[peareye]

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.

How about this:
 
KISS (Keep It Simple...)
 
DOA product = full refund to customer  (in a timely fashion) 
 
 
...don't push off your companies problems to the people that were supporting you!
 
or you'll never see them again ...and the negative word of mouth can be devasting in less time than you think!
 
thanks to this website and it's members!!!

 

[520RanchBro]

Glad I never even attempted to work with HFM's CS when my RE-600 cable died. Also charging return shipping on a DOA album is pretty bad service, punishing the customer, having them pay more than most for a product because you messed up.
 
The point made about still saving money in the long run by buying online but occasionally having to pay shipping for warranty service is fair. I get paying shipping for warranty service but for a DOA item? 

 

[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. ... ... ...

 
After clicking submit, I immediately thought, "Duh! I'm going to get shouted down here for stating the obvious!"
 
Well that didn't happen. Perhaps it is not as obvious as it seems and should be ...especially to some suppliers.
 
I do not have "a horse in this race." I'm not a customer of the company being talked about. I'm just keen on consumer rights and fair deals. Fair deals to both sides!
 
I'm not a customer ...as yet. Such accounts do, however, make a mark with me, just as much as the reviews, etc, do. And I always consider that, eccentric though I may be, I ain't unique, so if I think something, many, many others will too.
 
 
 
~ 

 

[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. 

The company probably sets a very strict policy and all members have to follow... I can empathize with Nankai. The good thing is we have  Hifiman's  attention, finally.
 
But just think about the gross margins the company is making... I still cannot believe Hifiman would set such an unfair, harmful policy for its customers.   

 

[Gr8Desire]

Naturally I prefer when vendors offers free shipping for everything.   But let's remember, "free everything" costs us. 

Here's why: Free DOA returns encourages a small percentage of customers to sabotage an otherwise working product to claim it's DOA. I have read that anywhere from 5% to 20% of retail returns are damaged or have items missing. The actual number may be higher or lower and certainly does not apply to most people here. But the sad fact is: some people will induce DOA problems to get a free return.
 
Normally this "inventory shrinkage" is handled by increasing the price charged to all of us. A similar markup occurs with "free returns" on products sold by 3rd parties via Amazon prime. A portion of these costs are passed to the vendor who will generally pass it on to us.

Here's why I don't need free everything:  Free returns cost me more when I choose to keep an item. 
 
I have no problem with vendors like Schiit who insist on inspecting returned items before issuing a full refund. Since I am one of the ~80% who is being honest, I don't mind allowing the vendor to validate my returns. That lets the seller offer a lower price and I still get my money back.

Dealing with HIFIMAN may be different. I have yet to have a well worded letter be ignored by an otherwise honest vendor.

My $0.02 (worth what you paid for it).

 

[Thad-E-Ginathom]

Expecting that something you buy should work is not free anything,  let alone "free everything."

 

[eddypoon]

A month ago someone from Hifiman PMed me here on Headfi.. trying to understand this issue, after I shared my experience in  their marketing campaign thread here. 
 
 
and then it went completely dead, silence.  
 
 
Truly disappointed in Hifiman's lack of service, and respect on their customers. 

 

[swannie007]

This is an interesting, and disturbing, thread. I have some HiFiMan headphones and love them, BUT, I will NOT buy another HFM product after reading this thread! HFM need to get their act together. The price of the product is irrelevant and ALL customers deserve GOOD after sales service. Small customers become big customers over time if treated fairly and with RESPECT. It seems that these values are not present here with this company. This is unacceptable practise and we, as consumers, should not reward them with our custom. Their products are not unique and equivalent products can be purchased from other companies that value us as customers. Some companies just don't get this. You can only abuse so many customers and then the word gets out via these sort of forums and HFM will never know what this bad/non existent customer service has cost them in lost future revenue. My 02c worth. Cheers.

 

[becritical]

What are some reliable brands that will replace defective items and have perhaps worldwide warranty? I am buying a pair of IEM in the US but I am moving to europe. Will I have to ship mine to the US if they break or are there companies with european HQ?

 

[Sladeophile]

Well I guess I've bought my last Hifiman product. I was excited about a lot of their stuff, and thought I might look at their higher end stuff for end-game when I get to that point, but unless I see a drastic change in their treatment of customers, that won't be happening. I'm glad I sold my only *working* Hifiman gear a couple weeks ago. Bad word of mouth will kill you in this community if you aren't careful. My advice, if you don't want to pay for replacing items that were DOA, don't make cheap ****ty stuff. That is all.

 

[Scrappydoo]

Thanks for this thread. I'm buying iem's for my daughter and it's a toss-up between the re-400 and final audio heaven ii. After seeing hifiman's responses in this thread their product will no longer be considered.

 

[jefmohd]

 Sad to here about the POOR customer service and support. I previously bought on-line  He 500 (paid to return the old version for the new) and He 560 .
I will put my next purchase on HEK or the new Shanghai or  the Tube amp on HOLD for now. 

 

[hifiman-us]

HiFiMAN takes great pride in our customer service and support. Unfortunately, even the best companies cannot satisfy 100% of everyone 100% of the time. In addition, there are two sides to every story.
 
Judge brands by all of the feedback that is posted. HiFiMAN has a very good reputation for supporting its customers and a search here on Head-Fi will support that.
 
Peter  

 

[peareye]

  HiFiMAN takes great pride in our customer service and support. Unfortunately, even the best companies cannot satisfy 100% of everyone 100% of the time. In addition, there are two sides to every story.
 
Judge brands by all of the feedback that is posted. HiFiMAN has a very good reputation for supporting its customers and a search here on Head-Fi will support that.
 
Peter  

Fair enough....so how did you handle the customers complaint of the product not working "upon arrival" ?

 

[maniac2003]

I also had some issues with them back in the RE0 days.
Head-direct CS wasn't very helpful and understanding back then. In the end I left HiFiman / Head-direct. I considered the HE-400s but after a trip down memory lane (and some reviews) I decided that the company still isn't on par with the bigger boys.
I trust my local dealer but I'm not trusting the company providing the product. To bad.