Hey everyone! Welcome back to the Roadshow.
Sorry I've been missing in action.
You know what they say?
Life is what happens to you
when you're planning other things. Anyway I'm back.
Ok, we all buy things and I bought a computer.
You might say what's that got to do with a Roadshow?
Well what do we do when we're out on the road?
We all take pictures.
We all bring them back & download them
onto the computer.
And some of us do something with them.
Make a little slideshow or we just put them in a folder.
We've got them there. I make a little movie of them.
Bad news!
The motherboard's stuffed.
It's too expensive to repair.
I suggest you just get another one.
20 months old folks.
State-of-the-art, high spec computer! You can imagine.
I was heartbroken.
I raced home and I checked the warranty.
Twelve months.
I rang up the person who sold it to me, the good guys.
I said do you have a special warranty? No, sorry.
It's just twelve months.
Whilst I was chatting to the woman there she said look
20 months, you know, it's not a long time
do you want me to ring the manufacturer?
So I said yeah that'd be nice.
I thought, well she's got more clout
than me you know what I mean because they buy
hundreds of computers off the manufacturer.
I buy one every few years.
After a bit of follow-up phone calls from me,
she gets back to me. She said oh, unfortunately Rona
bad luck. No they said it's out of warranty.
They're not gonna fix it. Good luck.
Naturally I was a bit upset and still grieving.
Well one thing she did say she said,
look come in, come and see our technical manager.
He might be able to help you. I thought oh ok.
So I go in and see him
and he said do you want me to just back up everything.
I said no I got that done by the
the guy who did the assessment
and I said I really want a new computer
and he says oh it's unfortunate Rona blah blah.
He tried to say it was the power pack because
the power pack had gone on this computer
after about 16 months I think it was
Completely failed.
So anyway he said oh! It's the power pack.
It's the wrong one.
Oh ok. So I left there feeling really terrible
He said contact the A triple C (ACCC).
They might be able to do something.
There's the brochure.
So I'm driving home with my daughter
and I said love, let's go and call in at the place that sold
us that replacement power pack
and check with them about it being the wrong one.
They absolutely assured me, they said
Rona that is the correct power pack.
That would not have damaged that computer.
Also the guy who did the assessment
he knew it wasn't caused by a faulty power pack too.
I went home, had a think about it for a couple of days,
and then I rang the ACCC.
I thought what if I got to lose?
This is what I learned.
Any issue you've got with a faulty good
is with the person who sold it to you.
The person who took your money
is the person you have the issue with
not the manufacturer.
Now as this all drew out the problem I had was
with the person who took my MONEY
kept trying to fob me off onto the manufacturer.
I kept saying I don't have a problem with the manufacturer.
I'm coming to you to get this rectified.
Next thing, don't forget you've got to put your issue in writing,
so state the issue, state what you would like done
and, most importantly, put a deadline date on it.
So I said I've got a computer,
I've had it assessed.
It's got a faulty motherboard. It's absolutely failed.
I would like it replaced or repaired by the end of the month.
So that give them about two weeks.
Ok, I emailed it to the technical manager and
I sent a copy to the store manager
just to keep him in the loop.
Firstly, they'll try and put you off.
I got several phone calls from the manager,
the technical manager.
He changed from being extremely friendly, sympathetic
to being really grumpy.
Ok, so that's one thing you've got to be prepared for
when you're going to get your rights. People don't like it.
1st thing he said, you want us to act as the intermediary
between you and the manufacturer.
I said no. My issue is with you.
Any issue you have with the manufacturer is separate to me.
You sold me the goods.
You're the one who has to rectify it.
He calls me and he says oh Rona I've been in touch.
Now you have to pay for an assessment
of the computer.
That's a standard thing with this manufacturer.
Notice that word again, the "manufacturer"?
It's the manufacturer that wants it.
Ok I said where does it say that?
and he says well, that's what they demand as
part of their warranty.
I said it's not under warranty. It's out of warranty.
That's what you kept telling me.
Aha. So I said I'm not paying for it.
I've already had it assessed, hung up.
Then I got back to the ACCC,
these wonderful people,
spoke to me on the phone.
They said Rona if it's under warranty
you have to abide by the warranty requirements
and my computer manufacturer requires
you to pay for the assessment if it's under warranty.
What a ripoff folks!
But anyway, mine's not under warranty.
I don't have to pay for the assessment.
So I felt really confident. It was great
just having these guys you could go and just
get their advice quickly.
The whole process... it was a grooming process.
They're trying to get you to think that
the manufacturer is the problem & they're the good guys
They're on your side. He's grooming me.
He's saying now what usually happens Rona
is the manufacturer will pay for the parts
(Notice that manufacturer in there again?)
and you pay for the labour.
No, not falling for it mate.
Now the deadline was drawing to a close.
It was three days away. I wasn't making much progress.
Still getting this ducking and weaving,
manufacturer wants this, you have to pay that.
I said no.
So I thought, well need to ramp it up a bit.
I asked the reception, front of house reception.
It's the national headquarters.
I said What's the email for your CEO?
And she said aw um you I could see her stumbling a bit.
She said can I ask what it's in regard to Rona?
I said it's in regard to a faulty computer I bought.
Anyway she said Oh we've got a head,
a National Complaints Manager.
Would you like to speak to him, John?
So she puts me through to John.
Hi, I'm John.
I'm not able to answer the phone at the moment.
So I left a message. Said my name.
I said the problem and I said what
I'll do John is I'm gonna email you
the long list of emails about this problem.
I rang back the lovely woman at front end
of reception, got his email, because he wasn't answering
and I said I just want to send that through.
Ok got that
I sent a covering email with all the other emails attached
just outlining the key points you know.
Anyway, I gave him a day so I'd sent that immediately
the next day, nothin, no phone call funny enough...
So did John get my email? I said. Yes he did.
She said I forwarded it through to him
immediately it came through.
Thank you very much
And she said hasn't he rung you yet?
And I said, no, not a dickiebird!
Do you want me to put you through she said?
Oh that would be lovely.
Hi, I'm not able to answer my phone at the moment.
So I left a message saying this is Rona again.
I contacted you on X.
I was hoping to hear back from you
but haven't heard anything yet. I know you're pretty busy
but anyway I've sent you the emails.
I know you got them because reception said you had
so I would love it if you would get back to me ASAP.
The deadline is drawing to a close.
I think we're now 24 hours left.
So I hung up.
I left it at that.
and on the last day the phone rings
and it's the technical manager from the store.
He says, Rona, ok we're gonna pay for everything.
You don't have to pay for anything. Just bring it in.
I said how long's it gonna be..?
He said I'll loan you a computer. No problem.
I dropped it in
and there's a big sheet of paper to sign.
And it says, it was a kind of an agreement with the
repairer that I would pay the assessment.
This is the manufacturer again remember?
I'll pay for the assessment and I'll pay for any repairs.
So I'm starting to go through it and then I thought, no,
I'm not going through this. I just wrote in big letters
right across the top, I am paying nothing.
The good guys will underwrite any costs
as agreed with the store manager
by telephone on the date, signed and signed it.
Then, the woman thought I was a bit mad but anyway
I did that and then I'm about to leave and I said
do you think I could get a copy of that please?
And she went oh yeah ok,. So she photocopied it
and I have the one with the big signing across the thing.
Even at the end they're trying to get me to accept
a direct relationship with that manufacturer.
About, I think it was, two weeks later I got a message.
Rona, your computer's back in store.
It's all repaired and ready to pick up.
So I went up there with some trepidation.
Oh gosh I think they're gonna ask me to pay this
that and the other. No.
They were really good. Big smiles now.
And the woman said Oh Rona, it was fantastic!
We sent it to the manufacturer and they agreed
not to charge us anything.
(This is the company remember that I bought it from)
They said, because they wanted to charge us
but we said, we'll take it to the ...
ACCC! Laughter!
Do you think they learned it from me?
Ok guys, that's it from Rona's Roadshow.
I hope that's of help to some of you.
All the best and I'll see you out there.
Bye bye
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