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Skullcandy Informative - Warranty Replacement Info; Problems (How to get your new headphones)
Ok, so here's a long information filled rant about how to and how NOT to get your Skullcandy warranty replacement headphones that started LAST January. I bought a pair of Skullcandy Lowrider headphones at Dick's for 40 bucks. I wanted a pair of over the head headphones that looked cool for my laptop since my dogs seek and destroy any bud style headphones.
I bought the headphones in January of 09. A few months down the road the plastic adjuster piece snapped on one side, so I electrical taped it together and thought nothing of it. In August or September of 09 the top part of the headphone that has a folding hinge completely broke and rendered the headphones useless. I wondered how in the world a pair of 40 dollar headphones that I use while sitting down on my computer could be so fragile. Upon an internet search I find that others have had similar complaints. Sigh. Well no worries, Skullcandy has a lifetime warranty. I figured I had nothing to lose and contacted them for a warranty replacement...and the story begins.
I used the online request for warranty replacement right on the Skullcandy website, and was promptly issued an RMA number for my return and asked to ship my broken headphones in, along with a letter about what happened to them, and any additional color choices I wanted, keep that fact in mind! I paid postage to send my broken phones and 3 count em 3 different color choices into Skullcandy and would wait to hear if I would be granted a free replacement pair (meaning the headphones were found to be defective) or a coupon for 50% off a new pair (if the headphones were found to be broken by me).
Within a week I got an email saying my phones were granted a warranty replacement, meaning they found them to be defective, they would be shipping me out a replacement pair ASAP. I was overjoyed. That was the last email I heard for 2 months. I figured I would give the requisite 6-8 weeks before poking in to see what was wrong, so I did just that. I waited 2 months before contacting them through email about my replacement. Several emails sent to the customer service email listed in my initial warranty replacement email....nothing. I never got any email replies. GRRR
Cut to December, I notice a live chat icon on the Skullcandy webpage that was never there before (and I've never seen again). I click it and talk to someone who states my warranty was never sent out because my color choice went out of stock. I noticed that one of my other original 3 color choiced WAS in fact in stock, and wondered why they hadn't just shipped one of the other colors I asked for, instead of never contacting me and TELLING me to pick another one. They just expected me to forget about it I guess! I told him the color I picked and he put the order in and said I would get them soon.
Cut to another 2 months. Nothing. I actually get an email this time saying I need to choose another color because my NEW color choice was now out of stock. WTF! If they had just sent me that color (which was in my list of choices) the first time around it WOULDN'T be out of stock! I figure SC must get a loooot of warranty requests to constantly make things this hard. I know better then to send emails or wait for the random live chat icon, so I call my new color request into the SC phone number, and was promptly sent a replacement pair, that finally arrived today. PHEW!
So to summarize:
DON'T expect them to actually read or pay attention to your color choices, because it's very unlikely that you will actually end up with an exact replacement color wise, since my original color, and BOTH color choices I sent them are now out of stock forever because they took too long getting replacements out to me.
DON'T send emails or use their customer contact form, the emails will never get answered.
DO use the live chat icon on the home page, though I've only seen it once, and never again since. DON'T use the live chat in the individual headphone pages because they will not help you.
DO call the 800 number, they are the only ones who actually seem to do anything.
DO contact them if it has been over a month since you last heard from them. Your color choice is likely out of stock, and it seems like they don't always contact you to let you know that fact. Once I finally picked a color that remained in stock, it only took 3 days to get to me.
All in all, it did take forever to get a replacement, a little of my fault a little of SC's fault, but I DID end up getting a replacement, in a semi acceptable color choice, and that's what matters.
I just noticed another complaint from 1/31/09 about a similar problem of never hearing back from them after sending your headphones in, so that's why I wrote this review.
I bought the headphones in January of 09. A few months down the road the plastic adjuster piece snapped on one side, so I electrical taped it together and thought nothing of it. In August or September of 09 the top part of the headphone that has a folding hinge completely broke and rendered the headphones useless. I wondered how in the world a pair of 40 dollar headphones that I use while sitting down on my computer could be so fragile. Upon an internet search I find that others have had similar complaints. Sigh. Well no worries, Skullcandy has a lifetime warranty. I figured I had nothing to lose and contacted them for a warranty replacement...and the story begins.
I used the online request for warranty replacement right on the Skullcandy website, and was promptly issued an RMA number for my return and asked to ship my broken headphones in, along with a letter about what happened to them, and any additional color choices I wanted, keep that fact in mind! I paid postage to send my broken phones and 3 count em 3 different color choices into Skullcandy and would wait to hear if I would be granted a free replacement pair (meaning the headphones were found to be defective) or a coupon for 50% off a new pair (if the headphones were found to be broken by me).
Within a week I got an email saying my phones were granted a warranty replacement, meaning they found them to be defective, they would be shipping me out a replacement pair ASAP. I was overjoyed. That was the last email I heard for 2 months. I figured I would give the requisite 6-8 weeks before poking in to see what was wrong, so I did just that. I waited 2 months before contacting them through email about my replacement. Several emails sent to the customer service email listed in my initial warranty replacement email....nothing. I never got any email replies. GRRR
Cut to December, I notice a live chat icon on the Skullcandy webpage that was never there before (and I've never seen again). I click it and talk to someone who states my warranty was never sent out because my color choice went out of stock. I noticed that one of my other original 3 color choiced WAS in fact in stock, and wondered why they hadn't just shipped one of the other colors I asked for, instead of never contacting me and TELLING me to pick another one. They just expected me to forget about it I guess! I told him the color I picked and he put the order in and said I would get them soon.
Cut to another 2 months. Nothing. I actually get an email this time saying I need to choose another color because my NEW color choice was now out of stock. WTF! If they had just sent me that color (which was in my list of choices) the first time around it WOULDN'T be out of stock! I figure SC must get a loooot of warranty requests to constantly make things this hard. I know better then to send emails or wait for the random live chat icon, so I call my new color request into the SC phone number, and was promptly sent a replacement pair, that finally arrived today. PHEW!
So to summarize:
DON'T expect them to actually read or pay attention to your color choices, because it's very unlikely that you will actually end up with an exact replacement color wise, since my original color, and BOTH color choices I sent them are now out of stock forever because they took too long getting replacements out to me.
DON'T send emails or use their customer contact form, the emails will never get answered.
DO use the live chat icon on the home page, though I've only seen it once, and never again since. DON'T use the live chat in the individual headphone pages because they will not help you.
DO call the 800 number, they are the only ones who actually seem to do anything.
DO contact them if it has been over a month since you last heard from them. Your color choice is likely out of stock, and it seems like they don't always contact you to let you know that fact. Once I finally picked a color that remained in stock, it only took 3 days to get to me.
All in all, it did take forever to get a replacement, a little of my fault a little of SC's fault, but I DID end up getting a replacement, in a semi acceptable color choice, and that's what matters.
I just noticed another complaint from 1/31/09 about a similar problem of never hearing back from them after sending your headphones in, so that's why I wrote this review.
Comments:
Posted by Stew on 2010-05-07:
Very good and useful advice there Yrop. This is the kind of review that will help a lot of future googlers having the same problem.
Good Job!
Good Job!
Posted by skelly39 on 2010-05-07:
Good advice. Those cheap bud earphones last about fifteen minutes so I was looking into getting a pair of these (someday when I have disposable income again). Now I'll know what to do when they inevitably break.
Thanks for the well-written review.
Thanks for the well-written review.
Posted by Venice09 on 2010-05-07:
Great review and good advice. Sorry you had to wait so long for the replacement and had to put so much effort into it. It shouldn't be that hard and time consuming to have the warranty honored. I'm not sure I would buy from this company for that reason, but at least they came through in the end.
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