LMG Sponsor Complaints

[Sdogga]

Asus keep having these horrible cases. Smaller sponsors have been dropped for less; I would strongly endorse at least a pause until something's done. I know they're huge sponsor, but they're a huge uncaring-company, too.

[ElectrolyticTantalum]

I think they are using the AI to generate fake voice over and they are using LTT brand to make profits without their consent

[Spotty]

4 minutes ago, ElectrolyticTantalum said:

I think they are using the AI to generate fake voice over and they are using LTT brand to make profits without their consent

I've merged this with the Sponsor Complaint thread so the business team can review it. I'm not sure if they're currently an active sponsor but Linus Media Group has previously done sponsored advertisements for Volta. Those videos appear to have been cut out from the advertisements LMG put in their videos for Volta. It's very possible that their sponsor agreement allows them to reupload those advertisement spots, but I believe there is a big issue in the way Volta is representing those videos.

 

Volta is cutting those sponsored advertisements from Short Circuit and Mac Address and reuploading them to their own Youtube channel claiming that it was a review for the product. Since those were paid advertisements they should never be labelled as a review.

 

 

 

[Middcore]

3 hours ago, Sdogga said:

Asus keep having these horrible cases. Smaller sponsors have been dropped for less

Ah, but those were smaller sponsors. 

[Haredeenee]

Oh, cleaning up some drives and heres a throwback to when Dbrand refused a refund when I told them the sticker was bent AF. they just kept telling me to "try applying it first bro". It was a gift I'm not giving a bent in half product to someone and telling them 'oh im sure its fine" 

[QwertyChouskie]

1 hour ago, Haredeenee said:

Oh, cleaning up some drives and heres a throwback to when Dbrand refused a refund when I told them the sticker was bent AF. they just kept telling me to "try applying it first bro". It was a gift I'm not giving a bent in half product to someone and telling them 'oh im sure its fine" 

By any chance, did you try putting it under a heavy book and letting it sit for a day or two?

[Haredeenee]

On 12/17/2023 at 12:38 AM, QwertyChouskie said:

By any chance, did you try putting it under a heavy book and letting it sit for a day or two?

Nope. I don't have any interest in having to fix broken products. 

[hmminteresting]

Dbrand, Dip in quality/ (effort)? in recent years. My current issue: 

 

I recently receive my grip case for myy Galaxy Fold 5. And it has been a dissapointing and not great experience. I logged my support ticket with Dbrand 7 days ago, with no acknowledgment or reply. which is pretty unnacceptable on it's own. 

 

Onto the problem: The case is basically unusable on the front screen! The raised lip arounbd the edge of the screen is so high, you can't swipe, tape or hold effectively on any edge of the screen, it's like the product was never tested by someone who uses the device! 

 

I used to use the gesture and swipe navigation, I prefer this. I've now had to swap back over to button navigation becasue of how utterly unusable the gestures are on the front. I also can't use the edge panel at all, and can't swipe down on notifications anywhere apart of the camera, as a result the front selfie cam always has finger residue on the lense now. I've sent videos to Dbrand illustating these issues. but, it honestly doesnt seem like this case was tested at all. 

 

The other issue I find myself having is: what happened to the sides and front stickers for devices?!, even if it's only provided with a case? You literally just get the back sticker. I was really surprised, I thought I was missing parts in my package, but no, all you get now is the back sticker. It's really dissapointing, and honestly just removes any selling point for Dbrand stickers. I got a free carbon fibre pattern sticker included with a screen protector on Amazong, and the size, shape and cut is basically the same.

 

I basically just want a full refund now, honestly, Dbrand is just a really bad product now from my experience. And the fact I've had 0 replies to my support ticket in 7 days is just hadding more salt to the wound. I'd appreciate some LMG help with this one. 

 

[GoStormPlays]

On 12/16/2023 at 5:32 AM, Spotty said:

I've merged this with the Sponsor Complaint thread so the business team can review it. I'm not sure if they're currently an active sponsor but Linus Media Group has previously done sponsored advertisements for Volta. Those videos appear to have been cut out from the advertisements LMG put in their videos for Volta. It's very possible that their sponsor agreement allows them to reupload those advertisement spots, but I believe there is a big issue in the way Volta is representing those videos.

 

Volta is cutting those sponsored advertisements from Short Circuit and Mac Address and reuploading them to their own Youtube channel claiming that it was a review for the product. Since those were paid advertisements they should never be labelled as a review.

 

 

 

Looks like they did it with this video too:

 

 

[Shahrad]

On 12/16/2023 at 2:21 AM, ElectrolyticTantalum said:

I think they are using the AI to generate fake voice over and they are using LTT brand to make profits without their consent

 

On 12/16/2023 at 2:32 AM, Spotty said:

I've merged this with the Sponsor Complaint thread so the business team can review it. I'm not sure if they're currently an active sponsor but Linus Media Group has previously done sponsored advertisements for Volta. Those videos appear to have been cut out from the advertisements LMG put in their videos for Volta. It's very possible that their sponsor agreement allows them to reupload those advertisement spots, but I believe there is a big issue in the way Volta is representing those videos.

 

Volta is cutting those sponsored advertisements from Short Circuit and Mac Address and reuploading them to their own Youtube channel claiming that it was a review for the product. Since those were paid advertisements they should never be labelled as a review.

 

 

 

Hey folks!

Thanks for bringing this up to us.

We had done some work with Volta in the past but we are no longer working with them. They also didn't have the rights to post these clips from older video on their channels.

I'm looking into this and will try to have them removed.

Thanks!

[ImNiightt]

With regards to the Jawa.gg sponsorship thread, to continue the commitment to transparency, rather than saying "we've been more than satisfied with their response", how about sharing said response?

 

It's clear there's concerns, and surely the campaign would be better received if their responses were shared and the community saw the reasoning. It would certainly help to reassure.

[Steve Chan]

7 hours ago, ImNiightt said:

With regards to the Jawa.gg sponsorship thread, to continue the commitment to transparency, rather than saying "we've been more than satisfied with their response", how about sharing said response?

 

It's clear there's concerns, and surely the campaign would be better received if their responses were shared and the community saw the reasoning. It would certainly help to reassure.

Thank you for the reply! Clearly, I may have pre-emptively locked the thread without providing an acceptable response. We're still working on our standard operating procedure in terms of sponsor vetting (ie. when to lock a thread).

 

As we continue to improve and strive to do right by you guys, we value input such as yours that will aid us in ironing out our processes. And you're correct, you are owed a bit more transparency and explanation on what was shared with us. 

 

For Jawa.GG, the tl;dr of their response was that on top of their 2 day warranty, they will address concerns on a case by case basis and quote: "ALWAYS try to do what's right and keep our customers happy, even if it's slightly outside of the written policy. " The reason for this short time frame is that the seller does not get paid out until after the two day period, and we were supplied examples to back these claims up. 

 

From our communications with them, we determined that we are comfortable moving forward with the partnership. They're passionate about the value they bring, and their commitment to keeping their service scalper and scammer free is commendable.

 

If you have any additional concerns about Jawa.GG, please feel free to reach out to me via DM and I can do my best to address them =).

[Adagio]

Juuuust wanted to put this out there.

I bought a gift card for my boyfriend for his birthday from The Ridge. He really wanted a nice card wallet. And they advertise their worldwide shipping everywhere. But in the fine print after you go down a rabbit hole, "worldwide" does not mean the thing you think it does.

 

Quote

We offer free worldwide shipping on most orders over $34.

 

Quote

International Shipping:

International orders are subject to additional local taxes, customs, and duties fees.

We currently offer free international shipping from the US to the following countries:

Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Iceland, Monaco, Norway, United Kingdom.

Due to carrier constraints, we are only able to offer paid (not free) Express shipping to the following countries:

Azerbaijan, Bahrain, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Chile (CL), China, Colombia, Cyprus, Ecuador, El Salvador, Faroe Islands, Greece, Guatemala, Guernsey, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, North Macedonia, Peru, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, St. Barthélemy, Sweden, Taiwan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates.

We are unable to ship to countries not included above.

And they don't even SHIP to South Africa. Like at all. Not even if you pay them.

 

I had to go through some third party company to get his gift in South Africa.

I would really like if they improved this. Not advertise "Worldwide shipping" but it's really not.

 

[FFLORO]

4 hours ago, Adagio said:

Juuuust wanted to put this out there.

I bought a gift card for my boyfriend for his birthday from The Ridge. He really wanted a nice card wallet. And they advertise their worldwide shipping everywhere. But in the fine print after you go down a rabbit hole, "worldwide" does not mean the thing you think it does.

 

 

And they don't even SHIP to South Africa. Like at all. Not even if you pay them.

 

I had to go through some third party company to get his gift in South Africa.

I would really like if they improved this. Not advertise "Worldwide shipping" but it's really not.

 

I'm really surprised to see that there's even a couple of EU countries completely missing, Surely if you ship from US to EU there's not much more hassle to deliver it to Italy or Poland (both missing from even paid shipping) whilst offering free shipping to Germany and even Iceland at the same time.

[Erioch]

20 hours ago, Steve Chan said:

they will address concerns on a case by case basis and quote: "ALWAYS try to do what's right and keep our customers happy, even if it's slightly outside of the written policy. "

The old "trust me bro" warranty.  It's catching on.

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, FFLORO said:

Surely if you ship from US to EU there's not much more hassle to deliver it to Italy or Poland

Don't know about Poland but there are quite a few places that don't ship to Italy specifically because there's an abnormal rate of stolen/lost parcels there. 

[hmminteresting]

On 12/17/2023 at 4:36 PM, hmminteresting said:

Dbrand, Dip in quality/ (effort)? in recent years. My current issue: 

 

I recently receive my grip case for myy Galaxy Fold 5. And it has been a dissapointing and not great experience. I logged my support ticket with Dbrand 7 days ago, with no acknowledgment or reply. which is pretty unnacceptable on it's own. 

 

Onto the problem: The case is basically unusable on the front screen! The raised lip arounbd the edge of the screen is so high, you can't swipe, tape or hold effectively on any edge of the screen, it's like the product was never tested by someone who uses the device! 

 

I used to use the gesture and swipe navigation, I prefer this. I've now had to swap back over to button navigation becasue of how utterly unusable the gestures are on the front. I also can't use the edge panel at all, and can't swipe down on notifications anywhere apart of the camera, as a result the front selfie cam always has finger residue on the lense now. I've sent videos to Dbrand illustating these issues. but, it honestly doesnt seem like this case was tested at all. 

 

The other issue I find myself having is: what happened to the sides and front stickers for devices?!, even if it's only provided with a case? You literally just get the back sticker. I was really surprised, I thought I was missing parts in my package, but no, all you get now is the back sticker. It's really dissapointing, and honestly just removes any selling point for Dbrand stickers. I got a free carbon fibre pattern sticker included with a screen protector on Amazong, and the size, shape and cut is basically the same.

 

I basically just want a full refund now, honestly, Dbrand is just a really bad product now from my experience. And the fact I've had 0 replies to my support ticket in 7 days is just hadding more salt to the wound. I'd appreciate some LMG help with this one. 

 

Just bumping to say still no reply from Dbrand

[kirashi]

On 12/8/2023 at 12:27 PM, bashNinja said:

It's been a while since there has been a Pulseway sponsor, but my experience with them over the last year has just been so annoying, I had to cancel. 

I'M REALLY sorry for the wall of text. But I wanted to get my story out.

These two WAN show clips have been my primary experience if you don't want to read it:
(PS, I wish there was a way to collapse parts of messages in this forum so I could format it nicer)

I have used them since 2019 and it's been fine.

Over the last year, late 2022, something changed in their support team.

I started getting a lot of calls and emails.

With every monthly set of emails comes a week of them trying to contact me on the phone.

(I have blurred out the Reps names because I don't want anyone to harass them)

Sept 2022, polite no thank you:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

More emails Nov 2022:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

She eventually got me on the phone and I told them that I no longer wanted to be contacted that I didn't appreciate it.

Feb 2023, she completely ignores that request:

  Reveal hidden contents

March 2023, she ignores it. I'm hoping with these emails and calls that they'll just stop:

  Reveal hidden contents

May 2023:

  Reveal hidden contents

A new rep comes in May 2023. By this point I was FED UP WITH THEM. I was so sick of the calls and the emails, I started being very direct:

  Reveal hidden contents

A month later, in June & July 2023, this same rep ignores:
(I should have been nicer, but I was really annoyed with the calls that were coming every month too)

  Reveal hidden contents

August 2023, new rep and also ignores these requests:

  Reveal hidden contents

I was really hoping J would get it with this because I got nothing in September, but like the rest of them, two months later the emails and phone calls came again.
Oct 2023:

  Reveal hidden contents

Nov got bad with the calls, but probably because I was up for renewal soon:

  Reveal hidden contents

November 9th of this year was the straw that broke the camels back. I had been getting multiple calls a day for 3 day straight.

Here's the full email chain from the 9th.

  Reveal hidden contents

-----------------------
That was it. I cancelled their service a few weeks later. It was just too much for me. You can see the system let me cancel and I was done. Phew.

  Reveal hidden contents

I don't understand how companies can't understand that some people just want to buy a product but be left alone after the purchase. The fact that I had to do it for so long was insane.

The icing on the cake that made me decide to share this with everyone was the email I got earlier today:

  Reveal hidden contents

Yeah. That's right. When I canceled, I wrote in the closure notes that I just couldn't stand the incessant calls and emails from them. It was insane. 3 days after the cancellation was done, I get call (that I ignored), and this email. "I understand you did not want to be emailed"...  but I want to talk to you anyways. LOL. Their reps LIE and pretend that I _have_ to talk to them to process a cancellation that is already done. 

I'm done with this company forever. They will never get a single penny from me ever again.

Duly noted. Pulseway has been added to my permanent company blacklist.

[Francisco Pinsaro]

On 12/16/2023 at 5:18 AM, Sdogga said:

Asus keep having these horrible cases. Smaller sponsors have been dropped for less; I would strongly endorse at least a pause until something's done. I know they're huge sponsor, but they're a huge uncaring-company, too.

LTT's official messaging is that collaborating with Asus to improve their processes will have better results for customers than if they just dump them, but it's reached the point now where the unofficial message seems to be that there's a tier of sponsorship where you have LTT's tacit permission to rip people off.

[ETHREAL1]

As a moderator of the Moonlight Discord, I must detest the Sponsor of Maximum Settings at timestamp 1:30:24 of the WAN Show Dec. 22nd 2023! They use the Moonlight and Sunshine code base as their backbone and then dump their support on the Moonlight discord! LTT Staff please take notice of this and also make a PROPER Video about Moonlight/Sunshine. This is an issue that the Moonlight community has been dealing with (especially from India) where a startup or such will blatantly rip off Moonlight and Sunshine code and give no credit to the original projects, marking the work as their own and then simultaneously dumping all their support issues on US!

Moonlight and Sunshine is an open-source version of basically the OG NV Gamestream protocol (SHIELD) that has since evolved and is continuing to evolve with the death/eventual death of NV Gamestream. If you have a proper combination of Host, Network, and Client hardware you can achieve as little as ONE FRAME behind the host system.
https://moonlight-stream.org/
https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine/releases

Edited December 24, 2023 by ETHREAL1
Added original post title for clarity

[LogicalDrm]

25 minutes ago, ETHREAL1 said:

As a moderator of the Moonlight Discord, I must detest the Sponsor of Maximum Settings at timestamp 1:30:24! They use the Moonlight and Sunshine code base as their backbone and then dump their support on the Moonlight discord! LTT Staff please take notice of this and also make a PROPER Video about Moonlight/Sunshine. This is an issue that the Moonlight community has been dealing with (especially from India) where a startup or such will blatantly rip off Moonlight and Sunshine code and give no credit to the original projects, marking the work as their own and then simultaneously dumping all their support issues on US!

Moonlight and Sunshine is an open-source version of basically the OG NV Gamestream protocol (SHIELD) that has since evolved and is continuing to evolve with the death/eventual death of NV Gamestream. If you have a proper combination of Host, Network, and Client hardware you can achieve as little as ONE FRAME behind the host system.
https://moonlight-stream.org/
https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine/releases

Merged to official sponsor complaint thread.

[ETHREAL1]

48 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

Merged to official sponsor complaint thread.

(Sorry, Did not know this thread existed,)

[Learned Robb]

On 12/20/2023 at 2:23 PM, Kilrah said:

Don't know about Poland but there are quite a few places that don't ship to Italy specifically because there's an abnormal rate of stolen/lost parcels there. 

It is exactly this. I'm in the UK, and I know some folk who sell stuff online, and they flat out refuse to ship to Italy due to the far higher than usual volume of lost/stolen parcels compared to the rest of the EU.

[Fullmental]

On 12/22/2023 at 10:40 PM, Francisco Pinsaro said:

LTT's official messaging is that collaborating with Asus to improve their processes will have better results for customers than if they just dump them, but it's reached the point now where the unofficial message seems to be that there's a tier of sponsorship where you have LTT's tacit permission to rip people off.

I'd just like to chime in here and say that Asus has had this systemic problem of theirs for DECADES now. I've had issues getting warranty service on their products on half a dozen occasions going back to the early 00s. I used to buy Asus monitors and laptops exclusively until I identified their pattern with poor support and unwillingness to honor their own warranty terms. I'm at the point where I flat out don't buy anything from them anymore unless I'm ok with basically having no warranty, because that's how it works out. I stopped buying laptops, monitors, and GPUs from them. Pretty much the only thing I'll buy now is their motherboards, because they're generally as reliable as the rest of the manufacturers, and frankly motherboard selection for me is more about the specific io and feature sets than anything else, and to restrict my purchases even further by excluding brands in their entirety is an exercise in futility.

 

It's worth noting that I've also experienced a higher failure rate of Asus's non-motherboard products (especially their laptops) than any other "major" brand, except maybe Samsung, but in their case most of my issues came from either monitors during the capacitor plague, and lately their appliance brand, not their electronics brand, and they did honor warranties and even one or two slightly out of warranty failures in the end (with a little hassle). Not so with Asus.

 

It's disappointing to me that LMG is not more assertive to Asus about upholding the sponsor standards that have been set. Regardless of whether or not they are a large company, it does not give sponsors a free pass to drag their feet. Unless Asus is showing clear, consistent steps forward in their internal policies, LMG can and should drop or non-renew them.

[QuantumRand]

Just throwing my two-cents in on the Asus topic. When a company does sales on a scale like Asus, there's always going to be stories of negative experiences, and negative experiences tend to be the ones that get posted and paid attention to. It could be that Asus has a perfectly acceptable good/bad experience ratio, but we can't really glean much insight into that since our reference comes from our exposure to the bad experiences.

 

Now, I'm not saying that Asus definitely is in the clear here, just that we can't really know for sure. If LTT chooses to keep working with Asus, it could be that they have a bit more insight than we do on how those numbers actually play out.