iPods bought at John Lewis faulty but they can’t find the fault

Burns5500

Hello,
I bought some Apple iPods on John Lewis online, September 29 th 2023. I didn’t get to use them until November, I don’t go out much, but when I did the right side was crackling and kept going off when I took it out of my ear. I sent them back  15 th December and they came back with no fault diagnosed.
By January, another fault developed, one side was discharging faster than the other. I got screen shots of the charge levels being different and sent them back again. Again no fault was diagnosed.
ive reset them several times since I’ve had them and used different chargers and sent them back with the case and it’s still happening. I’m sending them back for a third time on 29/02/24.
I’ve been asked to take them to the Apple Store in but have health problems and am not able to.
Ive asked for a full refund or a credit note or a replacement set and they have said no.
if they come back a third time , with no fault diagnosed and still are discharging unevenly, does anyone know if I am entitled to any of the three options , by law. Ie refund, credit note, replacement set?

MattMattMattUK

Burns5500 said:

Hello,
I bought some Apple iPods on John Lewis online, September 29 th 2023. I didn’t get to use them until November, I don’t go out much, but when I did the right side was crackling and kept going off when I took it out of my ear. I sent them back  15 th December and they came back with no fault diagnosed.
By January, another fault developed, one side was discharging faster than the other. I got screen shots of the charge levels being different and sent them back again. Again no fault was diagnosed.
ive reset them several times since I’ve had them and used different chargers and sent them back with the case and it’s still happening. I’m sending them back for a third time on 29/02/24.
I’ve been asked to take them to the Apple Store in but have health problems and am not able to.
Ive asked for a full refund or a credit note or a replacement set and they have said no.
if they come back a third time , with no fault diagnosed and still are discharging unevenly, does anyone know if I am entitled to any of the three options , by law. Ie refund, credit note, replacement set?

Is the right side still cracking? That is a real fault and should be rectified, I am not really sure that them running down unevenly is a fault so long as the one that discharges quicker still lasts a reasonable amount of time. 

TadleyBaggie

Suspect you mean AirPods, wearing a couple of iPods would be unusual. 

tacpot12

You are entitled to a refund from John Lewis. You can expect to have to sue them to get the refund as their approach to customer service is not what it used to be. 

If you have home insurance, check to see if you have Legal Expenses cover as part of it. If you do, you have access to free legal advice, and the solicitor will probably write to John Lewis and sue them for you. 

Undervalued

tacpot12 said:

You are entitled to a refund from John Lewis. You can expect to have to sue them to get the refund as their approach to customer service is not what it used to be. 

If you have home insurance, check to see if you have Legal Expenses cover as part of it. If you do, you have access to free legal advice, and the solicitor will probably write to John Lewis and sue them for you. 

The OP will also need some evidence that the fault(s) exist as, if I read the OP correctly, John Lewis are currently claiming that no fault(s) have been found.

born_again

Another one to take to Apple store.
Who will say, yes there is a fault (not put in writing) & say if bought from us would replace...

RefluentBeans

born_again said:

Another one to take to Apple store.
Who will say, yes there is a fault (not put in writing) & say if bought from us would replace...

Agree - going to Apple Store won’t hurt (as there are sometimes schemes that allow for replacements - but not that I can see currently active) but it won’t guarantee any actual help, and may just cause more aggregation. ‘If you bought it from us we’d do this. No - I’m afraid we can’t put that in paper format - it’s not company policy’ is the two consecutive lines they’ll likely use. 

OP - the cracking sound may be hard to diagnose - is it on certain apps? As for the discharge issue - I think this is due to the microphone being on standby for one and off on the other one (until it is needed). This means you can still use Siri hands free to control the music but can have both microphones when on a call. I believe that this will default to one ear rather than other one, but letting both AirPods run out of charge completely will reset this. But I don’t think it is a fault per se; and a well known quirk. 

In regards of what to do next, the retailer will have to show the product isn’t faulty. I don’t entirely know how this works (as it’s kind of hard to prove a negative from the retailers POV) but you shouldn’t have to prove it’s faulty as it’s within 6 months. However, they are entitled to replace, repair or refund you - and it’s their choice. However if they’re saying it’s not faulty - I don’t know how the resolution can occur. You can potentially escalate in store - asking to speak to a supervisor or manager. Or you could ask to speak to a senior customer service agent online; or even email the CEO (and that will get kicked down to a more senior customer service person). Failing all of that, the courts are there to enforce your rights; so you could look at doing a LBA and then seeing if you want to take them to court. 

Burns5500

MattMattMattUK said:

Burns5500 said:

Hello,
I bought some Apple iPods on John Lewis online, September 29 th 2023. I didn’t get to use them until November, I don’t go out much, but when I did the right side was crackling and kept going off when I took it out of my ear. I sent them back  15 th December and they came back with no fault diagnosed.
By January, another fault developed, one side was discharging faster than the other. I got screen shots of the charge levels being different and sent them back again. Again no fault was diagnosed.
ive reset them several times since I’ve had them and used different chargers and sent them back with the case and it’s still happening. I’m sending them back for a third time on 29/02/24.
I’ve been asked to take them to the Apple Store in but have health problems and am not able to.
Ive asked for a full refund or a credit note or a replacement set and they have said no.
if they come back a third time , with no fault diagnosed and still are discharging unevenly, does anyone know if I am entitled to any of the three options , by law. Ie refund, credit note, replacement set?

Is the right side still cracking? That is a real fault and should be rectified, I am not really sure that them running down unevenly is a fault so long as the one that discharges quicker still lasts a reasonable amount of time. 

The crackling issue dissapered and now it’s the running down unevenly that’s the problem. I use them to walk the dogs with and it can be 20 minutes between one going dead and the other going dead. I’ve been writing the times down and have sent them the different times but those are just numbers on a page. I’ve also been taking screen shots of the amount of charge in them as they are almost dead and screen shots when one is dead and the other still has charge and have sent these in. They make no reference to them and just say they can’t find the fault.

pinkshoes

Burns5500 said:

Hello,
I bought some Apple iPods on John Lewis online, September 29 th 2023. I didn’t get to use them until November, I don’t go out much, but when I did the right side was crackling and kept going off when I took it out of my ear. I sent them back  15 th December and they came back with no fault diagnosed.
By January, another fault developed, one side was discharging faster than the other. I got screen shots of the charge levels being different and sent them back again. Again no fault was diagnosed.
ive reset them several times since I’ve had them and used different chargers and sent them back with the case and it’s still happening. I’m sending them back for a third time on 29/02/24.
I’ve been asked to take them to the Apple Store in but have health problems and am not able to.
Ive asked for a full refund or a credit note or a replacement set and they have said no.
if they come back a third time , with no fault diagnosed and still are discharging unevenly, does anyone know if I am entitled to any of the three options , by law. Ie refund, credit note, replacement set?

JL have investigated twice and found no fault, so you are NOT entitled to a refund or replacement.

Different charging levels can be due to one not being docked properly, so a screenshot isn't really evidence of a fault as this is usually human error.

I suggest you do as they say and take them to an Apple store, or get someone else to take them for you. 

Have you tried phoning Apple support?

I appreciate you no doubt paid a lot of money for them, but expensive doesn't guarantee good quality. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Burns5500 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Burns5500 said:

Hello,
I bought some Apple iPods on John Lewis online, September 29 th 2023. I didn’t get to use them until November, I don’t go out much, but when I did the right side was crackling and kept going off when I took it out of my ear. I sent them back  15 th December and they came back with no fault diagnosed.
By January, another fault developed, one side was discharging faster than the other. I got screen shots of the charge levels being different and sent them back again. Again no fault was diagnosed.
ive reset them several times since I’ve had them and used different chargers and sent them back with the case and it’s still happening. I’m sending them back for a third time on 29/02/24.
I’ve been asked to take them to the Apple Store in but have health problems and am not able to.
Ive asked for a full refund or a credit note or a replacement set and they have said no.
if they come back a third time , with no fault diagnosed and still are discharging unevenly, does anyone know if I am entitled to any of the three options , by law. Ie refund, credit note, replacement set?

Is the right side still cracking? That is a real fault and should be rectified, I am not really sure that them running down unevenly is a fault so long as the one that discharges quicker still lasts a reasonable amount of time. 

The crackling issue dissapered and now it’s the running down unevenly that’s the problem. I use them to walk the dogs with and it can be 20 minutes between one going dead and the other going dead. I’ve been writing the times down and have sent them the different times but those are just numbers on a page. I’ve also been taking screen shots of the amount of charge in them as they are almost dead and screen shots when one is dead and the other still has charge and have sent these in. They make no reference to them and just say they can’t find the fault.

Does that time difference matter?  How significant is it in the context of total rumning time on a full charge?  If one is lasting 4 hours and the other 3 hours and 40 minutes for example, I'd argue that's not a fault.  

screech_78

Do you use the Apple branded charger cable that came with them? 

As I have problems with only one of my AirPods charging correctly if I use a non-branded cable. Don’t have any issues as long as I use the Apple cable. 

Without evidence of a fault however there isn’t much you can do.