Kogan in Court for Refusing Warranty - Anyone Else Having Issues?

LWiseUp on 18/08/2015 - 06:15
Last edited 18/08/2015 - 12:31

Purchased a Asus Windows Tablet from Kogan last year and the tablet developed a fault. Called Kogan in March while the Tablet was still well within warranty and requested a RMA number so I could return the goods for repair. They refused saying go to the manufacturer, ASUS.

I purchased from Kogan, paid my money to Kogan and didn't want to deal with another party so I lodged the matter with QCAT in Queensland. QCAT are so grossly incompetent they couldn't resolve a super simple warranty issue on the first hearing. We're now up to the third hearing and 5 months later the Tablet is now out of warranty and still not repaired.

I have purchased a lot of stuff from Kogan and this is the first attempt at getting warranty support and I will NEVER buy from them again EVER. It's not often I get a dishonest retailer that takes your money and then doesn't do the right thing but Kogan is definitely one of them.

I'm pretty sure that they can't refuse to provide warranty support and I can't understand how QCAT can be so incompetent, inefficient and irrelevant, when you can't get anymore black and white with how wrong this is.

I left the first hearing in March so perplexed by QCAT's inabilty to resolve The World's Simplest Warranty Claim. When a retailer just doesn't feel like honoring their obligations under Australian Consumer Law you would think that the regulators would be able to solve it at the first session and maybe stop them from doing to other paying customers. QCAT is a severe misuse of tax payer's money and Kogan to me is a dodgy retailer.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE - QCAT ordered a full refund today 18.08.2015 it took 5 months to do something that should have taken 5 minutes. Kogan were absolutely atrocious to deal with, probably the worse experience I have had with a retailer ever - apart from Megabuy.

General Discussion

Related Stores

Kogan
Kogan
Marketplace

Comments

  • rjb on 18/08/2015 - 06:17
    +3

    Good Luck mate.

  • Daabido on 18/08/2015 - 06:35

    I have always found QCAT to be coin toss, even with straight up and down cases like this.

  • CyberMurning on 18/08/2015 - 06:50

    Bought micro sd then faulty after few month they sent a replacement for free without asking me sending back the old one.

    In your case what were the arguments from kogan of why they are refusing your warranty claim?

  • andy19363 on 18/08/2015 - 07:19
    +2

    Why would you want to send it to kogan for repair?

    • StewBalls on 18/08/2015 - 11:25

      Agreed.

      IME, in most cases it is cheaper, easier & faster to just cut out the middle-man & go direct to the manufacturer for RMA when it comes to online retailers.

    • hetzjagd on 07/09/2015 - 16:21

      I would speculate OP wanted a replacement and to leave it up to Kogan to deal with the turn around time and run around of getting it repaired/refunded from the manufacturer.

      • andy19363 on 07/09/2015 - 17:56

        You could speculate, but….

        Called Kogan in March while the Tablet was still well within warranty and requested a RMA number so I could return the goods for repair.

  • Olokun on 18/08/2015 - 07:35
    +2

    Is the QCAT delay because Kogan AU is claiming they should not be a part of the case as it was purchased from Kogan HK?

  • WiseUp on 18/08/2015 - 07:42

    Bought micro sd then faulty after few month they sent a replacement for free without asking me sending back the old one.

    In your case what were the arguments from kogan of why they are refusing your warranty claim?

    Kogan simply want me to go to the Manufacturer rather than them but that would mean that I would have to go to Asus Sydney, Nikon and many others. You know what it's like trying to contact one as opposed to many. I go back to where ever I purchased it in the first place. ie. If I buy a microwave from HN then that's where it goes back not to LG or Samsung

    • akd on 18/08/2015 - 09:58

      Wiseup, sometimes it is better to get things done rather than following principles.
      Retailers are just medium to sell products from manufacturers or wholesalers. They know very less of products and are not skilled to repair it or even sometimes not able to coordinate well with manufacturers(I had experience with HN when they try to resolve my Electrolux washing machine).
      I believe if Kogan has not given you ASUS contact details or ASUS refused to take care of its product under warranty, then you should have complained against Kogan and Asus.
      It is unfortunate but this is how it works here or anywhere in multinationals world.
      Also my experience with ASUS is that their products go for annual repairs or last for maximum two without any issues.

    • [Deactivated] on 18/08/2015 - 10:18

      We bought a Panasonic microwave from the Good Guys, along with paying for an extended warranty. It broke. I had to take it to the nearest authorised Panasonic repairer.

      • BamBam cheapsk8 on 19/01/2016 - 21:13

        I got a MW from HN with ext warranty. Normally dont but it was 15bux and I had just knocked them from 200 to 150 so I thought why not. Any way 13 months later it died, so I took it back to HN. The sales guy sez" you will have to call westinhouse(I think)". I dont say nothing, just look at him in the eyes and wait. 20 seconds pass and he sez that he can organise the whole lot for me! I said awesome! got my paperwork and walked out. If it come to it, I would have left it there and did a chargeback on my CC. Ended up getting a samsung as replacement.

    • spackbace on 18/08/2015 - 10:19
      +1

      Kogan simply want me to go to the Manufacturer rather than them but that would mean that I would have to go to Asus Sydney

      https://www.asus.com/au/support/Article/599/
      Brisbane
      Unit 3, 544 Kessels Rd, Macgregor, QLD 4109

      There's a service centre in QLD, as well as you could've just mailed it in.

      I know you wanna have a win against Kogan, but how many days of work have you had to go to the courts? How much stress and worry has it caused? When just simply doing it through Asus directly would've had it solved by now.

  • WiseUp on 18/08/2015 - 07:44
    +1

    Is the QCAT delay because Kogan AU is claiming they should not be a part of the case as it was purchased from Kogan HK?

    If it is a grey import which I don't know if it is or not, do I go back to the distributor in HK?
    It wasn't advertised as a Grey import and I don't think I would have bought it if it was.

    • SirFlibbled on 18/08/2015 - 09:20

      You would have been but you likely didn't notice it. They have a thing on the page which says you are buying from Kogan HK. That being said, as the website is owned and operated by Kogan AU I think you can reasonably argue that Kogan AU are the agents for Kogan HK and that the ACL applies.

  • AusBargainhunter on 18/08/2015 - 09:18
    +2

    I worked as a technician years ago, and did a lot of service jobs. You can take a computer back to retailers who are willing to deal with the manufacturer, but honestly? Your better off just simply ringing the manufacturer who will give you the phone number and address of an authorised repair agent. It's quicker than dealing with a retailer as well. I never go back to the retailer. Good luck.

  • Luminary on 18/08/2015 - 11:13

    I've only had to claim warranty once with Kogan and it was a really smooth process for me. Chatted online and I explained everything I'd done so far to fix it which and they suggested I try a few other things. When nothing worked they sent me a barcode to ship it back to them. Just after ordering the replacement I realised that the Note 3 was out so I asked if I could pay the difference and they deducted the original price I had paid for the Note 2. Ended up paying $90 for a Note 3. I thought they'd deduct the current value of it which was about $50 less than what I paid. Overall process of dealing with customer service was 1-2 days. My phone was a grey import as well.

  • Brucet on 18/08/2015 - 13:44

    You should take it to ASUS services repairer in your state with your receipt.

  • malouphix on 02/09/2015 - 21:36

    How much time would you have saved if you went directly to ASUS for warranty?

    • Consumer Sheep on 04/09/2015 - 07:06
      +4

      Imagine the time we all could have saved if Kogan had simply complied with Australian law.

  • 87percent on 05/09/2015 - 13:58

    Has anyone ever bought an item from Kogan, and returned it because it was crap? They have a shoulder massage thing, and I'm thinking of getting it. I've tried similar looking ones that are sometimes in shopping centers (and Osim one too) and found them to be pretty good, but they're about $200+

    • Ughhh on 05/09/2015 - 14:03

      Depends if its a Kogan exclusive brand https://www.kogan.com/au/returns-policy/
      "Crap" is a change of mind, unless its crap because its faulty.

      • 87percent on 06/09/2015 - 14:27

        But a massage thing, you don't know if it's firm enough or whatever until you get it and use it.

        • Ughhh on 06/09/2015 - 18:03

          But what's not firm enough for you might be firm for others. It's a personal thing.

          You can always ask them.

  • cloudy on 07/09/2015 - 21:17

    I'm still waiting on my lightning cable from kogan! After 6(?) months now.

    I'm not buying from them unless I get the products they promised me.

  • Associatedrustyclown @ Kogan on 17/09/2015 - 22:31
    -3

    OP, you wasted 5 months trying to go to the retailer when it could have been resulted far quicker going direct to the manufacturer.

    I had a similar issue with an ASUS router where it was broke after 9 months. Contacted retailer, they referred me onto an ASUS repair where it was replaced in a little over 2 weeks. I don't know why you wouldn't do that..

    If i buy a delonghi coffee machine from myer and it broke down within the warranty period, i sure wouldn't be taking it back to a myer store to fix it, i'd go directly to the manufacturer, delonghi that know the product. They know all the ins and outs and would have a best understanding if the product was replaceable or not.

    • sickllama on 18/09/2015 - 06:12
      +1

      You're missing the point. Kogan has broken the law. That's the point.

    • godofpizza on 18/09/2015 - 12:10

      if you brought the machine from myer, and it broke down why isn't the buyer allowed to take it back where he had purchased it from?

      • Ughhh on 20/09/2015 - 20:12
        +1

        Rustyclown isn't saying you can't take it back to where you bought it from, like it's illegal or not allowed. You can take it back, but which route is the best and quickest to address this problem?

        If you walk along a path and come across a big rock, are you going to attempt to climb over the rock, risk injuring yourself and waste time? just because you have the rights to ?

        Or are you going to walk around the rock or find another path ?

        Being "right" doesn't mean you're being smart.

        • [Deactivated] on 20/09/2015 - 20:28

          That's the most stupid analogy I've ever heard lol

        • Ughhh on 20/09/2015 - 21:15

          @Ipiok:

          You got a better one smart pants? Or you don't understand the point ?

    • The J man on 23/09/2015 - 03:43

      I bought my mum a vacuum cleaner in March for her birthday from Domayne. It stopped charging a couple of weeks back.

      I took it back to Domayne and they swapped it for a new one (+1 for epic customer service on their part).

      I doubt that I'd of gotten a similar result if I'd of gone to the manufacturer.

      The OP has the right to go back to the point of purchase under ACL, it's the point of purchase's job to deal with the manufacturer. The law is the law.

      Congrats OP, glad you finally got some resolution.

  • A3Australia on 23/09/2015 - 04:24

    OP I would like to know if you have received the refund.

    • WiseUp on 23/09/2015 - 07:57

      Yes I finally got the refund but like I said it took me 5 months, 3 QCAT hearings and a lot of grief. Kogan wouldn't even take it back just to have a look at it so that to me is extremely dodgy on it's own. Take the consumers money and then wipe your hands of it. Even though I got the refund it's by no means over for Kogan yet. They can't take people's money and then dismiss their obligations. I've got no doubts they'll do it again. Think of all the people that don't post here, they have probably been done over by Kogan and the public wouldn't know about it.

      I for one, am sick of these retailers pushing the limits to see what they can get away with and we the consumer have to fight to get it resolved when there are clear laws in place to stop the rot.

      Kogan is Rot through and through and they will be dealt with not just for me so that they don't do it again to anyone. This is on my passionate list for 2015 / 2016.

      I can't vouch for other people but I work pretty hard for my money.

      • Olokun on 06/10/2015 - 20:12
        +1

        Are you able to enlighten us what reasons Kogan argued that they were not liable?

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join