Dick Smith have a policy to charge customers a hundred bond to look at any fault with a product they sell you, the theory is apparently that if you are found to have damaged the item they want you to pay for the repair. So I was told by a manager that it was a blanket policy, couldn't be changed for anyone and I would have to pay up before they would look at the faulty product they sold me. My argument was it was a common fault with the iTouch and a quick search of the internet would confirm that, that a button was unlikely to be damaged any other way than by normal use. Well fortunately a fortnight later I struck another manager who was prepared to waive the fee, and off went the unit to the local Apple agent to be assessed. Well the experience with these guys couldn't be more contrasting than the battle with Dick Smith. They were updating my cell phone every second day about what was happening, and have finally confirmed what I suspected all along that the unit was faulty and they would replace it. What was interesting is that they revealed that in nearly all cases replaces hardware that is faulty and under two years old. So it looks like unless you clearly damaged the player yourself, Apple don't as a matter of policy question the integrity of the customer and will repair clear manufacturing faults. The Apple agent will also charge you only $50 bond for the assessment if you go straight to them, so why Dick Smith feels the need to double the fee and spend a fortnight trying to not honour their legal obligation is beyond me personally. I see a pattern where shops try and argue their way out of their legal obligations by either deliberately confusing the issue, or as in the case of Dick Smith, claiming they are consulting their lawyers over the matter. I believe Dick Smith were never talking to their lawyers, it is just a cynical attempt that throws most customers off pursuing a repair they are entitled to. I'll probably not buy from Dick Smith again, even though in the end they waived the fee. I think I know though why they are having to close branches.
