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PBCliberal · 02-18-2008, 03:07 PM

The jawbone is the best bluetooth headset we've ever seen for intelligibility and noise rejection. Its compatibility with the Motorola Q is problematic, the company's customer support is downright awful, and the website doesn't accurately describe changes that have been made to the product.

Quick Read

There are currently two versions of the jawbone headset, Version A and Version B. These are identified by a product ID near the charger cap. Jawbone support says this ID is three lines, and the last line is four alpha characters. The first alpha character is A or B and identifies the model. Our model, however, has two lines. The first line is the FCC ID. The second line has three elements separated by hyphens. The middle number begins with an A. We know this is a first generation jawbone.

The new version has been tested with the Motorola Q and Q9m by an independent testing lab and has passed the tests.

The gory details

Our first encounter with customer support came shortly after we bought the headset. We'd had some problems with the Motorola Q with other bluetooth sets. At this point there was nothing on the jawbone site warning Q users. We were moderately persistent. (Jawbone's customer service consists of a web form. Diligent research will net you a company phone number where you're stopped at voice mail. Sometimes they call you back, sometimes they don't).

Our moderate persistence resulted in email that said they were aware that some Motorola Q users were having trouble, and "we are unable to recommend our headset for use with it at this time."

At the time they sent us that email, they had begun shipping a Verizon-specific version of this headset to Verizon stores. This unit was not the same unit that had--to that point--been sold on the web or through third party resellers. Parsing its words carefully, however, jawbone claims:

"It has not been redesigned. We did nothing specific to the Motorola Q. The only changes that we made.. were to solve ...some echo ... problems that CDMA users had reported, because we did design this not with Verizon units in mind but with AT&T units in mind. We were very clear about that on our website as we were clear about issues we were having with Motorola."

We have been told that the production cutover took place in October of last year, and were later told that it took place early last month. The units that were given away free at CES were the new version and the old version is no longer made.

These new units were tested by a third party lab for compatibility with the Motorola Q and the Q9m and passed. The old unit was never tested with the Q.

Why they admitted this to me

These admissions did not come easily. I have several emails from jawbone that "correct" previous communications. One claimed that the website was wrong and that the Q-specific information would be removed. A later clarification said it was probably correct and would remain. The earliest communications claim jawbone knows nothing about the problem and that we should contact Motorola. This email was sent one week after we now learn they were shipping Verizon-boxed new versions to Verizon stores.

Jawbone began to become more forthcoming after we were told by a customer service rep at Verizon that the answer to our problems was to pay them more money and enter into another 2-year contract, which caused a ballistic response from us, which resulted two months later in Verizon replacing the Qs with Q9ms at no charge. The Q9m does work acceptably with the Version A jawbone.

In escalating the issue at Verizon (no easy feat) I was able to get the email address and phone number of one of two heads of customer tech support, whose first solution was the usual Verizon "there are no known problems" followed by "we'll make them work." Since we've been through that several times, I started to send him our detailed history with jawbone, including their website and email statement that they don't recommend the phone.

Our tack was that there should be something in the Verizon knowledge base on this problem from our considerable previous contacts let alone the considerable amount of chatter on the forums. They punked me back to sales, who suddenly was a lot more anxious to find a replacement solution that didn't involve additional commitment or documented testing.

I can only assume that, since Verizon is jawbone's customer and they sell these products in the stores, we focused jawbone's attention on answering our questions by forcing the issue at Verizon and putting the two groups in touch with one another.

02-18-2008, 03:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
PBCliberal Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 10 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Jawbone Version A and B The jawbone is the best bluetooth headset we've ever seen for intelligibility and noise rejection. Its compatibility with the Motorola Q is problematic, the company's customer support is downright awful, and the website doesn't accurately describe changes that have been made to the product. Quick Read There are currently two versions of the jawbone headset, Version A and Version B. These are identified by a product ID near the charger cap. Jawbone support says this ID is three lines, and the last line is four alpha characters. The first alpha character is A or B and identifies the model. Our model, however, has two lines. The first line is the FCC ID. The second line has three elements separated by hyphens. The middle number begins with an A. We know this is a first generation jawbone. The new version has been tested with the Motorola Q and Q9m by an independent testing lab and has passed the tests. The gory details Our first encounter with customer support came shortly after we bought the headset. We'd had some problems with the Motorola Q with other bluetooth sets. At this point there was nothing on the jawbone site warning Q users. We were moderately persistent. (Jawbone's customer service consists of a web form. Diligent research will net you a company phone number where you're stopped at voice mail. Sometimes they call you back, sometimes they don't). Our moderate persistence resulted in email that said they were aware that some Motorola Q users were having trouble, and "we are unable to recommend our headset for use with it at this time." At the time they sent us that email, they had begun shipping a Verizon-specific version of this headset to Verizon stores. This unit was not the same unit that had--to that point--been sold on the web or through third party resellers. Parsing its words carefully, however, jawbone claims: "It has not been redesigned. We did nothing specific to the Motorola Q. The only changes that we made.. were to solve ...some echo ... problems that CDMA users had reported, because we did design this not with Verizon units in mind but with AT&T units in mind. We were very clear about that on our website as we were clear about issues we were having with Motorola." We have been told that the production cutover took place in October of last year, and were later told that it took place early last month. The units that were given away free at CES were the new version and the old version is no longer made. These new units were tested by a third party lab for compatibility with the Motorola Q and the Q9m and passed. The old unit was never tested with the Q. Why they admitted this to me These admissions did not come easily. I have several emails from jawbone that "correct" previous communications. One claimed that the website was wrong and that the Q-specific information would be removed. A later clarification said it was probably correct and would remain. The earliest communications claim jawbone knows nothing about the problem and that we should contact Motorola. This email was sent one week after we now learn they were shipping Verizon-boxed new versions to Verizon stores. Jawbone began to become more forthcoming after we were told by a customer service rep at Verizon that the answer to our problems was to pay them more money and enter into another 2-year contract, which caused a ballistic response from us, which resulted two months later in Verizon replacing the Qs with Q9ms at no charge. The Q9m does work acceptably with the Version A jawbone. In escalating the issue at Verizon (no easy feat) I was able to get the email address and phone number of one of two heads of customer tech support, whose first solution was the usual Verizon "there are no known problems" followed by "we'll make them work." Since we've been through that several times, I started to send him our detailed history with jawbone, including their website and email statement that they don't recommend the phone. Our tack was that there should be something in the Verizon knowledge base on this problem from our considerable previous contacts let alone the considerable amount of chatter on the forums. They punked me back to sales, who suddenly was a lot more anxious to find a replacement solution that didn't involve additional commitment or documented testing. I can only assume that, since Verizon is jawbone's customer and they sell these products in the stores, we focused jawbone's attention on answering our questions by forcing the issue at Verizon and putting the two groups in touch with one another. Last edited by PBCliberal; 02-18-2008 at 04:31 PM.