Good Morning,
I bought an LG microwave online six months ago.
A few days ago it stopped working so i contacted the company and was advised to take it to a store for checking.
I took it to the store in Broadway, Sydney this morning. The staff were polite and professional.
After checking the receipt and logging the fault(no microwaves produced) i was offered a replacement or refund and chose a replacement. This was given to me and I was also given a $40 partial refund as the newer model is cheaper.
Great service all around!
Regards
Larry North
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An example of a retailer doing the right thing.
JbHiFi knows customer service. That is why they are so sucessful.
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Thanks for posting your experience.
The reality is that unhappy customers complain much more in every way than happy customers exclaim their delight. So it is good occasionally to hear a positive customer experience.
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It is good to hear of somebody getting good service, however not everybody agrees with your generalisation.
FWIW Product Review rates them at 2.2 stars out of five. With 1859 of 3067 reviews being one star.
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The irony is that product review site is reviewed as 2.2â
/5 with 224 reviews. The site is usually heavily biased to only negative reviewers.
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I donât think unverified self-selected reviews are very scientific but there is more information.
Of the 184 rated appliance stores 133 get three or more stars and 107 get four or more out of five. This does not suggest a heavy bias towards negative reviews in that group.
There are 31 rated below JBHIFI and if my creaky brain is computing that would mean 152 above them. This hints that JBHIFI must be doing something a bit special. Maybe are all the biased people are down on them.
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Reading the latest pages of reviews offers some insight.
The most positive reviews commonly relate experiences with product replacements or exchange. Are JB HiFi staff delivering any more than ACL requires? Some 5 star reviewers were impressed with the response of the staff and business.
The negative typically one star reviews are more varied. Complaints concerning online order deliver are frequent. Another impression is a frequent lack of quality service in store or poor customer product advice/choices. Added to that are customers not happy with how the local store has respond to the customer when a product requires a warranty repair or replacement. Enough to balance out the 5 star reviews?
If there is a trend JB appear to be interested in other priorities. The previous acquisition of The Good Guys and JB HiFi having a presence in nearly every major shopping centre or site has few equals in consumer reach. Where JB HiFi is established outside major cities there are fewer options, especially for consumer technology products. Many consumers still need an in store experience to find their way around todays technology.
Personal experience of JB HiFi stores is the quality and product knowledge of the store staff varies considerably. Many know what a product claims on the outside of the packet. Lived experience of a product is always better. We try to avoid the last concern by looking to reviews, IE Choice and for tech any of the better known publications or websites. How well equiped the average consumer is to assess varies. One of our older family recently upgraded their mobile and laptop. Their older and lower cost Android (out of support) mobile was replaced with a larger format value priced current Samsung. The ancient Toshiba laptop was replaced with a reasonably priced Chromebook. A future and less painful experience of using both together.
An instance of one more urbanised Aussie living without a fixed phone and ignoring the NBN for a small added cost to their mobile data. Both were in store purchases. Whether it is a real benefit or perception, for some being able to walk back into the retailer with a faulty product or pay only when the goods are in hand adds value.
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Youâre not posting a review of reviews of a review site, are you?
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Today i went in store to pick up a click amd collect order. Upon arrival i asked a, store member as previously i remember seeing a, sign up stating where click and collect orders could be collected from. Anyway i was told to go near where customers pay for goods. Strange i was, clearly told to stand to the side waiting for several minutes before no one served me. I waited for about 5 minutes before asking another person who looked like was, a, worker he, said go to the line and queue. Why the, first person did not just tell me line up on order. Iâm not sure what they were thinking. It seemed utter confusion to me as previously a, sign clearly stated where to pick up online orders. I waited patiently it goes to show askong can help. Jist curious if anyone else has, had to ask more than 1 person to find out online orders. Itis, quite laughable. Maybe i should give feedback stating i had to ask 2,separate people to get directed to correct area.
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I have moved your post to this existing topic which relates to your experience.
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I purchased a Sony TV a little over three years ago from JBHIFI, it developed a major fault - the panel failed. Any reasonable person would expect the life of a $2500 TV to be closer to 10 years not 3 years.
I requested a refund under Australian Consumer Law (ACL) from JBHIFI Bendigo. JBHIFI Manager at Bendigo store has rejected my refund request.
How do you proceed to get what are your rights under ACL automatic guarantees?
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You can take your case to a CAT (Civil and Administrative Tribunal). Your CAT will be VCAT https://www.vcat.vic.gov.au/
In regards to Consumer Goods the link within the VCAT site may be of help to you.
You can also avail yourself of free consumer legal advice that all States and Territories have. We have a small list on this site to help users find a Consumer Law centre in their area Free Legal Advice Centres
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You have rights under the Consumer Guarantees which are found in the Australian Consumer Law. One of these rights is that the goods be of an acceptable quality. Another is that you can ask the manufacturer to repair or replace the product within a reasonable period of time.
The question is really one of reasonableness. It may be that the court or VCAT determine that 3 years is not unreasonable for JB Hi Fi to be absolved, but not Sony.
Regardless, put your complaint in writing and keep records so that if you do go to VCAT or small claims court you have a paper trail.
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In relation to product life, Choice has published reasonable expectations âŠ
For a midrange TV like Sony, a reasonable person can expect the TV to have a life of around 8 years before replacement is required.
This information is useful when making a claim under the ACL for a repair and/or refund.
In relation to responsibility for resolving a fault under the ACL, both the retailer and manufacturer are equally responsible. It is up to the consumer to determine whether the retailer or manufacturer is contacted when making claim under the ACL. This is irrespective of the time after purchase. Generally retailers are more approachable as they are handier to the consumer and can be contacted in person, by email or over the phone. Manufacturerâs are usually less approachable and usually are only contactable by phone or email/online webform.
Edit: It is also worth doing some checking online to see if the fault you have is common for your TV model. If it is and there is evidence it is the case, this helps support any claim as it indicates there is a common quality or manufacturing issue with the model of TV. Use such information in any claim.
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I filed a claim for a faulty TV to JB High Five through PayPal on 15/5/23.
JB required me to pay the return postage, contrary to the law, $20 to deliver the faulty TV to them. Having returned the item to them at my expense my refund was also denied because I failed to send them the tracking information within a specified time. The 16â TV price is $220. They plan to keep the money.
I am a 90 year old aged pensioner and although I have the tracking information the time limit for sending it had expired.
George Said
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As is commonly mentioned in the community if it is clearly a failure i donât see how going past expiry makes any difference. If the product does not meet a, standard are entitled to repair or replacement. A few of the other members are well equated. I hope it gwts sorted out for you. I know it has been mentioned about writing a, formal letter of complaint. I just donât have access to the information you need.
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Welcome to the Community @george3018
Paypal only warrants goods will be as they were advertised.
What is the fault? Is it a âmajor failureâ that cannot be repaired or a âminor failureâ that could be repairable? Is it a 16" TV or is that a typo? The smallest TVs on JBHiFi web site this morning appear to be 24". How old is your TV? The make, model and age are relevant for us to place it on the product spectrum regarding reasonable expectations.
As written in numerous topics on the Community, there are many words in the ACL that are undefined requiring negotiation and persuasive research justifying a consumerâs claim. For example a low cost TV from a second tier brand will not have the same ârightsâ under the ACL as a more expensive premium model from a first tier brand, each reflecting reasonable expectations for their price points and advertising claims. This document is worth reading for your reference.
Choice published reasonable lifetimes of various products including TVs.
My suspicion is if it is more than 3 years old you may need to accept their response. If it is beyond the manufacturer warranty, which is implied, and less than 3 years old you will need to document your rights in writing as if arguing in front of a magistrate who has no information about anything so you need to provide it, citing the problem, why you contend it is covered under the ACL, and explicitly what you want and by when. If the TV is more than 3 years old it may not be repairable as a practical matter and while you have not documented the failure a determination might conclude it provided a reasonable lifetime for its market position and price.
Was your claim for a refund for the TV or as implied for the shipping reimbursement? The relevant text in the ACL is
If the business finds that the product does not have a problem, it can make the consumer pay the collection and inspection costs. To do this, the business must give the consumer a reasonable estimate of these costs before collecting the product.
Note there is no time limit or other conditions included. A possible complication is a 16" TV is a smallish portable device that would normally need to be delivered locally, but if you are remote/distant or not mobile that may be a mitigating factor for how the TV was returned. FWIW it is common for a business to provide prepaid mailing labels for routine returns so all of the background is relevant to âwhat happenedâ.
The âblueâ section of their policy is relevant. The text they publish seems designed to confuse while probably staying within the law.
If you feel your TV should be covered contact JBHiFi citing your rights under Australian Consumer Law as it is written, quoting the relevant clauses and reiterating that there are no explicit time limits set out. JBHiFi states their time limits but makes it unclear their time limits are their view not necessarily a legal position that will stand against the ACL.
If you are mobile and near a shop review your rights and the document I linked above, and then go in and speak with the manager or if not mobile ring them.
I hope this has been helpful. Please let us know how you go.
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Hi @george3018, welcome to the community.
It isnât contrary to the law to ask a customer to pay postage for a returned item. HoweverâŠ
If a consumer collected the TV from a store, it is reasonably expected that a consumer can return it to the retailer when a fault occurs. If the goods are large and/or heavy, then a retailer should pay for any shipping costs as it is unreasonable to expect a consumer to move large/heavy items. A 16" TV would not be considered large or heavy.
If the fault was found to be covered by the manufacturerâs warranty or consumer guarantee after inspection, JB would be responsible for reimbursing the postage costs. This assumes postage was the way to practicably return the TV to JB (such as it was bought online and it was not convenient to return it to the nearest store) and JB agreed to its return by this method.
If the fault sits outside the manufacturerâs warranty or consumer guarantee, then postage costs will be your responsibility.
I covered postage/freight cost responsibilities here:
However you state:
This isnât grounds under the Australian Consumer Law to refuse refunding postage.
A business can refuse to refund postage if the fault wasnât covered by the warranty/consumer guarantee or the return was due to a change in mind.
If the fault was covered by the warranty/consumer guarantee, postage was the only practicable way to return the TV and JB agreed to its return by post (especially if say the TV was collected in store), I would be formally requesting in writing for postage to be refunded for the reasons outlined above.
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Hi. I recently bought a laptop from jb hifi but i demanded to clearly know what the warranty says in regards to the laptop.They told me the receipt is the warranty, but the receipt does not show 2years warranty. Also, they gave me a brochure indicating Electrical and accessories have 2years warranty for more than 500 dollars spent. It was mentioned for all products below on the description.I was confused and demanded clearity over and over again, but they insisted they would call security to escort me out. This is very disappointing. At one point they demanded that it is their product, not jb hifiâs and wanted to refund within 3-5 business days.i refused as i already paid for the product and need it. I walked out.There is some evidence for me to claim warranty, but the customer service guys at the counter do not know about the procedure, or what they are doing, instead get angry at the customers for wasting their time.It is important to first know about what you work with and how to work , secondly to save time.
Thank you
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Hi @Fahim, welcome to the community.
Receipts are what is called âproof of purchaseâ. When making a warranty claim, proof of purchase is needed to demonstrate when and where goods were purchased.
JB HiFi produce a guide about rights under the Australian Consumer Law, or what is called the âconsumer guaranteesâ. While they might have their own views, it canât change a consumers rights under the law. The ACCC explains these rights here:
The length of time the consumer guarantee applies is based on what a reasonable person would consider a reasonable time for a product to be fault free. The period is very much dependent on the type of product and its price. Choice presents some product life expectations here, noting these are product life expectations not fault free expectations.
A $500 laptop 2 years may be seen as reasonable, while a $5000 laptop 2 years could be seen as being unreasonable.
It is worth noting the consumer guarantee is different to a manufacturerâs warranty.
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