Warranties

[bradiston]

Maybe done to death already, but just interested to know: when you buy electrical goods in a shop here, do the staff ever bother taking out the warranty card, giving you half, and filling in/stamping the other half with the shop details, etc, to be mailed off later to the manufacturer?

 

I moaned like X today as they didn't seem to know what the procedure was, but there again, is there one? In the end, we tore it in half, I filled in my details on both halves, then pointed out that, as was printed in both Thai and English, they were supposed to fill in and return their half within 10 days. They  couldnt have been less interested. Just said if I had a problem within 2 years bring back to any store, with receipt.

 

So, is their warranty that good? And the manufacturer's warranty was 3 years. Seems there's no staff training on the subject at all. 

[scubascuba3]

Homepro Pattaya very helpful young lady filled on in when i bought an electric saw, never happened since

[CharlieH]

As with most things here, consistently inconsistent.

Varies by town by store and who you actually deal with on the day ! ????

[Dazinoz]

I don't think I have ever had them fill in warranty card.

 

I bought a drill from HomePro once and when I got it home it did not work. I took it back that same day bought and they told me to send it back to manufacturer. I made an issue saying I only bought today so they ended up replacing it.

 

Just had microwave fail after 5 months. I had bought this from a Bangkok seller through Lazada and I am in Chiang Mai. Took to repair centre in CM and microwave repaired same day for free,

[Bert got kinky]

 

 

Excuse my ignorance but I have lived in Thailand for 23 years, so my grasp on certain words, while ringing a bell in my head, do sound very foriegn to an English man.

What is a warranty?

 

[Dazinoz]

7 minutes ago, Bert got kinky said:

 

 

Excuse my ignorance but I have lived in Thailand for 23 years, so my grasp on certain words, while ringing a bell in my head, do sound very foriegn to an English man.

What is a warranty?

 

Not sure if being serious or not but here is receipt of claim with Samsung in Thailand other day.

[Bert got kinky]

11 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

Not sure if being serious or not but here is receipt of claim with Samsung in Thailand other day.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Bert got kinky

[Peterw42]

Most warranties are between you and the manufacturer (unless it fails within a couple of days). The shop just acts as your agent in most instances. The shop isnt providing the warranty, doing the repair etc. 

 

Whether or not a warranty card gets returned doesnt matter much, the important thing is a proof of purchase date. I had a TV repaired on warranty recently, pulled out the warranty and the only thing on the card was a stamp from the shop verifying purchase date. The manufacturer, via their website, just wanted a copy of the purchase date, and then authorized a local shop to repair.

 

Nowadays, internet connected devices like a laptop will do a phone home to start the warranty, as you turn it on. Something to be aware of if you buy display stock.

[Dazinoz]

8 minutes ago, Bert got kinky said:

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, as I expected.

 

[khunjeff]

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

Whether or not a warranty card gets returned doesnt matter much, the important thing is a proof of purchase date.

That's been my experience as well, and many companies are even fairly lax about the proof of purchase date. I had an iron stop working within the warranty period, and the call center just asked when I bought it without requiring any evidence. I paid a few hundred baht for them to pick up the old one and bring a new one (not worth actually fixing it, not surprisingly) so I wouldn't have to go to their repair center in the suburbs.

[Road Warrior]

my experience over 3 warranty claims FORGET IT  throw the item away or pay for repair 

[wwest5829]

Reading the responses, I think the advice is collectively correct. In the decade past, stores have always taken care of me. Even took two boxes of wine back to Makro at one point without difficulty, explaining something was bad in the taste (I suspected poor storage in shipment). Anyway, no problem, cost given back immediately. Who knows, perhaps they had already been told of an issue.

[khunjeff]

9 minutes ago, Road Warrior said:

my experience over 3 warranty claims FORGET IT  throw the item away or pay for repair 

I've had several items repaired or replaced under warranty here - even a webcam from a tiny shop at Pantip Plaza - so perhaps it just depends on the individual company or store. Whether it's always worth the effort is another question, I guess.

[bbko]

I've bought computer parts from JiB with 2-3-4 year warranties and they honored their warranties without any hassle. I've bought power tools with warranty cards inside and went back to the store with my receipt and card and they thought I wanted to return the item but after a few minutes and much head scratching on their part they stamped and dated the card.

I actually have a small plastic box filled with instruction manuals, warranty cards, receipts, etc.

[brianthainess]

If within 7 days the shop has always complied, after that 'send back to manufacturer' One time I brought a Tv that stopped working " No ploblem sir, we send back to manuflacturer may take 3 mths " No way was I going 3 mths without a tv, got it repaired locally myself. years later New Smart TV the remote packed up before 1 yr, "Solly sir remote not covered by warranty only TV picture, we order new remote 500 b. " 

[TropicalGuy]

1 hour ago, Road Warrior said:

my experience over 3 warranty claims FORGET IT  throw the item away or pay for repair 

Supports my “ not interested” warranty philosophy. never bothered. Not prepared to spend time or go through process .even for expensive installed ac or tv. Free tv shop repair against receipt & local tech for ac ( both needed only beyond 5 year warranty mark).

[bradiston]

Thanks to everybody that replied. It was at Homepro on Klang in Pattaya. Seems from the responses so far that keeping the receipt is of paramount importance. And taking a photocopy maybe, as the ink tends to fade! If anything goes wrong I'll take it back to the shop. 

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, Road Warrior said:

my experience over 3 warranty claims FORGET IT  throw the item away or pay for repair 

My experience would suggest that is pretty rubbish advice.

I have had many items repaired or replaced over the years, the most significant being the washing machine. I bought it through Lazada and it was a general 2 year warranty but only a few weeks before the warranty expired it failed. The guy came and had to replace the main controller, a fairly hefty outlay if I had to pay for it. 

Many moons ago I bought a walkman from Carrefour on Pattaya Klang for my son. It didn't last long so when I came back a few months later I took it back to the shop. They didn't want to know despite have the original receipt, I just left it with them. I wrote to the head office in France and my son got a brand new one through the post a few days later.

[khunPer]

On 12/27/2021 at 7:17 AM, bradiston said:

So, is their warranty that good? And the manufacturer's warranty was 3 years. Seems there's no staff training on the subject at all. 

It's depending of the product you buy. For some products you need to register warranty online, for others you need to fill in a card yourself and mail to the company, and a for a few products the staff will take out the warranty card, ask you to fill in details, and take a photo of it together with the receipt and upload it to the company (the latter happened with the TV I bought in BigC earlier this month with 3 years warranty).

 

If something is wrong during the warranty period you need to bring the products to an authorized repair shop or send it to one. It's the same with products with international warranty, for example a phone that you need to send to a specified anddress and wait some month to get back; it took almost four month for me back in time when Nokia was still a mobile phone one bought, and send to an authorized address on Phuket for repair, meanwhile I bought another Nokia phone, as I needed one, and decided to never ever buy Nokia again...

 

For cheap products I don't care about the 6 month or 1 year warranty, but I check if it works and have my 7 days return right to the shop in case it's not working, in major chains like Lotus's and BigC and HomePro it's never a problem to return a faulty product for replacement or have money returned...????

[ThaiFelix]

10 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Most warranties are between you and the manufacturer (unless it fails within a couple of days). The shop just acts as your agent in most instances. The shop isnt providing the warranty, doing the repair etc. 

 

Whether or not a warranty card gets returned doesnt matter much, the important thing is a proof of purchase date. I had a TV repaired on warranty recently, pulled out the warranty and the only thing on the card was a stamp from the shop verifying purchase date. The manufacturer, via their website, just wanted a copy of the purchase date, and then authorized a local shop to repair.

 

Nowadays, internet connected devices like a laptop will do a phone home to start the warranty, as you turn it on. Something to be aware of if you buy display stock.

Couldnt have put it better myself as thats how I have found it.  One thing I would add is that you have to insist.  If you ask a Thai they will say you cant return it or expect refund at all.  I couldnt wear it so am always insistant.  Even with AIS when I changed sims to a different provider because we are in a blind spot they all told me in the AIS shop I had lost any credit that remained on my sim card.  I kept emailing head office, just out of principle, until eventually they admitted I was due for a refund.  Insist!

[recom273]

I always had good experiences with warranties here.

 

I bought a Mitsubishi fan, it was vibrating out of the box, I found the local sevice center, took it in, they looked at it, and hit it with a rubber mallet and solved the issue. They took the card and completed it for me and that was it. 
 

LG weren’t even worried about the warrantee card for the fridge, they wanted a receipt when the wife couldn’t find it, we gave them a rough date when we bought it and that was good enough. I thought LG customer service was ok but dependent on who picked up the phone, the engineer was cool when he visited.
 

I had a Teka oven that I should never have bought, too cheap .. it ran into issues after 9 months, they told me 2 months to get a service guy out .. I told them to come and pick the POS up, they agreed that their service coverage didn’t extend to the Deep South and they took it back. 
 

Customer service isn’t the best here, but when the issue is justified I never had an issue with warranties.
 

That’s every claim I had for 15 years, in reality every sale is logged with a serial code, what’s the purpose of filling in those postcards? 

[bradiston]

1 hour ago, recom273 said:

I always had good experiences with warranties here.

 

I bought a Mitsubishi fan, it was vibrating out of the box, I found the local sevice center, took it in, they looked at it, and hit it with a rubber mallet and solved the issue. They took the card and completed it for me and that was it. 
 

LG weren’t even worried about the warrantee card for the fridge, they wanted a receipt when the wife couldn’t find it, we gave them a rough date when we bought it and that was good enough. I thought LG customer service was ok but dependent on who picked up the phone, the engineer was cool when he visited.
 

I had a Teka oven that I should never have bought, too cheap .. it ran into issues after 9 months, they told me 2 months to get a service guy out .. I told them to come and pick the POS up, they agreed that their service coverage didn’t extend to the Deep South and they took it back. 
 

Customer service isn’t the best here, but when the issue is justified I never had an issue with warranties.
 

That’s every claim I had for 15 years, in reality every sale is logged with a serial code, what’s the purpose of filling in those postcards? 

That seems to have been the attitude of the staff at Homepro, but I challenged it because assuming they're telling you the whole story is foolish. They want the sale and you out of there ASAP IME. Anyway, I've got the receipt, so...

[elgenon]

On 12/26/2021 at 10:45 PM, scubascuba3 said:

Homepro Pattaya very helpful young lady filled on in when i bought an electric saw, never happened since

I am curious as to what happened after you left. She bought a stamp and mailed the card?

[scubascuba3]

5 minutes ago, elgenon said:

I am curious as to what happened after you left. She bought a stamp and mailed the card?

Presumably she sent it to the manufacturer, might of had a freepost thing, I can't remember. It was her idea so she wouldn't have binned it unless something went wrong after

[Carmine6]

All the warranty cards I filled in were only my information and not the shop. Or it was information that I could get like address and didn't require anything unusual like sales person or a store number.

 

Also had postage paid return address so I just took them to the post office.   These were for a refrigerator, TV, water heater, a hood vent over the stove, and the stove.  I had to warranty repair the water heater about 5 months in and the management company handled it since I wasn't in the country.  I sent them photos of the warranty card and the receipt from HomePro.  I do not know if they needed those as I had already sent the card in with most of the information, so it theoretically was in their system.