John Lewis - Poor Customer Support - End of the Road

Parkley

Hi All,  I have  a Samsung Smart watch which I bought from JL last Xmas. The watch has gradually lost battery capacity : the watch now only lasts  about 20 hours with all the smart feature switched off  ( a dumb watch ). 

I informed JL of the performance issue.  JL asked me to turn off the smart  features and test the watch.  The watch lasted approximately 20 hours as a  dumb watch - it  should have lasted  40 hours ( according to Samsung ).

JL asked for the watch to be sent to their testing centre.  JL said that no fault could be found and  that was the end-of-road and JL would do no more. JL's  2 year guarantee is  worthless.

JL would not accept photos demonstrating the charge times and discharged times ( dead watch). 
The JL customer rep said that I could have manipulated the photos :-)   

I have never known a retailer to put up so many barriers.  The JL customer reps have been the worst I have came across.  JL subcontracts all  its  support to a company  called  Foundever - which sores 1 star on TrustPilot - that sums it up!  

I feel so angry that I am considering a small claim  -  I will let  the court decide if  I am telling  the truth.

I would interested in any comments on how I could solve this  impasse

(Removed by Forum Team) 

BTW - JL will not be getting my custom this Xmas

born_again

How long warranty do Samsung give?
As a alternative route.

powerful_Rogue

Parkley said:

Hi All,  I have  a Samsung Smart watch which I bought from JL last Xmas. The watch has gradually lost battery capacity : the watch now only lasts  about 20 hours with all the smart feature switched off  ( a dumb watch ). 

I informed JL of the performance issue.  JL asked me to turn off the smart  features and test the watch.  The watch lasted approximately 20 hours as a  dumb watch - it  should have lasted  40 hours ( according to Samsung ).

JL asked for the watch to be sent to their testing centre.  JL said that no fault could be found and  that was the end-of-road and JL would do no more. JL's  2 year guarantee is  worthless.

JL would not accept photos demonstrating the charge times and discharged times ( dead watch). 
The JL customer rep said that I could have manipulated the photos :-)   

I have never known a retailer to put up so many barriers.  The JL customer reps have been the worst I have came across.  JL subcontracts all  its  support to a company  called  Foundever - which sores 1 star on TrustPilot - that sums it up!  

I feel so angry that I am considering a small claim  -  I will let  the court decide if  I am telling  the truth.

I would interested in any comments on how I could solve this  impasse

(Removed by Forum Team) 

BTW - JL will not be getting my custom this Xmas

In fairness to JL, they have tested the watch and can find no fault. If you believe this is a fault, get it tested yourself and get a report to show it is faulty. You would need one anyway if you take them to court, as they will rely on the reports from their testing centers.

Belenus

JL's  2 year guarantee is  worthless.

Go back to John Lewis and tell them that you wish to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and not under their guarantee.

This forum is full of similar situations. Search for 'Consumer Rights' and read a few threads.

powerful_Rogue

Belenus said:

JL's  2 year guarantee is  worthless.

Go back to John Lewis and tell them that you wish to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and not under their guarantee.

This forum is full of similar situations. Search for 'Consumer Rights' and read a few threads.

The onus will be on the OP to show the watch has a fault that was present when he purchased it but has now only just started to show. The fact that JL have had the watch tested and no fault has been found I can see it being the same result.

Belenus

powerful_Rogue said:

Belenus said:

JL's  2 year guarantee is  worthless.

Go back to John Lewis and tell them that you wish to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and not under their guarantee.

This forum is full of similar situations. Search for 'Consumer Rights' and read a few threads.

The onus will be on the OP to show the watch has a fault that was present when he purchased it but has now only just started to show. The fact that JL have had the watch tested and no fault has been found I can see it being the same result.

The watch itself may not have an identifiable fault but, if the battery is supposed to last 40 hours and, after less than one year's use, it now only lasts half that time, that suggests that the OP may have a valid claim under his consumer rights.

My advice to the OP is to go back to John Lewis and tell them that you wish to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and, if they still do not respond favourably, send a Letter Before Action and follow up with a County Court claim.

That may or may not produce a satisfactory response from JL.

OP, what resolution are you seeking? Would a partial refund satisfy you? You are probably not entitled to a full refund as you have had some use from the watch.

Have you contacted Samsung directly? Your rights lie with JL but Samsung may assist.

Have you googled to see if this is a common problem?

powerful_Rogue

Belenus said:

powerful_Rogue said:

Belenus said:

JL's  2 year guarantee is  worthless.

Go back to John Lewis and tell them that you wish to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and not under their guarantee.

This forum is full of similar situations. Search for 'Consumer Rights' and read a few threads.

The onus will be on the OP to show the watch has a fault that was present when he purchased it but has now only just started to show. The fact that JL have had the watch tested and no fault has been found I can see it being the same result.

The watch itself may not have an identifiable fault but, if the battery is supposed to last 40 hours and, after less than one year's use, it now only lasts half that time, that suggests that the OP may have a valid claim under his consumer rights.

My advice to the OP is to go back to John Lewis and tell them that you wish to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and, if they still do not respond favourably, send a Letter Before Action and follow up with a County Court claim.

That may or may not produce a satisfactory response from JL.

OP, what resolution are you seeking? Would a partial refund satisfy you? You are probably not entitled to a full refund as you have had some use from the watch.

Have you contacted Samsung directly? Your rights lie with JL but Samsung may assist.

Have you googled to see if this is a common problem?

That's not great advice. If OP follows up with a County Court Claim, JL can easily defend it by saying they sent the watch off to their testing facility and here is the report documenting that no fault was found.

OP needs to get the watch examined themselves to find out if 1) there is a fault and 2) what the fault is.

Belenus

powerful_Rogue said:

Belenus said:

powerful_Rogue said:

Belenus said:

JL's  2 year guarantee is  worthless.

Go back to John Lewis and tell them that you wish to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and not under their guarantee.

This forum is full of similar situations. Search for 'Consumer Rights' and read a few threads.

The onus will be on the OP to show the watch has a fault that was present when he purchased it but has now only just started to show. The fact that JL have had the watch tested and no fault has been found I can see it being the same result.

The watch itself may not have an identifiable fault but, if the battery is supposed to last 40 hours and, after less than one year's use, it now only lasts half that time, that suggests that the OP may have a valid claim under his consumer rights.

My advice to the OP is to go back to John Lewis and tell them that you wish to exercise your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and, if they still do not respond favourably, send a Letter Before Action and follow up with a County Court claim.

That may or may not produce a satisfactory response from JL.

OP, what resolution are you seeking? Would a partial refund satisfy you? You are probably not entitled to a full refund as you have had some use from the watch.

Have you contacted Samsung directly? Your rights lie with JL but Samsung may assist.

Have you googled to see if this is a common problem?

That's not great advice. If OP follows up with a County Court Claim, JL can easily defend it by saying they sent the watch off to their testing facility and here is the report documenting that no fault was found.

OP needs to get the watch examined themselves to find out if 1) there is a fault and 2) what the fault is.

Which the OP can counter with his own evidence of the charge times and discharged times which he states that JL have refused to accept.

It would then be up to the judge to decide, on the balance of probability, who to believe.

In reality it is unlikely to get that far as JL, if faced with a Letter Before Action, would probably seek a satisfactory resolution as it would cost them more to defend than to settle.

The OP should contact Samsung and also research to see if others have had the same problem.

The cost of getting an independent test done is unlikely to be cheap as it would presumably involve some hours of testing, plus the cost of sending the watch away and getting it back. Those costs may or may not be recoverable even if the OP wins in court depending on whether the judge thinks they are reasonable.

The cost of a  Letter Before Action is minimal and, depending on the value of any claim, the cost of issuing a court claim via MCOL is not very high.

I know what course I would pursue but that is a decision for the OP.



Edit. This is probably all a bit academic now as it appears the OP may no longer be with us.

Money_Grabber13579

Is there any guidance as to how far a battery has to degrade before it is considered faulty? I agree that 50% after a year does seem excessive but equally, it would also be unreasonable to expect it to still be 100% after a year. 

At what point would it then be considered faulty? I guess there is the argument that if it still lasts throughout the course of a day (excluding sleep) then it still functions as it should and so it’s possible that both parties might have equally valid opposing views as to whether it is faulty or not.

There is also a question as to whether the John Lewis guarantee covers batteries (I’m not sure it does) and so John Lewis may have been entirely right in their initial response. Although as advised, that wouldn’t necessarily preclude a claim under consumer rights.

sheramber

 I have  a Samsung Smart watch which I bought from JL last Xmas.

Does your wach not have a Samsung guarantee?

rikbar

Have you tried looking online for assistance - Samsung watches have a history of being problematic after a new update is added to the watch - and updating can result in significant reduction in battery life. 

I have had similar issues with another brand - and this can complicate getting a resolution - as the watch would work perfectly out of the box but, after an update, the watch behaved differently. Obviously this then means any issue with the watch is potentially a software problem rather than a hardware problem and this could cause issues when pursuing action under the CRA, as if the watch software has been modified after the date of sale this could bring into question as to whether the issue was present at the time of sale?

There are quite a few pages you can find on Google that take you through a full battery reset to clean the battery management system and hopefully improve the period between charges. If this doesn’t help then it may pay to contact Samsung and see whether they have a fix at all.