A Note About ThinkGeek and eStarling

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Call me a generous soul, but I could not be more impressed with ThinkGeek’s handling of a difficult vendor situation.

As I’ve written before, I like the eStarling WiFi photo frame, but plenty of people have had reason to complain. The biggest issue is the fact that the power adapter only allows users to keep the frame within a few feet of a wireless router. eStarling was supposed to ship new adapters, but ThinkGeek has just emailed to say they found only marginal improvement in the replacements. Instead, ThinkGeek has decided to ship replacement WiFi adapters in 4-6 weeks. The new adapters should not only create a range of up to 60 feet, but they’re apparently less obtrusive than the original ones, which stick up rather annoyingly from the top of the frame.

Why am I impressed with ThinkGeek? The company was honest and up-front about the issues with the eStarling frame, and even managed to convey apologies without completely throwing eStarling under the bus.

PF Digital, the manufacturer of the eStarling, is committed to the product and they are rolling out a series of firmware updates to the eStarling with bug fixes and improved features…

In addition, ThinkGeek is offering a full refund to anyone who doesn’t want to wait the 4-6 weeks, and a $25 coupon to all eStarling-frame owners for any future purchase at ThinkGeek.

Now that’s customer service.