Unhappy customer - fair resolution possible?

BoardsMember

I bought some gear from RS recently after getting some great advice from the lads here. As usual, I was really happy with the knowledge and service, I have always found them great with sales, warranty issues etc.

I feel very let down by my latest interaction though, and it seems to have been closed off RS side so I'm reluctantly using this post to see can some sort of reasonable solution be arrived at. This is what's happened:

• I received delivery of my stuff on 20th April, about €2.3k purchase, for kitting out a new movie/av room, part of a wider refurn project (amp, speakers, projector, screen).
• On Monday last week, architect/builder walk thru ended up us having to change around loads of stuff, now I won't have wiring where I need it, I don't have anywhere agreed for my projector or screen.
• I rang RS on Tuesday last (26th May) to discuss returning my purchases until I know what I can install when we have new layout/design sorted.
• They rang back Wednesday, I chatted through my predicament and they said they'd get back to me.
• Since then I've had to ring them each time to ask for an update, when they rang back the guy asked me did someone follow up with me (same guy each time, he expecting his manager will have rung it seems).
• On Monday the guy rings to tell me they can't take anything back, nothing they can do - their policy is goods returned within 28 days of purchase get full refund, nothing after that.
• Again he said someone would ring back but it hasn't happened.

Here's what has me disappointed:

• There are 26 days between 20th April (when I received the stuff) and when I enquired about returning.
• Their policy is 28 days from purchase date (18th April) to date actually returned (not yet returned as they won't engage about it) for full refund.
• If RS had engaged when I made contact I could have had the goods back in 28 days of receipt of them (but not the actual purchase date of 18th April to be fair).
• I'm not even looking for a refund....I just want to return the goods for credit, and will buy more when layout is decided.
• Not giving me the option of returning the goods feels like splitting hairs given the dates involved - how can you go from full refund to nothing over a couple of days?

Honestly, I feel my ask for them to take the goods back for credit, fully boxed/new as received, is reasonable. I'm an occasional buyer, this is a big thing for me - a significant expense. It really feels like they should meet me half way and offer me credit on this, or at least engage to find some reasonable outcome. I am extremely disappointed both in the outcome they have arrived at and in how unresponsive they have been - I still haven't had a follow up from Monday's call. I'd appreciate someone from RS getting onto me to try to sort this out.

Richersounds.ie: John

Dear Boards Member,

Many thanks for your post and apologies that you are unhappy with our service - this is never our intention.

As you have posted after we are closed, and I can't contact the Colleagues concerned I can't give you a full detailed response, however I have discussed your issue briefly over the last few days and to be fair our policy on returns for distance sales is quite clear and is published here: https://www.richersounds.ie/t-returns.aspx

You may need to revisit some of your dates in your post as they cannot be accurate - our policy in brief is that you have 14 days to tell us you would like to return your goods, and then a further 14 days to actually return them - the first date sould have been Wednesday 3rd May - with the goods due back to us by the 17th - some of your product was ordered in specifically for you and some product was one-off clearance.

I will pull our detailed phone records tomorrow and chat to our colleagues who dealt with you so I can give you a fuller response on this thread if so we can be seen to be 100% fair - of course if you would prefer any details of the correspondence you had with us to be kept in private you can contact me directly at johnmc@richersounds.ie

However I do have to say that we are a business, and whilst we really do try to give good service, we have to operate as a business, our product is a very fast moving product in terms of pricing and we cannot have open ended return dates - from our system notes I can see and I do appreciate that your interior designer had changed some aspects of your project and you did not feel that the items you purchased were suitable any more - I do hope you can understand our T's and C's from our point of view and to be fair I do appreciate that you do admit that you were outside the normal returns time - again I will chat this through with Kenny and the guys in Belfast tomorrow and revert.

Best regards,

John McDonald

Managing Director

Richer Sounds Ireland

johnmc@richersounds.ie

BoardsMember

Hi John - thanks for the reply. See below the Terms & Conditions from the Invoice - there is no mention of 14 days. My initial post above has the incorrect date of my first contact. It was 17th May. 2 calls to you, one reply, as your phone records will show.

Again, I'm just looking for a fair resolution to this.

David

Richersounds.ie: John

Hi again Boards Member,

...to be fair to us - like all companies - we cannot publish our full T's and C's on a receipt - they are available on our website :

https://www.richersounds.ie/t-returns.aspx

..and rather than reply piecemeal - as I have promised above, I'll respond to you, here publicly if that is what you would prefer, or I can call you directly to discuss, as soon as I have had the opportunity to listen to any available telephone recordings and chatted to Kenny and the colleagues who dealt with you.

Best regards,

John Mc & Crew

BoardsMember

My preference is privately, thanks John. Chat tomorrow.

Richersounds.ie: John

Hi again BM,

as soon as I have low down I'll be in touch and I'm sure we can get a resolution - we have to keep the Architects and Interior Designers happy - otherwise you will end up with leaky windows and shag pile carpet - and we would not wish that on anyone!

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

DownByTheGarden

Following this as was about to pull the trigger on a big order from RC when I saw this. Always good to see how these kind of cases are treated by a company.

BoardsMember

Just off the phone with John, MD of Richersounds. He could not have been nicer. He was fully up to speed with the detail of what's been happening and has offered a 100% satisfactory outcome to me, has gone out of his way to do so.

I said in my OP how brilliant RS have been, and I stand by it. This was as much about a minunderstanding in RS of what I was looking for (return for credit, not refund). I look forward to continuing to use RS for all my AV needs, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them @DownByTheGarden!

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636853#Comment_120636853

i have no skin in this game, but that’s incredibly harsh and unfair. You should read the hundreds (if not thousands) of positive posts about the RS team and their customer service levels on this site. I’ve personally never had anything but extremely positive dealings with them.

All the owner asked for was time to review the issue thoroughly, and as you can see the issue was resolved satisfactorily. I do think you’e jumped to conclusions here.

Richersounds.ie: John

Hi Butter,

long time no chat - hope all good with you and I really appreciate your post - thanks as ever! 😍

But to be fair to DownByThe Garden - I think they have said they are following the issue, hopefully now that the issue is 100% resolved they can take some comfort.

Just as an update for clarity, and I know Boards Member won't mind me posting - it was our internal lack of comms that caused the issue - 3 Colleagues dealt with the issue and between them they all thought the OP was looking for something other than what he has stated above and that message was conveyed to me - I have listened to the calls and I 100% agree with Boards Member and the issue is closed, resolved.

....And as those of you who have visited our store will wonder - how can you have a lack of comms in a store the same size as a shoebox, so full to the brim with TV & Hifi that there is hardly room for 10 Customers - and I'm wondering the same! It's just another thing we have to work on - but that is our philosophy Kaizen, keep chipping away at it - every day is a school day!

Thanks to all,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

Managing Director

Richer Sounds Ireland

DownByTheGarden

Thankyou. I always get a bit worried when I see a reasonable customer getting fobbed off. A couple of bad experiences myself sent me from postal bricks and mortar stores to Amazon, just because Amazon resolve issues really well.

But I have confidence in RC now after reading this. I will complete my purchases.