BEWARE -- NOT THE COMPANY IT USED TO BE!
There was a time…read morewhen I walked into a Bose store (I've been doing it for over 20 years) and although I knew I was paying more that I had to, I also knew I was getting a high quality product, complete with second-to-none acoustics and built to last. I also knew that if I ever had a problem, Bose would be very fair on doing the right thing to stand behind its products, even if they were out of warranty.
This is no longer the case. The product that did me in was an ear bud that I purchased not quite two years ago; it was my go-to product for hands-free driving -- good quality and comfortable fit. When I purchased it, the store told me its policy of should something go wrong outside of the warranty period, just bring it in and they would exchange it for a new one at 50% of the price. This was not a store policy, but a company policy.
All of a sudden, the earpiece started shutting down every minute or two, disconnecting me from my conversation unless I went back to the handset. I went to the store to see what they could do. In the old days, Bose would have said, "This is beyond the one-year warranty, but not by too much, and it's a manufacturing defect, and this is a customer who buys Bose frequently, so we'll exchange it at no cost to him." I later learned that this defect has been known to happen on these pieces, as this earbud had been discontinued and replaced by a different model, priced identically.
The store did not tell me what they would have said in the old days. Instead, they told me that their exchange policy had been modified, regardless of the 50% rule at the time that I bought the original earbud -- it is now a 26% discount, and they would not honor 50%. In other words, I had paid a lot of money for a product that died in two years time and was now totally worthless. Since I needed the functionality, I agreed to the exchange, figuring I'd call Bose customer service the next day and that they'd make things right.
I was wrong. I ended up speaking to the rep, who said although 50% had been their policy, it was no longer the case. When I clearly was not getting anywhere, I asked for his supervisor, Mark. Mark held his ground, even though he acknowledged the former exchange policy and that the product has had problems, which is why they took it off the market. He even had the audacity to say, "If I had any 'proof' of the 50% exchange policy, he would honor it," even though he said he knew this had been their policy. In essence, he said, "Rules is rules" or the equivalent. He could sense that he had a very upset customer, and possibly one who would not shop Bose again. He did not offer any form of placating me.
So here I am writing to Yelp, sharing my experience with others. At the beginning of this review, I gave three reasons why I had purchased Bose products in the past of which two were no longer valid: the high quality was no longer there, and the customer service clearly shows no desire about retaining customers -- an attitude that permeated through the two employees in the store, the initial customer service agent and his supervisor; thus this is a company-way of doing business now. The sound quality is still there, but that's it. Bottom line: I no longer can justify the over-the-top prices for a Bose product. Would you?
