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Umax Charging for Drivers

By Ed Foster, Section Gripes
Posted on Sun Aug 03, 2003 at 12:25:17 PM PDT

A reader reports he went to the Umax website to get updated drivers for his three-year-old Astra 1220s scanner. He was surprised to discover that for his scanner, and many other Umax models as well, Umax is no longer making drivers available for free download. Instead, customers must order a CD for $14.50. As he wrote:

“There is no cost for Umax to provide the drivers online for free. Charging for a CD-ROM is unfair (I paid for the drivers once), inefficient (I have to wait for the drivers), and environmentally unsound (another CD to eventually throw in the trash). I'm sorry that this company has stooped to such a low level. I assure you, I do not do business (and recommend to others not to do business) with companies that treat their customers so poorly.”

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Umax Charging for Drivers | 22 comments (22 topical) | Post A Comment

Umax[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#1)
by Mason on Sun Aug 03, 2003 at 05:26:40 PM PDT

The Register ran something about this a good while back... My father ran into the same situation with his Umax scanner about a year ago and was dumbfounded, but I sent him a link to the Reg article and he was able to get his drivers from a non-US UMAX website. It looks like they still have some available from www.umax.co.uk/support/default.htm Needless to say, neither of us will ever buy a Umax product ever again.

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Umax Astra 1220S[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#12)
by Anonymous User on Fri Nov 14, 2003 at 07:45:26 AM PDT

Umax can kiss my perverbial "You know what" Tip: Give Umax a miss the next time you are out looking for anything.... UmaxWho?

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Umax drivers[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#16)
by Anonymous User on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 07:11:44 PM PDT

Amen. I too will not buy another product from Umax. I paid for it once already, why should I have to again! They want $49.00!!!

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

lllllll[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#25)
by Anonymous User on Sat Aug 16, 2008 at 04:12:36 AM PDT

UMAX[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#2)
by Larry M on Tue Aug 05, 2003 at 08:35:13 AM PDT

We have a UMAX laptop (did you know they made them?) They no longer even acknowledge that they made them, nor do they provide any support. So it sits on the shelf - no drivers for any of the newer operating systems.

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yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#23)
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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

UMAX Support is Poor[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#3)
by Anonymous User on Thu Aug 07, 2003 at 10:57:09 AM PDT

UMAX has been acting this way for some time. When I upgraded from NT4 to Win2k, my UMAX scanner quit working. It turned out that the firmware it shipped with was incompatible with Win2k. There was a newer firmware that shipped with newer version of the same scanner, however. When contacted, UMAX refused to sell me the firmware upgrade because they had chosen not to support the scanner on Win2k. At the time, the device was only a couple of years old. I eventually found a fellow engineer via the web who had been burning firmware EPROMs at cost for others because he was outraged at how much UMAX was charging for the upgrades. Using that, I got my scanner working and still use it today. UMAX's suggestion was to buy a newer UMAX scanner. I can assure you that that will never happen. Ever. Michael S [Sorry for anon post. Still waiting for account confirmation e-mail.]

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UMAX Support is poor[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#8)
by byelen on Fri Aug 08, 2003 at 06:52:40 AM PDT

I had the same experience. Of course it took me two days to actually track down a UMAX support person who would actually speak on the phone. UMAX will be forever ensrhined in my personal "Hall of Shame".

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Umax Charging for Drivers[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#4)
by Anonymous User on Thu Aug 07, 2003 at 12:28:57 PM PDT

Thanks Ed - another vendor that goes on my "do not by from" list for myself and the people I make purchase recommendations to.

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Old news[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#5)
by Anonymous User on Thu Aug 07, 2003 at 03:29:07 PM PDT

We went through this with them sometime around 1998. At that time they came with an ISA SCSI card to connect the scanner to. Had to get new drivers to try and fix the problem via a CD. After about 8 months of trying to get it to work right, having it work for a while, then quit working we ended up getting an HP 4C and never looked back. BTW - "There is no cost for Umax to provide the drivers online for free. " Please inform me how one can do this for free? I currently have to pay quite a bit of money to have a driver download area, due to the bandwidth and all.

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Gigs for cheap[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#6)
by kamnet on Thu Aug 07, 2003 at 05:14:20 PM PDT

Please inform me how one can do this for free? I currently have to pay quite a bit of money to have a driver download area, due to the bandwidth and all.

Paying a few bucks for a couple of gigs of bandwidth for distributing drivers for free is much more cost-effective than pissing away your customers who are annoyed by an obvious attempt to gouge customers for more money.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Bandwidth is cheap[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#7)
by Mason on Thu Aug 07, 2003 at 09:54:15 PM PDT

I agree... I rent a dedicated unmanaged server with an unmetered 10mbps pipe for $380/mo, and I'm just a joe schmoe. In this computer age, any company refusing to allow free driver downloads for their products is doing a grave disservice to their customers.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#22)
by maderikapapa on Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 07:25:32 PM PDT

they already have a website[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#10)
by Anonymous User on Thu Aug 14, 2003 at 10:19:55 AM PDT

They already run a web site, so there's no extra cost in providing links to drivers! Umax isn't such a big company that driver downloads would be a crushing wave of bandwidth use. Of course, if they keep policies like this, they won't be a company at all (says a Umax Astra 3400 owner).

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Alas poor Umax ...[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#9)
by Anonymous User on Fri Aug 08, 2003 at 07:09:40 AM PDT

I thought I knew Umax. I've owned 3 of their scanners over the years and they were good equipment. Then I found my scanner only worked "sort of" under Win2K. And now I have to pay for drivers? (yes, I can download them from the UK web site, that's not really the point and besides Vistascan locks up cold under XP) Fortunately XP does have native support for the 2400S and the built-in scanner widget is adequate, if not as good as Vistascan. The upshot - I will continue to use my 2400S scanner as long as it continues to function, but Umax will never see another dime of my money.

[ Reply to This ]

Umax support SUX![ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#14)
by JayZee on Wed Mar 10, 2004 at 07:42:26 PM PDT

I am another scanner owner who got the reaming from behind without lubrication. I was fine with windows 98 but I changed to win 2000 and the VistaScan software that came with the scanner is useless. I also got the message to buy a CD but I E-MAILED their support to let them know that I wanted the correct software at no charge to me but after a couple of attemps al I got was their support contact now Blocked me out from sending any future E-MAIL's. I went to the Dallas Texas BBB site and registered a complaint but I'm still waiting for some kind of reply and it's been almost 2 weeks since I sent it. I then checked the BBB's for a report on Umax and this is what I found... BBB Reliability ReportUmax Technologies, Inc.10460 Brockwood Dr.Dallas, TX 75238General InformationPrincipal: Mr. Alex Lai, President Phone Number: (214) 342-9799 Fax Number: (214) 342-9046 Type-of-Business Classification: Photography / Digital Imagery Additional InformationAdditional Doing-Business-As Names: UMAX Umax Technologies Additional TOB Classifications: Computer Accessories & Sales Manufacturers' Rebate Offers Electronic Oriented & Computer Systems Coupon Book Promotions Report as of 03/03/2004 Copyright 2004 Better Business Bureau®, Inc. of Metropolitan Dallas, Inc. If anyone wants to get some action then there is strength in numbers. Let's form a group.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Umax support SUX! BBB report[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#15)
by JayZee on Wed Mar 10, 2004 at 07:49:41 PM PDT

I'm sorry, The whole message from the Dallas BBB wasn't copied properly. Let me try again............... Customer Experience Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to one or more unanswered complaints regarding customer service problems.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

chargeback[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#11)
by tdrury on Tue Aug 19, 2003 at 01:29:57 PM PDT

Today's gripe line about UMAX talks about a customer that bought the driver CD for ~$15 only to find later the driver didn't work and UMAX wouldn't give a refund. I assume you paid via credit card - so perform a chargeback. The product didn't work - your credit card company shouldn't have any problem performing a changeback and getting your money back.

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Umax Astra 1220S UK Downloads[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#13)
by Trevorski on Fri Nov 14, 2003 at 08:12:57 AM PDT

The Umax UK Site does not appear to be allowing any more downloads. If you have a better experience please post a notice. Anyone know of good Non Umax scanners on the market that are not too expensive and have Neg capabilities as well?

[ Reply to This ]

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dsafd[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#24)
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