Complaint Review: Big Ear

I was approach at a trade show about Big Ear headphones a while back. The guy told me they were custom headphone and they were way better than anything on the market. I told him that I use Shure and he said that Shure was not close to the sound quality of Big Ear because of the custom molds. He took a mold of my ear canals and said that rep would call me later as I was not ready to buy at that time.

 Mary-Ann at Big Ear called me and offered a deal on the headphones but I declined to buy them. She called me every few months talking about the quality of the headphones and whatever deals they had. She was very nice and very good at customer service. One day in August of 2009 she called me and offered a deal on the BE-1C headphones which usually cost $350. She sold me the headphones for $275 i believe and gave me a coupon for free ear plugs at the next trade show or event they were at. She told me it would be around December when I received my headphones.

In January I called and inquired about my headphones. I was told they would get them out as soon as they were ready. About a month later I received my headphones and was so ready to try them after waiting 6 months to get them. I use Shure headphones everyday so I was so ready to hear this so-called awesome sound. I tried the headphones on and they sounded horrible. It sounded as if they were busted speakers. Every time there was any kind of drum or bass it was bad. I sent the headphones back and they replaced both drivers and sent them back to me about a month or 2 later. When I got them this time, it was like they installed center channels and there were no drivers at all. The headphones are incapable of reproducing bass.

 I contacted Mary-Ann about the problem just like the first problem and she told me to send the headphones back. She also asked me to try different devices. I told them I had tried my IPod, Laptop, desktop computer, portable xm radio and Onkyo receiver. I get the headphones back again with a note saying that they could not find anything wrong with the headphones and that I should try a different device. I told them on the phone and in a note before that I had tried different devices before. Then they preceded to down play the headphone like I was expecting too much. I told them that the ear buds that came with the IPod sounds better and that I had headphone from the Dollar Store that reproduce back where these did not. The told me that the speakers where preforming fine.

I asked for my money back because it has been almost a year since I ordered the headphones and did not even get a good hour of music out of them. Mary-Ann told me she was going to contact someone about getting my money back. Of course the customer service fell off after that. I called back and send emails and they she tells me I cannot get a refund because they were custom headphones. She never mentioned that when I purchased the headphones over the phone with her in August of 2009. I would have never purchased the custom headphones for $350 if I knew they sold bad headphones. I could have purchased a new pair of Shures that sound 1000x better or the Bose or the Koss or actually anything that would sound better. The custom molds can be made for any headphone and it will only cost $100 locally. Big Ear is a rip off, their headphones do not sound good and I would like my money back. I would even settle for a pair of Shure or Beats by Dre headphones in exchange for this crap that they sold to me. Whatever you do please go into any store and listen to headphones before buying anything from these people!