Retail stores not dealing with warranty returns..

[BIGSHOW]

This has been making me quite mad recently and I want to know who else has been experiencing the same issues and what are your thoughts/opinions on the issues.

I know for me, I have run into some warranty issues with piece(s) of equipment malfunctioning and I was told to deal with the manufacturer vs. dealing with the store that I bought my equipment from.  IMO, this doesn't make any sense and one of the main reasons I deal with a store is so I can take a product back if there is an issue. 

Again, anyone else have this issue? Your thoughts? 

...Their is no need for naming stores if YOU don't want to, this isn't a store bashing thread, I just want to know how many others have been through a similar experience.

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

I got a aquatic life. Rodi unit off a online order.  And there os a piece in the box that says for any problems or warranty deal with the manufacture not the dealer you got from

 

[yveterinarian]

This seems to be becoming a very widespread issue.  Many stores are not dealing with warranty issues for many products, not just aquarium ones.  It often says right on the product's instructions not to take it to the store but to deal with the company directly.  I don't know if this is a product policy now or a store policy.  It seems to be a product policy if written right on the directions.  Electronics seem to be the worst, from my experience.
I wish we could take them to the store because often times the company is not local and it is a PITA to ship back to the company.  I guess that the era of Internet etc making the world smaller has more ramifications than we think of.  The days of local stores dealing with these issues are coming to a close, I fear, since we can now contact companies directly much easier than we could before. 
Oh, for the simpler days of dealing with our local store for all our needs. 

 

[Duke]

Exact reason i stopped hardware purchases through the LFS, as much as i like to support local business  Dealing with online retailers for me has been much less of a hassle, If i buy something locally and have an issue i would expect the place i purchased it deal with it for me, if that's not the case why should we bother?, i can browse/review/shop online all with just a few clicks, save some money, and have it show up at my front door in a timely matter. but with that said im sure there are plenty of local shops willing to deal with issues for customers, i've just had some bad experiences myself and without going into details feel the online retailers are better equipt to deal with customer issues and have more of a reason to make sure customer satisfaction a top priority  after all the internet is pretty transparent and in the end if you piss off enough customers and your going to have a tough time staying a float.

 

[Big_Als_London]

This seems to be becoming a very widespread issue.  Many stores are not dealing with warranty issues for many products, not just aquarium ones.  It often says right on the product's instructions not to take it to the store but to deal with the company directly.  I don't know if this is a product policy now or a store policy.  It seems to be a product policy if written right on the directions.  Electronics seem to be the worst, from my experience.
I wish we could take them to the store because often times the company is not local and it is a PITA to ship back to the company.  I guess that the era of Internet etc making the world smaller has more ramifications than we think of.  The days of local stores dealing with these issues are coming to a close, I fear, since we can now contact companies directly much easier than we could before. 
Oh, for the simpler days of dealing with our local store for all our needs. 

This is becoming more of common practice as of late.  I see that paper come in with a lot of products now.  The manufacturer wants to know what kind of problems are arising with their products.  Also they want to be the person to say yes we will replace it.  The problem was a lot of products were being abbused by the end user and the retailer would just switch it out any ways.  Then when the retailer tries to get the money back from the company they would be denied as it was the end users fault. 

 

[BIGSHOW]

No offense Aaron, but the manufacturing wanting to know what kind of issue is arising with the products seems like a weak response.  Is there no dialogue between the retail store and there supplier/manufacturer?

Why can't I bring back my busted piece of equipment to the store and have the store ship it back to the manufacturer?  Why does it have to be at my expense? After all, the store should be the one standing behind the product they are selling.

It seems to me that stores are more then happy to have the manufacturer deal with warranty issues, since they neither lose or gain anything here.  Heck, the manufacturer may end up not even getting the busted piece of equipment if the shipping cost is more expensive then the actual product purchased.

If the product was clearly abused by the person who made the purchase then the store has every right to refuse a warranty claim, and the retailer should not be so foolish as to except a piece of equipment that was clearly abused and not covered under the warranty...

 

[Big_Als_London]

No offense Aaron, but the manufacturing wanting to know what kind of issue is arising with the products seems like a weak response.  Is there no dialogue between the retail store and there supplier/manufacturer?

Why can't I bring back my busted piece of equipment to the store and have the store ship it back to the manufacturer?  Why does it have to be at my expense? After all, the store should be the one standing behind the product they are selling.

It seems to me that stores are more then happy to have the manufacturer deal with warranty issues, since they neither lose or gain anything here.  Heck, the manufacturer may end up not even getting the busted piece of equipment if the shipping cost is more expensive then the actual product purchased.

If the product was clearly abused by the person who made the purchase then the store has every right to refuse a warranty claim, and the retailer should not be so foolish as to except a piece of equipment that was clearly abused and not covered under the warranty...

On my end there really isn't much dialog between supplier and retailer.  We have a returns person at our head office that deals with everything.  I will say that we will often honour the warranty anyways. Coralife was one of the big companies that would put that sheet in every box.  Our store usually ignored it and ordered the parts to fix the problem.
Also and I am not sure why the companies do this but, they offer a 25 year warranty on something but you have to go through the manufacturer.  Big Al's offers a 1 year standard warranty on electrical products. That comes with your VIP card.  So really they should be honouring anything like that.

 

[BIGSHOW]

On my end there really isn't much dialog between supplier and retailer.  We have a returns person at our head office that deals with everything.  I will say that we will often honour the warranty anyways. Coralife was one of the big companies that would put that sheet in every box.  Our store usually ignored it and ordered the parts to fix the problem.
Also and I am not sure why the companies do this but, they offer a 25 year warranty on something but you have to go through the manufacturer.  Big Al's offers a 1 year standard warranty on electrical products. That comes with your VIP card.  So really they should be honouring anything like that.

And I will be the first person to say that Big Als (my Hamilton location and I am sure the London one too .) has been great on warranty returns. I have never had an issue with Big Als either replacing the piece of equipment or issuing a refund...NEVER

 

[teebone110]

I just went through this.

Who should take resposibility? ... The LFS, Manufacturer, or End User?

My situation was a defective EB8 from Neptuibe Systems with a faulty outlet affecting overall functionality of the unit.

Neptune will not cover shipping, so is should the LFS be on the hook for this if the end user wants to but the product, but the manufacturer has this policy? I do not think its fair for the manufacturer to treat the LFS and end user this way. My finger points to the manufacturer. The challenge is that extra support costs money and this will be directly reflected in increased prices. I think manufacturers keep price points as low as possible with this warranty repair model, with the risk of dissappointing a few customers.

Its convinient for all parties if the product is
Available from a LFS, but warranty issues need to be supported by the manufacturer
In my case, I shipped it myself while visiting the US to reduce expenses.

Neptune provided a quick turn around and shipped it back to my door. In the end we shared responsibility with Neptune covering the majority of the costs.it was worth it to me since they have great suppport and products.

 

[xxmurrxx]

If the unit was new or less than a year old (whatever the warranty is) they should have covered it fully. Depending of the company they should have allowed the retail store to automatically replace it.
If out of the warranty I can see the charges.

I had an issue with JBJ and even though out of warranty they provided no help at all.  Not even with me wanting to pay for a replacement.

 

[davesolo29]

is this about your saw?

i have had this problem a couple of times now.  but in the end the store fixed the problem for me.
apparently i may have another warranty issue that i will soon find out who is going to be held responsible for fixing.  i will let you know when i find out what happens.

 

[spyd]

I've had the same issue in the past. Defective pump on my Reef Octopus skimmer. It kind of worked but kept cutting out constantly. I had to deal directly with Coralvue. They were great to deal with as they sent me a new pump right away. The only problem is I needed to ship the old pump back on my dollar. They were nice enough to send me the replacement pump first before I needed to ship back the defective one. However, the fact that we are all ways on the hook for shipping is just absolutely terrible.

In our business, I could never get away with any of this. If an electronic component fails, we get the replacement from the distributor and we have to re-install. We eat the time even though the component was the issue. The distributor returns the product to the manufacturer and get a credit or a replacement. At the end of the day though, the customer is happy and they are not charged a thing. This goes in line with the LFS. They should be the ones covering the return on the product, not the customer. If something is faulty, within the warranty time, I want a new one. Free of charge. For the amount of money we spend and the mark-up on prooducts, this should NEVER come to money being out of our pockets. Then it is up to the LFS and distributor to work out a deal between themselves.

Unfortunately, it is not like that and it is BAD business!!!! the customer gets pissed off and either does not deal wit said LFS anymore or does not buy any additional products from the manufacturer. All over a couple dollars in shipping. At the end of the day, the LFS must make enough margins to cover the shipping costs of the odd warranty replacement as I am sure it is not an overly common ordeal.

I do understand what Aaron is saying in terms of the end user breaking the unit. It happens a lot I am sure and people try to pass it off as warranty. That is where the manufacturer or distributor should be training the managers of the LFS as to what they should be looking for to ensure it is a warranty issue. At the very least, the shipping should be covered by the LFS to return the product to the manufacturer where they can deem it is warranty or not. That is good business practice so it looks like the LFS has done everything possible to help their customer.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I would -sort of- have to side with the retailers and the manufacturers.  Shipping between the US and Canada is (as most of you know) a really really shitty deal.  Almost every big shipping company takes advantage of the stupid Canadian consumer.  Shipping something from china to Canada costs $4.  Shipping something from florida to DC costs $4.  Sending something from mexico to texas cost $4.  Sending something from Detroit to Windsor costs $64.  So I can -sort of- see the retailer/manufacturer not wanting to cover shipping.  I think it has a lot to do with unfair shipping prices.

Apple will send you a prepaid box for your faulty, under warranty, product.  It's great, except that you're paying $600 for a $100 piece of electronics, so they can afford to do it.  Some of these hobby manufacturers run razor thin margins, and an extra $50 to ship a replacement is sometimes just not worth their effort.  With only 30 million people in total in Canada, honestly they often just don't care if they don't get our business.

I look at it like this: If something fails it might sometimes be my fault.  I didn't read the directions or turned something too many times, or whatever.  But I'm still going to take it back for warranty.  I'm jut glad I'm not buying a whole new unit, and am happy to pay a bit of shipping to get a new one.  Teebone for example, I know he likes sticking forks into electrical outlets, but he still went for warranty...

That said, there should be a clear statement posted at the time of purchase to let you know you are on the hook for shipping in the case of returns.  then you really can't argue it. 

 

[copperkills]

My stand is that stores should be taking the product back.  They represent the mfr and have the inside sales contacts that should be dealing with warranty issues.  You may run into stores that buy from other stores and not the mfr;  those are the stores that will tell you to deal with the mfr. Always make sure when buying big ticket items that the store you buy it from is an actual distributor for that mfr.

My $0.02

 

[BIGSHOW]

Nope, nothing to do with my saw.  The owner took care of me after a few emails back and forth.

I brought the topic up because I have had numerous discussions with fellow reefers where they had issues with warranty returns. (as I have with a number of products purcahsed...LED's, Controller, Saw, return pumps)

Figured it would be a good topic to discuss

Dave

is this about your saw?

i have had this problem a couple of times now.  but in the end the store fixed the problem for me.
apparently i may have another warranty issue that i will soon find out who is going to be held responsible for fixing.  i will let you know when i find out what happens.

 

[BIGSHOW]

Very well written Derek.

Nice to see a point of view from a business away from the hobby.

Dave

 

[unibob]

The way I see it and encounter it from time to time. If your going to sell a product stand behind it. If a supplier provides me with a product I am always having problems with and have to go back and replace...it is replaced on our companies expense. Time and wages...they always replace but that isn't the point it's the fact that the company installing it/fish store has to be reliable to fix the customers problem/complaint on there dollar not the customers...it's called customer service. We usually don't continue to use the product after so many service calls for faulty equipment.