LMG Sponsor Complaints

[randy123]

1 hour ago, IkeaGnome said:

You’re completely missing what I’m saying. 
You say hundreds of thousands. Then 2 sentences later the booth cost millions. Paying for a booth at an event is a form of sponsorship. 
Which is it? 
If it’s already proven, show me where it’s proven. 
 

Im not denying anything. You’re the one making wild claims and refusing to give proof. If me calling you out on that is denying then there’s a problem with social habits. 

its right there on the site 

[Rumble]

Yet another support conversation with ASUS has resulted in being told I bought the Laptop from Best Buy and they will handle its support.

Best Buy wants me to pay,  and now its out of warranty, but it was in warranty when the first conversation took place.   

Best Buy wants me to pay for a repair.  ASUS refuses to support it.

Why is LMG taking money from a company who pushes support and warranty on the retail company, where they don't want to repair it under warranty?  What the heck is going on at LMG?

[jubjub]

1 hour ago, Meishel said:

The AG1 ad on WAN show caught me off guard.  Not you too!  I hope AG1 paid out the nose for that segment. Linus said a while back that there wouldn't be ads for supplements, but I guess that ban is lifted now?  Lets just ignore that there are reports of AG1 containing lead, reports of people having severe side effects, and pretty much no scientific evidence to back up any of the efficacy claims.  I remember when Linus threw a fit over Vessi wanting LTT to call their shoes waterproof, but now he's willing to just shill for some scam supplement company when there's a whole host of studies saying there's no evidence into the efficacy of products like AG1?  I really really hope this was just something that slipped through the cracks.

Can you provide any actual sources? I don't doubt their efficacy claims might be a bit dodgy but "containing lead" and "reports of people having severe side effects" sounds like California levels of panic. Basically everyone I've seen make similar complaints has had just as much basis as most companies efficacy claims lol.

[LogicalDrm]

11 hours ago, randy123 said:

Stop asking LTT to drop ASUS.

ASUS gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorships to LTT. They are the primary company that gives LTT sponsorship deals.

ASUS was the prime sponsor of LTX, with a booth costing millions of dollars in their convention. If ASUS was dropped, they would have to lay of people from LTT to make up for the massive lost of cashflow that ASUS gives them

This thread is about complaints for LMG sponsors. If you don't like reading them, you can just stop.

 

However, I agree on point that one person posting daily about one company isn't effective either. For one, business relations take time to handle. There are existing contracts and contract may have penalty for not fulfilling it. For two, you have made your point with first 5 posts. You don't need to spam it more. And if the situation is really bad, others will come to back your point anyway.

 

As noted by Linus, they aren't handling or speeding support requests. They can only emphasise company to do the right thing.

[BiLKiNiS]

4 hours ago, Meishel said:

The AG1 ad on WAN show caught me off guard.  Not you too!  I hope AG1 paid out the nose for that segment. Linus said a while back that there wouldn't be ads for supplements, but I guess that ban is lifted now?  Lets just ignore that there are reports of AG1 containing lead, reports of people having severe side effects, and pretty much no scientific evidence to back up any of the efficacy claims.  I remember when Linus threw a fit over Vessi wanting LTT to call their shoes waterproof, but now he's willing to just shill for some scam supplement company when there's a whole host of studies saying there's no evidence into the efficacy of products like AG1?  I really really hope this was just something that slipped through the cracks.

I agree, I do not like this kind of sponsor and it goes against everything that was previously said about running ads for a supplement company.

I think those company are shady and play on the fear and insecurities of their "customers" to sell you something that has little to no impact

[iTsYaBoiii]

Hello forums!

Long time lurker, second-time poster here.
I am here to complain about SecretLab.
Some context:
My girlfriend has one of their chairs (whilst I have a Corsair Road Warrior T2).
The foam on my chair has started to wear thin and I find my girlfriends chair to be much superior to mine so I started considering getting a SecretLab one too.
A problem I ran into however is with their repairability policies.
Recently I managed to get a completely new base and backrest from two separate people that had replacement parts and were selling these for dirt cheap (or were going to throw them away if they don't sell).
Thinking I'd do a good deed (and save some money in the process) I bought these expecting to be able to purchase the other parts I need from SecretLab and to just assemble a brand new chair (keeping the other parts out of the landfill).
To my utter surprise, SecretLab does not sell these parts and when I reached out they just stated that they don't sell those replacement parts and the only way to get them is to be a valid purchaser in their store.
That left a pretty sour taste in my mouth.
They clearly have the parts and them choosing to not sell them is... Well I don't know. It just seems like a very odd, anti-repair decision.

[Lurick]

7 hours ago, randy123 said:

its right there on the site 

I don't see millions of dollars given to LTT on the site. Can you highlight the dollar amount we're all missing?

[brometheus64]

Quote

Can you provide any actual sources? I don't doubt their efficacy claims might be a bit dodgy but "containing lead" and "reports of people having severe side effects" sounds like California levels of panic.

Im with you regarding led etc.

 

But I think its not a sponsor you want to have, if you care about integrity.

Quote

In general, vitamin supplementation to an athlete on a well-balanced diet has not been shown to improve performance.

https://europepmc.org/article/med/2507696

 

It may not be bad for you, but if you eat properly, it doesnt add anything. Its overpriced snake oil. If you get sponsored by AG1 you can also accept all these bullshit audio products. The 24k Gold HDMI cable for 200 usd is technically also working, yet all those claims are equally made up.

 

I honestly would prefer any VPN-advertisement over AG1, and least they offer some value that is not based on the placebo effect.

 

An honest advertisement for AG1 would be: "If you live in a third world country without access to healthy food, or consume nothing but deep fried garbage, then AG1 is for you. Otherwise you can spend half as much on vegetables for the same benefits without needing to drink some yucky powder".

 

[Haredeenee]

6 hours ago, iTsYaBoiii said:

Hello forums!

Long time lurker, second-time poster here.
I am here to complain about SecretLab.
Some context:
My girlfriend has one of their chairs (whilst I have a Corsair Road Warrior T2).
The foam on my chair has started to wear thin and I find my girlfriends chair to be much superior to mine so I started considering getting a SecretLab one too.
A problem I ran into however is with their repairability policies.
Recently I managed to get a completely new base and backrest from two separate people that had replacement parts and were selling these for dirt cheap (or were going to throw them away if they don't sell).
Thinking I'd do a good deed (and save some money in the process) I bought these expecting to be able to purchase the other parts I need from SecretLab and to just assemble a brand new chair (keeping the other parts out of the landfill).
To my utter surprise, SecretLab does not sell these parts and when I reached out they just stated that they don't sell those replacement parts and the only way to get them is to be a valid purchaser in their store.
That left a pretty sour taste in my mouth.
They clearly have the parts and them choosing to not sell them is... Well I don't know. It just seems like a very odd, anti-repair decision.

It's to make you buy another chair. i think they do sell the arm rests because they realized so many people have broken ones so why not profit off of selling them new ones? 

[iTsYaBoiii]

25 minutes ago, Haredeenee said:

It's to make you buy another chair. i think they do sell the arm rests because they realized so many people have broken ones so why not profit off of selling them new ones? 

Why not profit from selling replacement parts? I don't mind paying for the parts.
My problem with them is that they're pushing me to throw out a perfectly fine 2/3 of a chair just so I buy a full new one?
And it's not like they don't have the parts, they do offer replacements if you are a customer, so they can't even use that as a defense.

To have a point of comparison, I bought my Corsair Road Warrior T2 ages ago, used from Amazon.
I had some issues with it twice and Corsair were more than happy to help me, twice, free of charge, despite me offering to pay for the parts.
Now I know Corsair are on a completely different level when it comes to customer support, but I feel like asking for a replacement part, that I would pay for, is the bare minimum a company should do.

[Haredeenee]

2 hours ago, iTsYaBoiii said:

Why not profit from selling replacement parts? I don't mind paying for the parts.
My problem with them is that they're pushing me to throw out a perfectly fine 2/3 of a chair just so I buy a full new one?
And it's not like they don't have the parts, they do offer replacements if you are a customer, so they can't even use that as a defense.

To have a point of comparison, I bought my Corsair Road Warrior T2 ages ago, used from Amazon.
I had some issues with it twice and Corsair were more than happy to help me, twice, free of charge, despite me offering to pay for the parts.
Now I know Corsair are on a completely different level when it comes to customer support, but I feel like asking for a replacement part, that I would pay for, is the bare minimum a company should do.

The very first line, to make you buy another chair.  



this is in the other thread that @Other James just posted. I hold zero hope for this. They are very very good at looking like they have good customer service in public settings, but in private emails they're incredibly frustrating. Just repeating the same things over and over and doing their best to weasel out of their warranty obligations. 

[iTsYaBoiii]

18 minutes ago, Haredeenee said:

The very first line, to make you buy another chair.  



this is in the other thread that @Other James just posted. I hold zero hope for this. They are very very good at looking like they have good customer service in public settings, but in private emails they're incredibly frustrating. Just repeating the same things over and over and doing their best to weasel out of their warranty obligations. 

I'm curious how many people would actually buy a new chair rather than shopping elsewhere if this is the sort of treatment SecretLab provide.
I sure as hell won't buy one purely for this reason.

[iTsYaBoiii]

I decided to open an email thread with SecretLab to discuss the whole spare part situation and yikes have they started digging themselves a hole.
You know if they at least owned it and said that for economic reasons (or whatever) they don't want to offer replacement parts, whilst I couldn't justify it, at least I could somewhat understand it.
But in their latest email they started throwing in the usual corpo speak to me (that makes literally no sense).
They literally emailed me saying that this is to "ensure optimum product performance" and " also to secure the safety of the users of our products".
Jeeeeesus what a load of crap.
I guess that's one way to ruin your reputation in a single email.

[manikyath]

On 9/23/2023 at 5:17 PM, brometheus64 said:

but if you eat properly, it doesnt add anything

but the sponsor segment specificly mentioned "if you dont have the time to eat properly".

 

these food supplement drinks things dont vibe with me at all, but i feel like the exact integration that was done was at least "barely within the limits" for me. it's not claiming miracles, it's not claiming to be a replacement for healthy meals, it's a supplement you put in your drink to provide vitamins rushed meal habits often lack.

 

i'm not all that excited about an AG1 sponsorship for LMG, but if it were between AG1 or some "gamer fuel" type drinks company.. i'd rather have some bio supplement that might actually potentially be beneficial to the diet of your average gamer, than literal buckets of cafeine.

[ASines]

Hello!  I wanted to make a post (my first on LTT forums!) after following a new sponsor LMG used today in Flexispot. I didn't want to make this in the form of complaint, more like feedback.

 

As someone looking into a standing desk, I found the options provided by Flexispot compelling.  I still may make a purchase (I always wait on these things).  However, I found the website to contain many things I do not like and I know Linus have complained about these tactics on WAN shows in the past.

 

Firstly, the site is hard to navigate as there are many pop-ups, overheads, noises, and displays that make actually looking at the desks difficult.  They have "limited time offers" with hours and minutes left on their sale.  They misrepresent the price by showing their desk picture display on the home page show with a desk, but the price displayed is only for the frame, which you will not see until you click on the link, which you can't r-click but click to open a new tab.  And if you try to close the page, you get a browser pop up to confirm you wish to close the page.

 

Honestly, the fact they offer a frame only option to be fine, as I live near an IKEA, and the price all in all appears to be a good value, but the website design concerns and based on what LMG has stated in the past is not up to their standards.  I do not wish to bash, simply if LMG can make a request to Flexispot it would be greatly appreciated.

[Sitta]

On 9/23/2023 at 12:45 AM, LogicalDrm said:

This thread is about complaints for LMG sponsors. If you don't like reading them, you can just stop.

 

However, I agree on point that one person posting daily about one company isn't effective either. For one, business relations take time to handle. There are existing contracts and contract may have penalty for not fulfilling it. For two, you have made your point with first 5 posts. You don't need to spam it more. And if the situation is really bad, others will come to back your point anyway.

 

As noted by Linus, they aren't handling or speeding support requests. They can only emphasise company to do the right thing.

Hey, Mr. Mod, you are more than welcome to say my name or, better yet, tag me in your post if you're going to talk about me... It looks terrible otherwise, like you are talking behind one's back. 

And I both agree and disagree with your statement. If I was making a new post that was just like don't buy Asus and that was it, then sure, I agree with you.

 

However, give an update on their experience dealing with one of your responses to see if anyone else has had a similar experience, which it looks like people have. It kind of belittles the people on the forum, don't you think? This is also precisely what Linis himself said to do. More information and new information is always better than old information and information that has not been updated. For example, if something happens and my experience changes to be positive, then by your logic, no one would know that Asus did the right thing. 

As for your comments about business relations and contracts, yes, this is true. But not being transparent, I would say, is more of a danger to your customers. Saying something like, "We hear your concerns and request to drop X brand; we are looking into what would be entailed with dropping X sponsor," Or even " We see your concerns and requests to drop X brand; we are actively working with X company for a resolution that will make you guys happy along with represents how we want our sponsors to treat our members."  It would be a much better response to the community vs. radio silence. People who are struggling and posting things on this form want to see and feel like they have some support from the people who helped lead them to the products they are having issues with. Otherwise, they feel like they are being used.  And yes, I know about the Weekly Sponsor Concerns update page, but it would also be nice to see that just posted on this form, in case people do not know of that post. If you just Google Linustechtips sponsor complaints, it just takes you to this forum, so many people probably miss that post entirely. That, or even just having a staff member say that they saw someone's post, can make the poster feel a lot better and like their concern has not fallen on deff ears so to say. 

[LogicalDrm]

8 minutes ago, Sitta said:

Hey, Mr. Mod, you are more than welcome to say my name or, better yet, tag me in your post if you're going to talk about me... It looks terrible otherwise, like you are talking behind one's back. 

And I both agree and disagree with your statement. If I was making a new post that was just like don't buy Asus and that was it, then sure, I agree with you.

Sorry about that. Wasn't meant to make it look like coming behind your back. Plus, it was not only towards you as there have been others. Making updates is fine, but when each of your updates include "DROP THEM NOW" and they come daily, it gives certain feel. There have been other similar, and I generally don't mind since they are facts of POV. It just gives "you don't give them time" vibe, which is kind annoying and what I hated about the DRAMA-postings.

 

8 minutes ago, Sitta said:

However, give an update on their experience dealing with one of your responses to see if anyone else has had a similar experience, which it looks like people have. It kind of belittles the people on the forum, don't you think? This is also precisely what Linis himself said to do. More information and new information is always better than old information and information that has not been updated. For example, if something happens and my experience changes to be positive, then by your logic, no one would know that Asus did the right thing. 

Yes, but posting "I gave them 24h, they didn't respond" and next day "they responded after my time limit and said another response will come after 24-48h" isn't really giving anything new to situation. Other than it takes time. You could have waited for couple of days rather than do live updates. Thats what irked me.

 

8 minutes ago, Sitta said:

As for your comments about business relations and contracts, yes, this is true. But not being transparent, I would say, is more of a danger to your customers. Saying something like, "We hear your concerns and request to drop X brand; we are looking into what would be entailed with dropping X sponsor," Or even " We see your concerns and requests to drop X brand; we are actively working with X company for a resolution that will make you guys happy along with represents how we want our sponsors to treat our members."  It would be a much better response to the community vs. radio silence. People who are struggling and posting things on this form want to see and feel like they have some support from the people who helped lead them to the products they are having issues with. Otherwise, they feel like they are being used.  And yes, I know about the Weekly Sponsor Concerns update page, but it would also be nice to see that just posted on this form, in case people do not know of that post. If you just Google Linustechtips sponsor complaints, it just takes you to this forum, so many people probably miss that post entirely. That, or even just having a staff member say that they saw someone's post, can make the poster feel a lot better and like their concern has not fallen on deff ears so to say. 

The weekly update is linked on top of this page. From experience, it doesn't matter how many times something is said, posted or how big bright sign it has. People refuse to read it. Also, saying "we are working on it" isn't that effective, since that is the latest update on the issue, yet we are having this conversation.

 

Overall, I do agree with you. And actually I'm bit annoyed both with having Asus as one of the secret sponsor audit sponsors and then making the obscure statement of "why would we include them if we are protecting them" in following WAN. Its big corporation, with region division and probably even subdivision to certain areas. If their RMA success percent is 99% and the 1% is posting here, audit with one person will most likely be in that 99% successful cases.

[jk93]

Hello Linus Tech Tips Team,

 

I am writing to express concerns regarding the recent "Nord Security" sponsorship in the video titled "Have I been doing this the expensive way for no reason?" (Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0imrHdv88k ).

 

Nord Security employs a potentially misleading countdown timer tactic on its website, which may conflict with FTC regulations on deceptive pricing practices (§233.5). ( https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/deceptive-pricing -> https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-233/section-233.5 ) 

Quote

... They should not offer an advance sale under circumstances where they do not, in good faith, expect to increase the price at a later date, or make a “limited” offer which, in fact, is not limited. ...

They have a timer that starts at around 9 minutes and 40 seconds; if you change your browser or clear your cache, the timer resets.

 

In addition to that, this sponsor contradicts your own rules not to partner with VPNs, as outlined in the forum post here: LMG Sponsor "Do Not Work With List."  

Even though the VPN is not directly mentioned in the video, it is still shown in the video and is the first product that can be found on your referral link.

 

I kindly request that you consider these concerns for future sponsorships to maintain trust with the audience and uphold your own sponsorship criteria.

 

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

 

I wish everyone reading this a nice day!

[Other James]

1 hour ago, jk93 said:

Hello Linus Tech Tips Team,

 

I am writing to express concerns regarding the recent "Nord Security" sponsorship in the video titled "Have I been doing this the expensive way for no reason?" (Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0imrHdv88k ).

 

Nord Security employs a potentially misleading countdown timer tactic on its website, which may conflict with FTC regulations on deceptive pricing practices (§233.5). ( https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/deceptive-pricing -> https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-233/section-233.5 ) 

They have a timer that starts at around 9 minutes and 40 seconds; if you change your browser or clear your cache, the timer resets.

 

In addition to that, this sponsor contradicts your own rules not to partner with VPNs, as outlined in the forum post here: LMG Sponsor "Do Not Work With List."  

Even though the VPN is not directly mentioned in the video, it is still shown in the video and is the first product that can be found on your referral link.

 

I kindly request that you consider these concerns for future sponsorships to maintain trust with the audience and uphold your own sponsorship criteria.

 

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

 

I wish everyone reading this a nice day!

Hey, just wanted to touch on this one since it is the start of the week. But I anticipate on having a bit more info on this for our weekly debrief Friday.

 

We've worked with Nord for a few years now, and have always told them we didn't want to promote their VPN. So it's a bit disheartening to see it brought back to the landing page. Hoping this was an accident on their end, and just a communication breakdown.

 

However, regarding the false countdown on their site, that is absolutely deplorable and we will be pressing them on this. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.

 

Thank you for your well formatted, kindly worded, and thought out post.

[volatus146]

Another day, another fuckup from Volta.

 

im done with em now. They sent me an email a few weeks ago mentioning that ive spent over $500 with em, so putting my money where my mouth is by abandoning the ecosystem now.

 

The replacement 60w cable is for one that *caught fire* out of the box. The charging stand was purchased in early July and still has not shipped. The charger was also purchased at the same time. It arrived last weekend in Late September.

 

if anyone has any recommendations on alternatives id love to hear em... minimum 30w charging, 50+ ideal. Tips to support all connectors including lightning, usb-c and micro-usb.

[MrBeeg]

Hello! Long time LTT viewer but new to the forum. I wanted to bring up an issue I've been having with HYTE that's been pending for 3 months now.. upon installing their DIY LCD panel for the HYTE Y60 I noticed a terrible burning smell coming from my computer.. yeah, the board for the LCD fried itself and burnt the outer casing. I posted pictures on Reddit and a HYTE rep reached out to me immediately. I've been going back and forth with the rep having to follow up multiple times before getting an excuse why they can't help me yet. First they were going to LTX(ironic I know) and the latest was that they were waiting on replacement parts. When I first reached out to them I got immediate responses, then a few days between responses, and now it's been weeks with nothing. If I hadn't been following up this whole time Im convinced they would've just ghosted.. So yeah huge warning on HYTE LCDs.

[97hummer]

So it's been a long time since I originally posted here about my issues with Asus and wanted to give a final update on what happened since it ended up taking 14 months to mostly resolve the RMA. 

 

I ended up getting a model change to a full size 27” desktop monitor after having several replacements for the portable monitor that I bought. It was my choice to pick a full size monitor but in reality I didn't want a full size monitor but chose it in hopes I would have better luck with it and put this year long nightmare to an end and not end up with nothing. 

 

What happened over the last several months is Asus offered me another replacement but this time as a “curiosity” even tho they had yet to send me a monitor that was even close to acceptable quality. I'm not even trying to be picky because what I got was monitors that had the worst backlight bleed I have ever seen (I'll attach a pic showing it but it's honestly not as bad looking as it was in person) and problems with the headphone jack. Because it was a “curiosity” and not knowing what would happen if I got another bad one I thought I should push for a different model this time and they agreed to it.

But it fell apart after that. At first, they got the RMA all messed up because they set it up to put a hold on my card for the full value of the monitor but I agreed to send mine back first to not do the hold and then second it was for the same model replacement. 

That took some time to sort out but after it was they started offering me different models for replacement and after like a month going back and forth they asked what model I would like. It took me a few days to think it all through and I emailed them the model I would like to get (just to be clear I emailed the model and gave the reason for my pick and asked if it was okay and did not demand it) but I never got a response for a month but when they did email they ignored the last email with the requested monitor and set up an RMA for the original model again and again wanting to put a hold on my card.

 

Getting that all sorted again took a while and then they finally did email me offering the monitor I requested so I quickly accepted it. But when I went to ship my monitor to them the FedEx shipping label they provided was invalid and I had to 3 different times (1 email and 2 chats) while providing screenshots of FedEx website until they finally sent me a new label instead of the same shipping label link taking. One chat agent did say they had been having that problem. 

 

After all that I finally got a new monitor at the beginning of September and 14 months later that I can at least use. But I'm still unfortunately dealing with Asus as I was told they could extend the warranty to cover the time lost on it for me but only after I got the replacement. Well they have only extended it 6 months and when I said 6 months wasn't long enough since they made this take 14 months I got this email on the 16th.

 

“Even with the high importance ASUS places on quality, at the end of the day, our units are very complex technical products that can sometimes malfunction on the hardware side.We are sorry that this appears to be the case with your unit, but we will gladly complete the repair. Upon checking here, we were able to provide a 6-month warranty extension. Apparently, that's the only extension that we can provide, as we do not offer warranty purchases.”

 

I immediately replied back with a big email explaining everything they had done and why this was really a customer service problem.  I have gotten 2 emails since then 

 

First email on the 17th.

“We understand that the 6-month warranty extension was not enough.

 

We understand that this is frustrating and we want to assure you that we understand the importance of this issue. We are currently working with our Technical Support Department to determine the best next steps for resolution.”

 

Second email on the 21st.

“We are still waiting for the response of our Higher Management for the concern of yours regarding about the warranty extension. We do apologize for the delay.”

 

I'm now just waiting to hear back if they will extend my warranty beyond 6 months and get anywhere close to 14 months. But now at 15 months not being fully resolved and I know this take time but I feel like this point they should be on it and had an answer already.

 

[Excon]

Not sure where to post this but I actually had interest in the projector in the sponsor spot of the latest video. I went to their Kickstarter to find out the project has as of today been suspended and all abckers have been refunded. Must be a pretty big issue for this to happen. Nexigo hasnt made any statement yet. Not sure if LMG should address this?

 

Here is the link since it has apparently been removed from the video

https://viraln.link/LTTxAuroraPro

[Hinjima]

3 minutes ago, Excon said:

Not sure where to post this but I actually had interest in the projector in the sponsor spot of the latest video. I went to their Kickstarter to find out the project has as of today been suspended and all abckers have been refunded. Must be a pretty big issue for this to happen. Nexigo hasnt made any statement yet. Not sure if LMG should address this?

Yeah, I cant find the link to Nexigo in that videos description now.

[GoStormPlays]

Can you link the video?