A few days ago there were some threads about a certain WA store's refusal to honour warranty issues. After today I too have a complaint that has gone on far too long and if it is not resolved very soon I will be going to consumer affairs/trade practices and lodging the complaint formally (the tiger is now out of the cage). Needless to say I will not be buying anything ever again from that store - irrespective of the outcome. They should check items are correctly fixed before returning and do the right thing by customers to keep their business by exchanging and not making the customer suffer extensive periods without the said item during the warranty "solution" (or non-solution in this case).
Hey Tony - cheers for not naming the business.
The topics were removed because if we (as forum moderators) allow people to post negative stories about businesses, then it leaves it open to abuse by competitors, anonymous posters and anybody with any sort of issue against the proprietor, an employee or any representative. It can be very damaging for them.
Nothing positive has ever come out of "naming & shaming" businesses in these forums. Only except arguments & distress - for ALL involved.
Even the customer who believes they are 100% in the right gets their integrity challenged by others who had a positive experience .. and off it goes into a big heated argument. Something we try and avoid in here!
Hope you can get your issue sorted without too much drama.
Thanks Laurie, I am p#$$%d off about it, and I totally understand what you are saying. I am normally very obliging, as in this case, without even insisting on an immediate replacement which I was entitled to. Instead I bought another from them which does work. What I really hate is I provided a detailed list of the faults when I returned the unit and the most obvious was not even fixed/looked at. At the very least you would expect the shop to check that it had been fixed. If they don't know any better then they shouldn't be selling equipment they know very little about.
Anyway in my career I deal with law interpretation ALL the time and whilst I have little knowledge of trade practices act, I have some associates that are specialists in the area and I will be talking with them tomorrow. It was not a big ticket item - but the time from mucking around with this has become a joke in my book - and that time will be recompensed if a WA lawful refund is not provided to me tomorrow.
As for naming names - I agree and I don't like doing it and won't here - word of mouth works best in the long run.
I can inderstand your frustration when products fail, especially when you've shelled out big bucks.
However as Laurie points out although you may have a valid case in trade practice law, it doesn't allow you to 'name and shame' as this could be construed as de-famation.
I know someone who was told not to come back to a shop because he was making too many warranty claims (Snapped board) !!
Rather than naming the shop you could just mention the product that failed and ask if anyone else experienced the same problem. There's heaps of helpful people on these forums who can advise or at least commiserate.
To steal from the ad "Save it for the game"
If your treated like ** then you have every right!
The customer is always right unless proven otherwise.
My (legal) advice has been that it's only defamation or slanderous if it didn't happen, or you are making it up. If you have been unlucky enough to receive poor warranty support or appalling service then often we can wear it, and remember to maybe never shop there or buy that product again. But sometimes you get a situation which is completely unbelievable and that's when I think we owe it to our (windsurfing, kitesurfing, surfing) community to advise others. Sometimes when the treatment is really bad, commiserations or support from other forum users (whilst nice) isn't enough......
All Solved - full refund tomorrow 
. No doubt I will be the forum ar#$^ole for raising the issue / taking a large stick - but when things go too far and if you don't, sometimes nothing happens. And for the record this is the first warranty claim I have made in relation to anything in more than a decade - so I have probably been fairly lucky up to this point.
Great to see a positive outcome Tonyc!!
It seems these days that unless you jump up and down you are fobbed off until the business realises they have to do something or the consequences are much worse. Usually for both parties involved. Im talking about retail in general not just windsurfing shops.
You guys in WA have lots of options in which store you frequent. Here in Sydney we have just the one and I for one find the service and products just fine.
Whether it be tyre kicking, serious advice, demo stuff or a quite beer in the afternoon its all good.
Cheers
