Sandisk - customer service awful

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BlackCloud

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I had a 8Gb Sandisk Extreme IV CF card. I made the mistake of thinking once working ok it would stay that way and after several months whilst away on holiday it failed in my D300. Basically in camera and PC failed with write errors.

In March I sent it back to Sandisk office in Swords, ROI by recorded delivery. This appeared to be the UK office. I didn't hear anything from them and so in May I sent an enquiry letter and got a Cert of Posting from the PO. Still no response.

Two or three weeks ago I emailed their customer services explaining the situation. I got a response and after a bit of to'ing and fro'ing of emails they basically said 'if I sent it back to their sales office with getting an RMA number on arrival it would probably be binned'! What! they also said it would probably be hard to trace within the office.

I wrote back and said that was unacceptable, the Royal Mail can say they delivered it 9so won't compensate), I also said Sandisk at Swords ignored my follow up letter and even if they were not going to replace it they should have replied and returned it. They didn't respond.

I have chased them up again and tyey have just responded and said basically, sorry, we can't find any trace of it and it was outside of our procedure, sorry for any convenience, goodbye!

WTF!

Surely a company like this can't get away just saying go away, we binned your card mate and just couldn't be botered answering you. Makes no difference, but the card originally had a very polite letter, all my details etc. i doubt they just chucked it in a bin. I'm really disppointed and bloomin' angry. Can i do anything? I've emailed back and asked for it to be escalated to a senior manager. I have a feeling the cutomer services is in Europe or possibly India?



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Can i ask why you didn't take/send it back to the shop or online retailer you bought it from, as they should have been your first port of call.
 
As I said, no receipt, couldn't prove purchase. I know this is outside of RMA procedures, I accept that, but I don't think Sandisk can just ignore people until they enquire twice and then just say 'sorry it's probably binned'. I was hoping they would prove it was duff, see it wasn't so long since manufacture and do the decent thing and replace. I could have even took a 'sorry, here have it back' but this, in my opinion, is very poor.
 
To be honest I don't think you can blame them. You haven't followed the warranty procedure according to their conditions set out in the warranty guide!
 
Well I must have the wrong idea then if it's acceptable to have a returned item just binned and customers ignored... how crazy. Modern times eh? :thinking:
 
I understand your frustration but sending a small item like that off to a company that size hoping it's going to the correct dept I would think is asking for trouble. Don't be surprised if it turns up in six months time.

The thing is these cards have a lifetime warranty if you keep the receipt as per the warranty return details are on the website
 
I would have just expected it arrived at reception like all their other mail and they take it from there. If it was unacceptable send it back. Companies must have some sort of procedure for dealing with stuff that doesn't meet their exact criteria and I'm sure they have general post to deal with. To me it is really poor.

I do fully appreciate I acted outside their procedure but they wouldn't have even corresponded if I hadn't contacted them twice since. It's a good lesson, keep all receipts, and think twice before buying from such a poorly organised bunch of shysters again.
 
did they know it was coming back?? was there any contact before sending it??

i dunno, but i would guess the faulty ones dont go to the address you sent them to:shrug:
 
BlackCloud said:
I do fully appreciate I acted outside their procedure but they wouldn't have even corresponded if I hadn't contacted them twice since. It's a good lesson, keep all receipts, and think twice before buying from such a poorly organised bunch of shysters again.
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Yup, keep all receipts and don't be a disorganised shyster. You admit 100% that you didn't follow their procedure yet seem to think that it's all their fault. Was the card bought from a shop or from e-bay? Are you 100% certain it was a genuine card rather than one of the millions of fakes?
 
Don't call me a shyster. I'm hardly dishonest am I? It was a mistake but I didn't steal the bloody card or mug an old woman for it. Who the hell do you think you are to call me a shyster? Why are people so negative towards others? I've lost out mate and it's fine to just fob people off and say we don't remember it.

I'm sure you would accept it quietly to think you had posted off an expensive broken card to a major manufacturer, it can be proven delivered and then just be ignored, and eventually be told you didn't follow our procedure so we lost it mate. They are the ones who are disorganised and questionable.

At the very least I would have expected a 'no' we won't change it, 'no' it's a fake (which it wasn't). I'm sure they don't lose all the post that arrives at a big company and have some procedure to deal with things that arrive. There procedure is a procedure, not the law of the land.
 
I guess you will just have to put this one down to experience, although i will concede they didn't seem very helpful, the only other thing i could suggest is if you paid with a credit or debit card you may have some prove of purchase, but a bit of a long shot i know, just out of interest where did you buy it from ?
 
Small dealer.

Thanks. I think I am angered more by their dismissive attitude even when it clearly arrived there than by their lack of help. It's not a £5 item.

Anyway, suprised people sort of consider it acceptable but i'll put it down to experience and call this thread a day.
 
Moral of this story is don't send anything back anywhere without following their RMA procedure and getting an RMA number.
 
BlackCloud said:
Small dealer.

Thanks. I think I am angered more by their dismissive attitude even when it clearly arrived there than by their lack of help. It's not a £5 item.

Anyway, suprised people sort of consider it acceptable but i'll put it down to experience and call this thread a day.
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Well if you sent it via rm recorded, then you can show them your tracking no. and receipt.
If you paid via any sort of card, then your bank statement can be used. I wouldn't give up just yet.
 
There is no point in supplying every detail, for what, just to be ripped to shreds :) I am tackling this in a different way...thanks to one or two with some understanding.
 
BlackCloud said:
There is no point in supplying every detail, for what, just to be ripped to shreds :)
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Nobody is ripping you to shreds on here mate, but the other benefit of providing the suppliers names is it gives the rest of us a heads up for future reference ;)
 
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I must admit you were at fault for just sending it back blind, hoping it would get sent to the correct department.

However, I'm inclined to agree, just because it didn't fulfil their warranty procedure, they can't just say 'sorry, we binned it'

What if you were to take your car for a warranty repair. Park up, take the keys into reception.
Then come back the day after for them to say 'Sorry, you didn't park it in the correct car park, we don't deal with warranty repairs here, so we scrapped it'.

Admittedly the price difference is huge...but the value of the item isn't the point. It wasn't their to bin. It's not as if he sent it on its own, rattling in an empty envelope. If he did, I would expect them to stir their tea with it, pick their toes, then bin it........But he didn't he wrote a letter. They should have either forwarded it on for him, or returned it. Or at least contacted him.
 
Thanks for that. I'm just going to deal with US head office and see what happens.

Any company in this country would I think feel embarressed, disappointed enough in their staff attitude and obliged to do something if they saw the emails I have. They are written as if it is acceptable to just say it would be discarded even if it did arrive etc. and uh, well its a big office we haven't a hope of finding it. The fact it was sent recorded etc. makes it better for me because I can prove delivery, and yes, I did have a very polite letter with all my details.

I work for a big organisation which recieves many letters from the public, often addressed incorrectly or to the head man, and arriving at many local offices rather than a central point. We can't get away saying 'sorry it was binned because it was sent to the wrong person'. We are expected to deal with it and respond, quickly. Sandisk are a massive international company at the very least I would have expected an 'on yer bike mate'. Thing is they ignored the two letters with no response and it was only because i chased via email I got a response. Even that I had to remind them.

Re the small dealer, well it's not their fault and I can't go back. It's pointless now as I chose my way to deal by returning to Sandisk. I didn't have the receipt so I chose a direct approach with the explanatory letter. I at least expected a response.

Anyway, that's the end of that. Dealing with their HQ, see if they feel a bit more sympathetic and charitable.
 
I bought a sandisk from ebay and it failed. a few years ago now...
I contacted their UK supplier provided, as best I could, some form of reference for them.
I didn't have a full receipt from a UK based shop. it was, of course, the real deal.
They provided a brand new sealed replacement. hasn't failed since.

To Blackcloud. I think the word 'shyster' is a bit out of order, but I do think that you've not communicated with the customer service department properly.
You sent your item by recorded delivery, to an address that "appeared" to be their UK servicing department?
In fairness, I think you didn't cover your bases. I'm sending something back to Sigma UK this week. I've been in communication by e-mail and phone with them and will be sending it back with a covering letter (they have no RMA number for non-warranty repairs). I also know the name of the person to whom I'm sending it.
There is no way I would just send something I cared about to a company I thought might be able to help by just posting it to them.
I do think it's a bit unfair that they just binned it...but if they don't know what to do with it and they are a busy company, do they keep these things indefinitely? I've worked in customer service a few years ago. If someone dropped something on my shop counter and didn't talk to us or fill out the required forms (as procedure demands) It wouldnt' be binned...But it would be treated as lost property and not dealt with.

If you make enough noise, but don't be stropey about it. talk to the right people and you might get a favourable response. Just cite unreasonable customer care. I assume you included a covering letter and a returns address. Something explaining the problem fully?
Print that out again and go to the complaints department quoting their excellent customer quality record etc..the reason you bought sandisk in the first place..etc..also you can say it was a gift, hence no receipt.... lay on the honey :)
 
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Thanks for the sensible balanced advice Dizmatt. I do fully accept my 'mistake' and underestimated the response, or lack of it, from Sandisk.

As an aside, I have been polite throughout. I was last in communication with Sandisk 3 or so days back where I have asked the guy I have been dealing with for the name of a manager and address I can correspond with. Once again I have been ignored. Gives you some idea of the professionalism of the company I have been dealing with...
 
don't forget...you may be dealing with their nominated support representative for the UK and not directly with sandisk.
it's like having a BMW X3 a la my sisterand forgetting that it's made in austria by a subcontractor..etc...
 
Even if you bought the card from a small retailer outside of the guarantee period, it is worth contacting them in the first instance. Even if it is just to find out who they purchase Sandisk from. They may or may not be able to offer much help themselves outside of their normal 12 month period, but maybe the goodwill gesture of a copy receipt if needed and a contact at one of the distributors who will help is going along the right track.

There are a number of UK distributors for Sandisk in mainland UK. That should then be your point of service. without proof of purchase there would probably be some form of service charge - (So it is certainly worth keeping reciepts for Sandisk, and for that matter, any flash memory products somewhere safe, regardless of how old they are. This is mainly due to the issue of fake and illeagal product in the marketplace.)

I hope that you manage to get this issue resolved. But, if the ard has got lost in the system it may be hard to resolve properly.

I can only advise the following at this point.

1 - ALWAYS keep your flash memory receipts.
2 - Ensure you have contact details for your retailer, in case of problems
3 - Buy from a recognised retailer in your country (Even if the price is slightly more - As the after sales service can prove to be far more valuable than an initial saving of a couple of pounds. Especially if what arrives at your door turns out to be fake or re-badged).
4 - IF you do have a problem, contact the people you intend to return it to by phone or email first and follow whatever returns directions they give you.

I would finally like to add that Sandisk is an extemely good product, and the service from the authorised distributors is generally also of a very high standard. Obviously if things do go wrong, it can be very frustrating, and on the larger cards, quite costly, but if procedures are followed, these problems are quite uncommon.

Good luck.
 
Marcel said:
I must admit you were at fault for just sending it back blind, hoping it would get sent to the correct department.

However, I'm inclined to agree, just because it didn't fulfil their warranty procedure, they can't just say 'sorry, we binned it'

What if you were to take your car for a warranty repair. Park up, take the keys into reception.
Then come back the day after for them to say 'Sorry, you didn't park it in the correct car park, we don't deal with warranty repairs here, so we scrapped it'.

Admittedly the price difference is huge...but the value of the item isn't the point. It wasn't their to bin. It's not as if he sent it on its own, rattling in an empty envelope. If he did, I would expect them to stir their tea with it, pick their toes, then bin it........But he didn't he wrote a letter. They should have either forwarded it on for him, or returned it. Or at least contacted him.
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:plusone:

I agree completely.

You should have attempted to follow RMA, but they shouldn't have thrown it away or just shooed you away. Not acceptable, no matter which way you look at it.
 
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