concerned at the recent decision to stop selling the Rift CV1 accessories only 6 months after the sale of the last headset. Of particular concern is the lack headset cable which is probably the most fragile component. The expectation that we should buy a whole new headset if this $50 part fails is a major concern.
Many circumstances can occur outside of warranty conditions like
- pets can chew this cable
- accidental twisting over time fatigues the cable
- accidental falls can pull the cable from the PC
All these circumstances are not Oculus' fault and should not be handled under warranty. However the end user do have the expectation that they can repair a commonly failing part for their headset.
Consumer rights in the USA are very weak and favour companies over consumers. However in the EU, Australia and New Zealand the laws state that spare parts should be available for a reasonable amount of time after the product is discontinued. 6 months is not very reasonable considering that most users have an expectation that PC components should last between 3-5 years.
Ref: https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/products-and-services/problems-with-a-product/cannot-be-repaired
A survey of 250 Oculus users seems to suggest that most Rift owners expect to get approximately 4-5 years from their headset
Source of results can be found in comments for above image.
Many of us understand that this cable was possibly being made by a third party who has made the decision to no longer supply them to you. However you made the design decision to go with a proprietary cable so unfortunately the onus is on you to abide by consumer laws and will have to either make freely available design specifications and connector patents so a 3rd party can make them or source a new supplier for this cable so you can sell it yourself.
Your quality end user support compared to other VR headset vendors has earned you a great reputation in the VR community in recent years. This quality support has definitely helped accelerate the growth of your marketshare with as Oculus owners recommend your headset to family and friends based on how good your after market support is. Please don't tarnish this reputation and abandon the early adopters that have helped to grow your ecosystem. We want to remain Oculus customers but it becomes the standard that headsets (including the Rift-S) will be abandoned 6 months after the product is discontinued from sale many of us will have second thoughts about buying future Oculus products as well as using the Oculus store.
More voices here - https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/cynbei/forthosewhoneedareplacementoculusrift/
and here - https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/cyfsk3/riftcablenolongerforsaleineed_a/
phoenixdigital
shared this idea
256 comments
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SyntaxTerror
commented
OC 6 has come and gone and no word on this yet? Come on, Oculus!
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Julian Aydar commented
Having spare parts for a product that still works fine, is a must! Not everyone need or want to change their old product. I know that it´s the way for selling products, but please, don´t do that!
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Sven Vïking commented
HTC’s reputation has been badly damaged by customer support horror stories, and even Valve isn’t immune to it with some people unhappy about their response to controller issues etc, but Facebook is throwing away Oculus’ prior advantage in this area by ending support for an expensive product after such a short time. If it’s not dealt with it will take a long time to try to claw back that good reputation. There’ll constantly be some bitter ex-customer/s in discussions and comment threads warning people against your products, and others will hear those warnings and spread them. Look at the effect bad word of mouth had on WMR, deserved or not.
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Matt O
commented
I refuse to support a company that doesn't support its consumers. My next headset will not be an Oculus since obviously Oculus and Facebook can not be trusted.
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Nick A
commented
How can this be legal/possible? I mean, it's not like FB is about to go bankrupt, they could easily at a minimum make a few more batches of these cables even if they do not turn a profit.
This is very frustrating and goes to show how at a whole, they do not care about their customers.
Basic life lesson: base your judgment on facts.
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Alex Coulter
commented
This is very important to have replacement cables available for the CV1. I don't understand why you are phasing them out.
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Christopher Fedorjaczenko
commented
WHY OH WHY do you not offer replacement cables on a device you stopped selling A FEW MONTHS AGO?
I am almost too scared to use my device because these cables seem so delicate with a PROPRIETARY CONNECTOR that can't be replaced with any simple cable.
I do not want to spend OVER $100 for a USED CABLE ON EBAY just to slightly prolong the life of what was a $600 device. Only months after being replaced and taken off shelves, it's IMPOSSIBLE to buy a new cable. This is HORRIBLE considering there are users that still have a manufacturer warranty. I'm assuming Oculus is hoarding these cables just for these warranty claims that will be inevitable. BUT WHAT ABOUT CONSUMERS WILLING TO PAY MONEY TO KEEP THEIR HARDWARE WORKING?
WHY IS OCULUS COMPLETELY GHOSTING US?
I will never buy another Oculus product if this is how customers will be treated. Valve and HTC offerings really look much better at this point.
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Foxeh Shihōin
commented
totally agree with this. at least give people a year or 2 to buy them.
personally I'm really worried about something bad happening to my cable.
i purchased my Oculus rift + touch last year around Janurary. i didn't expect a whole new headset to suddenly show up and instantly drop support of the headset I've come to really enjoy.
as much as i want to instantly get $400-$500 to hop on the newest headset that was released. the previous one was just purchased so i want to ensure that i can keep playing it for a while, at least until i can come up with money to buy the new headset.
just asking for time here.
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An early Rift adopter
commented
How long has it been now without a word from Oculus? This is the 5TH MOST VOTED POST OF ALL TIME and rising quickly, still nothing. Radio silence, no acknowledgment. How can you do this as a company? You have early adopters who bought your headset when it was $600, and simply want to buy one lousy cable. If anything, this loyalty to your product should make you consider why people want to repair it so badly in the first place, and you should be at least making the slightest effort to help. Even discussing it with us as a community would be better than nothing. The longer this continues without a solution or any kind of communication, the more distant your consumer base grows. There is nothing wrong with our HMDs aside from one faulty component. Let us do something about it already.
We made Oculus what it is today by taking a financial risk on your product; many of us believed it would be the greatest first-generation VR headset. For many, it was. Please don't make us have to retract our statements.
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George
commented
My cable failed just four months out of warranty. It has kinked at the cable clasp on the headset. Oculus refuse to help me source a replacement cable. This is un-acceptable. If anyone is thinking of buying consumer products from facebook be aware when they release a new model they no longer consider you a customer. The current model to facebook is a disposable product only meant to be used as long as they dont have a newer model. Buyers beware.
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Craig
commented
Being outside of warranty and having to pay for the spares to ensure a reasonable product lifespan is understood. Not making those parts available for purchase though - that's not reasonable at all.
Please reconsider.
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Scotty Lorenz commented
You people already ****** me off with the Windows 10 requirement coming in January, and now I find out you're not even offering replacement cables? Why did I ever give you my money - I'm asking, seriously.
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phoenixdigital
commented
Interesting teardown of the complexity of the cable if people are interested.
https://www.briandorey.com/post/oculus-rift-broken-cable-repair-attempt
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James commented
I have owned my CV1 for less than 2 years. I wasn't aware there was an issue with obtaining replacement headset cables until mine failed a number of weeks ago. I have been in contact with Support and checked everything they'd asked, only to find the cable was physically damaged (I'm unsure how it had happened) so admittedly the issue isn't under warranty. I accept that, but now only to find out it has made my headset redundant because it is impossible to get a replacement is unacceptable. Oculus have a responsibility to their customers to support these devices and there should surely be legal repercussions if they fail to do that?
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Anonymous
commented
I bought my first rift on pre order, I had one cable fail on me with that one, then the speaker bug hit me so I sold it and bought a new one, the cable on that lasted 4 months, thankfully replaced under warranty, but now my current cable has a kink in it that has me worried and there's no replacements available. If this situation isn't rectified, there's more and more options for VR available, oculus won't be seeing more of my money if I can't be guaranteed that I'll be able to replace consumables for several years at least.
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Felipe Gar commented
$69 dollars for a cable that last two months, is way to expensive. Plus they send to the garbage my oculus that works only because a cable. Oculus FAcebook, they are just stilling our money. $700 for the rift two years ago and they want me to pay for a new rift 700 more for a new one, no sense.
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William Kane commented
My CV1 cable is starting to look a bit mangled after 2 years, I can't yet afford to buy a Rift S. This is very off putting even continuing to stay in this vr platform if the moment a new headset becomes available the old headset loses all support, pretty shoddy customer service. Please make sensible replacement cables and audio parts available.
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Anonymous
commented
I backed Oculus rift and supported them . My first rift i purchased in 2016 soon broke with the common right ear phone design fault. After suffering this a year later the cable broke. I really looked after my rift too. After 6 months with no rift. i decided to purchase another and so far its worked. But the cable is already crimping itself and i know where this is going to lead to. I paid for my rift £550 GBP. i bought touch controllers on top of that and the many over priced lack lustre games on the oculus store. Guys if you don't look after people like us. then expect never to have support again with your products because this is YOUR problem, not ours. We shouldn't be punished for your mistakes. Please at least get stock of spares. You will only win again because yet again its us, the consumer that will pay for the replacement of your defective designed product.
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Anonymous
commented
As rift S user i am worried about what if mine VR Headset would be discontinued in such way, so please, oculus, don't ruin your reputation.
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G.m
commented
What are you doing Oculus...