Topic: Warranty replacement/refurbishment/disappointment

Howdy all,

I was going to email customer support on this, but I was curious to know if anyone else has experienced anything similar.

I'd initially ordered a a pair of chumby ones only to find that both had the exact same manufacturing defect (a strong backlight bleed in the lower right corner of the display). Customer support was very helpful and quick to issue an RMA, and off went the chumbys to be replaced.

I received my two replacement units yesterday as expected, but was very disappointed to discover they were both obviously refurbished, as one has a dent in the front plastic, and the other has a small but noticeable scratch on the screen (the kind that looks like a speck of dust but won't come off and can be felt with a fingernail). The scratched screen has a strangely pitted surface as well, as if a stylus had been repeatedly jabbed against it at random. The dented unit in contrast has a fine, smooth screen.

I realize the chumby warranty states that replacements may be new or refurbished, but I was expecting new units based on correspondence from chumby support ("the sooner we receive the defective unit, the sooner you will receive your new chumby"). I purchased two brand new chumbys originally, and would have preferred to wait for those specific units to be repaired rather than receive two obviously used ones in exchange.

Has anybody else been unhappy with the result of warranty replacement? Is this a valid issue to press? I've purchased a few refurbished electronics in the past, and usually the only noticeable difference is the packaging. I was thinking about getting a chumby8 for the kitchen, but now I just don't know if it's worth taking a chance on.

Re: Warranty replacement/refurbishment/disappointment

As an addendum, now that I've had the chance to look them over in better lighting, I'm even more unhappy. The scratched screen actually has lots of little scratches all over the surface, and the dented unit's display has a slight "rainbow blob" that I can only assume is an air bubble between the screen layers. Now I'm wondering if these replacements were ever refurbished in the first place, or if these were just factory seconds. Granted, the individual issues aren't so big, and I wouldn't be so disappointed if I'd bought refurbished chumbys in the first place, but I ordered them new.

I was hoping somebody might have some advice on how best to handle this, but I guess I should just contact customer support tomorrow. I don't want to be one of "those" customers, but I have yet to receive what I paid for, and I really wanted my chumbys to live up to their reputation.

I'll post an update to this thread when I have one.  Thanks for reading it.

Re: Warranty replacement/refurbishment/disappointment

UPDATE:

Today I received an email from Ross in Customer Support, and chumby is indeed living up to their reputation for good service.  In short, two new units will be checked for condition and resent to me, and I can use/gift the old ones as I see fit. 

I've always believed that good customer service does not mean that problems never happen, but rather is shown by how companies react to problems when they occur.  And chumby gets a big thumbs up from me.

Now that chumby8 is looking really tempting.  Time to start an Xmas list.

Re: Warranty replacement/refurbishment/disappointment

Great to hear.  I think one of the things that has made chumby what it is, besides the hardware, is the "community" involvement (which includes customer service) from the creators themselves.

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

Re: Warranty replacement/refurbishment/disappointment

In general Chumby Inc.. has sort of changed mentalities since the original Chumby came out.. They seem to be making an effort to please end users even moreso than when they first came out.. There are now replacement parts for some items in the chumby and they seem to try to be helping the tinkerers/hackers of the community even on some issues that may be self-inflicted/accident/oops... At one point you were sort of SOL if you broke something, or accidently broke the display.... Chumby may be inexpensive but at least they arent considered a *disposable* item as much anymore

Re: Warranty replacement/refurbishment/disappointment

I just wanted to post a followup to my warranty replacement experience.  My new/replacement units arrived a few days ago, and I've now had a chance to activate and update them.  They look good, and everything I've tried on them seems to work just fine.  This is the chumby experience I was expecting in the first place, and though it may have taken a little more time and effort to get there than I initially hoped for, I'm very happy to report my satisfaction with my chumby ones and with Customer Support.  Thank you, Ross! 

At the risk of sounding like a customer testimonial, I'd encourage anyone with issues like mine to not hesitate before contacting chumby.  They really do back up their product.

Re: Warranty replacement/refurbishment/disappointment

And thanks to Materdaddy and joltdude for the comments.  Now I just wish I could change my thread title to "Warranty replacement/transaction/satisfaction."