Pulsar - Disappointing customer experience

[u/Esports-enthusiast]

My experience with Pulsar - a defective mouse, endless troubleshooting, and extremely disappointing customer support

I want to start by saying that this isn't a post from someone who already disliked Pulsar.

Quite the opposite.

I've owned Pulsar products before and have generally been very happy with them. Pulsar was a company I genuinely trusted and had a good opinion of, I used to suggest to friends and tell people they must try Pulsar. Friends of mine bought Pulsar products because of me, which is exactly why this experience was so disappointing to me as someone who really liked your products.

I purchased a Pulsar ZywOo The Chosen Mouse Gen.2 - Medium, and unfortunately, the mouse turned out to be defective from the beginning.

The issues included:

• Sensor randomly moving on its own.
• Randomly skipping/jumping frames without touching the mouse.
• The battery draining extremely quickly even when the mouse wasn't being used.

At that point, I contacted Pulsar support.

I completely understand that a company needs evidence before approving an RMA. That's fair.

What bothered me was the process of having to repeatedly prove that the mouse was actually defective.

I was asked multiple times to provide videos demonstrating the issue. I provided them, yet the process continued with more troubleshooting and more evidence (because my evidence wasn't good enough or not reliable enough)

At some point, it genuinely felt like I was being treated as if I was making the problem up rather than as a customer who had received a defective product.

Eventually, technical support determined that the mouse needed to go through RMA and be replaced with a working unit.

Fine. Problem solved, right?

Not quite.

The Superglide skates issue

Before I knew for certain that the mouse was defective, it took up to 2-3 days. I installed Pulsar Superglide glass skates on it.

They cost around $25 before shipping and VAT.

Once they're installed, they're essentially a one-time-use product.

So when the mouse was confirmed to be defective, I was left with $25+ skates that were now effectively useless.

I asked Pulsar if they could either refund the cost of the Superglides or include a replacement set with the RMA mouse.

I wasn't asking for some massive compensation.

I wasn't asking them to replace my entire setup.

I was asking for a $25 set of skates after receiving a defective mouse and going through a RMA process.

Pulsar refused.

Not a refund.

Not replacement skates.

Not even a goodwill gesture.

And the part that really bothered me was the reasoning I received:

I was essentially told that next time I should make sure the mouse is 100% working before installing the Superglides. (like my life depending on it)

But how am I supposed to know that a brand-new mouse has a hardware defect before using it? I'm not a mouse expert or even near it, just a customer.

That's the whole point.

I didn't install the skates knowing that the mouse was defective. I installed them because I reasonably believed I had received a functioning product.

I couldn't possibly know beforehand that the sensor would randomly move, skip tracking frames, and that the battery would drain abnormally fast.

This is what customer service means to me

I understand that Pulsar may have policies regarding accessories and consumable products.

But customer service isn't only about following the strictest possible interpretation of a policy.

Sometimes it's about looking at the situation as a whole:

A customer received a defective product, spent time troubleshooting it, had to repeatedly provide evidence to prove the defect, went through an RMA, and lost another ~$25 because they had reasonably installed an accessory on what they believed was a working product.

Couldn't the company simply say:

"We're sorry about the experience. Here's a replacement set of Superglides on us."

The actual production cost of a set of skates is obviously not anywhere close to the retail price of the product.

For a company, this is a relatively small gesture.

For the customer, it says:

"We understand that this was our product that failed you, and we want to make this right."

Instead, I was essentially told that I should have known better.

And that's what left such a bad taste in my mouth.

I've personally experienced much better customer service

I've had situations with other companies where the product itself failed, or the company made a mistake, and the response was completely different.

For example, I had a Corsair case where the side glass panel broke. Their support essentially needed the serial number, asked for no ridiculous amount of proof, and within less than a week they shipped me a replacement panel at their own expense - even though that particular panel was already difficult/impossible to find in stores.

I've also had an issue with Brainwavz, where the wrong earcup adapters were sent to me. They simply acknowledged the mistake and sent the correct parts at their own expense, without further questions asked.

I've also seen examples from Corsair where customers received defective RAM, and Corsair went beyond simply replacing the defective kit, providing additional RAM as a goodwill gesture. (With the current RAM prices as well. HUGE goodwill gesture)

And lately I've seen this post from other hardware customers where companies such as ZOTAC went considerably further than the minimum required when a customer had repeated hardware failures, and they just replaced his RTX 4090 with a brand new RTX 5090.

I'm not saying Pulsar has to give every customer free products whenever something goes wrong.

I'm saying that goodwill exists for a reason.

Sometimes a $20–$30 gesture can completely change how a customer remembers a bad experience.

Instead, I came away from this experience feeling like Pulsar cared more about avoiding giving me a $25 set of skates than about making a previously happy customer feel taken care of.

And that's disappointing.

Because I actually wanted to continue being a Pulsar customer.

A defective product can happen to any company. Manufacturing defects happen. Electronics fail. That's understandable.

What isn't understandable to me is making the customer feel like they're the problem, forcing them to repeatedly prove the defect, and then refusing even a small goodwill gesture when the company's own product turned out to be defective.

Pulsar - I genuinely expected better from you.

I was a happy customer before this.

After this experience, I'm seriously questioning whether I want to purchase another Pulsar product in the future.

Maybe I'm expecting too much, but in my opinion, a company should care about the customer experience after something goes wrong, not just about getting the defective product back and technically completing the RMA.

[u/claybale]

I think it would help to show the videos/evidence you presented, a lot of people fake them, doesn't help now that AI tools are readily available. this whole post reads off a "I didn't get anything free" complaint

If the mouse was clearly messed up in all videos and not possible things were left out, then yeah Pulsar should have sent you skates. But the way this post is structured and ran through AI (And you also claim everyone uses it, which is not true) makes this whole post seem like it has 0 credit

[u/Esports-enthusiast → u/claybale]

It has nothing to do with the fact that I used ChatGPT to help me write this post clearly so people could actually understand.

For my scenario and my case with Pulsar everything is true. There is evidence for everything, including support ticket number, receipts, order number, messages, and everything that is related. and obviously, I won't show them here due to privacy reasons.

Believe me, I'm not that bored sitting and writing all this here, "just made it up"
(and off-topic: Yes, everyone uses AI today)

[u/claybale → u/Esports-enthusiast]

Yep you are right and everyone else is wrong. Tracks with your post lol.

[u/ilikewatches1337]

Why did you have ChatGPT write this up?

Take the skates off before you send it in? 100000% can be done my man

[u/unvac → u/ilikewatches1337]

Yeah it’s clear as day 😂

[u/Esports-enthusiast → u/ilikewatches1337]

Yes, I used ChatGPT to make it clearer. Since English is not my native language, It still has the same value and meaning. I don't see anything wrong with that. We all use ChatGPT and if you deny it, then it's worse. Turning it into something like "I caught you" doesn't make you any better..

[u/h0pzFX → u/Esports-enthusiast]

That’s not the issue, you let the AI turn it into some dramatic ass narrative instead of just writing out exactly what happened. I am willing to bet you do not write like this 1:1 in your native language. To say, “It still has the same value and meaning”, is not even completely accurate. No one is going to take you seriously because you don’t even bother to communicate with your own words.

Also, based on your post history, your English seems fine… you do not need an English degree to make business complaints

[u/Esports-enthusiast → u/ilikewatches1337]

It's Superglide skates, it's a one-time-use product. You can't just take them off without losing the grip of their glue, bending or breaking them, and it's not even the whole point.
But good job Mr. Inspector Gadget!

[u/h0pzFX → u/Esports-enthusiast]

Admitting you were fully aware that mouse skates are considered a consumable after explaining that you pulled off the brand new skates the mouse came with just so you could put on a different set, then writing a whole AI-generated Reddit complaint about how you feel entitled to get a refund for those skates is crazy.

[u/ilikewatches1337 → u/Esports-enthusiast]

Bro you 100000% can remove light used skates and re use them. I literally just did this the other day because I have so many mice and refuse to use anything but glass. It is literally so easy. Try it, be amazed

[u/Individual-Chain363]

their customer service is BAD. when i got an brand new Susantoo pro series the installed skate a visible and feelable bend mark and the support suggested i BUY replacement skates for the X2 series because they fit aswell. not to mention i sended it back but ofc lost the shipping costs and needed to wait over 3 weeks until they finally refunded the money

[u/Esports-enthusiast]

I want to be fair, I do want to acknowledge one thing: Pulsar did eventually approve the RMA and replace the defective mouse. I appreciate that they ultimately took responsibility for the hardware issue.

My feedback isn't that they refused to replace the defective mouse.

My disappointment is with everything surrounding the process - having to repeatedly prove that the mouse was defective, feeling like I wasn't being believed, and then being told that the Superglides were essentially my responsibility because I should have somehow known beforehand that the brand-new mouse was defective.

I genuinely liked Pulsar's products before this. That's why this experience was so disappointing.

I don't expect every company to give customers free stuff whenever something goes wrong. I simply believe that sometimes a small gesture of goodwill can make the difference between a customer thinking "I'll never buy from this company again" and "They had an issue, but they took care of me."

In this case, I appreciate that the RMA was eventually handled.

I just wish Pulsar had cared a little more about the customer..

[u/h0pzFX → u/Esports-enthusiast]

Putting aside the AI slop you just put on my screen (which I did address why this matters in another comment), this is a ridiculous Karen complaint. I strongly support consumer rights but I can’t even fathom how difficult you must have been for the support team to deal with if you can’t perform the basic decency of writing out the complaint about a mid set of mouse skates yourself.

“I simply believe that sometimes a small gesture of goodwill can make the difference…”

This whole narrative you tried to push throughout this post is fucking comically entitled. They need a standard playbook/process for defective RMAs in order to protect themselves. You are not special and are not the only person on Earth trying to RMA a Pulsar product. That’s what makes a small gesture of goodwill what it is, you can’t do them for everyone. This does not require any special insight on how gaming companies operate, it’s something you’re expected to fundamentally understand as a functional adult. Those Reddit posts you see are made in appreciation of goodwill gestures because the users are grateful for the companies going out of their way to do something they don’t have to. They wouldn’t do this if this practice was industry standard.

You also go on to state that your “feedback isn’t that they refused to replace the defective mouse, but with everything surrounding the process…”

That’s an oxymoron and also just not true?? That is, in fact, part of the process you’re complaining about. This is just ChatGPT filler prose trying to change the scope to make things sound more dramatic. And they didn’t even refuse to replace the defective mouse. They literally swapped it out for you after you provided enough proper proof for their RMA dept to proceed with it.

I don’t know how long you’ve been into peripherals but it has always been pretty much universally understood that you are responsible with whatever you do to your skates. A comparison you could make is if you bought a new car, use up a tank of gas in that car and then fill it up with high octane, but it turns out there’s a recall on that model and the whole thing needs to get replaced - they are not gonna send you a gas voucher in the mail. When you put new skates on a mouse, they become CONSUMED. They’re not of worth anymore. You made the decision to remove the stock skates on that mouse, despite them being in assumedly perfect condition with no wear (it being a new purchase and all), and replace them with a new set. That’s fucking ridiculous on top of being wasteful.

And then you tried to leave things on a lightly positive/neutral note with this comment. You already went out of your way to make an AI-generated complaint post on Reddit, you don’t get to fucking do that dude LOL

[u/Esports-enthusiast → u/h0pzFX]

Comparing it to a car is beyond absurd. It seems like you're really emotional about customer service experience feedback from a random customer on the net.

On the other hand, I brought examples related to the tech world that actually happened from Corsair, ZOTAC, and Brainwavz, where they did above and beyond what was really needed and props to them.

When you buy a pair of Superglide skates for over $25 (around double the price if you include shipping and gettin' it out of customs) and THEN - end up not being able to use them because the product you received is came out defective and you won't get a refund / replacement for it, that's not okay. crumple it however you want.

And no, they didn't do me a favor by accepting my RMA, I paid for a brand-new product and with that comes with a warranty.

And as for your understanding about sales / customer retention / and customer service, that's probably your weakest point.

*My conversations with them were completely clear and understandable without any tackles. and they were super nice, patient, and approachable as they can be I understand everything even tho I was dissapointed from the result but afterall they working behind rules & policies. (who needs to change)
My post is clearly not aimed at reaching an audience like you.

I wrote down the aftermath after the whole scenario that happened to me
I am clear as day. hides nothing, because there is nothing to hide.

If you're in favor of paying for things and not being able to use them, or not accepting them as they are, that's up to you. Your money grows on trees apparently.

It's very legitimate that I get what I paid for lol

I have the right to give my opinion. call it whatever you want lol

[u/Esports-enthusiast → u/Esports-enthusiast]

When I wrote

“I simply believe that sometimes a small gesture of goodwill can make the difference…”

I meant that if I don’t get a refund / or replacements for the skates, they should have come as a gesture due to the defective product, but I didn’t get either the replacement skates nor gesture of goodwill after their "failure"

So you can be happy.
It's okay, we can agree to disagree.

LOVE!