Caveat About Nextbase Cameras

JArcudi

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In May of 2020, I purchased the 422GW camera at a Bestbuy store for approx $220.00 (US). I hardwired the camera to the windshield of my car. On August 23, 2021, I removed the camera from its mount in order to upgrade the firmware. In doing so, I discovered the viewing screen on my device had popped out of the base and it appeared the glue that held it in place had dissolved, most likely from the sun. (Photo attached)Nextbase camera defect.jpg The screen appeared to be warped as I was unable to push it back down in place without it popping back up.

I immediately contacted Nextbase. After a lengthy period on "Hold", I finally was able to talk with a person in support who said he would follow up with the company to see how they would be able to handle my issue. Two days later, I was informed by email that they were unable to rectify my issue because I was outside of the warranty period of ONE (1) YEAR!! It should be noted that even though this was obviously a manufacturing defect, they declined to offer any type of remedy due to it being three (3) months over the warranty period.

A second important issue for anyone considering a purchase of a Nextbase camera should be aware of is Nextbase is headquartered in England. Even though you dial a USA number to contact them, the call goes to England or Wales as my call did. Anyone who has purchased at Nextbase camera should be aware there are NO REPAIR FACILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES should your camera develop issues.

Knowing now how this company stands behind their equipment, I would never purchase a Nextbase camera in the future. Some people may say the company was correct in how they handled this situation. But please consider this was not a "cheap" purchase. I think they have more expensive systems than what I paid. If you paid $400-$500 or more for a camera, would you still feel that way when the company informs you "too bad, so sad"?
 
In May of 2020, I purchased the 422GW camera at a Bestbuy store for approx $220.00 (US). I hardwired the camera to the windshield of my car. On August 23, 2021, I removed the camera from its mount in order to upgrade the firmware. In doing so, I discovered the viewing screen on my device had popped out of the base and it appeared the glue that held it in place had dissolved, most likely from the sun. (Photo attached)View attachment 57968 The screen appeared to be warped as I was unable to push it back down in place without it popping back up.

I immediately contacted Nextbase. After a lengthy period on "Hold", I finally was able to talk with a person in support who said he would follow up with the company to see how they would be able to handle my issue. Two days later, I was informed by email that they were unable to rectify my issue because I was outside of the warranty period of ONE (1) YEAR!! It should be noted that even though this was obviously a manufacturing defect, they declined to offer any type of remedy due to it being three (3) months over the warranty period.

A second important issue for anyone considering a purchase of a Nextbase camera should be aware of is Nextbase is headquartered in England. Even though you dial a USA number to contact them, the call goes to England or Wales as my call did. Anyone who has purchased at Nextbase camera should be aware there are NO REPAIR FACILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES should your camera develop issues.

Knowing now how this company stands behind their equipment, I would never purchase a Nextbase camera in the future. Some people may say the company was correct in how they handled this situation. But please consider this was not a "cheap" purchase. I think they have more expensive systems than what I paid. If you paid $400-$500 or more for a camera, would you still feel that way when the company informs you "too bad, so sad"?
They can provide you a replacement screen and fitting instructions if you are to tackle the repair yourself.

First I've heard of a screen coming away and warping, then again we don't quite get the warm weather over here much like you probably do over there.
 
Welcome to DCT neighbor :)

Wish you'd came here before buying as I would have advised against buying any cam with a LiPo battery as our climate is just too hot for them- dashcams here need supercaps or they'll usually be dead within a couple years at best :( Can't see in the pics but it wouldn't surprise me if the screen lifting wasn't caused by or at least initiated by battery swelling.

I won't argue that this shouldn't have happened, but I can't fault any company for not covering out-of-warranty problems when it's that far past the warranty period. Sad but that's how things work. Several dashcam companies now offer longer warranties but in general most are 12 months. You might gain some traction by complaining to BestBuy as they're generally pretty good handling customer complaints but thart will vary from store-to-store. It's worth a try.

Hope you can find a resolution to the problem which you can be happy with, and plan to go with cams using supercaps next time around.

Phil
 
SawMaster: If I pay a few hundred dollars for a device and in 15 months, the items goes bad through no fault of my own, you don't think Nextbase should stand behind their products? The defect was caused by design, engineering or manufacturing of the item by Nextbase. Was there any warning on the box or the device that it is not recommended for use in high temperature climates? It is not unreasonable to expect such a device to last longer than 15 months. How many companies would gladly provide the consumer an acceptable remedy even though the warranty period had expired. Most I believe, except of course, Nextbase who is so rigid with their warranty, I believe if the expiration period was one day instead of 90 days, I would have received the same response.

I think you may be right in that the battery swelled up from the heat causing the screen pop and why it won't press back down in to place. If I knew what I was doing and understood the technology better, I sure as hell would not have wasted money this defective piece of junk.
 
SawMaster: If I pay a few hundred dollars for a device and in 15 months, the items goes bad through no fault of my own, you don't think Nextbase should stand behind their products? The defect was caused by design, engineering or manufacturing of the item by Nextbase. Was there any warning on the box or the device that it is not recommended for use in high temperature climates? It is not unreasonable to expect such a device to last longer than 15 months. How many companies would gladly provide the consumer an acceptable remedy even though the warranty period had expired. Most I believe, except of course, Nextbase who is so rigid with their warranty, I believe if the expiration period was one day instead of 90 days, I would have received the same response.

I think you may be right in that the battery swelled up from the heat causing the screen pop and why it won't press back down in to place. If I knew what I was doing and understood the technology better, I sure as hell would not have wasted money this defective piece of junk.
So where is the cutoff point for warranty for any item you buy that could become defective?

Should all companies honour repairs or replacement of things that are out of the warranty period?

You make out as though this is common issue they should know about yet its the first post I've heard of like on here, a place where people inevitably come to moan that something is broken. Very few people post of a forum to say that everything is fine and they have had no issues.

It's out of warranty not sure what else you expect the company do regarding fixing/replacing an item that is 3 months out of warranty.
 
I really feel sad for @JArcudi but the warranty terms were clear- 12 months- and while it would be nice for NB to try to do something for him they are not obligated to.

Everyone here knows I'm not a NB fan for a few reasons, one of which is their continued use of LiPo batteries when almost all of the better cam manufacturers have abandoned the old failure-prone technology for supercaps which last a lot longer and are better in the hotter climates. They're not alone in this- many of the cheap cams still use LiPo's as do a few well-known and generally respected cam makers. It's up to the buyer to do their research ahead of time so they can get a product that will hopefully meet their expectations but with dashcams there's so much BS out there that this isn't easy to do. There are very few online rescources like DCT where you'll find expert knowledge and good info, but plenty of places online where you can easily get misled and sometimes that's intentional. I can sure sympathize with him, remembering that I had to warranty my first dashcam twice and buying it took so much of my resources that I was eating from McDonald's Dollar menu for awhile.

But about all we can do is to try to walk you through the repair process if you want to try it- a cellphone repair shop can do it- or advise you on a better cam for your purposes which will hopefully be a far more pleasant experience.

Phil
 
I had 3 NB cams, 402, 412, 380 and none of them failed. The 412 made the 402 obsolete then the 380 solved the stalk vibration problem.

I captured an incident with the 380 but even though the offending vehicle was travelling the same direction, the number plate was impossible to read. This was about the time the series 2 came out but I decided against them because of the battery and stalk. The 380 was capacitor so battery surprised me.

My shopping list included capacitor, solid mount and cpl facility.
 
Hey, Simcor. Let me pose this scenario to you: You purchased a Nextbase camera system, their most expensive one, for several hundred dollars. One year and ONE DAY after your purchase, the screen pops up in the air due to the battery swelling and through no fault of your own. Using your logic, you agree with the rigid one year warranty on your camera and Nextbase has no obligation to help you remedy your problem. The warranty period is 12 months, and 12 months is 12 months not 12 months and 1 day! You just rented a Nextbase camera system for a year that cost you several hundred dollars! COME ON MAN! How long have you worked for Nextbase?
 
Hey, Simcor. Let me pose this scenario to you: You purchased a Nextbase camera system, their most expensive one, for several hundred dollars. One year and ONE DAY after your purchase, the screen pops up in the air due to the battery swelling and through no fault of your own. Using your logic, you agree with the rigid one year warranty on your camera and Nextbase has no obligation to help you remedy your problem. The warranty period is 12 months, and 12 months is 12 months not 12 months and 1 day! You just rented a Nextbase camera system for a year that cost you several hundred dollars! COME ON MAN! How long have you worked for Nextbase?
I can absolutely assure you I do not work for Nextbase I drive a truck delivering to M&S supermarket regional distribution centres and collecting from suppliers.

As I said a warranty is a warranty simple as that. States the length and terms of that warranty. If the company wishes as a goodwill gesture to do something out of warranty then that is entirely up to them to choose to do or not do. Yes if it was a short while past the expiry of said date then it would be nice to have some form of solution.

But we are talking 90 days past the expiry date of the warranty.

I agree you seem to have been unlucky. But again show me other examples of the same issue to say its down to heat only, or maybe it was a manufacturing defect in this case.

It is also unfortunate that you are based in the US and they don't have any repair places near in the US.

I bought a screen and battery for my old camera from nextbase and fitted them myself. That camera is still working to this day in my parents car.

I have owned 3 different nextbase cameras and the only physical problems I have had is batteries dying and needing replacing. I damaged the screen I mentioned earlier by damaging the ribbon cable when removing it to change the battery.

You can shout and rant and rave at nextbase as much as you like but it will probably not change the response. They don't have to by law do anything to solve your problem.

I have bought plenty of items over the years that have broken out of their warranty period, sadly that's life it happens but it also does not happen to everyone that has a particular item.
 
I was outside of the warranty period of ONE (1) YEAR!! It should be noted that even though this was obviously a manufacturing defect, they declined to offer any type of remedy due to it being three (3) months over the warranty period.
While it's 3 months it's also 25% of the warranty period, not an insignificant period of time.

Also, if the damage was caused by the LiPo battery swelling, which is a distinct possibility, it's not a manufacturing defect.

As has been mentioned already check with BestBuy to see what they might do. I've had similar experiences with electronic devices and got more than I expected in resolution.

Lastly, if you paid for the camera with a credit card, check with the CC company itself. Many will double, or extend, the manufacturer warranty and you may have an avenue there.
 
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Shame you're not in the UK.

Whilst you only have a year warranty there is a merchantable quality clause in law here.

I read many similar articles in the UK Which? magazine where they help people who's equipment has failed before what would have been reasonably expected.
 
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