Aigo A215 4Gb Nightmare

[Cinncinnati]

hi, i had trouble with the second one (2 the same) 1st drag & drop so, i thoght, hey
buy another Y not? nope didn`t work so back it goes exchange nope that did`nt work
but hang on maby its me, so to dear old Dixons i went & hey presto he shoves it into
a laptop & it `Kin works dunnit? so back home again & it works for a moment then
decides to conk out on me again, I aint havin, none of it & wo betide, wait 4 it....
the very new one works on the old computer in the bedroom (window xp home edition)
the old one works on the NEW xp home edition 2 so, if i want music on the new mp
player i 1st have to load the old 1, THEN transfer it to the old computer then transfer it to the
new mp player JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSuuuuuuuuussssssss
then they wonder Y all us computer geeks are LOOPIE LOL!!

THESE COMPS DONT CATCH AN OLD DOG LIKE ME CU ALL

[thegreatcleggo]

Hi there

I'm currently in the process of trying to ask for a refund for the 2nd replacement I've had for the original Aigo A215 4GB MP3 Player I bought. I first got it from Argos in September for £40.00 (which was from money received for my birthday. It seemed to work fine, then 4 weeks later it unexpectedly started skipping through files and then told me there were no files on it. Started again, and again the files got wiped 4 weeks later. I got round to calling Aigo, who told me to send it back, they'd examine it and send me a replacement.

On 21/12/07, I got my replacement. It lasted 1 week. The power just started cutting out, and whenever I tried to turn it on it gave a message saying '000099'. Called Aigo again, they said it was a fault, so I sent the replacement back. After 2 or 3 weeks they sent me a brand new one with a new box, and even put a sample track, 'Crazy' by Gnarls Barkley (although tbh I much prefer Slayer, lol), to check that it worked OK. It worked fine for 4 weeks, no problems loading tracks up as I went through my encyclopedia of heavy metal from A-Z. The MP3 started fast forwarding tracks and when I switched it back on, all the files had gone again.

I'm now trying to contact Aigo for a refund. But they're not answering. And what was essentially a birthday present is now very much beginning to look like money down the drain. My fiancée has an Itronics MP3 from Argos which looks very cheap but has lasted her 2 years now and shows no sign of breaking down any time soon.

I suspect it won't be long before I contact Watchdog but if I can't contact Aigo, how will I get a refund? Its nearly 6 months since I purchased the original device, will Argos give me anything for it at all? I very much doubt so. I'd appreciate any help I can get on this one.

[ske1fr]

Your dispute is with Argos, not Aigo, as Argos was the seller. Have a look at the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website, find the Confident Consumers pages, then the Quick Facts pages for a clear explanation of your rights. I'd give you the link but I can't due to the rules for "new" members on this forum. Tell Argos in writing that the goods are not of merchantable quality and that under 'The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)' you want a refund. Although you've had the goods in one form or another for a while now they've not been usable for enough time to be as described in the catalogue. You have given them a chance to supply a replacement of merchantable quality and they have failed to do so. Give them a week to respond. Keep a copy of the letter! Mention in the letter that you are minded to go to your local Trading Standards Office, Watchdog and OFT if there is no timely resolution. Be prepared to accept a credit note because of the time it's all taken, but try to get a refund.

My A215 lasted 11 months, then died. It went back to Tesco for a full refund to credit card, without any dispute from Tesco I might add, and I now have a Sandisk Sansa.

[thegreatcleggo]

Got rid of the bloody thing!

Went to Argos on Good Friday, as an act of goodwill they said they would refund the full cost of the MP3 to a gift card. I bought an Itronics 4GB MP3 with the card as my fiancée has one and they're very reliable. I can see the difference already in quality and how easy it is to use compared to Aigo's.

Thanks for the advice ske1fr, much appreciated!

[vyseyboy]

Sorry for resurrecting this ancient thread, but as someone who had grief with the Aigo A215 player myself, I thought I'd better share my experience of getting two of the things working. (This thread is the top result on google for Aigo A215.)

Aigo used to have a link to the firmware updater utility on their site, but it has since disappeared. The utility they had also had a broken installer, so never really worked. But you can still run it to update your player! I've uploaded it on driverguide here (edit- can't post URL's as I'm a new member! but it should be the number one result for aigo a215, other devices, drivers and firmware.) (Driverguide needs free registration, and the package also requires unpacking with 7-zip, which is free, open source.)

I've outlined the procedure in the driverguide description, but it boils down to unpacking the installer and all files, copying all the files from the "Binary" folder to the "Apps" folder, then running stupdaterapp.exe, and plugging in the mp3 player in recovery mode (hold down play button while plugging in, keep holding it for 10 seconds or so.)

If windows wants to look for a driver when you plug it in in recover mode, point it to the Apps folder.

This should allow you to update the firmware, but the player still won't work (for me, at least,) in MTP mode (which is a pretty crap mode for MP3 players anyway.) I don't know why, it's just implemented badly, and crashes upon attempting any transfers.

You can, however, use a computer that doesn't have Windows Media Player 10 or 11 installed, and it will show up as a USB mass storage device (with a drive letter, like a USB key, THE BEST way to operate an mp3 player.)

Even if you have windows media player installed, you can tell windows to use the MSC driver instead. Assuming XP, go to device manager, find the Mp3 player, right click, update driver, install from a specific list or location, don't search i will choose the driver, then select the MSC driver.

Congratulations, you should now have a properly working MP3 player that shows up as a drive letter for drag and drop operation.

[theone28]

ok if u have not had the mp3 player for longer the 6 years you have the right too a repair a replacement or a refund refund only by argos the others by aigo argos are duty bound too
give u a refund under the trade and standards law of sales of goods act 1979 as a consumer
you have rights so too behonest take it back too argos quote too them its faulty u have tried the
manafactures they wont help or anwser then tell argos under the sale of goods act 1979 they have too
refund you or replace for up too 6 years from the purchace date if the still refuse call trade and standards as too behonest the mp3 player i have the same make and mine says flash error so its obevious all the mp3s from aigo are knackered so take it back too argos
hope this helps