Extended Warranties & JB Hi-Fi - Pay Good Attention to Wording!

fantombloo on 19/02/2015 - 14:38
Last edited 26/02/2015 - 16:31

** EDIT 26/02/15 - Contacted JB, they offered me a refund on the lens and we're great about it in every way. **

Last Feb I bought a Sony NEX6 (incl a 16-50mm lens) + 2 extra lenses as a package from JB for $990. I thought I'd take out the extended warranty to give me 5 years piece of mind for $89.

Yesterday, just 2 weeks out of the 1 year manufacturer's warranty, my 55-210mm zoom failed. No probs I thought - use the extended warranty. It turns out that the extra lenses are not covered, only the camera body. The receipt had the 3 items listed separately and on closer inspection the warranty covered that item only. The body's price was set to $398, my 50F18 prime to $398 and the extra zoom to $216. That is to say they discounted the body to reach the $990 target, and so the warranty is commensurately worth less. $89 seems very steep now.

It's obviously no-ones fault except mine but I'd be pretty confident that the dude at JB knew exactly what he was doing and made extra margin on such an expensive warranty to compensate for the margin he lost on discounting the goods in the first place. That may be legal but it's very deceptive. Not really happy about it and a black mark against JB for such shifty ways.

Check your warranty wording carefully!

General Discussion

Related Stores

JB Hi-Fi
JB Hi-Fi

Comments

  • highon2str on 19/02/2015 - 14:49
    +3

    A camera lens should last for more than a year. Go back to that store and talk to the floor manager. He/she will be more well versed in warranties/consumer guarantees and would be more understanding I'd expect.

    • cloudy on 19/02/2015 - 21:05

      It's a fair point jb does have decent customer service, has op even tried going back to jb to see if they can do anything for him?

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 19/02/2015 - 14:57

    I don't know if this is the case with JB, but I know from previous experience working for a major retailer in the paper & pen days, we used to do this with computer packages ie. Mark up the Printer & Software, so the PC was $1200 instead of $1999. Hence the store & salesperson made more profit on the sale, as less was paid to the Insurance company. eg: $40 instead of $65.

  • Lysander on 19/02/2015 - 15:26
    +2

    Go back to JB Hifi and ask for a replacement.
    Print a copy of the relevant Australian laws (Trade Practices Act 1974)and take it with you.
    An item must be fit for its purposes which obviously the lense wasn't as it is reasonable to expect that lenses in that price category last longer than one year and two weeks if used normally.

    This is the reason why even Apple has budged to honour free repair requests to its more expensive items even after expiry of 1 year warranty.

    https://www.qld.gov.au/law/your-rights/consumer-rights-compl…

    http://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Warranties%20and%20refun…

    The following is a guide for businesses and legal practitioners. Read it carefully as it will tell you as a consumer what the businesses cannot do. Read page 11 for your situation.

    http://www.consumerlaw.gov.au/content/the_acl/downloads/cons…

  • Mummy2 on 19/02/2015 - 17:21
    +2

    Not exactly the same issue but when I bought my very first digital camera, in 2006, from JB Hifi I took out their extended warranty which cost me $150.

    The camera developed a fault during the extended warranty period and it was only then that I was directed to the small print that stated repairs up to $150 would be covered by the warranty, anything more I'd have to pay the extra myself. As OP completely my own fault for not reading the small print but I'd been sold it as it would cover any fault/repair during the extended warranty period.

    I've never bothered taking out any extended warranties on goods bought from JB Hifi since.

  • cloudy on 19/02/2015 - 21:03

    It's probably a good reminder for everyone doing anything, READ what you are signing, and KNOW what you are buying. I don't think it's any good blaming any retailer, individual etc if u haven't done urself the favor of looking after your own back.

    Retailers are not crooks, but they are also not charities. Calling a retailer shifty when the writing is in black and white is just lazy. Treat this as a relatively cheap lesson in life.

  • spokeless on 22/02/2015 - 20:34

    You may be entitled to repair or refund despite the warranty period lapsing.
    Retailers hope you don't know about these rights.
    Start mentioning "consumer guarantee". And if you don't get satisfaction, lodge a complaint on the page linked below.

    And I quote from https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees…

    Since 1 January 2011, the following consumer guarantees on products and services apply.

    Products must be of acceptable quality, that is:

    safe, lasting, with no faults
    look acceptable
    do all the things someone would normally expect them to do.
    Acceptable quality takes into account what would normally be expected for the type of product and cost.

  • chumlee on 22/02/2015 - 20:46

    Just email a complaint to JB. It quickly gets sent to relevant area manager who has a time frame to have it sorted so he/she will speak to store manager and get them to just make the complaint go away by meeting your request.

  • fantombloo on 26/02/2015 - 12:51
    +1

    Thank you all for your advice.

    I sent JB an email this morning and got a phone call back within a couple of hours. A guy told me to come in - I did and he happily refunded the cost of the lens. I ended up getting a new one (with a new warranty) for $20 difference - couldn't be happier.

    • jace88 on 13/09/2020 - 19:20

      I'm a few years late but this has given me a lot of confidence in the JB Hifi extended warranty.

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