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Huge Bose fan, hugely disappointed.
Hello Bose team. First of all I must say I just LOVE your products and tell everyone about them. I got 5 colleagues in the office to buy the Quiet 35 after telling them how much I loved mine. After that I got myself a Bose Quiet Comfort 30 and a Sportsfree, then I got my partner a Quiet 35 and a Sportsfree also. I am still not convinced about the sleeping earphones, but maybe I'll end up buying one if there is a discount, or maybe I'll wait for next generation, cuz I love your products and I love the concept of that one. Besides my love for the products and their quality, I loved the customer support when I first needed it. When my Quiet 35 on/off button got a bit loose and was turning the headphone on in the middle of the night, I got in touch with you and got a free replacement headphone in less than a week, and I had had the headphones for just over a year, slightly past the warranty I believe.
So when the on/off switch on my partner's Quiet 35 broke loose after getting stuck in the "on" position I was confident I shouldn't worry about it because the amazing customer support team from Bose would be able to help me. But I was in for some big disappointment! I live in Japan and I had bought the item from Amazon USA from a third part seller as a used (yet in perfect condition) item. I got in touch with support team in Japan in my broken Japanese and they told me they would get someone who could give me support in English. In less than an hour I got this call from a very nice lady that explained to me that I would be entitled to repair or replacement through the warranty if the item was brand new, but not if it was a second hand item. I kinda expected that and didn't find it unfair, however the solution to my problem was quite shocking: they couldn't repair the product either, they could only replace it for a newer model for ¥30,000 (about USD 300)!
I couldn't justify paying extra USD 300 on a pair of headphones I had bought 6 months before as a gift and that were used very carefully. I also couldn't believe that Bose would not offer me a way to have it repaired even if I wanted to pay for repair and posting costs. Then I did what any reasonable person would do: I looked up for help on the internet. So I found some videos of people who had had the same problem as mine (why, I had the problem myself on my other Bose!) and I also found some solutions. I found a fix tutorial and followed it: I reluctantly opened up the headphone, slightly destroyed the earcup during the process, found the very badly designed on/off switch inside had broken in two, superglued it back together, tied it up with a piece of plant wire from my dead bonsai tree and closed the headphone back. And it worked! The switch feels a bit strange, but at least my partner can switch it off and the headphone doesn't need to spend the day plugged to the charger as before.
Am I happy with the results? Well, yes and no. The headphones are working! But the switch is a bit wonky, the previously perfect earcup is now damaged, and I don't know for how long this solution will last. And now I keep wondering: what if it wasn't something I could have fixed myself? Would I be stuck with a USD 300+ headphones that doesn't turn off? Would I have to spend another USD 300 on a replacement? Let's face it: Bose is amazing but it is also not cheap! I don't want to throw a lot of money on a product that has a design flaw that is gonna cost me the same amount of money to fix it. I don't expect Bose to give me lifetime support either. But the support I got was disappointing... Don't get me wrong, I would still recommend Bose to anyone asking for headphone recommendations, but that passion I had for the brand just died a little bit after this experience and I just felt I needed to register the incident.
Anyway, thanks for the amazing products and for making long haul flights much more bearable!!