Media in the New Millennium

posted by Doyle

I have two Jawbone bluetooth headsets: the original, which my wife uses, and the new one. Love this product, and have recommended it to many. Depending on how they finish out the customer service mess they started with me this week, we’ll see if I ever buy or recommend another.

My new Jawbone isn’t working. I can’t hear the person I’m speaking to without constantly tapping the unit: it’s almost as though something is loose or not connected right inside. OK, that happens. I call customer service, and they offer a fix, but it doesn’t work. No problem. I call back and indicate it’s less than a year old (the warranty for the product) and I need a replacement.

Now the fun starts.

First, I’m told I need a receipt. I bought this several months ago. Don’t know about you, but I have a hard enough time with receipts from business trips, let alone personal purchases. “Do I have to have one,” I ask, “as I have no idea where it might be.” 

“Yes, that’s our policy.” That’s a line I got really tired of hearing throughout this and a following conversation. I asked why.

“We have to know that it’s in the warranty period,” I was told. That seems fair enough, except for one little fact I pointed out: This product has a one-year warranty and it has not been on the market for a year. It can’t be out of warranty. Here’s a link to their press release that shows the launch date was May 15, 2008 — clearly less than a year ago.

“Sorry, that’s our policy,” I was told. Seriously?

So, a little arguing later, and I’m told they can waive this policy, but just this once. Fine by me. Honestly, if you send me another bum headset, I’ll switch to another manufacturer. Then I’m informed that since I don’t have the receipt, I won’t get the balance of the warranty, whatever that might be, but just 90 days. OK. That seems reasonable to me. So, will you ship me a new headset, take my credit card and I’ll just ship the old one back?

Oh, no. I have to ship it in and wait. And, given that I don’t keep receipts, you might also guess I don’t have the original packaging. So, I get to pack it. Great. I’m getting happier by the minute.

OK, where do I send it?

“You’ll get an email in 24-48 hours. It probably won’t take that long, but I have to tell you it might.” Really? You can’t just tell me? Guess not. And, of course, it took between 24 and 48 hours to get the email.

But get this: I get a call a few hours later from Jawbone customer service. I’m thinking, wow, they want to make sure I got taken care of. Initially, I’m impressed. Nope. The guy on the phone told me — I am not making this up — that I needed to understand that I only got 90 days of warranty because I didn’t have a receipt, and they’d only waive their policy on the receipt this time only.

“So,” I asked. “Are you saying you’re not going to honor what the last person told me?” 

Oh, no, he assured me. He just wanted to make sure I understood that this was a one-time deal. Trust me, buddy, it’s a one-time deal. I’ll never go through this with your company again.

“So, you’re calling just to re-irritate me?” I asked.

He said that wasn’t his intention and hung up. Never did he ask if I was happy, or if I needed anything else. It was a big butt-cover call, a waste of my time and not a good idea. Now, my headset is someplace between Boulder and the address they gave me. We’ll see how this ends. 

My recommendations to Jawbone:

1. If it’s impossible for the product to be out of warranty, use common sense on the receipt requirement.
2. Advance returns with a credit card to secure the exchange are common. We did it at Maxtor more than 10 years ago when I worked there. Those of us that use bluetooth headsets don’t like to be without them, and on top of having a defective product, now I have an inconvenience. Plus, an advance shipment provides me with proper packaging for the ride back to you. Lots of models for you to look at out there; I’d recommend you consider it.
3. If you’re going to take a customer’s time for follow-up, it should be to make sure I’m happy, not to remind me of what you did to irritate me in the first place. Honestly, that call back was one of the biggest customer service fails I’ve ever seen.

Hopefully, I get a new headset soon, and fewer headaches along the way. I’ll keep you all posted.

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