My Experiences with Mionix and the Zibal 60

[unidentical]

Hi all,

 

This may end up being a massive wall of text so I will put a TL;DR at the bottom for those of you unconcerned with details.

 

In the beginning, in summer of 2012, I decided I wanted a Mechanical Keyboard. liked the sounds of black switches, I wanted a back light, and at the time there were really only 2 options, the Zibal and the Steelseries, Linus have a gushing review of the Zibal so I figured, whatever, let's do this. I got the keyboard and I absolutely loved it, the feel of it is brilliant, good and solid, I was happy.

 

Vaguely Irritated

 

A couple of months later I had an issue where it would not detect on my PC or connectivity would drop. (unplugging and plugging back in. rebooting all failed to resolve) Mionix online support was excellent, the fix was a bit odd, for some reason moving the keyboard to another computer, and then back in to the main rig, didn't skip a beat after that. so we're good.

 

Not Impressed

 

November rolls around and the back light fails, now only WASD keys will light up. I find this unacceptable, back lighting is one of the selling points, and it's not exactly bleeding edge tech, there is no reason for it not to work. Mionix online support is once again wonderful. They determine the fault is with the keyboard, they put me in touch with US Distribution. This is where it all starts going wonky.

 

US Distribution wants me to cover shipping, which I understand is RMA standard, but it's going over the US border, and the cheapest I could get it was over $20 and it was going to be potentially weeks without my keyboard. I argued that as a new entrant to North America and specifically taking on the gaming peripheral side at such a high price point, they were going up against Logitech, so if there's QC concerns, they need to be taking care of their customers.

 

These Mionix Cats Ain't Bad

 

They eventually agreed to pay for shipping. took a couple weeks but I did get a replacement keyboard. Awesome.

 

Fool Me Twice... Well, you can't... You can't fool me again!

 

A couple months after I receive the replacement, the back lighting fails on it in exactly the same way as the original.  At this point, we are no longer amused.  I decide I'll just keep it until I'm ready to upgrade to a keyboard from a real manufacturer who can produce a circuit board with some lights on it.

 

In the mean time I adjust my review on NCIX, and I make sure that any time I see a relevant post on these forums that I warn against the Zibal so that other members of the community don't end up in the same position.

 

The Plot Thickens

 

May 28th 2013, I've just given my opinion to someone on the LTT Forums, and because of a pending product launch the Marketing Manager for Mionix is watching the forums, sees my post and concerned for the company's reputation he reaches out to me, asks me to give them another shot, please contact him by email at my earliest convenience.

 

Alright then, I emailed him immediately, because I figure bad luck happens, I'm all for second chances, if they want to be good guys about this then I shouldn't hold a grudge. I cease my forum-y negativity and proceed in good faith.

 

Oh Really?

 

When they Marketing Manger replies (which was same day) he informs me that at the moment their US distribution actually doesn't have stock just at this minute but in a couple weeks he'll have some in and we can get this all taken care of.

 

Fair enough.

 

I let him know that I'm okay with that and that I look forward to hearing from him.

 

..............

 

August 26th rolls around and I've completely forgotten about this, but then Linus puts out the video about a new Mionix mouse and I'm all "wait a minute, there was thing that was supposed to happen"

 

Check back in my email, I've heard nothing from them whatsoever, so I email the Marketing Manager back 2 months after he said it would be 2 weeks. Now I've done customer service, I work for a tech company and I know how easy it is to set up a reminder for one's self in your email or on your phone or whatever so I am not impressed at all.

 

Marketing Manager gets back to me same day (does not apologize) asks me to reopen the ticket on their forums and tells me he'll make sure it's all taken care of. I do ask instructed, forward him the new ticket number, and include in the ticket the full case history, what's happened and that I am moving forward with this at the request of their Marketing Manager.

 

Here We Go Again.

 

Customer Support gets back to me, asks for proof of purchase, I link it off the previous case, because we've been down this road before (So you didn't read the previous case notes? Really, bro? I linked it for you, you didn't even have to search)

 

Now if you recall, I purchased the board in July of 2012, it's now August 2013.

 

Customer Service informs me that my keyboard is out of its warranty, but all the same they'll "do what they can", like they're doing me a huge favour.

 

I explain once again that I had written off all Mionix problems due to obvious and completely unacceptable Quality Control issues and the only reason this ticket was placed was because their representative wanted to change my mind.

 

US distribution contacts me on the 30th of August and once again asks me to ship the defective board back to them at my expense.

 

We're done here.

 

I told them I was not interested in going through that process again, thanked them for their time and closed the ticket.

 

Completely unacceptable. If as a Marketing Manager you reach out to a disgruntled customer in an effort to reverse a negative opinion, that is not the way you handle a situation. What should have happened, after he reached out to me in May is two weeks later, he should have wrote me back to advise on the status of stock, then he should have shipped me a replacement keyboard with a shipping label to send the old one back, no more jumping through hoops, no more hassles.

 

The first round through customer service, I was happy, but after the second failure and then their complete inability to resolve a situation that they reached out to resolve:

 

TL;DR

 

I cannot recommend the Mionix Zibal for anyone looking for a keyboard because of quality control issues, and further to that, I would advise anyone looking for any gaming peripheral to cross Mionix the company off their list flat out.

 

Their online Customer Support is pleasant enough to deal with, but as soon as anything actually needs to be done about an issue, it all falls apart.

 

Next time I'll be buying Coolermaster, Ducky or Filco. Same price point or lower, all of them have much better reputations.

 

If you actually read all that, I do hope you found it informative.

[WorldDominator]

Buy Ducky. Problem solved.

[Drown]

Wow, what a ridiculous customer support. Often I choose the components/periphericals I buy in function of their customer service. I love going with Logitech, they have such a great tech support, they replaced my faulty G27 in a very short time, and they answered all the questions I had with speakers and my keyboard. 

 

Even though sometimes the product is interesting (like the Zibal 60), if there's a horrible customer support, I don't want to deal with them, because if there's a problem I know that they don't really care about helping me. (oh, they say otherwise, but you explained well how they are not looking forward to helping you, or at least not properly)

 

+1 Ducky, amazing keyboards and very nice support from what I've heard.

[unidentical]

After I closed the ticket there has also been no follow-up on their part. I have to say, I don't think I've ever been less impressed with a company, especially given how many people I've been in communication with over there.

[Mionix]

Hi unidentical,  I am very sorry that your have been unlucky with the Zibal 60's you have had a bad customer support experience. We are trying our best to resolve your issue, and i have personally replied to your email just now and lets get this all sorted out by the end of this week. //Richard

[GamerDude]

Wow, finally a response from Mioniox......you guys should not have let this get away from you, damage control is always going to be tough as word has gone out on the crap customer support the OP was given. The fact that the Marketing Manager was the one who sought him out but dropped the ball....seriously, something's wrong with this picture.

[unidentical]

I sent Richard an email just about an hour ago with a link to the thread, I didn't think it was super productive to just post this to the community so I decided to use it as a form of feedback/suggestion box.

 

Richard has redoubled his efforts and committed to a resolution so I'm going to hold off on further comment at this time and we'll just wait and see how it all plays out.

[EmoRarity]

So I have owned my Z60 for two years and it still going strong with out any hiccups. Sorry to hear that you've had a bad experience.

[unidentical]

So I have owned my Z60 for two years and it still going strong with out any hiccups. Sorry to hear that you've had a bad experience.

That's good to hear! Maybe I'll have better luck with the next replacement. (Fingers crossed)

[EmoRarity]

That's good to hear! Maybe I'll have better luck with the next replacement. (Fingers crossed)

Sometimes we just have a tough break, better luck next time. 

[unidentical]

Update time Chaps.

 

I have received a replacement from Mionix just today. Backlight is currently working, everything is lovely (forgot how pretty this thing is when it's all glowy)

 

So I'm a relatively happy camper again.

 

What I'll be doing now is monitoring. The last replacement I received failed within two months time so I'll wait and in two months I will update this thread one way or the other.

 

I am hopeful because I love black switches and I love green backlighting and I do really like the features and design of the Mionix.

 

Fingers crossed!

[GamerDude]

Thinking good thoughts for ya, hope the keyboard last for more than 2 months.....way more than that actually. Anyway, green LED keyboards do tend to look good, I've grown tired of blue and red, just traded my Trigger Red for a first gen Ducky Shine DK9008S MX Blue with green LED. The keyboard is more than 18 months old yet looks very good, yes, it was a tad dusty, so I removed all the keycaps, soaked them in a mild disinfectant solution, brushed and air dusted dust and whatnot from the case. Put everything back and the keyboard looks pretty damn good, mild shine on the space bar but everything else looks good, good for an 18 month old keyboard. I'm surprised the key caps held up well, hardly any shine on the key, didn't know ABS could hold up so well. Anyway, should your Mionix give you any more problem, get a Ducky Shine 1/2/3 with green LED, looks pretty damn good imo....and the best part is, it actually last for a good long time. 

[iruixos]

I've never really considered them as a viable option for keyboards simply because I don't care, not because of any faults of the company itself.

 

I'd just prefer to get a Corsair, WASD, or Ducky keyboard. Once I find a company I like, I try to stick with them and Corsair especially has been good to me.

[Lightcookie]

Sorry to hear that OP.

Not related to keyboards but related to Mionix. What about the Naos..? :I

[unidentical]

Sorry to hear that OP.

Not related to keyboards but related to Mionix. What about the Naos..? :I

I've been using the Logitech G700 which I quite like. At the moment I wouldn't recommend any Mionix product just because of the QC concerns that have been raised based on my past experiences with the company.

[georgeghazi]

I've got the same backlight issue with mine but it was a month past warranty so they wouldn't do nothing about it.

[0s4x]

Update time Chaps.

 

I have received a replacement from Mionix just today. Backlight is currently working, everything is lovely (forgot how pretty this thing is when it's all glowy)

 

So I'm a relatively happy camper again.

 

What I'll be doing now is monitoring. The last replacement I received failed within two months time so I'll wait and in two months I will update this thread one way or the other.

 

I am hopeful because I love black switches and I love green backlighting and I do really like the features and design of the Mionix.

 

Fingers crossed!

So now that it's been longer than two months, how's the board going for you?

[unidentical]

So now that it's been longer than two months, how's the board going for you?

Board number three is still working. No further issues to report.

[Lauen]

Happily I'm not really a necromancer, but I'll just share my thoughts: I've had my Zibal 60 for about 4 months, and just a week or two ago I managed to spill coke on half the keyboard, like a pro. Dried it out, some buttons weren't working as intended, and were sticky. so I put it in the sink, poured water over it, and repeatedly pressed the keys. let it dry out overnight and after work the next day it was almost alright. some keys were still sticky, and the D key was derpy to say the least. so I took off the keycaps on the sticky ones (and broke my keycap puller in the process, GG) and I just pressed down the keys that were sticky and sprayed them a bit with electric spray, which is supposed to lubricate and improve contact. all good now. and yes the green backlight is so nice.

 

also, sadly there is next to no availability for Ducky and Filco in Norway, and most peripheral companies aren't too hot on MX Black switches.

[lachyman]

I'm using a Mionix mice for a few months now and it has been awesome, no problem whatsoever, but only time can tell. Thankfully I have 2 years of warranty and RMA process is pretty fast here in Europe.

[Shacklehands]

I've had one of these for 2 years now and a few of the keys are not actuating consistently.  In other words,  if you press the key 10 times, you might only register 7-9 keystrokes.  I am going through their customer service portal right now.  So far, it's taking a long time (now day two) to get to a resolution.  Part of the problem is the Europe/USA time difference.  However, the current response time has exceeded 24 hours during the regular work week.  I don't think we can attribute that to a 6 hour time difference.

[Shacklehands]

I'm not "mad" at Mionix per se, but I don't have time for a malfunctioning keyboard to turn into an issue.  Now 48 hours without a response from "Customer Service".  From an engineering standpoint, the evidence points to quality control issues.  That is, some people have malfunctioning keyboards and other people haven't had any problems.  It's also clear the company is far from having figured out how to implement customer service.  I am ready to buy some replacement parts, for goodness sake, and in 3 days I can't even get that far with customer service.  My wife recently set up an aquarium, so I wonder if the LEDs will work under water.  We'll see!