DVForge said today that it has stopped production of its new JamPod electric guitar iPod accessory due to quality issues. DVForge CEO Jack Campbell told iLounge that his company created two versions of the JamPod — a cheaper version that cut corners to keep the price down, and a higher-grade version that would cost more to manufacture and sell.
“The simpler design could be sold for about $30. The more sophisticated design would have had to sell for about $50,” Campbell said. “We showed the $50 piece at Macworld Expo, and saw a surprising resistance to the price among showgoers. Based on the feedback from the show, we decided to take the less expensive version to production, we began accepting pre-orders about 3-weeks ago, and, we began shipping the product this past Thursday,” Campbell said. “We began getting comments back from many of these customers expressing concern about the sound quality and the fit and finish of the product.”
Based on the complaints from customers, Campbell said DVForge is halting production of the cheaper design and will soon offer the higher quality version for a higher price. He also said that his company would offer refunds to those unsatisfied with the JamPod.
“We decided on Sunday to simply trash the entire first production run of the JamPod, refund product and shipping costs for any dissatisfied customer, and, to take the earlier (higher performance) design to production,” Campbell told iLounge. “We will be rereleasing the JamPod in approximately 8-weeks at a retail price of $49.99. It will be the version that we showed at Macworld Expo, with the impeccable fit and finish, and the strong audio performance that our more demanding customers have requested.”