digital frames

After having considered the Ceiva frame/service given a couple months research and maybe 5-6 hours total (inc talking with a current user), these are the pros and cons in my opinion:

PRO
- One person I know who has one and got a couple for family members likes it and does not regret the purchase
- Picture/LCD quality appears to be sufficient, bordering on good.
- Awesome idea for kids to get pics of children's and grandchildren's lives
- Low maintenance for recipient, given automated downloading of new pictures each night.

CONS
- The one consistent theme in all reviews here and on other sites is that Cust service is abysmal. I looked everywhere and could not find a phone number for cust service, despite a couple user comments about being "on hold" for 20 minutes. This scares me a great deal--not b/c I'm not technical--but b/c there appear to be a number of service and hardware complaints, and obviously resolution requires cust service. Exchanges are difficult to handle with 48hr email turnaround times, no doubt involving multiple messages back and forth.
- The subscription fee is quite high, in my opinion
- It seems the moment you cancel the subscription, whatever pictures are in the device are there forever, as there is NO OPTION to load pics other than through the subscription service.
- It seems a number of people have had technical hardware failures with the Ceiva I & II. The best warrantee I could find from all the Ceiva retailers is 60 days, otherwise you have to pay the extended warrantee of $20 for a full year of warrantee coverage. I think this is a little shotty, and makes me very uneasy given the reviews on this site.
- You have to get a subscription to the service to use the frame. There are cancellation fees for the service. So, if you buy the frame, don't like it or have problems, it seems 1) you will have difficulty reaching cust service, 2) have only 30-60 days to figure this out, hoping a problem does not occur after that period, 3) have to then cancel the subscription, which is a $10 fee within 30 days, or, after 30 days, it's $10 plus 50% of your subscription fee, which would be a total of about $60-70 if you bought a 1-year subscription (minimum is 3 months).

Summary: I really like the idea, and talked all siblings into buying for our parents, but I can't in good conscience buy this knowing all of the cons above. I truly feel that there is a good possibility of trouble, which sounds extremely difficult to resolve at the least, and expensive at worst.

-Brian U

Have had this service for a year now and have yet to see any advancement in their product. There are so many things that need adjusting to make this service and product a much better experience for the user, but I don't think anyone is home. My mom had to send in her frame - still have to pay the monthly charges - and they said it would take a couple of months to replace it. A couple of months? What, is there only one person out there who puts these little frames together. They need help.<br /> <br /> Frustrated in Dallas.

Ceiva does not offer improved service on a regular basis. My unit failed but I still had to pay the monthly fee while I waited for a new power supply. I was one of the first users. They recently raised my rates on in excess of 20% without prior notice. Understand that you can't suspend the service on a monthly basis if your relatives that use the service become ill or travel. AND once you drop $ on this unit you are done. Currently there are no alternative service providers.