• himay
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  • Registered: 2007-10-30
  • Posts: 2

Topic: How do I get my money back?

I've submitted an email via Chumby.com but I have no idea if there's a better way to get my issue resolved. I need a full return of my money.

Chumby freezes after about six hours. Doesn't matter what widget, or what channel, it just freezes to inactivity. I tried to use Chumby as an alarm clock, and it froze at different times each night; both yesterday and today, I was late for work as a result.

If I make any change in the Control Panel (and I mean *any* change), trying to return to the widgets is useless. It's frozen. So any change I make in the Control Panel is followed by a reboot, because I can't get the device to do much else at that point.

The touchscreen on Chumby (mine, anyway), is subpar. There are multiple menus where I can't pick the selection I want because the screen doesn't seem to take my input. For example, if I reboot the Chumby, it doesn't always pick up my wifi network automatically, it will ask me if I want to find a new connection or use an existing one. I can say use an existing one, but if I want to change it, the button to say "new connection" doesn't work. I press and press, use my thumb, use my fingers, use my nails, circle the button, press the middle, you name it--it doesn't work.

I want to like Chumby, and I want to believe these issues will get better eventually, but unfortunately I can't justify spending $189 on a device that will only work for a few hours at a time.

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,209

Re: How do I get my money back?

Given the all of the behaviors you've described, this sounds like a very weak wifi connection.

In any case, contact Support and they'll help you.

Duane's Website

  • himay
  • New member
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  • Registered: 2007-10-30
  • Posts: 2

Re: How do I get my money back?

Would that it were a weak connection! Chumby is about 5 feet from my Netgear B/G router. sad

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,209

Re: How do I get my money back?

Could be a wonky wifi dongle then.  You're telling me it has trouble seeing your access point, and all of the symptoms you've listed are exactly what I'd expect with a bad network connection.  You'll have to trust me that we didn't ship a device that generically can't see an access point 5 feet away, so there must be some issue with your particular device.

Please contact Support.

Duane's Website

  • Registered: 2007-10-26
  • Posts: 48

Re: How do I get my money back?

For what it is worth, I had some of the same issues with mine. After I let it run all night, the issues have gone away. I think it just needed some time to burn-in to get everything seated correctly.

  • From: Cincinnati, OH
  • Registered: 2007-10-09
  • Posts: 78

Re: How do I get my money back?

himay, just my $.02 but I suggest giving the folks at Chumby a chance to replace or service your device.  I found that when following the proper channels for requesting support, you get assigned a ticket# almost immediately, and receive a very quick email response.  That's something almost unheard of these days.

Chumby birthdate: 10/11/07
  • From: Singapore
  • Registered: 2006-08-26
  • Posts: 188

Re: How do I get my money back?

I hope you have opened up a ticket with our support line!

One additional possibility is that someone around you is on the same (or adjacent) channel to yours. 802.11 channels do overlap and interfere--channels 1, 6 and 12 are the only three channel combination that can be simultaneously active with zero interference--and since the chumby relies heavily on a connection to a server to continuously fetch and render content, interruptions due to interference can also lead to similar behavior to what you are seeing. You might want to try switching the channel of your wifi AP!

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bunnie's Website

  • Registered: 2007-11-05
  • Posts: 13

Re: How do I get my money back?

Bunnie: i was just about to write the same thing.

However you didn't answer the question about the touchscreen being disgusting to use, what is the official company stance on that? How soon until that is replaced, and when can I do a free trade in?

  • From: Singapore
  • Registered: 2006-08-26
  • Posts: 188

Re: How do I get my money back?

Sorry, I missed that one.

One common problem people have with the touchscreen is that the calibration movie has very large open circles, and it gives the impression that you can just touch anywhere in the circles and the calibration will be okay. In fact, you need to be pixel-precise into the very center of the stars for the calibration to be correct.

Many users are just hitting anywhere on the stars and the result is that where the chumby thinks you are touching is offset from where you actually are touching. This manifests itself as an "unresponsive" touchscreen because you have to keep on tapping around the button to "search" for the actual hotspot.

Please try recalibrating the touchscreen (you can find the touchscreen calibration option under settings in the control panel) using a stylus or a toothpick and touching exactly in the center of the star.

I'd be interested to see if this fixes your problem; if not, I'd also be curious to see how well it responds for you if you use a stylus-like object or your fingernail. If you continue to have problems its possible a defective touchscreen was sent to you, or it was damaged in shipping. If the touchscreen is nicked, scratched, mashed or pulled on it can degrade its performance.

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bunnie's Website

  • From: Singapore
  • Registered: 2006-08-26
  • Posts: 188

Re: How do I get my money back?

Ah, another note that I forgot to add--ironically, the harder you press on the screen with the flat of your finger, the worse the touchscreen will perform. The reason for this is that the touchscreen has to guess your intent of which pixel underneath the flat of your finger you meant to push. As you push harder and harder, the hotspot migrates actually away from the center of your finger toward the edge of your finger. Therefore, the correct solution is to push not as hard but with a smaller contact area, so the touchscreen driver has less area in which it has to "guess" which pixel is the one you meant to hit.

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bunnie's Website

  • Registered: 2007-11-05
  • Posts: 13

Re: How do I get my money back?

Thanks for the advice. I will give it a try when I get back home.

.m

  • Registered: 2007-11-21
  • Posts: 9

Re: How do I get my money back?

Just a quick note.  Perhaps it would be possible to change the calibration animation to have a star with a cross in it so we can better pinpoint the centre pixel.

That being said, after calibration with a stylus all my touch issues have vanished.

  • Registered: 2007-12-25
  • Posts: 11

Re: How do I get my money back?

Enabling the 'click' when the screen is touched (I think this is only in the Beta control panel ? )  does wonders for me using the touchscreen.

  • Registered: 2008-01-03
  • Posts: 1

Re: How do I get my money back?

Slightly off the original topic but I have to agree with craigs63. The 'click' enabled for the touchscreen makes a huge difference. Thanks for that suggestion.

  • Registered: 2008-02-21
  • Posts: 526

Re: How do I get my money back?

Might not be a bad idea to change the target icon to something more obvious then a star
Also might be a good idea to turn on click mode during calibration, perhaps actually showing the touch coordinates at the bottom of the calibration window... and leave a virtual trail where the touch display is tapped....

(at least through calibration)