- KOGAN WARRANTY SCAM -
*BEWARE AND AVOID*
So I guess your interested in the story of KOGAN'S Warranty Scam. Well then you came to the right place. Here it goes.
So here's just some extra information that will add to the story:
My phone is the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005, at the time it cost me around $800.
My phone has always had a screen protector. For the past 6 months, I've had a tempered glass screen protector on the device so that not a single scratch would appear on the screen. It would also ensure that any damage to the screen would occur to the glass screen protector before anything else. This means that if the phone was to sustain any force or impact, the glass screen protector would break before a single scratch is to occur on the screen. In effect, the glass screen protector is a shield that would break before any damage to the underlying layer. There are countless demonstrations on Youtube if you'd like to see for yourself. It is also protected by a medium - heavy duty case: The UAG case. So anyway, back to the story.
I lent my phone to my brother for music at the
gym (because his phone ran out of battery). All was good until I got home and received a call. I couldn't hear a single thing and was very confused. I thought that it was a software malfunction and so I restarted the phone and unfortunately, that didn't solve anything.
Through testing and outsourcing opinions from
the folks at XDA, it was evident that the earpiece was busted. So I
contacted the company that I had purchased the phone from (KOGAN) and they
asked me to ship it out to them. That was all good until I got an email
back from them saying that the screen was cracked and that was what led to
the earpiece failure. I was 100% sure there was not a single scratch or
damage to the screen prior to them handling the device, nevertheless I
asked them to send me pictures. They did eventually send them to me saying
that the phone's screen was cracked and under warranty, they were not
liable to do anything for me. To make things even worse, they told me that
my warranty was now void. Of course as you can imagine, I was pretty upset
- after spending $800 on a new device and being told that I was at fault
for the damage was pretty gutting to say the least.
Luckily, I
had taken about a half dozen photos of the phone face the night before I
shipped it out. I reviewed them all and none of them showed any defect at all,
no sign of the crack they had pictured. So it was evident that the technician
cracked the screen when they tried to remove the face from the main body. They
are now saying that I was the cause of the damage and they were under no
obligation to rectify the issue. To make it worse, they said my warranty was
now void and I would have to pay $38 to have my phone back. Clearly a saddening plight to get rid of me as soon as possible and to apply the least amount of effort and money to fix the issue they created in the first place.
I sent them
the pictures I had of the phone and told them that it doesn't take a microscope
to realise that the screen was in perfect condition before they had their
technician examine it. I also sent them a response to the email making
reference to the Australian Consumer Law and how they may have violated some of
the sections by damaging my phone, lying to me and then prematurely voiding my
warranty. So now the game begins - I've yet to receive a reply from them yet.
Although I really hate to make someone's day bad by complaining and becoming a
little aggravated at them, I still feel that they had no right to damage my
phone and accuse me of the wrong. So i'm going to have to call them up and make
complaints *sigh*.
NOTE: Directly from their response to me: "In returning the item, we only ask that you cover the postage costs that are involved for us receiving and sending back the unit to you as we are waiving the technician fees involved as a gesture of goodwill." A gesture of goodwill? Really? That is about the lowest call of goodwill I have ever heard of. It's actually disgusting how terrible people can be.
Although I
do still feel like I'm fighting a losing battle, I still need to try.
Just a few
pictures to show you the inconsistencies in their report:
The first two are directly from them. The other three are from me the night before I sent the phone off to them.
Well I guess that about wraps it up for today, I'm definitely going to give them a call tomorrow. I don't know if they haven't contacted me back yet because they just haven't gotten around to look at my reply or perhaps they realise that I'm no fool and wont take their distrustful words as truth. I know that the person who is replying to me is just doing their job and I somewhat respect that but knowingly lying to a person just to save the business a few bucks is disgusting. The real person to blame all this for is the incompetent technician whose lacking ability resulted in damaging my $800 device. But in the end, this post is just an awful reminder to STAY AWAY from KOGAN AT ALL COSTS! I would really hate to see someone fall into their trap of deceit and treachery especially after spending a large sum your hard earned money.
So please, unless you are willing to risk fighting a long losing battle with a company only interested in your money, then please at all costs refrain from buying anything from Kogan. Their prices may be lower than your brick and mortar's but in the end the risks of purchasing any item from Kogan far outweigh the extra $20 that your local brick and mortar's is charging you. If you live here in Australia like I do, then your best bet is to buy from JB-HI-FI, Dick Smith or Harvey Norman. My sister's HTC One X had a system fault a while back and they replaced the motherboard for her. The most expensive part of the phone was replaced under warranty and she was still able to file a warranty claim until her warranty was up.
A long post (I know) but I thought was very necessary.
EDIT: After I replied to them, I didn't receive a reply back for 3 days. When I gave them a call, they told me the matter was escalated. I received an email the next day from the Assistant Support Manager saying the matter has been escalated to him and he will over see the matter.
The next week, he along with the head technician decided to fix the screen they broke and fix the loose connection that was stopping the earpiece from functioning.
Now, I just have to pick it up from the post office. After a month with no phone, I've finally gotten it back (well kind of). Update as to the condition of the device will be up once I pick it up tomorrow morning.
Have any of you received any poor treatment from Kogan or another store? Anyone currently or previously fought a seemingly losing battle? I would very much be interested to learn about to the experiences of others. Post them down below or contact me personally if you'd like to share anything and it would be greatly appreciated by onlookers as great reminders of good service vs. terrible (a.k.a Kogan) service.
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