Im sorry but theyre really not asking for much. Who doesnt have some form of a camera these days? If youre adept enough to use the internet Im sure you have, or know someone that has, a camera somewhere. Even my grandmother has a camera on her phone.
As someone said, theyre probably trying to figure out where the damage occured. They are a business after all and have to cover their butts too. I really dont think this complaint is warranted. Though you may have spent 300 or even 3000, normal procedure is normal procedure.
Now if you would have actually sent in pictures or a video and they still denied your claim that would be another story.
Im sorry but theyre really not asking for much. Who doesnt have some form of a camera these days? If youre adept enough to use the internet Im sure you have, or know someone that has, a camera somewhere. Even my grandmother has a camera on her phone.
As someone said, theyre probably trying to figure out where the damage occured. They are a business after all and have to cover their butts too. I really dont think this complaint is warranted. Though you may have spent 300 or even 3000, normal procedure is normal procedure.
Now if you would have actually sent in pictures or a video and they still denied your claim that would be another story.
Yeah, it's a standard procedure. Just borrow a mobile phone from your friend. Make a video with a bad dropin and good dropin, to show that it's not a body or cell prob. And if you can, a few closeup photos of the emitter. Good luck ;)
Actually the process is smooth. I had a R5 dropin that the circuit board died within 2-3h of use (not continuous). I supplied the pictures and even the dissasembled driver in the process along with the envelope. Not even a day later got a replacement was on th way. Even more they sent me a SMO reflector since i asked for one where those were not yet available.
Don't know why are you so hesitant to do what they require. The customer care needs that "proof" to justify their loss.
I have a similar problem. I bought a Mr Lite which was DOA. It smells like the driver is fried when I stick a battery in it. Hard to take a photo without pulling it apart.
Since it is dead i see no real troubles putting it apart. Ask Don for how to as he did some pretty nice jobs with those. He must be very qualified as a tutor on disassembly of Mr lites.
Yeah, they really don't care. They're just following a script.
Even after hundreds of orders over the span of several years and way more money spend at DX than I care to admit, they still require the usual pictures: the envelope picture to verify some stuff printed on the shipping label, because they actually do care whose QC number is on that envelope and, mostly, because they like to make you jump through as many hoops as possible (already tossed that envelope? well, oops). The picture of defective product is because the CS agent generally doesn't know jack about the product in question and couldn't tell a fried emitter from a working one without a side-by-side.
There's really nothing unusal about requiring pictures and they're not trying to imply that you're a fraud or anything like that. I recently had to do the RMA song and dance when a $2 item from DX turned out to be DOA. I actually had to dig the envelope out of the trash because I had already disposed of it and didn't feel like playing twenty questions with a newly hired CS rep.
In this case I would just send a video of me putting in a battery into another flashlight that works, then putting the same battery into the dead flashlight, and showing my hand clicking the switch.
I always attached a few pictures of the item and of the packaging and they never replied with anything else than "We're sending you a new item, keep the old one".
Once they asked what I ment when I made a "Wrong SKU" request and the SKU listed on the item was the correct one (it was the right SKU but the wrong item).
I sent a pic. They actually have a 12 month warranty (I think) so it shouldn't be a problem. It was actually a Mrs Lite. Didn't go down too well with the wife. Here I bought you a flashlight.
"Hey it doesnt work. I told you to stop wasting money" .
Thanks to everyone for the advice.I remain disappointed that Manafont insists on the picture and video runaround,even for established customers.I just don't have the time and motivation to go through that process to save $15.After eight e-mails from Audrey insisting I would be helped it was obvious that the prior seven e-mails were being completely ignored and it seemed she had little understanding of flashlights or what can go wrong with a drop-in.I would have preferred being told "so sorry no refund or replacement" from the start so I would not waste my time.I had hoped they would be responsive because I had received a replacement from Solarforce for a DOA drop-in in the past-without pictures/videos.I received a DOA Eastward light from DX and received the same picture/video runaround even with several of the Eastward flashlight reviews on the DX site detailing the exact same DOA problem I had.And my purchase history with DX was in the thousands of dollars!I guess I should just learn to suck up the the small losses and become a videographer when the time comes that an expensive item proves to be defective.
I received a uf XML dropin on Tuesday. Thursday morning noticed drops of glue on led. Tried online chat with Audrey and instructed me to take pics of led. After chat noticed email from Jim@manafont. Asking about problem and to send pics. Took pics and replied. This morning I received resolution letter from Jim. Sorry your experience wasn’t as smooth as mine. But I guess I’ve learned well from dealing with dx. So I think manafont support is great from my experience.
It's not a runaround, it's how they do business. I don't know if their customer service people even understand half of what an e-mail might say since English isn't their native language and a lot of stuff relating to flashlights is very technical (and people who speak English don't even understand it). So they set up a procedure that you refused to follow and you got a poor result. It's odd that you don't want to be bothered to take a picture, but you still sent them 8 e-mails?
This is a part of buying budget lights. It may not be for everyone.
Everyone here has been thru it and feel for you .. the long and short answer is you pay with a credit card , use paypal and if they give you more than 3 times runaround you pop them with a dispute and case ..bang bang .. You roll your dice you take your chances ..you knew it going in .. there IS no other option .. no retailer in his right mind is gonna carry this stuff and sell it locally at the margins these guys do ..9o% of the stuff you buy isn't in their warehouse and they aren't carrying it at risk to them ...We feel for you ..all of us do ... but there isn't a choice unless you want to be an eternal geek and pay twice what a light is worth and hang out under the steely gaze of the iron maiden
. if you can't take a picture of the light ....send them this one ...<<<
