Auberins Gripe (It's the principle of the thing)

I have been working on a HERMS system for several months and yesterday I had the time to get my panel wired. Turns out one of my 25 Amp SSR is bad (Always On), the other one is fine.

I spoke with Auberins on the phone this afternoon and he told me they are having issues with those Relays roughly, 2% of them are bad. The kicker is, he wants me to pay for shipping to ship it back BEFORE he can do any type of replacement, unless I want to order another one and do some credit process. It really rubs me the wrong way that I have to pay to return something that was DOA.

After getting off the phone the first time he shot me down, I called him back to let him know that I was going to have to share my bad experience with Auberins in this forum. I gave him the chance to replace it, but he stood firm. Just send me new one with a return envelope. It's not the money that I care about, it's the principle of the thing.

Does anyone else agree with me or am I just an a$$hole?

I agree. It ought to be that way with every company, but not every company can afford free return shipping.

I'm with you on that. Most of the time, there are just too many competitors and with the 'net, its so easy to find them, that you would think the company would be willing to try to keep the customer happy.
Customer service is nowhere near what it used to be. But when I find it, I'm usually pretty quick to praise it.

I understand why they do this, but don't agree with the approach. There are a lot of scammers out there that are just looking to get a second device for free.

Here's how we've done it in the past:

(1) Customer ships back product and pays for shipping themselves.
(2) Once received, customer is sent a new one and is issued a partial refund to cover the cost of them having to ship it to us.

This protects the seller but takes longer for the customer. It all depends on the margins. Places that won't send you a second one immediately are typically selling very close to margin.

Kal

I have gotten away with writing "Return to Sender" on the package the item arrived in. Just try to keep the package to where you can tape it back up and have it look like you never opened it.

I accidently ordered 2 of the same thing a while back and had the 2nd box opened before I realized it. I called the company and they said that I would be credited once it was received back on their end. Postman took it no problem.

1 week later I received my credit.

I agree with ya... but I'm an a$$hole ;-)

Then again, you could simply push for being reimbursed for shipping or push for being sent a return label to ship the thing out (Nicely of course... if you're an a-hole they aren't going to go outta their way to help ya...). If they wont budge and it's a big issue to you, simply don't do business with them again and encourage others to do the same.

But ask yourself - $10 shipping... is it worth it? (and ask THEM - is it worth loosing a customer AND others for $10 shipping).

Well, I'll share my Auberins experience. I ordered:

3 PIDs
2 SSRs
2 heat sinks
3 RTD 2" probes (Metric M16x1.5)

$340 total shipped (not a small amount)

It all arrived today. They sent me the incorrect probes. They made a mistake when they packed it up and sent the wrong thing and want me to return them before they send out replacements. They will pay for the return shipping. If I need them sooner they recommended I simply order what I need and they'll refund me once they get my return shipment.

One of the SSR's was cracked in half too. Still works however but I'll likely send it back anyway.

Seems reasonable. I'm surprised they're making you pay for return shipping on something that's DOA. They're not doing that for me and one of my SSR's was cracked (so essentially DOA).

Kal