People who don't get the phrase warranty EXCHANGE

[draggar]

I thought it was simple, you have a defective unit that we can exchange, do you give us your old phone, we give you a replacement.

Is that so hard?

Apparently it is.

Sometimes we have to order a phone (such a nusiance especially when it's something as trivial as 'the camera is a little off', you'd think you were asking them to rip off their right arm?). We call them that their phone is in and tell them to bring in the old phone.

Sure enough, 2-5 times a week they don't have the old phone (worse is when they bring it in smashed or dripping, by then we inform them that we can't exchange the phone). They threw it out. They lost it. They sold it on eBay. They gave it to someone else (funny since it doesn't work). Usually when we tell them that we need the old phone to EXCHANGE it, they storm out cursing and are back within a minute with the phone. Can you say scam?

[bigjimaz]

Out of the 2 - 5 times a week this happens, how many of the phones are tested to be in perfect working order I wonder?

[TWOLF]

We get this in call centers to get a exchange under warranty and think that since their baby broke the phone while sleeping with it, if we could give them a new phone. Or my favorite is the son who lost the phone the day after getting it and they feel we should give them a brand new phone free of charge. But they would rather have camera phone this time. Alot of these people think that the phones really aren't as much as we claim they are and one person stated it only costs 15 bucks to make the phone, you guys are just marking it up to make a profit. the company my phone service is with you can mail back the phone and get a replacement. the one thing that I hear from people who do this is, well I sent the phone back I don't know why it hasn't gotten to them yet. But now they charged me x ammount of dollars for this phone. They won't even take off the charge. And now they want proof I sent it back. Some are honest some aren't, just have to take the good with the bad. Wonder if anyone is going to blame a cat next for eating their phone.

[Kara]

Warranty Exchanges are fun! (/sarcasm)

Customers don't want the same device. Well, you bought (this device), it's not working, the manufacturer guarantees it to be free of defect for 1 year, so why should you not expect to receive the same device? "I hate this phone /I read online this phone is junk / All my friends with this phone have problems with it / etc." This really just boils down to the fact that you think that if you throw a big enough tantrum that I'll give you anything you want free.

ME: "We can only exchange for the same device. If you are wanting to get another device, we can look at the upgrade option and see what discount we can get on another device."
SC: I want the Blackberry (we only have 3 types of high-end data devices. If I name the other 2, I'll give myself away since they are only offered by my company, but they usually want those, too). And I'm not going to pay for it! You're going to switch it out.

Sure, because bare-bones, basic little featureless phone = as good as device that does absolutely everything, even folding your socks.

Another fun Warranty argument is shipping. The manufacturer covers the replacement and the labor for fixing whatever was wrong with the phone you sent back. They do not cover us shipping you the phone, nor should they be expected to. This is a tough fight for long-time customers, since we used to offer free delivery through US Mail, now we use UPS. Let's face it, we are a company, not a charity. Last year, we had something like 70,000 exchanges that came back with "No Trouble Found." Basic shipping is $9.95. That's $696,500 in shipping costs. We don't pocket this, it all goes to pay our UPS bill. Since these were just the exchanges that didn't even need to be filed, that's a lot of money to flush down the toilet, and we got tired of being the ones doing it.

Then there are the geniuses who realize that I can't see the shattered screen or cracked casing, or that the reason the screen doesn't light up when they open the flip is because the top half of the phone has parted ways with the bottom half. They think if they tell me there's no damage when I ask, they've somehow pulled a fast one and we won't charge them the out of warranty fee when we get it back, even though we disclose that if we find any damage at all they will be charged for it. Again, customers are getting off easy with this one. An out of warranty fee is $100, no matter what phone it is. Even the most basic phone costs usually $130 (that's our cost to get another one from the manufacturer since we can't fix one that's damaged). So we still lose money on the deal, yet they'll call back and whine that it was never damaged and it's not fair.

[Kara]

Wonder if anyone is going to blame a cat next for eating their phone.

Back when I first started, we used to allow customers to return damaged phones for the $100 fee. I had customers whose phones wound up in the litter box, or the backyard for dog owners. Then we get back to the whole, company tired of losing money deal from the post above, and we stopped doing this.

So this guy called me back when we would do this and says he needs a new phone.

ME: What's the problem you're having with your phone?
SC: It's, uh... kind of broken.
ME: What's the extent of the damage?
SC: I kinda ran it over with my lawnmower.
ME ( ): Hold on a second.
I was still pretty green at this stage so I consulted my sup.
ME: This guy ran over his phone with the lawnmower. Should we still replace it?
SUP: Yeah, go ahead. But let him know about the fee.
ME: *explains this to customer*
SC: So, uh, how am I supposed to send this back. Cause I don't know if I have all of it.
ME: Uh...
Back to sup.
SUP: Just tell him to round up as many pieces as he can find and put them in the box to send it back.

And this is the golden example of why we stopped doing it.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Back when I first started, we used to allow customers to return damaged phones for the $100 fee. I had customers whose phones wound up in the litter box, or the backyard for dog owners. Then we get back to the whole, company tired of losing money deal from the post above, and we stopped doing this.

So this guy called me back when we would do this and says he needs a new phone.

ME: What's the problem you're having with your phone?
SC: It's, uh... kind of broken.
ME: What's the extent of the damage?
SC: I kinda ran it over with my lawnmower.
ME ( ): Hold on a second.
I was still pretty green at this stage so I consulted my sup.
ME: This guy ran over his phone with the lawnmower. Should we still replace it?
SUP: Yeah, go ahead. But let him know about the fee.
ME: *explains this to customer*
SC: So, uh, how am I supposed to send this back. Cause I don't know if I have all of it.
ME: Uh...
Back to sup.
SUP: Just tell him to round up as many pieces as he can find and put them in the box to send it back.

And this is the golden example of why we stopped doing it.

OMG . . . was this guy calling from the High Point, NC area say about two years ago? I swear that's sounding like one of the vendors I worked with.

Except he took his phone (and it was his WORK phone) back to the office in a Ziploc baggie - in pieces - to see about getting a new one after he ran over it w/his riding mower.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall . . .