Very nice letter indeed - I doubt that it will even be read by Philips.

I have been HOPING that Philips would have been sensible and taken note of my emails, but they have not - so it is time to go public.

I encountered the typical symptoms at the end of June amd started posting here. I was pretty annoyed about the whole thing and was surprised when I got an email from the ProntoTeam asking for details of the demise of the TSU3000. I sent a response immediately. I was even more suprised a few days later when I got an Email from Erik Gybels, the Quality Manager in Belgium.

Mr Gybels asked me to ship the TSU3000 back to him, using Philip's DHL account and he would send me a replacement TSU3000 at no charge. For all of those folks who paid $160 for a refurbished remote
in the US - read that again -AT NO CHARGE...

My first reaction was that it was someone spoofing Gybels and trying to 'steal' my remote - so there were a couple of email exchanges before I sent the remote. That was when I realised that I'd made a mistake. Since I use the docking station (how else can the piece of
s**t be any use without it) I sent the rechargeable battery pack. I reasoned that maybe battery voltage may have something to do with the problem - so I left it in place. I emailed Mr. Gybels and requested a replacement eith the TSU3000 and he agreed to send a 'battery pack'.

A week later I received the replacement TSU3000 from Portugal. I was a little concerned when I found that the seal on the box had been broken (you know, refurbished unit, etc.) but I found it to be a new remote. Then I saw my 'battery pack' - an extra 4 AAA cells in addition to the usual 4 AAAs. Instant email to Gybels - Instant lack of response. In fact no response to any of the 5 emails I've sent including the copies to 'ProntoTeam'.

-- An aside for our US Readers...

When someone takes a customer service request at Philips do
they say 'Let's take one for the Team' ? ...

So, I'm back where I started. I'm thinking of putting some concrete in the battery compartment and sinking it into my aquarium as a talking
point - but it would probably poison the fish. I guess I'll just put it in a drawer somewhere and forget about it - I've certainly forgotton the name of that company -- what was it Phirrips?

I have had such success with the Harmony 659 (and I might go for
an 880 later) - the family love the simplicity, speed (on a complex sequence there's time for the dog to get in the way and absorb half the IR). They always grabbed one of the original remotes to do some things because it was quicker and when they hit a button it sent (even when 'calibrated' that touchscreen was not really realiable). The lack of cute iconic buttons is no loss to them...

Now if you'd like to email Mr Gybels (strictly one-way but at least you might fill his mailbox) or phone him or write to him - here's what I know:

Erik Gybels Quality Manager

Philips BL Home Control
Interleuvenlaan 74-76
B-3001 Leuven

Phone: 32 16 394957
Email: [email protected]

By the way - I understand that Philips is starting a new advertising campaign for the Tonto 3000 - The Lone Ranger Remote.