Living Index Mall

[Lobo4819]

Three months ago, I purchased an "office chair", swivel, reclining, from Living Index for 3000 baht on sale. I realize that almost all their "quality furniture" is made from pure crap - sawdust mixed with wood glue, but I figured an office chair might hold up. Wrong. Three months into my ownership, the seat base (made from crap sawdust and wood glue) broke in half, making it partially sittable, but nowhere near reclinable unless I wanted to lean back, fall over and smack my head on the floor.

After several calls, I was referred to the "information" desk, who advised that I should bring the chair in. The esteemed manager of the "information" department told me that although I had a one year warranty on products purchased, he could not guarantee that it would be applicable since I had used the chair for 3 months. No, I'm not kidding. Over the past week, we have exchanged phone calls wherein he said they "may" try to repair it ( a ludicrous proposition unless they replaced the entire seat bottom), but I just may not have a case with them. I responded that a one-year warranty is a one-year warranty, and I would like either the chair replaced or given a store credit for another (more expensive) chair. Several days later, he call to say they will agree to repair the seat bottom, but the balance of my warranty will now be voided.

Realizing the situation I was in, I have decided to accept the fates and get my $%(*@# chair back and never again buy anything from the House of Sawdust. In most businesses in most countries, this would be a no-brainer, but at 3000 baht, I've better things to do with my time. Living Index, where a warranty is not one. Caveat Emptor.

[stoneyboy]

It's a running joke in my house any time something breaks,which is rather frequent that we pipe up with the words Made In Thailand,even the other half joins in now.

[elektrified]

I've looked at the merchandise in Index several times and been tempted to buy a couple of things - but never did. Things look O.K. but after close inspection, it is not quality merchandise.

I paid 8,000 for my office chair 3 1/2 years ago from the first shop on the left as you go down Chiang Moi and it's still functional although the vinyl has split right down the middle of the seat and now the foam is exposed. But the wheels and the hydraulics are fine.

[Beetlejuice]

So you have only just realised that a warranty on anything in Thailand is not worth the paper it`s written on, that`s if you`re lucky enough to have it in writing.

Here it`s like the run of the dice, some we win, some we lose.

Lost count of how many faulty goods I`ve had to throw away over the years.

BTW, how long have you lived here?

[muchogra]

Sorry to hear your mishap. As an outsider it's funny to hear such idiotic reponses from the manager. As a participant in the incident like yourself I can share your fuming.

I have visited Living Index a few times. One thing for sure is that that place needs more sales people at the store.

The second floor has better furniture made by different manufacturers. The first floor has furniture made by Winner which are generally cheaper and made of particle boards with formica top.

I had bought 3 sets of bedroom furniture from Index for my 3 upstair bedrooms plus 3 computer desks. I wasn't there when they delivered them. We had only used the furniture in 2 rooms for a few days. Hopefully, our bed won't collapse in the middle of the night or a wardrobe door falls on our feet one of these days.

[Awk]

So you have only just realised that a warranty on anything in Thailand is not worth the paper it`s written on, that`s if you`re lucky enough to have it in writing.

Rather, it will vary how the company deals with it. A few months ago I returned a somewhat "high-end" (private consumer wise) DSL-router that I originally paid around 4,000 baht for. Two months before the two year warranty expired, it broke down.

I returned it to the shop in Pantip Place where I had purchased it (Goodspeed), and while I'm not to pleased with having

had to wait over two months for the replacement (eventually I convinced Goodspeed to let me borrow another DSL-router

after having waited for several weeks), I did get a replacement router eventually (a more modern version of what I had before)

without having to make a hassle out of it. Now that I think about it, I actually had to return the original router after a few days

when I bought it two years ago also (not everything that has Cisco printed on it is actually Cisco-quality it turned out).

At that time Goodspeed simply gave me a new one there and then.

So: Goodspeed: pass. Living Index: fail.

[barefoot1988]

sometimes its the staff. i bought a otto induction cooker which failed within 2 weeks. called otto up and told me i could to go back to tesco go a replacement. called tesco to make sure and make a trip down but only to be refused by the staff there despite having the receipt, warranty card and everything intact, the particular girl who attended to us was extremely rude to my girlfriend for no reason and try to shake us away.. i just smile called tesco department and request them to speak to the particular girl.

needless to say, within minutes a genuine friendly staff apologize to us and change a new one.

i am not too sure if that might be the case, but you could try phoning up the head department. i believe its more like worthless staff than warranty actually. i believe many have similar experience with customer service staff over here. they seem clueless and assume everything

Edited February 20, 2012 by barefoot1988

[janverbeem]

So you have only just realised that a warranty on anything in Thailand is not worth the paper it`s written on, that`s if you`re lucky enough to have it in writing.

Here it`s like the run of the dice, some we win, some we lose.

Lost count of how many faulty goods I`ve had to throw away over the years.

BTW, how long have you lived here?

I have lived here for 17 years and untill recently I was of the same opinion as you.Then I opened a topic on this board about an issue I had with a faulty item which resulted in an advice from Sunbelt Asia to contact the board of consumer protection Thailand.They have an office in every cityhall in Thailand.

Well,that advice has earned me more than 100.000 Baht since,for which I otherwise would have had no other choice than pulling my nose.

For sure it isn't worth to contact them for a 2000 Baht warranty which isn't honored,but for bigger amounts it is.Companies who were not responding or laughing with my claims for months in line give a positive response within hours after a simple phonecall from this departement.

If you have a serious issue,my only advice to you is to go visit them and your issues will disappear like snow for the sun.

Edited February 20, 2012 by janverbeem

[muchogra]

sometimes its the staff. i bought a otto induction cooker which failed within 2 weeks. called otto up and told me i could to go back to tesco go a replacement. called tesco to make sure and make a trip down but only to be refused by the staff there despite having the receipt, warranty card and everything intact, the particular girl who attended to us was extremely rude to my girlfriend for no reason and try to shake us away.. i just smile called tesco department and request them to speak to the particular girl.

needless to say, within minutes a genuine friendly staff apologize to us and change a new one.

i am not too sure if that might be the case, but you could try phoning up the head department. i believe its more like worthless staff than warranty actually. i believe many have similar experience with customer service staff over here. they seem clueless and assume everything

+1

Very true. I second that. My dealing with Living Index seems quite professional. I suspect it's the particular individual in question.

[elektrified]

My experience has been generally pretty good. If you are friendly and polite, speak a little Thai, then they will most of the time go out of their way to help and make good on a faulty product or honor a warranty. Sometimes it takes time and a number of visits or phone calls.

I lost my temper one day (which I almost never do - maybe once every 8 years) and threw a Nokia mobile across the house and it smashed into at least 10 pieces. It was totaled; totally worthless. My g/f took the pieces to the Nokia service center and about 3 weeks later they called to say that they could not repair it as it was totally destroyed but that we could come to the service center and they would give us a brand new mobile as the other was still under warranty.

Edit: For every time there has been a hassle over something, there has been more positive experiences that outweigh the difficult ones; i.e. Amorn not charging for simple repairs, Siam TV came to do a repair on one of the A/C's and the guy knew exactly what the problem was and fixed it in less than 5 minutes - no charge. The list goes on.

Edited February 20, 2012 by elektrified