Hi fellow BOLT users, I am a new US-based user that purchased the BOLT GEAR kit directly from UDOO on June 3. Unfortunately the board seems to have only worked for a few minutes (see below). I have three main questions for those who have found themselves in similar circumstances: Are there any other troubleshooting steps that I have missed, which I can try while waiting for UDOO support to notice my ticket? What is the typical support response time from UDOO, in your experience? For those (especially in US) that have successfully navigated it, what is the refund policy/procedure? I blame myself for being so excited about the kit itself that I failed to search for one prior to purchasing. This is worst case scenario -- if support options end up unsatisfactory -- but the only policy I found was for warranty service and doesn't seem to address purchase refunds. Thanks! Detailed history: After ordering, the kit arrived in about a week. I easily added RAM and a M.2 2280 SSD, and got the case kit assembled. I plugged in the provided 19V power adaptor and noticed the amber LED on the board right away. I powered the unit on and booted to a USB drive with Windows 10 installer. After a few minutes, during initial Windows setup, I heard a soft click from the BOLT unit and the system went completely dead. No longer were any LEDs illuminated. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the 19V adaptor, but this did not help. I checked the adaptor with a multimeter, seems fine. When reconnecting the adaptor, I now hear a similar soft click but no LEDs, and no other indications when I press the power button. I also disassembled the board from the GEAR case and tried to run it bare with nothing connected except a single RAM stick and a monitor. Same results. I filed a ticket a couple of days ago but still waiting for an initial response.
Update, in case it's helpful to anyone else interacting with support tickets at the moment: 14 Jun: I opened ticket 22 Jun: Initial response from UDOO support: RMA needed, request shipping details 22 Jun: I provided requested details 26 Jun: Still awaiting a response with RMA confirmation/next steps So it appears that it is at least 1 business week for each ticket response, I will continue to post updates here.
Update to timeline since the last post (22 Jun was the last message from UDOO support): 30 Jun: Support reply stating that the shipping/billing team is taking over my issue to process the RMA. (Also, I got a warning not to post followup queries to the ticket because apparently that pushes the ticket down in the priority queue. This is punative IMO, the only thing that should matter to a customer-focused support team is the length of time since the last merchant activity. TL;DR don't ask why the support team takes so long to post simple responses, you may be penalized.) 30 Jun: I acknowledged the referral and asked for an expected time to hear from the shipping/billing team; no response to my specific query. 6 Jul: UDOO sends RMA shipping instructions and label 7 Jul: RMA shipment in transit TL;DR Processing the RMA request took 3 full weeks. My earlier conclusion (~1 week lead time for each ticket response or action) appears to hold. New insight: Don't get clever and ping your ticket asking for updates; it may further degrade the response time.
Hi all, it's time for the final update on this thread! 10 Jul: UDOO received my RMA shipment and confirmed on the support ticket, promising that within 8 business days they would either send me the repaired board or a replacement. 24 Jul: (10 business days later) UDOO apologized for the delay and asked for another week. 29 Jul: UDOO replied on the support ticket that they were unable to complete their evaluation of my returned board, and due to upcoming summer holidays decided to ship me a completely new kit. 3 Aug: Received new kit! Everything works, and my daughter is finally now enjoying her new machine. TL;DR Sent back my bare board, got a replacement full kit. It took about 7 weeks from opening ticket to delivery. PS: If anyone (in the US only) wants a BOLT V8 Case kit to pair with their bare board, let me know! I'm happy to send it to you rather than leave it gathering dust on my shelf.
