Allow a deal for those who own a Rift with a faulty cable, since it is nearly impossible to buy a new one.
The following is an email I sent to oculus support, not knowing that this site even existed.
Jun 14, 2020, 9:03:16 PM PDT
So I'm sure you already know what the issue is. I have sent in an email before about it, but today I propose a different idea.
Yes. I know I am some random person on the internet and obviously know a lot less about business than probably everyone who works at oculus, but there is one thing I understand that you probably do as well. Public relations and ethics.
Before I continue, I am going to recap my last email and expand on it. I had asked for a replacement cable due to its fragility. I was understandably a bit miffed when I realized the response was to wait to check in at the store to find out if they will be sold, but now I understand. You don't exactly own the rights to the proprietary connector and as such can't produce more even though they were discontinued by the owner. This leaves you with a couple of options, but at a glance, there are three big ones.
The company could buy the rights to the connector. This would take a lot of money as I am sure that the current owner is aware of the situation and would use that to his advantage to price gouge. Not to mention that a lot of money would be spent manufacturing the cables and advertising that they are back.
The second option, is a bit cheaper and has some benefits. Due to the current circumstances, it would be better to buy a new headset all together rather than trust in an ebay seller and spend a ridiculous amount of money on a cable that more often than not will arrive faulty. The only thing preventing people from doing this is the price of the Rift S being about 2.25 times more than the cable on ebay. Not to mention that they already bought a rift headset and to have it stop working this quickly would make them trust you a lot less, so the odds of someone buying one after buying a Rift CV1 are pretty slim.
To increase those odds, why not allow for a discount to those with broken cables. You could sell the Rift S for even $100 or $150 and still make money back. Besides just making money back, you are showing the community that you care, which is great for Public Relations. The only issue I see is that a person could just buy a broken Rift CV1 or buy a new CV1 and just mangle the cable. This can be avoided by setting a cutoff date for purchase. If you were to make it where only those who bought a Rift CV1 and experienced cable failure BEFORE announcing this policy, then you could avoid people buying one after the fact and acquiring one that way.
The third and final option, which is probably whats going to happen, is to do nothing. This is the worst option by far (but I guess I am biased a bit :)) because it negatively affects your PR and also proves right those who are going to swap to the Valve headsets or the Windows headsets just for the better support.
This is an email, from a single person on the internet. I have no accolades or any sort of badge that makes my opinion correct or valid. I have no title, but please reevaluate what you are doing to those of us who are suffering from this cable drought. Eventually, they will speak out. I won't, but others will.
