Here’s an example of a great EECB that worked: even though Joe’s generator was out of warranty and the first two levels of customer service refused to help him, he was able to convince the company’s execs to make good on a defective starter.
replacements
AppleCare Is An Extended Warranty Worth Buying
By 8.11.09
I asked Apple this morning to replace my broken laptop now that they’ve reintroduced the anti-glare option on their 15″ MacBook Pros. Apple agreed, and soon a new laptop will leave China destined for my apartment. This isn’t the first laptop Apple sent me this month. It’s the second. Here’s why…
Logitech Replaces Mouse Under Warranty When Tweeted At
By 8.5.09
Everyone is tired of hearing about Twitter. It’s not the newest and shiniest communications tool anymore, and stories about its effectiveness in customer service aren’t novel anymore. Reader Ryan is tired of hearing about Twitter, but he shared a story with Consumerist about how Logitech only replaced his mouse under warranty after he tweeted at them.
Skullcandy Lifetime Warranty Means You'll Wait Your Lifetime For A Replacement
By 7.31.09
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.”
Sunbeam Shows How To Do Customer Service Right
By 7.31.09
Too often, it seems that long-running companies shave away at customer service in an attempt to remain profitable. Sunbeam, however, proves that there are still companies out there who take pride in their products, and who make considerable effort to keep the customers they have.
V-Moda Replaces Headphones After Wear Leads To Static
By 7.24.09
Xavier bought a pair of nice quality headphones from V-Moda, and liked them so much that he carried them along everywhere he went. When he started having problems with the device, he inquired about repairing the earbuds, but V-Moda had a better idea.
Chantal Cookware Keeps Your Tea Kettle Whistling
By 7.19.09
After two years, the whistle on Ruby’s Chantal Cookware Livestrong teakettle finally gave up its zest for life. Chantal Cookware’s cleaning recommendations couldn’t revive the ailing whistle, so Ruby resigned herself to buying a whole new kettle. Before pouring another $60 down the drain, she emailed Chantal Cookware to ask if it was at all possible to replace just the whistle…
Trek Bikes Demonstrates How To Handle The Occasional Bad Product
By 7.17.09
Tony had a lot of problems with the build quality of his new bicycle, so he finally wrote to Trek Bikes and told them all the things going wrong with it. Unlike Comfort Select, which denies manufacturing problems even as it replaces broken units with a less defective version (that you pay for), Trek contacted Tony and treated him like they actually wanted his repeat business.
Sears Customer Service Runaround Results In New Sander
By 7.13.09
Can we tag a story “above and beyond” if the customer service cycle is so screwed up that it eventually works out in the customer’s favor? When jpodbuild tried to get his Craftsman sander repaired or replaced, he couldn’t get anyone on the phone who could actually help him—eventually he would end up back at the first number he’d called. He decided to show up in person and let the store manager handle the phone calls. New sander!
Adobe: We Can't Activate Legacy Software, So Here's A Free Copy Of Dreamweaver
By 7.5.09
After an iBook-death forced her to migrate to another computer, Lisa found that she couldn’t activate her legally-purchased copy of Macromedia StudioMX 2004. Adobe insisted that the software was too old to be reactivated. Too old? It’s software! It took several calls and emails before Lisa found an employee who was able to help, not by activating her old software, but by sending her a free new copy of Dreamweaver CS4.
Geek Squad: Sorry We Accidentally Hosed Your Motherboard. Here's A Vastly Inferior Replacement
By 7.4.09
Geek Squad tried to repair a broken fan in Brian’s Sony laptop, but somehow managed to instead break the laptop’s motherboard, processor, and much of the internal cabling. Though Geek Squad replaced all the damaged parts, Brian soon realized that the laptop’s new processor was slower and cheaper than the original model…
Gourmet Settings Dishes Out Excellent Customer Service
By 6.21.09
Jeanpaul wanted to buy several replacement spoons for his Gourmet Settings flatware set, but the company didn’t seem to sell the pieces individually. After fruitlessly searching both the company’s site and eBay, Jeanpaul wrote in asking if there was any way to replace just his missing spoons. Rather than turn him away spoonless, Gourmet Settings asked for Jeanpaul’s address and then offered to send the replacement spoons free of charge.
US Cellular Offering Free Battery Replacements To Customers
By 5.15.09
If you bought your cellphone from US Cellular in the past 18 months, as of this week you can get your phone’s battery replaced for free. We’ve contacted US Cellular to ask them to answer a couple of questions, namely whether the replacement battery is brand new and whether a customer can swap more than once. If they get back to us, we’ll post an update. In the meantime, if you’re a customer of theirs and your phone’s battery is dying, just stop by any US Cellular store to make the exchange.
TiVo Warranty Charges $49 To Replace Defective Units After 90 Days
By 4.29.09
Sam emailed us with a complaint about TiVo: he says the customer service rep wants to charge him $50 to repair a defective HDMI port on his 5-month-old TiVo HD DVR. Sam can’t understand why he’d have to pay an additional, uncategorized fee when his box is still under warranty. We checked out the warranty details and called TiVo, and it looks like it’s a flat fee (the TiVo rep we spoke with said it was $49) that covers the cost of replacing the unit entirely—in other words, TiVo isn’t going to repair just the port and send it back to you. Note that this only covers boxes outside the first 90 days. If you’re still in the first 90 day window, replacement is free.
Following Garmin's Replacement Instructions Could Cost You $99
By 4.12.09
Garmin wants to bill reader Hal $99 for a new SD card after failing to tell him to remove his old card before returning his dead-on-arrival StreetPilot C510. The SD card holds the unit’s maps, and without one, the GPS unit is useless.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Is Unsurprisingly Useless And Full Of Lies
By 4.11.09
Enterprise Rent-A-Car failed reader Jimmy in every possible way, which is quite the accomplishment since he only wanted a full size car to drive around his visiting friends. GEICO, Jimmy’s insurance company, set him up with Enterprise after he lost a head-on collision with a deer. Enterprise managed to muck up nearly every step of the rental process, promising to deliver cars they didn’t have, delivering the wrong class of car, and upselling unnecessary insurance that they wrongly said GEICO would cover. Jimmy’s never going to use Enterprise again, and inside, you’ll see why…
Best Buy Might Replace Your Lemon Of A Laptop If It Breaks A Sixth Time. Probably Not.
By 3.28.09
Please don’t pull the cord on Howard’s laptop or it will die. Best Buy‘s Geek Squad has failed five times to coax his laptop’s ailing battery into holding a charge, replacing both the battery and the hard drive, and shipping Howard the same incorrect replacement battery three times. Howard now wants Best Buy to honor their lemon policy by giving him a new laptop, but it seems like every Geek Squad agent has a different copy of the replacement policy, and none of them apply to Howard. It’s almost like he’s asking for a price match! Let’s read his story, inside…
Sears Clarifies Craftsman Tools Warranty
By 3.25.09
Earlier this month, we noted how a reader was having trouble getting Sears to properly honor the lifetime warranty on his Craftsman tools. Now David Figler, a vice president of the company, has responded and said, “We stand behind the warranty—complete satisfaction—period.” Below is his email, and a portion of the memo he sent to Sears stores on the matter.
