SOUNDING OFF: Ripped off? Stunned by good value? Write, blog or text your experience to us
A reader from Dublin read with interest our recent item about someone who had multiple problems in connection with a faulty Nintendo Wii; he says he "suffered a very similar problem" after contacting the game company's service centre in the UK when his daughter's Nintendo DS started acting up.
"It started when the couriers employed by Nintendo failed to appear - twice. They went to the wrong address once and finally after two weeks managed to collect the device. Then I got a letter from the service centre stating that it would cost £55 to repair the flip cover which was strained and would not stay open except on a flat surface."
He had included a receipt which showed that he had bought two Nintendo machines in December 2007 and he was of the opinion that the console was still under warranty. "I rang the service centre several times and explained the position to numerous people, none of whom wanted to take any responsibility."
He finally got in touch with someone who offered to reduce the cost of the repair to £35 (€44). "I explained again that the machine was under warranty and that I would not pay the equivalent of 25 per cent of the purchase price for a machine that was still under guarantee. This last offer was in July and I rang the offices in Windsor several times but could get no one to deal with the issue and no one rang me back."
We contacted Nintendo on Murphy's behalf. A spokesman said the problem was caused by cracked hinges which were "not considered a manufacturing fault and as such are not covered under warranty" - hence the charge being made for repair. He said that all warranty and guarantee information was "clearly displayed in all our hardware and software instruction manuals" and said it was communicated to our reader.
The spokesman accepted that "we clearly have an issue with our couriers, particularly with regards to shipping to Ireland. Our UK customer services manager is currently investigating this for us."
In a follow-up statement, he said Nintendo was "looking into a way to replicate the process in Ireland as currently used in the UK, where the customer drops their console into their local post office having attached our pre-paid postage label to the package - thus removing the need for people to have to wait for and rely on couriers."
And so the matter ended until, several days later, we received another mail from our reader saying that Nintendo had been in touch with him and had agreed to repair the console free of charge.
Maxxed out
Deborah Martin from Dublin describes herself as a "great fan" and "very regular customer" of TK Maxx, but shopping there recently left her with "a very sour taste" in her mouth. And the cause? The sterling/euro price differential.
She brought a jacket to the checkout in the Blanchardstown outlet where she was told the 59.99 price tag was in fact, a sterling and not a euro price. "I have never once seen a tag priced in sterling in the store," she writes.
Martin asked the "helpful" sales assistant what was the euro price and she referred to a sheet of paper in a cupboard behind the cash register and told her the jacket would cost €99.99. "An increase of over 60 per cent! Needless to say, I left the jacket behind. What a shame, as I am a dedicated fan of the Blanchardstown store," she concludes.
