Just a heads-up, in case anyone is considering buying any headphones from Drop - DON’T!!!
I purchased a PC38X from Drop.com, which are now defective due to a manufacturing defect, and they are refusing to honour the warranty, within the approved period.
So far the excuses they have come up with have been:
-
try these fixes (which I already tried - they never bothered to properly read my email)
-
your item is not in the warranty period (it absolutely is, and their dates in their email confirmed this)
-
ok, fine, it’s in warranty, but it’s out of stock now (absolute lie, the item is ‘available’, ‘in stock’, and ‘ready to ship’ - I had a friend put in an order out of curiosity, and it went through with no issues
-
how about you take $15-$20 instead and piss off?
I have attached the conversation with them to this post, and images showing the item (a) is in warranty and (b) is in stock, and their horrible reply.
Just a thought for anyone considering a Drop.com purchase - they are REFUSING to honor valid warranties. Stay safe out there everyone.
Basically you used click bait tittle and are throwing a fit, because you bought something from another country. “Yes United States isn’t Canada” Don’t like how the company is handling it.
Then next time buy something locally that way you can go in and physically demand a new product. Then when they refuse and give you a refund. Then you can throw your tantrum in person.
This 100% ⤴️
Their standard warranty applies in Canada. If they refuse to honor it because of that, it’s simple… they shouldn’t sell outside the U.S.
They are offering a full refund with a prepaid shipping label. What’s wrong with that?
The idea of Massdrop was you give up a whole bunch of consumer rights for a good deal.
Drop hardly uses the group buy model anymore. Their popular products are sold as a typical store does. At the same time, in the keyboard space which drop is also big in, there are plenty of vendors using the group buy model who do offer better consumer protection and customer service despite having much less capital.
This isn’t mass drop anymore. These headphones aren’t a group buy. Times have changed, so shall the circumstances surrounding defects.
For all intents and purposes this is just a normal retailer.
That and waiting a lonnnnngggg time to get anything you ordered
They are honoring the warranty by offering you a full refund. You lied in your title.
That was after many back and forward e-mails. They first attempted to claim they were out of warranty, and there’s nothing they can do.
Honoring it would be replacing them, which they acknowledged in their e-mail. But then they tried to claim that there’s no stock - even though there clearly is.
Not sure why they wouldn’t just send a replacement if they have them in stock. That aside…
Saying they won’t honor the warranty is a bit misleading since they’ve offered multiple options, just not the one you want. They absolutely will honor the warranty by offering you a full refund; that’s pretty standard.
Except that with the refund I wouldn’t be able to buy a new pair because of no sale, duties, and shipping (Canada).
I don’t understand why they won’t send a new pair that they have in stock. I will happily pay to send them back the defective one in exchange.
EDIT: And yes, they offered ‘multiple’ options - but a $20 credit or $15 refund are pretty damn crappy options
OP is contradicting himself. So his post recommends to not buy from Drop. And then he wants to keep Drop product, instead of full price refund that is offered by Drop.
If you dislike Drop that much, take the full refund offer. That is like using the product for free for 2 years. Then buy another headphone from somewhere else. Oh, but then you want PC38X for its value.
Their “replacement inventory” likely consists of refurbished units, and that’s what they don’t have inventory of.
Warranty Replacement Refurbished is pretty standard practice for computers and electronics.
It’s appalling practice though.
If I pay for new goods I don’t expect used/secondhand. I want it to last as long as possible because it makes limited budgets stretch further to buy more things.
It’s kind of fair for warranty replacements since the unit that is being replaced will have been used for some time. It still depends on the build quality though, some things like Hifiman are known to die randomly no matter how careful you are.
That said, most retailers will provide you a new replacement if they don’t have refurbished units in stock. Drop are being assholes in this case because OP bought the headphones at a discount, so they get more profit by refunding OP’s purchase and selling a new unit at full price than replacing it with a new unit.
Except my used shit =/= somebody else’s used shit. Entirely different value. It’s like eating a burger that you’ve spat on vs eating a burger that some other random person has spat on.
I would expect a reputable company that is sending out refurbished products (as warranty replacements or otherwise) to ensure those products are in a usable condition before sending them out. Buying a used product privately from the previous owner is a different matter. Of course, all of that applies only to products that actually retain a significant amount of their initial value after being used, which headphones do whereas partially eaten food does not.
Why can’t they just refurbish his and give them back then?
drop is not the one completing the repairs, manufacturermay not be able to repair that model or have not gotten to it yet
This is disgusting
What’s the problem? They’re offering you a full refund, sounds good to me
Between the price difference, shipping, and customs, I would end up spending considerably more out of pocket.
The other problem is that they first tried to weasel their way out of it by falsely claiming the warranty does not apply
Get a refund, and then buy something else.
Problem solved.
They want a replacement since they bought them on sale.
Bro they’re offering you a full refund. Come ‘on this is hardly some scandal. 🙄
just do Option B in your very last screenshot. at least you can just buy a brand new unit rather than sending it into the shop and getting it repaired
have been wary of them for years now, always been downvoted
Dude learns his country is small and shipping is expensive lol.
I’ve never had a problem with returning stuff from drop. Drops where I learned about how bad hifimans stuff are lol. I had to return 3 headphones multiple times. All with noticeable defects. They never gave me a hard time.
They literally tried to claim (a) that the warranty is expired - when it’s not and that (b) it’s out of stock - when it’s not.
Ignoring the other stuff, doesn’t that seem what would be ‘a hard time’?
Sometimes people make mistakes, or particular individual employees are problematic.
I had a fucked up experience with a hyper-x keyboard warranty, and then 10 days later I called them again, and got their manager. Manager literally apologized for a half hour, and explained the whole series of events which lead to the problem, and gave me a replacement without me sending the original back.
Nah this is garbage. Good job reporting it.
Title is clickbait. Drop is indeed honoring warranty. They ate supposed to provide warranty within US.
I absolutely will not consider “honoring warranty” when they tried to SCAM the OP with the false claims that the product isn’t under warranty. At the end they kind of did - but with the initial conversation basically ends the conversation about how they honor the warranty. They don’t.
I JUST bought something from them…
Imagine going into this deal expecting drop to pay an additional $100 if something went wrong with the headphones.
The extended warranty of 3 years only applies to the US. The 2 year warranty is standard to anywhere they ship/sell the product. I expect them to honor the warranty terms that they and I agreed upon on purchase. Those terms state replacement for a defective product if it’s in warranty.