Seidio Customer Service VERY DISAPPOINTING

[FullBoarBBQ]

I recently purchased a brand new Innotraveller kit off of ebay and it doesn't get power to the cradle. the led light on the plug end of the cord is lit, indicating that it has power but the led on the cradle does not light. nor does my droid indicate it's charging when placed in the cradle. Because i didn't buy it from an authorized reseller, seidio refuses to honor the warranty. I have proof of purchase and it's easy to see the unit is unused, except for me trying it out.
i can of course return it to the seller from ebay but then i'm out $20 in shipping fees and all i really want is for seidio to honor the warranty. I think its a great accessory for my droid. my buddy has one which is how i found out about them in the first place.

 

[adrenalinemotion]

if i were seidio and you didn't buy it from me, i wouldn't want to replace it for you either. you want warranty support from the company that you didn't purchase the item from? that doesn't make much sense to me. i 110% take seidio's side on this one. if you want good customer service and support next time, buy the item directly from seidio and i'm sure they would be MORE than happy to help you out.

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

Do you really think that anyone will honor a warranty if an item is purchased from a non-authorized dealer??? Bet it was cheap, wasn't it? That's because it was probably a knock off from china and the only thing Seidio about it was the name the scammers printed on it. Buy from authorized dealers and you'll not have these issues. Your bad, not Seidios.

 

[FullBoarBBQ]

seriously? do you guys work for or deal seidio products? i work for a large snack food company in the USA, as a DSD sales supervisor and if one of our products is found to be unsatisfactory, for any reason, we unconditionally replace or refund the product. That's good customer service, and thats how the company grew from a mom and pop operation to a half billion a year in sales.

I thought it was a good product and thats why i wanted one, but if they don't want to stand behind their product, then maybe it's because their standards are lacking.

And no, i didn't get it all that cheap, with shipping it cost me $45.

 

[adrenalinemotion]

nothing grinds my gears more than stuff like this, you can't get a replacement so you give a big thumbs down to seidio and you never purchased the item from them in the first place.

 

[FullBoarBBQ]

nothing grinds my gears more than stuff like this, you can't get a replacement so you give a big thumbs down to seidio and you never purchased the item from them in the first place.

Whatever dude! Grind baby grind!
I filled out their claim form, including part numbers, there is even an instruction in the form that details what to provide if you bought it from ebay. I had no idea the seller wasn't an authorized seidio dealer. They made no indication that my unit is in fact a knock off, only that they won't honor the warranty on a brand new unit because i didn't buy it from the right person. That's BULLSH!T! Defend them if you want but if a company won't stand behind their product, then they won't have a company for too long! It's a shame because i really wanted to like the company and the product.
They even told me they wouldn't honor the warranty if i had been given the kit as a gift, unless i could prove where it was bought. Stores like sears, walmart, target etc take returns without receipts all the time. they give you an exact replacement or store credit. I'm not asking for my money back, just to replace the faulty unit. they can determine if in fact it is a genuine unit and when it was manufactured just by the serial numbers.
I still wonder if Seidio isn't putting money in your pocket?

 

[shallowwaterdroid]

nothing grinds my gears more than stuff like this, you can't get a replacement so you give a big thumbs down to seidio and you never purchased the item from them in the first place.

Thats whats done on message boards . Keyboard warrior bashing

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

nothing grinds my gears more than stuff like this, you can't get a replacement so you give a big thumbs down to seidio and you never purchased the item from them in the first place.

Whatever dude! Grind baby grind!
I filled out their claim form, including part numbers, there is even an instruction in the form that details what to provide if you bought it from ebay. I had no idea the seller wasn't an authorized seidio dealer. They made no indication that my unit is in fact a knock off, only that they won't honor the warranty on a brand new unit because i didn't buy it from the right person. That's BULLSH!T! Defend them if you want but if a company won't stand behind their product, then they won't have a company for too long! It's a shame because i really wanted to like the company and the product.
They even told me they wouldn't honor the warranty if i had been given the kit as a gift, unless i could prove where it was bought. Stores like sears, walmart, target etc take returns without receipts all the time. they give you an exact replacement or store credit. I'm not asking for my money back, just to replace the faulty unit. they can determine if in fact it is a genuine unit and when it was manufactured just by the serial numbers.
I still wonder if Seidio isn't putting money in your pocket?

You seem to be completely ignoring the fact that the items you bought were probably counterfeit or even stolen. Where did an Unauthorized Dealer get this stock? I'll tell you, he got it from a Chinese counterfeiter. That's why no company will warranty items bought from unauthorized dealers. They are not going to warranty some item that probably is not even theirs!! As I said earlier, the only thing "Seidio" about that product was the name the counterfeiter printed on it.

 

[cb3FSU]

nothing grinds my gears more than stuff like this, you can't get a replacement so you give a big thumbs down to seidio and you never purchased the item from them in the first place.

Whatever dude! Grind baby grind!
I filled out their claim form, including part numbers, there is even an instruction in the form that details what to provide if you bought it from ebay. I had no idea the seller wasn't an authorized seidio dealer. They made no indication that my unit is in fact a knock off, only that they won't honor the warranty on a brand new unit because i didn't buy it from the right person. That's BULLSH!T! Defend them if you want but if a company won't stand behind their product, then they won't have a company for too long! It's a shame because i really wanted to like the company and the product.
They even told me they wouldn't honor the warranty if i had been given the kit as a gift, unless i could prove where it was bought. Stores like sears, walmart, target etc take returns without receipts all the time. they give you an exact replacement or store credit. I'm not asking for my money back, just to replace the faulty unit. they can determine if in fact it is a genuine unit and when it was manufactured just by the serial numbers.
I still wonder if Seidio isn't putting money in your pocket?

Seidio doesn't have to put money in the pockets of satisfied customers. We defend them because they make the best products available and their customer service has always been great when Ive dealt with them.

Why would you pay $45 for an item off of ebay when you could have just bought it from their site. If you had, I guarantee they would have exchanged it no questions asked.

They arent selling twinkies. They wouldnt have a company very long if they replaced expensive parts sold on ebay.

You bought on ebay because you wanted to get it cheaper than the manufacturer sells it for. congrats, now you have to deal with what comes along with that perceived savings.

theres no reason to drag a good company through the mud because they refuse to lose money on someone who isn't even a customer of theirs.

 

[FullBoarBBQ]

nothing grinds my gears more than stuff like this, you can't get a replacement so you give a big thumbs down to seidio and you never purchased the item from them in the first place.

Whatever dude! Grind baby grind!
I filled out their claim form, including part numbers, there is even an instruction in the form that details what to provide if you bought it from ebay. I had no idea the seller wasn't an authorized seidio dealer. They made no indication that my unit is in fact a knock off, only that they won't honor the warranty on a brand new unit because i didn't buy it from the right person. That's BULLSH!T! Defend them if you want but if a company won't stand behind their product, then they won't have a company for too long! It's a shame because i really wanted to like the company and the product.
They even told me they wouldn't honor the warranty if i had been given the kit as a gift, unless i could prove where it was bought. Stores like sears, walmart, target etc take returns without receipts all the time. they give you an exact replacement or store credit. I'm not asking for my money back, just to replace the faulty unit. they can determine if in fact it is a genuine unit and when it was manufactured just by the serial numbers.
I still wonder if Seidio isn't putting money in your pocket?

Seidio doesn't have to put money in the pockets of satisfied customers. We defend them because they make the best products available and their customer service has always been great when Ive dealt with them.

Why would you pay $45 for an item off of ebay when you could have just bought it from their site. If you had, I guarantee they would have exchanged it no questions asked.

They arent selling twinkies. They wouldnt have a company very long if they replaced expensive parts sold on ebay.

You bought on ebay because you wanted to get it cheaper than the manufacturer sells it for. congrats, now you have to deal with what comes along with that perceived savings.

theres no reason to drag a good company through the mud because they refuse to lose money on someone who isn't even a customer of theirs.

If the product were a counterfeit I wouldn't expect Seidio to replace the parts. I've provided them with all the information they have requested and there was no mention that my unit is counterfeit.
The seller from ebay will take it back but i'm stuck with the shipping charges. I would much rather have a working unit. You automatically assume the seller wants to get rid of it because it's counterfeit. There's no possible way it could have been given to them as a gift, which they had no use for, could it?
If their customer service is so good, how come i've called them twice, asked to speak to a supervisor both times, and was told both times that there was no supervisor present but that they would have the supervisor call me. I've yet to receive a call from anyone at Seidio. Furthermore, why hasn't their representative who trolls these forums responded to this thread?
As i stated previously, i work in a sales service profession, and if a situation like this were to arise in my daily business, the first thing my company or myself would do is address the situation and get to the bottom of it so that a resolution could be made.
I personally wouldn't want an inferior copy, nor would I want anybody else to own an inferior copy. I would want to make sure the customer had the superior product, which then typically leads to further and continued business. You're obviously too nearsighted to see the bigger picture!
:icon_evil::icon_evil::icon_evil:

 

[sirphobos]

Dude, honestly. Just eat the $20 and move on. There is absolutely no reason to get all worked up about this. It's just $20.

 

[HamDog]

This is common practice in the electronics industry. And it has nothing to do with "counterfits". You probably do have a legitimate unit made by Seidio. But you could have a legitimate unit made by any manufacturer and if you don't buy from their authorized retailers, they all deny you warranty. It has nothing to do with "standing behind their product". The reason is to keep their products out of the hands of unauthorized dealers. So they void the warranty to the end user if they purchase from these unauthorized dealers.

The reason for all this is the manufacturer wants control over their distribution channels. They can better service a limited number of authorized dealers with support rather than anyone who wants to sell one. They can also control their pricing and protect and guarantee their authorized dealers a profit margin.

However, authorized dealers sometimes turn around and sell these to other dealers against their agreement with their manufacturer. They make a small profit, but sell in large quantities. That's how these units end up in the hands of unauthorized dealers. These are referred to as "Grey good". The manufacturer does not provide warranty for grey goods. Sure, it's the authorized dealers fault for selling these items to unauthorized dealers, against their terms with the manufacturer. The manufacturer tries to stop this, but some always get out. To discourage this behavior, they deny warranty to the end user.

Almost ALL high end manufacturers of electronics do business this way. Sorry if you thought buying and returning some Dorritos chips was the same as buying higher end electronics.

 

[FullBoarBBQ]

Dude, honestly. Just eat the $20 and move on. There is absolutely no reason to get all worked up about this. It's just $20.

20 bucks certainly wont break the bank but i still don't like to just throw money away. At this point its more about the principle. And quite honestly i'm more worked up about the way some members of this forum have responded. They draw their own conclusions and act as if i'm some type of shady character.

And as for the treatment i've gotten from seidio being the industry standard, all i can say is that's pathetic! And i don't think I'd consider Seidio a high end electronics company. It's not exactly cutting edge technology their working with.

 

[cb3FSU]

if you want all of the advantages of a company's customer service then maybe you should have bought from the company. you bought it off of ebay and got burned. thats one of the risks you take from getting something cheaper.

next time by from seidio and they will take care of you. this isnt an issue with them, its an issue with YOU.