Skullcandy Lifetime Warranty Means You'll Wait Your Lifetime For A Replacement
There is a guy at Skullcandy named Joe, and he is in charge of their warranty fulfillment program. He is overworked. Why, just on this one warranty replacement story, he's had to deal with the same customer over and over and over, and the customer still hasn't gotten a replacement earbud set for the one that broke last November. Wentao writes, "I am also moving out of the country in 10 days, so I will probably never see the headphones I paid for ever again."
Here's Wentao's story.
I purchased a set of Skullcandy iPhone earbuds on Amazon last September. It was not cheap at $69.95 before tax. In late October to early November (less than two months after purchase), one earphone was suddenly dead. I checked Skullcandy's website, and their "lifetime warranty" looked pretty cool. So I submitted a claim online, and received an email on November 13, giving me an RMA number and asking me to send back the broken earbuds.
I sent it back. On December 3, they sent me an email confirming they had received it. The email also said: "We have authorized it to be replaced under our lifetime warranty. We will notify our warehouse to ship your replacement. This process takes about 1-2 weeks depending upon availability of product. You will receive another email from FedEx when it ships with a tracking number."
So I waited. In the mean time, I moved to a different address in the same city. Since the post office would forward my mail so I didn't worry about it. When I still hadn't received the replacement by January 15, 2009, I sent an email to their customer service email address, telling them I hadn't received my replacement six weeks after their last confirmation email. I also told them my new shipping address.
On January 24, they emailed me back: "Your RMA request #xxxxx has successfully been processed. Please allow several days for the item to ship."
Another month passed and nothing arrived. On February 24, I sent another email to customer service: "Will I ever get my replacement? It's been over three months since I sent the headphone back, and it's been over one month since I received the SECOND RMA confirmation."
Three days later (February 27), I received an email from someone with a real name (Joe): "I will look into this.Please give us a
week to get in contact with the warehouse and see what happened." At this point I was a little relieved. I thanked Joe and reminded him my shipping address had changed.But dear Joe didn't write back in a week. Or a month. On March 26, I emailed Joe again: "Another month has passed. Still no replacement or any update. Please help."
On April 1, Joe wrote back: "I have emailed the warehouse. For the longest time we have been out of the iphone fmj's they are just barely coming back into stock. We will get you your headphones as soon as we can. Sorry about the delay"
I was annoyed by the "not in stock" explanation. I wrote a harsher email on April 13: "Thanks for the information. However, I want to point out that I paid for the headphone seven months ago, and was in possession of the product for only two months. Do you think this is acceptable whatever your stocking situation is? It is in stock on Amazon.com as of today, and your warehouse was not able to ship me a replacement five months after the original RMA was issued. This is clearly a priority issue. I am very disappointed."
Maybe because of my angry email, Joe started ignoring me. So on May 21, I wrote again: "I just want to let you know that I am still waiting. Sorry for bothering you again, but please let me know if there is a better channel than writing to you."
No response again. Big surprise!
Then it was June. iPhone OS 3.0 arrived. Now I could use stereo headsets. I didn't really want that wired Skullcandy headphone any more. But I did pay $70 for it. I went to their website again, and found a customer service number. I called. There was no pre-recorded message. No extension. No waiting. An actual person picked up, and his name was Joe! I told him about the situation. He asked which model it was. I said the chrome iPhone model. He said the chrome color was not in stock. I said I didn't care about the color. Any color was fine. He sent the request to the warehouse.
After about a week, I received a package from Skullcandy. I opened it and it was the wrong model. Apparently when I said "iPhone" on the phone, Joe thought it was "icon". But the icon headset was less than half the price of my original iPhone FMJ model. Besides, I submitted the warranty claim several times, and they clearly had the record. Joe shouldn't have asked me which model it was in the first place.
I wanted to give up already, but didn't feel it was right. In late June, I went to their website again, and found another way to reach customer service—live chat. I started up the chat window, and the person on the other end? Joe!!! Now I was convinced that he was probably the only person in this company who handled warranty. I told him I was shipped the wrong model. He said he would resend the correct model, and it would arrive in a week. Also, the "icon" model that was mistakenly shipped to me would be mine for free.
At the time of this writing (July 30), I still haven't received my replacement Joe last promised a month ago. I am sick of it and don't want to contact them ever again. I am also moving out of the country in 10 days, so I will probably never see the headphones I paid for ever again.
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Maybe joe is just a name that everyone gets? Maybe the company doesnt want to give out the real names (or let the employees get creative with fake names) to the customer to make it hard on them?
I was going to buy a pair of Skullcandy's but opted for the Bose in-ear instead. This story makes me more sure of my decision. Sorry to hear about your string of bad luck with a CSR Wentao. I was under the impression that Skullcandy had really good Customer Service. Maybe this was just a rare case?
I have had a very similar experience with Skullcandy. I bought a pair of Skullcandy earbuds (fortunately they were the significantly cheaper pair). After a few months one of the earbuds went dead. I saw that they had a lifetime warranty and went through the exact same process. I got the RMA number, mailed the Skullcandy headphones back to never be heard from or seen again. Since the headphones were a lot cheaper and since they never responded, I forgot about the entire situation until about 6 months after the fact. They were cheap, so I never followed up on it...but I will never buy from Skullcandy again. Their headphones suck and their customer service is awful.
D'oh! I just sent in my RMA'd Skull Candy headphones last week after they broke, coincidentally enough, about two months after purchasing them.
:: crosses fingers ::
My husband and I both have skullcandy's and our daughter lost one of the gels for his. He tried to write the company to get replacement gels and they told him to wait until they started selling them seperately (several months) in packs of 9. Come on Skullcandy? Can't give up on little ear gel for a formerly satisfied customer?
@starzshine: That's a sad story. The easy and cheap availability of extra gels has been one of the reasons I love my Skullcandy 'phones.
For $70 you can get much better earbuds than Skull Candy from a company with good customer service. Skull Candy are just like BOSE, waaaay overpriced for their sound and build quality.
@KTK1990: A clever way to avoid consumer accountability, in my opinion. Bilk people out of their cash with overpriced headphones, then frustrate them to the point of defeat with their piss-poor customer service when said headphones bite the dust.
This story is a little shocking to me, as I've had great experiences with Skullcandy's headphones and customer service. (So shocked, in fact, that I came out of my shell and registered for an account so I could comment.)
I bought a pair of silver Lowriders because they looked cool and were on sale at my local FYE and was really happy with the quality. (I'd had good experiences with the durability of their Icons before this.) However, after something like three weeks of use part of the frame snapped apart. I was really disappointed, but I submitted a claim to their warranty program and had a replacement in about... two weeks, I want to say? No fuss. I took forever getting to the post office to mail them the headphone cord for processing, but they were entirely prompt on their end.
I think my old Lowriders just suffered from a manufacturing flaw, because my new ones fit a lot more comfortably and have been serving me durably for the last month and a half.
I'm really sorry to hear OP is having such a hard time of it, but I still think Skullcandy's a great company who makes awesome headphones for affordable prices.
They have run the OP around a lot. (I don't have an iPod--do they only take a certain kind of headphones?) Maybe offering another pair or store credit would have been prudent a long time ago, but.
...still, it makes me sad to see people swearing off Skullcandy headphones because of this. Am I just really lucky in my experiences with the company?
@zegolf: Hmmmmmmm...should I buy overpriced crappy Brand A, or overpriced crappy Brand B? I have no idea why anyoune would buy a Skull Candy or Bose product.
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I bought a pair of Skullcandy earbuds once and was horribly disappointed in them. First off, the sound quality was abysmal. They sounded tinny and flat. There was no richness to them and they had very little range. Although they sounded horrible, I overlooked the fact because they were cheap. Then, after about two weeks, one of the earbuds stopped working/worked intermittently. Before I had had them three weeks, they were dead. Worst overall quality earbuds I have ever used. I didn't even bother with their warranty, and it looks like I saved myself a headache by doing so.
You should look at V-Moda. I hear their customer support is great.
This is probably a moot point since they never sent it anyway. But if they were going to send it via fedex, why would you think the post office would forward it?
As far as I'm aware, the post office doesn't forward packages or anything that looks like possible junk mail.
@Shadowman615: Good point about the fedex.
@Powerlurker: I own both, usually listen to my Shure SE530's. The Ety's have excellent highs and mids, but just not enought bass for my tastes.
Have you considered getting in touch with Amazon? Might be a bit late now, but they usually strike me as fairly responsive when it comes to problems with their suppliers, especially so soon after purchase.
Why do you people keep buying these expensive earbuds?
$70, for that price I can buy more music instead of buying something new to listen to the music. aren't the earbuds that come with the iPods and iPhones ok enough?
I'm with Apple Alex. I don't get why earbuds have to be so expensive to be "cool". I've had a $20 pair of Pioneer headphones that have lasted me 3 years. The sound isn't mind numbingly amazing but they're earbuds for goodness sake! I use them when I'm jogging on the treadmill or on a flight.
And I don't worry about keeping the package to return them to the maker for a replacement. If they do crap out on me, I'll just get another $20 pair.
@katstermonster: I really hope they match your shoes. It would otherwise, be a huge fashion faux pas. People you don't know would look down upon you as they pass you in public.
@shepd: I love seeing suckers on the train listening to their Bose. I chuckle to myself and go back to enjoying my Shures. Listening to my rip of the DCC gold Highway 61 Revisited through them is bliss. Dylan never sounded so good.
@BenderRodriguez: I hope you aren't seriously laughing at someone who paid 60 bucks for head phones while discussing your own 300 dollar head phones? It would be very sad if you are.
Buy these: [www.amazon.com]
10 bucks, sound great, and are very comfortable. Your Sures cost exactly the same as these to make.
@Corporate_guy: The difference is mine sound like $300 earphones. Bose sound like $10 bargain bin 'phones.
You're an expert on how much things cost to make??
If you can't hear the difference between cheap and quality earphones, then by all means save your money.
@BenderRodriguez: Also, manufacturing cost is only one element involved in calculating retail price. I would think someone named Corporate Guy would know a little about R & D.
That's research and development, in case you didn't know that either.
@Corporate_guy: Generic earbuds cost as much as high-end IEMs to manufacture? Really?
[citation needed]
Probably a little late now, but if you purchased them with a credit card, try to get a charge back/refund through them. Just a thought.
They really aren't, actually. After you've tried some good ones, you relly don't want to go back.
@xavimon27: Yeah, the CSRs get a lot of practice over there.
Check out the customer images of the V-Moda Vibes falling apart:
[www.amazon.com]
And their Sport series get more ringing endorsements, while averaging 1 and a half stars:
[www.amazon.com]
Of the buds I've tried, Sennheiser has the beast value and production quality.
ha! My husband has a set of headphones with them that just snapped in half when he went to put them on his (not ridiculously wide) head. hopefully we can get them replaced...
@AppleAlex: Headphones that come with any electronics are always crappy.
Clearly you've never known the pure joy of a good pair of headphones.
Am I the only Koss Portapro person? Not in-ear, I know. I've broken them twice, though, completely my fault (which I admitted to Koss), and they replaced them both times, no questions asked.
Not bad for a very comfy, good-souding $30 pair of 'phones. So what if they're ugly?
I also bought a pair of Skullcandy earbuds (Ink'd) from Amazon, in May. When I received them, I noticed that part of the rubber was pulled away, exposing the internal wire. I asked a representative online what I should do and was told to submit a warranty replacement request. I received my RMA number and sent the plug to them within a few days (they only want the jack portion, not the whole earbuds). I purchased delivery confirmation, so I confirmed that they received the return a couple of days later.
That was two months ago, and I haven't received a word about the replacement. The email states to please allow 4 weeks for processing. I have waited double that time, so now I'm going to have to try contacting them again and seeing what other avenues I can use to get my never-used defective buds replaced.
If you had bought them from a skate or snowboard shop you could have returned them there. I work at a snowboard shop and we just swap out the defective pair for a brand new pair and then ship off the defective ones to our intercompany warranites department.
Shure will have my business forever. Exact same issue as the OP - one earbud died on me. I spoke to support manager and he said to mail them in - i did not have a receipt still as it was about 8 months later.
Within a month i received TWO brand new pairs of the same earphones back....
Great company that stands behind their product.
This is all really sad to read. I own 2 skullcandy headphones, the higher end models, and i have had nothing but excellent customer service with them. Every time i send my headphones in for a replacement i am met with excellent turnaround time. I haven't had to buy headphones for two years due to the warranty. Shame however that unlike leatherman, one can't take their defective headphones into an authorized retailer and get them replaced immediately.
I must be the only person to have ever had good customer service from SkullCandy.
I broke my dj headphones (well... really... my cats decided to nom nom nom on the cord and chewed through it in about 16 spots...) and I requested an RMA, sent them back, and within 3 weeks had a new set, plus they sent me an extra set of ear pads in a different color.
I've bought about 8 pairs of headphones for myself and my friends from them, and they all work great. (granted... none of them have been earbuds, but still.)
I ran into a similar problem. I had a pair of SkullCandy SkullKrushers that I spent around $75 on. One day they stopped working and customer service insisted it was because I used cheap batteries.
I spent a few weeks but gave up and decided to never buy into their "lifetime" warranty.
For those that think this is isolated, I have 2 coworkers that bought similar expensive headphones, had the same problem and got the same treatment from SkullCandy. However, one of my friends got his $20 SkullCandy ear buds replaced right away.
Wait...people pay $300 for earbuds? And I thought Zune/iPod players were way overpriced.
@BenderRodriguez: Yeah, his first mistake was buying them for that price. While I have a set of their FMJ earbuds I sure as hell didn't pay $70 for them. I managed to get them on sale for $35, and have been pleased with the price/quality ratio. While I would have loved to have picked up a set of Shure earbuds I can't exactly afford to do that.
Thats a shame. Ive claimed on Skullcandy warranty before. I found the rep to be genuinely nice over email. Just had me go to the store to get a replacement. The only hiccup was they ran out of stock so I had to wait for a replacement pair to vaporate from one of their other stores a few towns over. But to their credit, I got the fixed reasonably quick without fuss.
When dealing with multiple adressing issues - tat may be the kids problem here
Hmm. Guess whose product I'm never buying?
It only takes one shitty review to show me that there are customers the company just doesn't care about. Every customer service department screws up now and then, but this is really beyond a screwup. The company doesn't care, ergo, I will never, ever, buy their products.
@xavimon27: The customer support is great but the build quality is crap. My first pair of $100 v-moda headphones died after 6 weeks. They immediately sent out a replacement and a label to return the defectives. The replacements broke in 2 DAYS. They sent out another pair of replacements, which are significantly quieter on the right side than the left. I have given up, I bought a pair of sennheisers for $65 and am 100% satisfied. Until V-Moda gets their QC under control, I won't touch them.
@Kryndis: This is a very good suggestion. I have had Amazon step in to help me return a defective product without having to go through the manufacturer. They probably have enough sway with Skullcandy to get an exchange going. Just ask politely.
This is really disappointing, especially because I LOVE their headphones. Really comfy and good quality, for the price. And they match my iPod. Which is obviously the most important quality.