John Lewis misleading advertising

roddydogs

Wats that?

prowla

cmurphy8 said:

I recently purchased some earbuds from John Lewis. When they arrived they wouldn’t work with my iPhone SE 2020 the John Lewis website said “these True Wireless headphones are compatible with all smart devices with Bluetooth, including those from Apple...”.  They worked with my partners iPhone 8 but not mine. As it’s a newly released phone I downloaded the Sony headphones app to download the firmware update assuming that was the issue. Still had issues with connection and proper function. 

I contacted Sony support who told me that “Actually, your headphones are not compatible with your iPhone. Therefore, we do not guarantee it’s full functionality with the iPhone.” 

I assumed I could return them to John Lewis given that they didn’t work as described, but they’re claiming I cannot return them as they are used. Of course I had to use them to try and get them to work, because I believed they would work because their website said so. What are my rights here? They were a very expensive gift supposed to help me finish my uni work in quarantine and I cannot be £169 out of pocket for headphones that don’t work. 

I'm not sure if this is now resolved, but the thing about them being used is irrelevant; the items were mis-sold as compatible with the iPhone, but the manufacturer said they were incompatible.

Shops do try and play the courtesy refund routine where they'll refund/exchange an item for pretty much any reason if it's unused and in original packaging.

However, that is in addition to your legal rights regarding faulty/mis-sold items, which is what applies in this case.

roddydogs

Always thought the whole idea of bluetooth was to be completely compatible, no matter what.

Supersonos

roddydogs said:

Always thought the whole idea of bluetooth was to be completely compatible, no matter what.

It is.  Bluetooth is also fully backwards compatible.

The headphones are compatible and the note from the manufacturer (more likely, a mistaken/confused shift worker in a call centre) about them being incompatible with the iPhone is incorrect.

This is user error or a fault with one of the units.