[eddypoon]

  you are supposed to pay shipping when you sent something over but the return shipping should be Hifiman's obligation
 
 

 
Thanks for the comments - Mine was dead-on-arrival. The volume control buttons all did not work. But in any case, Hifiman made me suffer for both buying shipping, and return shipping. 
 
Thanks for other members comments, and sharing their personal experience with hifiman's poor customer experience. 

 

[T65design]

 
Thank you for all our member's support and agreement.  
 
Oh, and so,  anyone want a Fiio Alisan?.... 

@eddypoon,
What other brands are you considering next after this experience?

 

[eddypoon]

I have huge respects for Hifiman's products. The company makes some of the best orthodynamic headphones in the market now, including the venerable HE-6, the cost effective and efficient HE-560 and HE-500. 
 
I am really torn, therefore, and hurt by my experience with the company's post-sales service. I do not know what else, if any, is as good as those offered by Hifiman in the market. 
 
I hope the company's senior executives are really hearing this and addressing these problems properly into the future. 

 

[eddypoon]

Nothing from Hifiman's CS. I tried to reach out to their senior people. Nothing for two weeks. Dead silence. 
 
Please, take my advice, do not buy from this company. 

 

[Mooses9]

Same thing here im about 2 or so months out without a word, im at the forget it part they want to have no partake in helping me. ive lost all respect 

 

[hifiman-us]

  i personally dont know why they would have a large basis for sales geared torwards america, yet have technical support SOLELY,based out of CHINA, and you can only reach them by EMAIL? personally when i have a technical support question i want to talk to a live person, i dont want to text,aim,kik,instagram,skpe,tweet,facebook,snapchat, someone to get help. just doesnt make sense

That is incorrect. HiFiMAN has had a U.S. office for sales and service for years. Our current office is in Newark Delaware and the phone # is (201) 443-4626. 
 
Peter Hoagland

 

[julian67]

[COLOR=FF0000]Nothing from Hifiman's CS. I tried to reach out to their senior people. Nothing for two weeks. Dead silence. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=FF0000]Please, take my advice, do not buy from this company. [/COLOR]

It's hardly unusual for companies with truly terrible quality control and/or dismally bad customer service to get a pass on head-fi and still be some kind of eternal flavour of the month. Established and supposedly respectable and expert reviewers use a product for a few hours or days and then award scores, often even down to fractional differences! They get known good products direct from the manufacturer/importer/principal vendor and somehow feel qualified to comment on materials and build quality despite having almost as little data on these issues as someone who just sees an ad and reads the marketing bs.

This might not matter much for people in rich and developed economies who are spending $20 but it surely is an issue for people who might be spending 100s of dollars, or anyone who has to think carefully before making the purchase. For me now it's practically a reflex that before committing to a purchase I check sites where real buyers of actual retail products relate their experiences, the more the better. On that basis I doubt I will ever buy a Hifiman IEM, or a Vsonic IEM or another RHA IEM (been there, done that). These three brands have huge reputation at Head-Fi but if you look elsewhere it doesn't take the deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes to understand that there is a horribly high chance of failure, either DOA or breakage with a few weeks or months, and that this will cost *you* money and time.....unless you are a Head-Fi reviewer who gets this stuff for free and likes that free ride and soothing ego massage.....

 

[Mcgeggy]

 
That is incorrect. HiFiMAN has had a U.S. office for sales and service for years. Our current office is in Newark Delaware and the phone # is (201) 443-4626. 
 
Peter Hoagland

Weird - 201 is a northern NJ area code...

 

[hifiman-us]

Yes there are many weird things in area code 201. 

 However HiFiMAN's U.S. office is in Newark DE not Newark NJ. 
 
Peter

 

[Gr8Desire]

I read threads like this and wonder why vendors risk their reputation over such small amounts of cash. But if understand correctly, your main concern is shipping costs somewhere in the neighbourhood of $30. Is that right? 
 
In the end, isn't it better to just "let it go?". Getting a refund on a DOA product is the real goal, isn't it?
 
I take my cash, consider shipping costs to be a worthwhile education expense and go elsewhere.  No vendor deserves my business if their products don't meet my standards - but I don't expect them to lose any sleep over it either.

Vendors that offer exceptional service stand a great chance of having me for a long term, repeat customer.  Sadly, this has become the exception and not the rule. 

FWIW: When I have an option of equal or slightly higher cost on amazon.com, I always take it. Amazon has good return policies based partially on their deals with UPS and FedEx.  Best to take advantage of it whenever possible. 

 

[Nankai]

Head-direct does not refund shipping cost when customer request refund. This policy last for 10 years without any problems. Customer service team have to follow this policy. In this case, customer service team want to keep customer happy so that they send customer a headphone amp for free to compensate the customer (shipping and cost of this headphone amp is more than $10 shipping). From my point of view, they should not ship any compensation to customer in this case. Customer agreed customer service's idea via email. 

 

[eddypoon]

  Head-direct does not refund shipping cost when customer request refund. This policy last for 10 years without any problems. Customer service team have to follow this policy. In this case, customer service team want to keep customer happy so that they send customer a headphone amp for free to compensate the customer (shipping and cost of this headphone amp is more than $10 shipping). From my point of view, they should not ship any compensation to customer in this case. Customer agreed customer service's idea via email. 

Customer indeed agreed with you that you send an amp in place of that $20 that he *lost* after he received a DEAD ON ARRIVAL headphone, AFTER the  customer  asked for a full refund of both way shipping, and failed, and he felt sick and tired of fighting against that company, in case, that head direct / hifiman  company.  
 
that customer, is not asking you to pay him any more money. 
 
That customer, is asking you to change your policy for better of treatment of shipping costs related charges, on dead on arrival products, for YOUR FUTURE CUSTOMERS. 
 
 
Hey, I got a name, feel free to call me out.  
 
and honestly, Nankai, thank you for your note. 

 

[Gr8Desire]

  Head-direct does not refund shipping cost when customer request refund. This policy last for 10 years without any problems. Customer service team have to follow this policy. In this case, customer service team want to keep customer happy so that they send customer a headphone amp for free to compensate the customer (shipping and cost of this headphone amp is more than $10 shipping). From my point of view, they should not ship any compensation to customer in this case. Customer agreed customer service's idea via email. 

Cost of product matters. Under $1000: I don't expect free return shipping. Above $2000: I expect more consideration particularly when these products come with high expectations promoted by the vendor.

Another factor: Online cost versus brick-and-mortar. When the cost is significantly lower online, then return shipping does matter as much, does it? Even when shipping is factored in, I routinely save money by auditioning online verses driving to a store. And since 10 day in-home-auditions beat in-store listening, paying for the opportunity is fine with me. 

There is one exception: Product arrives Dead On Arrival (DOA). Some negotiation is required. If the product really never worked, then the vendor should pay costs. I know there are people who try to scam the system so I don't mind when the vendor asks a few questions.    

 

[Thad-E-Ginathom]

Product Dead On Arrival, to me, in simple and general terms means... the goods were never supplied; the contract was never fulfilled. The supplier owes. If they want their dead product back, they pay. that's up to them. If they want to keep  their cash they supply something that works. It doesn't matter what the product is, or the cost.
 
Laws vary from country to country, but I doubt that there is any law of contract anywhere that does not recognise this basic: buyer pays, supplier supplies.
 
If either side fails to fulfil, then, at the very least, they get bad things said about them.

 

[kapanak]

Head-direct does not refund shipping cost when customer request refund. This policy last for 10 years without any problems. Customer service team have to follow this policy. In this case, customer service team want to keep customer happy so that they send customer a headphone amp for free to compensate the customer (shipping and cost of this headphone amp is more than $10 shipping). From my point of view, they should not ship any compensation to customer in this case. Customer agreed customer service's idea via email. 

A very sad and uninformed response. Customers who request refund shouldn't expect shipping cost covered. Customers who receive a defective product have every right to request for their entire money back, and even then it's not enough to compensate for the time and headache.

I have purchased Hifiman products from a reputable local dealer before with no problems, but if this is the customer service they provide through their direct sales, I won't be looking into Hifiman anymore.

Of course, this brand is famous for some pretty catastrophic failures in the past, so no surprise here. But the customer treatment is very surprising.