I hit the odds of getting something dead on arrival once a decade (last time it happened to me around 2008). I bought smart watch at Mediamarkt, as it's close to me and have a fair prices. However now I'm surprised that I can't find any mention of DOA warranty at Mediamarkt. It's not a big deal as I rather want a quick replacement than returning the product, but yeah, I'm afraid it can take a while now if they decide to send the watch to manufacturer, etc, etc.
The problem is that the watch doesn't charge, 0% being on the charging pod the whole day. I've been playing with it, all is fine, except that it dies immediately when removed from the charging pod.
Is there any paragraph in general Swiss consumer law allowing me to request DOA replacement on the spot or am I on the mercy of the warranty procedure? From the Mediamarkt web I get that I just have to bring the watch to the shop and talk to them (there's no online warranty request or anything of that sort).
For sure I do. I've just collected it this morning. The point was that I'd like to know if I have any point to push them a bit in case they'll offer me to wait for the outcome of a standard warranty procedure, that could take weeks
so it went to the manufacturer (or supplier?) for warranty repair It's not the end of the world to wait some time, but I guess I'll default back to ordering from digitec
My experience with Digitec is not that much better. They send things back to the supplier too. Once they have a response from the supplier, they are pretty quick to refund/replace.
If the shops Terms and Condition does not specify anything else, the default by law stipulates that you have the right for a replacement. This can be overridden by the shops terms and condition which can specify that a repair must be accepted.
If you buy something that you need in a hurry, like a new phone and it doesn't work, you have to buy a second one from somewhere else whilst the first brand new one you bought is sent away for repair so you end up with two.
I had a DOA recently from galaxus. Packaged it up, registered the DOA, took it the shop in town. Two days later, new item that works lovely.
Mind you a few years ago, I got a new dishwasher from Galaxus. It kept back-filling despite me having paid for fitting. Eventually we got through to warranty, and they said it's not worth fixing. Have a refund.
A plumber mate of mine fitted a one-way valve into the dishwasher to prevent backfilling.
The end of the story is that it took me nearly half of year to have a good watch. Mediamarkt accepted my complains but they were sending it to a 3rd party which took a long time. The first time thy replaced the backplate with the battery. That didn't solve the issue. With my next complaint they replaced the motherboard, all seems fine from then.
Standard practice elsewhere (not in Switzerland) is that if a device is DOA (or found faulty within a couple of weeks or so), they are given a new one and the defective on is returned to the relevant service depart for examination and repair and resale (at a lower price) or junked.
As items are tested when they leave a factory, nine times out of ten, it is a circuit board problem which does not appear in the factory test (but may appear in a random soak test) and so repair by a service department does not happen.
Gravity's watch had a circuit board problem.
My laptop had a circuit board problem.
The last phone I had, had a circuit board problem.
Media Markt's current solution is terrible for the customer with waiting times and invariably means a replacement device anyway.
Customers should not be paying over the odds prices in a bricks-and-mortar store for testing manufacturing defects.
I've worked in the industry and am fully aware of how it works.
There are companies that do have a better policy for dead on arrival.
Melectronics: “Wenn das gekaufte Produkt nicht Ihren Vorstellungen entspricht oder beschädigt ist, nehmen wir dieses gerne zurück und erstatten Ihnen den Kaufpreis zurück. Nach dem Kauf des Artikels haben Sie 30 Tage Zeit für Ihre Rückgabe” / If the purchased product does not meet your expectations or is damaged , we will be happy to take it back and refund the purchase price. After purchasing the item, you have 30 days to return it https://www.melectronics.ch/de/cp/rueckgabe-retouren
Digitec Galaxus: Should a product prove defective from the very start, the so-called DOA warranty will usually apply to the majority of devices. This means that you are entitled to a replacement with a new device immediately after purchase. In order to claim this warranty, it is important that you inform us of any problem immediately after receipt of the goods. The respective DOA deadlines can be viewed in the product details. https://www.galaxus.ch/en/wiki/3146