Customer Reviews

Siemens 8800 Gigaset 2.4 GHz Accessory Handset for 8825 Cordless Phone

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I originally bought the 8800 series because I do lots of conference calls and needed a digital duplex speakerphone. This phone offers so much more however. One feature that we didn't know existed but have used constantly since we purchased is the voice announce for caller ID. I can be in the kitchen and the phone rings and then my voice comes on and annouces "The Smiths" from the base station. We answer that one. Or "Caller ID Unknown". Probably a salesman, no need to get up from dinner for that one. It has caller ID based mailbox routing, call barring (to prevent the phone from ringing at all if someone calls who has deliberately blocked their caller ID from being seen), individual phone intercom, 'all house' intercom, and the room monitor with call forwarding works great as well. There are too many features here to learn in one sitting. We have had two problems. Every once in a while the cordless handset has a clicking in the background which I believe to be related with some other 2.4 GHZ appliance interference. If you could manually overide the channel selection, I think that would not occur. It is a rare occurance but I think preventable with the right options. The other problem has been just finding two more cordless phones. These are hard to find. I would highly recommend this phone.

Only had my 8825 system a few weeks, so I don't know what might happen later. Right now though, this is a great system! Each handset is a speakerphone with volume control. Mine answers by picking up from the cradle without hanging up on anyone. That option must be turned on though. I can even get my messages from the handset. Also, the other reviewer is mistaken - I transfer calls from the handset all the time. You can transfer to any other handset or the base and you can even rename them for convenience. For example - I named one "Basement" so that is what shows in the display and on the transfer list. Older models (2400-series)had poor batteries that caused problems after 6 months - get rid of those NiCads! The new ones have better batteries. This system has way too many features for anyone to use them all. It's a room/baby monitor and supports headsets. You can turn on or off line 1 or 2 for each handset, choose incoming calls only, use different messages for answering the two lines, etc. Great in every way except the manuals aren't very well written. Good enough though - if you spend a few minutes with it.

Siemens do not offer repair support in the US on any of their phones once the one year warranty is up. I was willing to pay and send it wherever but no luck there. If your phone system goes wrong, you are on your own! All they do is suggest you buy a reconditioned unit from them.
Until they sort this out, I would recommend not buying their phones. I speak from experience after having suffered their uncaring Customer Care dept.

I've owned the Gigaset 8825 system and 4 8800 cordless phones now for about a year. In general, I'd agree with most of the reviews. It is a great phone system and generally, I really like the features. I have only one big problem. I can't find 3 of my cordless phones. With two teenaged daughters, the phones seem to be popular after school (and into most of the night). The thing is, they seem to forget to put them back in the charger. The standby power on these things is not all that great. The specs say 80 hours, I'd give it a little more than 8. I've replaced the rechargable batteries a few times, but that doesn't seem to help. Usually, I find these things, but for some reason, they are being very illusive. When they have power, the intercom Call All feature lets me find them easily, but when the power is gone, they are small enough to hide in sofa cushions (looked there), under beds (looked there too). I'm about to offer a reward, teens always need money.

I have the 8825 and one 8800 extra handset. That means I have one base station and two cordless handsets. The base station is great and has tons of great features. I have written a complete review of the system under the 8825. One of my handsets is located about 15-20 feet from the base station in the next room. It works fine and has no real problems. The other handset is in the bedroom which is on the same floor and about 30 feet from the base. The connection to this handset is terrible when it is this far from the base (both handsets have the problem from this distance - it isnt an individual problem with the handset). There is so much clicking it is hard to conduct a call.

I would stay away from this system although the features are generally first rate. It works much better on paper than it does in real life.

Caveat: I live in a NYC apartment building and have an 802.11b wireless router. Unfortunately turning the router off doesnt fix the problem. I also am NOT running the microwave when the clicking happens.

I have owned a base along with 2 handsets for over a year. I just added 2 more handsets. Over this time the system has performed very well in fairly constant use, even in a harsh environment with a lot of construction dust due to remodeling. I have not had any trouble with the batteries (they are inexpensive AA 1300mAh NiMHs, so if they do weaken, no big deal), nor with the user interface, nor have the handset buttons failed or even started to give any trouble. I haven't had the occasion to call Siemens tech support so I can't say whether they are any good or not.

People who are getting a lot of clicking are experiencing interference with another 2.4GHz piece of equipment, and the clicking is a symptom of the system trying to compensate and failing. The usual culprit is a wireless LAN or another 2.4GHz phone system. This can be really irritating if you are trying to use the phone for important calls and can't control the source(s) of the interference. I discovered the cause of the clicking noise quickly when I accidentally fired up a WLAN gateway a foot from the base station and the phone became VERY noisy. Later I changed the preferred channels and the location of the gateway and the systems cohabitated nicely.

Still, at our last house we experienced a lot of uncontrollable interference from many nearby neighbors; our current place is further out in the country and doesn't suffer from the problem, so the phone is less noisy here.

Overall, I have found this to be an excellent system with the noisy frequency-hopping to be the only drawback. From the other comments here I have concerns about its long term reliability, but so far, so good.

I run my business from my home as does my wife. We have two teenagers and 4 kids total. I originally bought the 8800 series because I do lots of conference calls and needed a digital duplex speakerphone. This phone offers so much more however. One feature that we didn't know existed but have used constantly since we purchased is the voice announce for caller ID. I can be in the kitchen and the phone rings and then my voice comes on and annouces "The Smiths" from the base station. We answer that one. Or "Caller ID Unknown". Probably a salesman, no need to get up from dinner for that one. It has caller ID based mailbox routing, call barring (to prevent the phone from ringing at all if someone calls who has deliberately blocked their caller ID from being seen), individual phone intercom, 'all house' intercom, and the room monitor with call forwarding works great as well. There are too many features here to learn in one sitting. We have had two problems. Every once in a while the headset on the cordless has a clicking in the background which I believe to be related with some other 2.4 GHZ appliance interference. If you could manually overide the channel selection, I think that would not occur. The other problem has been just finding two more cordless phones. These are hard to find. I would highly recommend this phone.

I had read the mixed reviews on the 8800. Some people love the ease of use and some people spent weeks going back and forth with Siemens customer support. I bought the 8825 which is bundled with an 8800. I have spent weeks going back and forth with Siemens customer support. I have to reset the phone in its cradle through out the day because it beeps over and over - like a crying infant. Sometimes the battery hasn't charged while it has been sitting in the charger. I have learned to pay attention how it is placed in the charger. This makes little difference.

I contacted customer support and they had me clean the contacts, let the phone power down overnight, power up the next day. Back to the crying infant.

Having called again and again they have sent me a box so I can return the phone to them in hopes of having it replaced.

I offered to provide them with my credit card number so hey can advance me a phone to use until they receive my phone. This was not an option. I would have a phone back within an indefinite amount of time. The customer service rep has told me he has seen it take over a month for this model phone to be exchanged. The 8800 / 8825 is currently on backorder. My experience up to this point with Siemens has been less than convincing.

It's really a shame. I love Siemens designs, features, etc... but the quality of their products are horrible. They start off working great, but in time voice quality degrades horribly.

Siemens customer support is beyond worthless. They give canned answers and refuse help. Even when they admit they sold faulty product they don't care. The process for warranty assistance is a pain. And when the product is out of warranty you are totally out of luck. They do not provide repairs, help in locating a repair center, or supply any repair parts. To quote their customer service supervisor "Our warranty is for one year. We expect our products to last one year. After that we cannot assist you." (I asked to talk to a manager but the supervisor refused the request.)

So the bottom line is if you don't mind replacing your phone every year, try a Siemens. Otherwise try a Panasonic, V-Tech, Sony, etc...

DO NOT BUY SIEMENS!! THEIR EQUIPMENT IS HIGHLY UNRELIABLE AND THEY DO NOT STAND BUY IT!!!

In 2002 we purchased a Siemens phone system, a Gigaset 8825, consisting of a main anchor phone and five remote phones for our house. We bought it at Office Depot; the salesman there told us that Siemens did not have a good reputation but that they had improved. The system cost around $700. Then, a little over a year later we noticed that we couldn't pick up incoming phone calls. The phones would ring intermittently, but when we picked them up, the line was dead. We called Siemens, and they told us to restore the system defaults and reboot the system, which we did and have a neighbor call us (their support team would not make any test calls for us!). The main telephone, which is a corded phone, could not detect an incoming call. This didn't work, so we called back, and they told us that our system was no good and no longer any concern of theirs since it was out of warranty. When we inquired about repair, they told us they don't do repairs on out of warranty equipment. In other words, the system was junk. Barely two years old and junk with no options at all. Seven hundred dollars down the drain.

How a phone making company can be in business and not even build a corded phone that can accept live calls from an incoming line is hard to understand.

We find it remarkable that there isn't some sort of legal recourse for this kind.(...)