Hi,

I’d like to share my Humax experience.

I bought my first Humax 5 years ago and I have to say it is one of the best gadgets I own. After 4 years however, it would freeze constantly. A conversation with Humax was “best bet is to buy a new one”. I did!

So pleased with the first one was I that I bought the same model. However, 11 months later, it developed a fault – it began running unbelievably slow e.g. press increase volume, menu, programme list, or any other request, takes between 30 seconds and 2 minutes to respond…to any command. In recent weeks it takes to freezing altogether displaying a time on the front of the box which does not then change.

I contacted Humax, safe in the knowledge that I would be covered by warranty; Humax would surely ask for the box to be returned to them, fix it and return it to me…

Alas not. Instead despite their website page offering reasons to go direct to Humax such as “Manufacturer direct pre and post sales support (we know our product better than anyone else” and “Support available both on the telephone and by email”, I found myself being passed around departments for two weeks. Once, I got to Tom in the Humax Customer Service Department, I seemed to make significant progress – Tom was very helpful in his email replies.

Initially Tom suggested it could be a software issue and supplied me with step by step instructions on how to reset the machine to its default settings.

Alas this didn’t work. The next suggestion was to purchase at my own expense a cable (an RS232 serial cable) that was not supplied with the Humax and use a Windows XP PC or older (I have only Windows 7 which Humax do not support!), to upgrade from software version PGXTF 1.00.21 to “the latest version” whatever that may be.

This communication has now been ongoing for a number of months with no improvement to the Humax, so in my latest email, I expressed disappointment that I still have a machine under warranty that does not work. The response from Humax has been “We can get the unit picked up and have the software updated for a charge of £30”. This for a product supposedly under warranty.

So my simple message to those considering buying a Humax is they are great whilst they work, but don’t expect Humax to fix it (warranty or no warranty) except at a cost to yourself.

I myself am now fed up with Humax and am reluctantly considering moving to a BT box instead.

I have copied this post to Humax and will update you with their response.

I hope others consider this service aspect before investing in a Humax.