What's the deal with the 360 headset dongles?

[Lew Zealand]

I've tried both dongles that came in the box on my drums and my guitars and the headset never works. I can't hear or say anything. Is there some trick to getting these things to work or what?

[sp00ge]

Did you push them in the whole way until they click? I had an issue with them at first two. I thought they were connected firmly, but they didn't work. I tried pushing them a little harder and then they clicked. They've been working fine ever since.

[davidshek]

The deal with them is that they're pretty low quality. Of the 4 I've gotten, only 1 works reliably 100% of the time. 1 works sometimes, if I get it to JUST the right spot...1 seems like it will work, but then just generates horrible horrible static over the voice chat, and the 4th just doesn't work at all. :)