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June 08, 2007
Customers? Market? Support? No thanks we're Philips.
I am grumpy.
I bought these rather snazzy Philips SHS8001/00 earphones on saturday:
30 quid they cost, and they were really rather good. Nice sound, and the earhooks stopped them falling out like other earbuds I've tried (e.g. apple ones).
The only problem is the little rubber grommets that go around the outside to seal them in your ear.
They fall off - almost ping off. Take them out of your pocket, or too roughly out of a bag, and you're left scrabbling around for this tiny piece of grey/white plastic. (Not easy, for example on the grey/white speckled floor of Beckton Sainsbury's).
This morning when I woke up one was missing again - and I'd not seen it go. So I go to Philips site to buy a replacement - there's nothing listed. I ring their support number, only to be told that I have to order all spares from a separate company. I ring said separate company, who say "Sorry, we don't have those as parts. Philips don't provide them to us as spares. We get loads of people ringing up for them, so I don't know why."
Right, I think, punching in Philips support number crossly.
This is a complex query, so I am put on hold almost immediately.
"Yes sir, my supervisor says you'd need to order that from Dutchwest"
"I've just spoken to them. They don't have any"
"Will they be getting any"
"Um, they say you don't send them to them. But that people ring up for them all the time."
"Could you hold sir
...
(time passes)
...
No, we don't supply that as a spare part at all"
"So I've now got a 30 quid pair of earphones that are useless because you won't sell me a spare part"
"I'm sorry sir, we just don't provide it"
"But people want it, are you going to at some stage soon?"
"I'm sorry sir, we don't provide that"
"So effectively this means I've bought headphones from you that are unsupported and useless after a week and we both know I will never ever buy from Philips again."
"Um, I'm sorry sir"
Good old philips, getting out of the consumer electronics market one customer at a time.
Posted by Tom Dolan at June 8, 2007 01:31 PM
Comments
I've now been through the hoover's dustbag and everything. Still no joy. Bum.
Posted by: TomDolan ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.sparklefluff.com/blatantoptimism/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 11, 2007 09:01 AM
The in-ear earphones dilema! You don't get to really try them before you buy them, this is the problem.
My problem is my ears don't seem to fit any of the standard sizes.
I recently spent £65 on some M-Audio IE-10s. They sound just great but, annoyingly if I raise an eyebrow by hlaf an inch they pop out.
The solution I think is a tube of something similar to the sort of thing denture-wearers use.
Posted by: Tim at June 17, 2007 09:52 AM
I did point out to the lady that it wasn't actually possible for me to change my ear canal size in order to use the other plugs that came with it.
That didn't cut any ice either.
Posted by: TomDolan at June 20, 2007 08:14 PM
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