Bose Quiet Comfort II Users Take Note

[hondasleeper]

Hi guys! I hope this is the right place to post this.

Anyways, I have a pair of the Bose Quiet Comfort Headphones which I purchased in the US over a year ago. I only use them when I travel. A couple of weeks ago I decided to take them out to use. I was just looking at them as I took them out of the carrying case, I saw something strange with the headphones, upon closer inspection, and to my horror, there were hairline cracks on the plastic part of the headphones.

I brought them down to Atlas to see what they would do about it or how they were going to rectify the problem. Started talking to some guy at the Bose store at Plaza Singapura, then some old hag decides to butt in. She asked where I purchased the unit, so I told her I bought them in the US over a year ago. She told me that I had to produce a reciept in order for them to do anything or pay for the repairs. I told her that I didn't have a reciept, since the unit was purchased over a year ago, nor was I willing to pay for the repairs because I felt that the cracks were not due to wear and tear or abuse. She kept on insisting that in order to help me out I had to produce a reciept. And kept on saying that she was trying to help me but I had to produce a reciept. So basically what she was saying to me that without a reciept I was SOL(**** outta luck). I got her name and to my suprise she is the Director, Business Development. What a joke!!! And we exchanged information.

So in my anger, i told her that I would be bringing this matter up to Bose Corporate. So later that night I called Bose in the US. No problems dealing with them. I was told by the customer care representative that there was indeed a design flaw and since then they have redsigned the headphones. So he told me to send them back to the US and they will be sending me a new and improved set of headphones.

I will be writing a letter to Bose Corporate to tell them of my experience with Atlas.

So those of you with the Quiet Comfort Headphones inspect your headphones and take the neccessay action. Now you know that you can exchange them if you have encountered the same problems you should insist on it.

I have been hearing so many horror stories on the customer care or rather the lack of it. Not too sure what can be done.

Don't get me wrong I love Bose products but I don't think I will be going to Atlas anytime soon. I am boycotting that place.

 

[vince123123]

The customer service standards in singapore is way atrocious, compared to that in the US.

 

[Firefox]

Hardly surprising after the old boss passed on.. I personally wouldn't want to have anything to do with his son, Michael..

 

[Darren]

Hmmmm ... my experience with Atlas is exactly the opposite of yours.

My QuietComfort II (bought more than a year ago also) broke while on a recent trip (I was using it and there was a loud crack when part of the plastic housing gave way). Needless to say, the unit was unusable from there on.

Anyway, I went to the Atlas Hi-Fi branch at Junction 8 (my set was initially purchased from Plaza Singapura) and enquired on what can be done with regards to repair. To my surprise, the salesperson just asked me what the nature of the problem was, and after my description, he just said "No problem, bring it in and we give you a new unit as replacement."

So, the next weekend, I took in the old set, the manager checked my particulars online (I did not have the warranty card but my details were in their database) and walked out with a brand new set.

The only difference in your case and mine was that my set was purchased locally while yours was purchased from the US, thus there may be some international/local warranty reasons behind why Atlas was unable to exchange for you.

So, while you may have not had the most pleasant of experience with Atlas, my experience with them has been the exact opposite and I am obviously very much more inclined to do future business with them.

 

[yanyewkay]

i think Darren has mentioned an important point. "The unit was not purchased locally." This meant Atlas did not earn a single cent from you.

vince123123: you'll be surprised how atrocious US service can get as well. A typical supermarket counter can take more than 5 minutes to check out ONE single item in the "express lane" sometimes.

 

[dEthANGeL]

But i feel that as a representative for bose US here in asia, Atlas Hifi should not have demanded for reciept or payment for repairs that needs to be done, and offer a check with the US side instead and get back to the consumer who has encountered the problem.

Even though they never earned a buck from you, they should never do such a thing.

I've never really liked stepping into bose showrooms as they see me as a "kid" and don't entertain me most of the time ... (wanted to buy a AM5 Series 3 a couple of years back) ... since they didn't even bother to hook one up for a potential customer, i bought another speaker system instead.

 

[ericp]

The situation's probably looked at as a "drop shipment" ... the prices in Singapore would be different from the US not solely due to conversion rate, but a portion would be for warranty and ongoing support. Therefore unless Bose HQ funds these for Atlas, it would not make business sense for Atlas to do this unilaterally to all Bose products brought to their service counter. And as Bose USA asked you to ship the unit back to them rather than them liaising with Atlas for a "local" exchange or repair, I'd guess this is the case. Check what your warranty card says.

 

[beachbum]

just tot i like to share some info regarding bose equipment and the way they sell ...

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

 

[DeusExMachina]

Atlas is the local agent for BOSE, they are not a BOSE subsidiary. BOSE is just one of the brands they carry although it is the main brand. Depending on their RMA contract with the principal, they may not be obliged at all to honor a set without local warranty.

 

[hondasleeper]

But if there is a design flaw in the headphones, I don't think it should matter where the headphones were purchased. Ultimately the headphones will still be going back to the manufacturer, a recall on their products.

I would not be posting here if they had tried to address this matter in a better way. I felt that because of the way I was dressed,I was treated more like an annoyance rather than a customer.

I know Singapore is taking steps in improving customer service but we have a long, long, long way to go. Maybe there should be a rating system like hotels and food outlets here, so that retail outlet, when they know they under the microscope, will get their act together.

 

[user12343]

when i last purchased my bose lifestyle system with them years back, i asked Atlas if they'll provide support for parallel-imported products. they gave a firm NO, as they do not provide after-sales (even with higher fees) service, as they need to take care of the customers who bought from them locally.

on another occasion when i went back to them to buy the cube-speaker stands, they asked me for my previous purchase's receipt to prove that i bought from them then they'll sell me the stands... so much for protecting the local consumers' market....

 

[user12343]

a very interesting read, dude , that's why some pple say the bose HT sounds "not high not low", but the satellite cubes have gotten many other audio manufacturers to copy their design and sell them at a much lower price....but i do like their radio-frequency wireless remote that doesnt use IR or line-of-sight operation....

just tot i like to share some info regarding bose equipment and the way they sell ...

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

 

[beachbum]

i remember going for one of their very sleek multimedia presentation some years back - they were using 4 slides machines with very nice pics. halfway thru the presentation, i remember noting that the mid and lower mid range was weak for such huge floor standers. later they took away the shell of the floor standers to reveal the small satellite speakers behind - then only then did i realise whey it sound the way it did. Since then i never trusted bose products, especailly their satellites. i think i was more impress with the general presentation and the beauty of the pics and the choice of music then the actual performance of the product.

 

[ricohflex]

Well, Bose is not exactly the epitome of loudspeaker or headphone quality. I give it 5½ out of 10 points for hifi quality. That is being generous.
Frankly if I have used something for over a year and taken it for travels, I would not bring it back to any shop anywhere in the world regardless of USA or Singapore; and demand a replacement.

Be fair to Bose and Atlas, in this respect.

By the way, I do not like Atlas too.

That was because a very long time ago (20 or 30 years), they had a Filipino male sales staff who was stuck up and pigeon-eyed (nice only to those he thinks are rich). He did not believe I had a Linn Sondek turntable or could afford one.

 

[hondasleeper]

Just to clarify, I did not "demand" a replacement. I wanted to find out what Bose were going to do about the premature failure of one of their products, which was not due to wear and tear.

I called Bose USA to find out what they were going to do about it, they offered to replace the old headphones for a newly designed one.

It is like an automobile recall, even though the car has been used regardless of mileage or age, a flaw was discovered, the defective component(s) are repaired or replaced. If any of you remember the tire problems with the Ford Explorer in the US. Ford and firestone did a recall on all suspected tires at no cost to the customer.

I would have expected better though from Atlas. But as ricohflex said, i didn't look like I was loaded or could even afford those headphones, so didn't deserve to be entertained too much.