What you have described here sounds like a perfectly normal approach. What has happened is that you sent the product back to have it checked under warranty so the process is that it needs to be checked which will require sending possibly to the manufacturer.
Chances are you will get a replacement camera with a new battery, a refund or the option to replace it if it is not able to be fixed. This is not an unexpected approach as the manufacturer provided the faulty item and digitec simply sold it to you.
My experience with Digitec has been a mixed bag. For trivial items such as storage media and cables, I've had no issues. For my TV and home cinema there was also no issue. My main gripe is with some of the counter staff. The blokes are great. But I have never been happy with the attitude of the female staff for various reasons, which aren't worth going into.
Unless I have no other choice or I am short on time, I generally choose not to shop in Digitec. Especially these days when it is normal to wait for 15-20 mins before being seen.
It might be a normal approach, but IMO, its not the best approach.
Were I Digitech, I would have an on-staff tech do basic troubleshooting with the product, vis-a-vis the description of the defect. If I was able to replicate or observe the defect, I would immediately send a (new) replacement camera to the affected customer, possibly packaged with a token gift card, for the inconvenience. Simultaneously, I would return the defective product to the manufacturer and ask them to replace it with a new camera, leveraging my position as a large-volume purchaser, if necessary.
This would accomplish a few things:
1. Resolve the customer's complaint in the most rapid manner possible.
2. Give the customer confidence in my brand, encouraging him/her to shop with me more often.
3. Give the customer a direct financial incentive (gift card) to spend money with me. Statistically, most customers with gift cards end up spending much more than the value of a gift card, and it gives me an opportunity for a subsequent transaction to go smoothly.
4. I can return defective products to manufacturers in-bulk with detailed information, both of which can help lower both my and the manufacturer's costs associated wit returns.
My understanding is that in Switzerland you can return a product within the 14 days of purchase, no questions asked. You could try to go down this road.
Been dealing with digitec for over 5 years buying everything from hard drives, computers to cables and ink for my printer. The couple of times I had problems they fixed the issues within 24 hours and if it took longer sent an email to state why.
Are you Swiss by any chance? All I can think of is that is perhaps a somewhat Swiss mentality. I personally would not stand for that at all. If I receive a brand new product, I expect it to work. If it does not work, I expect to be offered a replacement or a refund.
Sending it to the manufacturer for repair it completely unnacceptable to me.
They can give me a new one and send the broken one back to the supplier for a refund.
This happened to me with a projector I bought from Azone, a similar store to digitec. The guy replaced it with another.
I have used digitec.ch countless time. I only get the small things posted and the big breakable type things I pick up with the car. That isn't a nervousness of digitec but of the post office...
I've used them since they were based in a tiny room near an Asian food store... how far they've come... no problems with them at all and that's 30ish orders.
Monday afternoon I ordered a top end Sony Vaio notebook from DIGITECH, I paid by bank transfer with value date Tuesday, today I received it in the post and am writing this post on it.
Mixed feelings about Digitec. Nothing bad to say about the shop itself, but their credit card policy is a bummer. They only seem to accept Swiss cards. Fine, be picky, but I'd appreciate being able to read this at some point in the order process, instead of logging in and verifying with my bank, getting approved, then getting denied by their service. Confusion ensues.
So, yeah, usually end up avoiding them for post orders. On the other hand, they now have a physical store in Basel, flitting by SBB isn't too onerous.
I hate when people comment how cool and happy they are and dare to be pedantic about it.
I never had any issues with digitec but when I see the "facts" reported by those person, I don't feel like sharing my wonderful normal experience with Digitec.
Especially as it does not bring anything good to them, if not to reinforced how they have been exceptionally fecked.
It's also part of their job to deal with issues and those people are also customers who deserve a decent service.
In other words and in short version:
Digitec fecks up, digitec have to cover up very quickly.
End of it, so thanks for your wonderful experience sharing but keep out the pedantic comments.
digitec is ok if you know exactly what you want because they only accept returns as an exception and will not refund your money but issue store credit only.
What I don't like is that they charge your credit card immediately after you completed your order even if the item is not in stock. (At least that's how it worked last year, haven't paid by CC ever since as I usually pick up the goods at the store and pay in cash.)
I've bought loads of stuff at digitec over the years. The site has a good selection and usually delvers pretty quickly. The first items I returned were some headphones. The glue holding the ear piece failed. Took them in, they were sent to the manufacture (shure) who said the fault wasn't covered by warranty. Shure then quoted a repair price was the same as the purchase price. In short the Digitec warranty is a gamble on what the manufacture feels is covered i.e. the Digitec warranty is pretty useless.
I have bought small things with no problem. But I'm thinking of buying a monitor, which has the usual low risk of dead pixels or backlight bleeding, so it would be good to buy from somewhere with good service in the event of a problem. Is digitec the best option, or somewhere else?
ordered only two things so far - camera worked without problems. phone had problems with charging but had taken it already as a gift to another country so could not do much about it
once contacted them about a mistake on their website regarding specifications of a product, got response within 24h
haven't heard complaints from any of my friends so far