We have a JBL Quantum 810 headset. It's 6 weeks outside of warranty and has been disconnecting from both Bluetooth and usb dongle. My wife went to Officeworks with the receipt and they have said there is nothing they can or will do because it's out of warranty AND said that their computer system won't let them do anything since it is out of warranty. 2 different managers refused to assist any further and said that they can't override the system at all and wouldn't help her any further.
My wife did the whole ACL thing as the warranty is 12 months and for a headset that retails for around $350 (don't worry, we paid less than that), we expected it to last a lot longer.
My wife called the Officeworks Customer line, who didn't seem to really care and said they are more for online orders and that she had to deal with the store.
We have contacted WA Consumer Protection who have given the usual formatted bot response, saying -
Thank you for your recent complaint lodged with Consumer Protection. After an initial assessment, we believe that your complaint can be resolved by both parties communicating in good faith.
We have written to OFFICEWORKS and requested they contact you directly within the next seven business days to try and resolve your complaint.
OFFICEWORKS may request proof of purchase or other relevant documents from you to proceed with your complaint. Any documents that may have been attached with your complaint form have not been forwarded to the trader.
Any remedy agreed upon by both parties should be followed up in writing and an appropriate timeframe provided for the resolution to be finalised. Please reply to this email with information on the remedy you have received.
If, for any reason, it is not resolved, we encourage you to reach out to us by replying to this email. This includes situations where OFFICEWORKS fails to contact you within seven business days or if an agreement cannot be reached.
In such cases, the next step involves escalating the complaint to a Conciliation Officer who will make contact to offer guidance to both parties about their rights and responsibilities to resolve the complaint. You can find information about our voluntary conciliation service on our website: www.commerce.wa.gov.au/publications/complaints-and-conciliation-guide-consumers.
We also welcome your feedback on our Early Intervention complaint process. We invite you to complete the online survey here.
Please do not hesitate to contact our Call Centre on 1300 304 054 for general advice.
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Are we being unreasonable about pushing ACL with the headset?
Our other concern is how Officeworks computer systems seem to be designed to deny our rights under ACL, especially if it's true that the managers can't override it in this type of case. If there's any Officeworks managers in here, is this true?
We just want a replacement and realise that we'd have nothing further after receiving it, which is fine by us.
If anyone has any other useful suggestions, please let me know, otherwise we're just waiting to see if Officeworks calls at all.
update 22/11/24 - Yesterday my wife got a call from the store manager of Officeworks listed on the receipt. He'd received the email from Consumer Protection WA and offered to give us a new headset. We went down there after she finished work and got a new one and the manager we spoke to said/confirmed when asked, that the warranty for the new headset starts from yesterday. Let's hope this one lasts a lot longer.
Also, it is now confirmed that the other managers who said the Officeworks system couldn't be overridden, flat out LIED to my wife's face. So, FYI to anyone else that may deal with Officeworks with this sort of thing, that they can override it, no matter what they say.
Just buy another pair and return the bad ones in lieu of the new ones.