Customer service/after sales

Submitted: Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 14:45

ThreadID: 38815 Views:2597 Replies:8 FollowUps:7

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Dave Thomson

Hi All,
bought an MP3 Player complete with ear phones from Strathfield electronics {Rockingham,Perth} 1 gig for $69.00 bargain I thought , 3 days playing later the earphone fell apart, went to Strathfield and guess what, because its "broken" they wont replace it , I tried to explain I did'nt actually break it , it literally fell apart, but its only covered if it doesnt work, rang head office and still no joy, cant believe they would rather lose a customer than put it right all for the sake of about $10.00
is it me ???
regards,
Dave

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Reply By: Sign-man - Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 15:08

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 15:08

I'm still playing vinyl records on a turntable!! There was a feature last week that the iPod type things are the most unreliable devices made- and I think the earpieces was the main concern

AnswerID: 200861

Follow Up By: Member - Blue (VIC) - Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 15:22

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 15:22

It's not iPod type things, it is the market leading Apple iPod itself which is a POS... Although to be fair, it's not the equipment, it's the hoops Apple make you jump through to get customer service on top of the majorly over inflated price of the item in question and the extremely restrictive way in which you must load them...

FollowupID: 460020

Reply By: joc45 - Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 15:12

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 15:12

Ring consumer affairs. The retailer can't just make their own rules on what constitutes a failure for warranty purposes. There are statutary rules.
Gerry

AnswerID: 200867

Reply By: derraux - Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 16:38

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 16:38

Dave
Did you explain to them if it was not broken you would not have taken it back.
Also unless you can successfully put it in your ear and comfortably listen to it it Does not do what it is supposed to so according to consmer affairs if goods are faulty,wrongly described, different to a sample shown to you or don't do what the are supposed to you are eligable for a exchange or refund.
From what you have explained it fits into a couple of those categories i would get myself a copy of the ministry of fair trading Refund policy and take it with you i could understand them being a bit aprehensive if the product was months old but three days is a faulty product in my view.
Good Luck dont give up on them.
Derraux

AnswerID: 200885

Reply By: Member - Stephen M (NSW) - Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 21:00

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 21:00

I would not step a foot into strathfield car radios, they are the biggest bunch of wankers I have ever dealt with. Had my own problems with them on two occasions and swore I would have nothing to do with them and never have since. Up them for the rent and do as mentioned above and ring department of fair trading, who are they to tell you that they cant be replaced when they have fallen apart in your hand and still in the warranty period. Whack a piece of the ear piece in your ear walk in there and tell them it's lodged in your ear canal and your going to sue there arse. Bunch of wankers. No help to you I know but just my whinge for the day. Regards Steve M

AnswerID: 200948

Follow Up By: Sarg - Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 22:17

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 22:17

"I would not step a foot into strathfield car radios, they are the biggest bunch of wankers I have ever dealt with"
My sentiments exactly. They must be all the same nationwide!

FollowupID: 460126

Follow Up By: Kev M - Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 06:34

Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 06:34

They must train their staff at ARB

FollowupID: 460151

Follow Up By: Member - Scott M (NSW) - Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 18:05

Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 18:05

Echoes my sentiment exactly. Twice I gave them clear instructions as to where the speakers were to be mounted, both times it came back incorrect.

Thankfully, the last time the store manager was standing next to me when I had explained it to the fitter, so he wasn't in a position to dispute, and reasonably gracefully agreed to change and fix up the damage.

Wouldn't go there again.

FollowupID: 460267

Follow Up By: Member - Scott M (NSW) - Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 18:08

Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 18:08

and they had to remove an old radio, but managed to cut and remove the power leads to my UHF radio - I mean WTF??? and how do you do that? - they denied it was them, however I dug my toes in and made them fix it.

FollowupID: 460269

Reply By: navaraman - Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 23:00

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006 at 23:00

I've no affilliation with Strathfield but I've received great service from them twice from the Reynella SA branch. Free install on my CD player in the Patrol, done within 30 minutes of buying it, and speedy service on a mobile phone warranty claim.

I also work in warranty service and I've seen lots of supposed warranty claims on products that have been damaged/abused/installed incorrectly, which the customer usually denies happened. However for the cost of a set of earphones the store could have handled this a lot better.

AnswerID: 200961

Follow Up By: Member - Stephen M (NSW) - Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 06:50

Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 06:50

Hi there Navaraman, no offence to you but did you watch them solder the wires together or just strip and tie together with a bit of insulation tape ?? this was the type of workmanship I had on my vehicle, and whats the bet there is no rear support strap on the back of the unit to stop it jumping around in its cradle. You may have been lucky and actually had a person give a sh@t about there quality of work but must be the only store in Australia that does. Been over any rutted roads lately ??? Yes I agree with you in regards to warranty issues as I was in the same field of work but fair dinkum what would the headphones really be worth $2.00 made in china. I would have thrown him another pair and said he ya go buddy no problems but no they try and prove they have power so now they pay the price of it been plastered on here and once again show what they are really like, that is unless you drive a doof doof machine and it sits an inch off the ground and its a honda civic and they can just see over the windscreens then you would probably get treated like royalty but still get shi@@y workmanship just cant see it behind the dash. Still a bunch or wankers.Regards Steve M

FollowupID: 460153

Reply By: donks1 - Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 07:45

Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 07:45

dodgy strathfield

in my younger years i bought a big stereo from these guys and had them install

got home only to find every connection was just a " twist and tape job "

after reinstalling it all myself properly, the whole system was stolen about a month later..from outside my house.. once the insurance cheque came in, i went back to s.c.r. to replace it... i was quite surprised to find my complete system in their " 2nd hand bin "

they had a big sale on at the time and i emptied the store..

i've been banned since, not that i'de go back anyway

AnswerID: 200976

Reply By: Member - Red60 - Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 08:39

Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 08:39

I have had bad experiences at Strathfield too. Had a thumbdrive from them that stopped working. They refused to replace because "I had obviously abused it..."!! Sure - I stuck it into the PC and the USB bit came away when I disconnected it.

You gotta wonder about some companies approach to customer service. I took a DVD player back to Woolies last week. I know, but it was cheap. Anyway, it had stopped reading disks - I had no receipt, no box, but I did have the manual and remote and a vague idea I'd bought it around July. The person on the service desk didn't even bat an eyelid - looked up the shelf price and gave me my money back (all of it) without any hassles at all. That's what I call customer service. If only Woolies sold car parts ... :-)

AnswerID: 200981

Reply By: Dave Thomson - Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 14:49

Thursday, Oct 26, 2006 at 14:49

Onya Steve and everyone else who answered, yes thats the whole reason I started the thread, to let everyone know what a crap company they must be if they'd pull a stroke like that, even when I rang head office and said would you be prepared to lose a customer for the sake of a few bucks, I still got nowhere, I'll now send them an email and let them know that it's been posted here and remind them they wont see my custom again,
thanks again one and all,
Dave

AnswerID: 201050