Why I won't be buying Vizio ever again - A tale of Customer (Dis)Service
Why I won't be buying Vizio ever again - A tale of customer (dis)service
On April 11th 2010, I purchased a Vizio VBR200W Blu-Ray player from BJ's Wholesale. The player works fine for a little while, but later in the year we notice that the drive is having trouble stuttering while playing. I put in a call to the customer service line at Vizio. They told me to unplug the player, hold my thumb over the power button for 30 seconds, then plug it back in.
I turned the unit back on, it seemed ok.
For a day or two.
Then the player resumed stuttering while playing back DVDs and Blu-Ray discs.
So, January 14th comes around and I got through to Jeff at Vizio who tentatively approves my returning of the unit to Vizio. I call back 3 days later and get told that I had received final approval to return the unit.
On January 22nd, I sent the Blu-Ray player (in its original box) to Vizio via UPS ground. The player was received on January 27th. I was told that it would take 3-5 business days for the player to be received and processed, and another 3-5 days for a unit to arrive from California.
2/4 Called to inquire about the unit. They said they had no status on it, but had received the unit.
2/10 Called to inqire. Amanda in SD (Did not get her badge number) said they had not received the original unit from me. (They said they received it from me on 2/4, I gave her the UPS tracking number.) Amanda said she was putting an e-mail in to the warehouse to get status.
2/14 Called again. Spoke to Ben (Badge 477). Ben informed me that they had a shipment of units arriving from China and that I should call back on 2/17 to get status.
2/17 Spoke to badge #297, did not get her name. She e-mailed the rep from 2/10 to get status on the status e-mail sent on 2/10.
2/17 and 2/18. I received calls from Vizio on my cell phone informing me that they were going to send me a replacement unit, it would be a newer model. (A Vizio VBR231) No word on when the unit would be shipping
2/24 Spoke to Rob, badge 479. Rob had no information on the status of the replacement unit or a tracking number. Rob sent a request to the warehouse.
3/1 Spoke to Marie, badge 458. Marie said that they just had a "new" status system put in place. Marie didn't know if Rob's status from 2/24 went in on the old or the new system.
3/4 Spoke to Brock, badge 438. Brock informed me that the status of my order was now "Refund for credit", then apologized saying he shouldn't have told me that as it was for internal accounting for their business. Brock informed me that a replacement unit was ready to be shipped on 3/3, but was unable to provide me a tracking number, only a reference number, and I could use the reference number to track the package status through UPS.
Since 3/4, I have searched for this reference number on both the UPS and the FedEx sites. As you can guess, neither UPS or FedEx have any record of such a reference number.
I will try to call back again today to see if they have a tracking number.
The service request ticket number I have been using is 1371619.
Resolution I would like (Any are acceptable):
Of course, the reviews on the replacement unit are pretty crappy (2.5/5 stars at Amazon). So, we will see what happens.
On April 11th 2010, I purchased a Vizio VBR200W Blu-Ray player from BJ's Wholesale. The player works fine for a little while, but later in the year we notice that the drive is having trouble stuttering while playing. I put in a call to the customer service line at Vizio. They told me to unplug the player, hold my thumb over the power button for 30 seconds, then plug it back in.
I turned the unit back on, it seemed ok.
For a day or two.
Then the player resumed stuttering while playing back DVDs and Blu-Ray discs.
So, January 14th comes around and I got through to Jeff at Vizio who tentatively approves my returning of the unit to Vizio. I call back 3 days later and get told that I had received final approval to return the unit.
On January 22nd, I sent the Blu-Ray player (in its original box) to Vizio via UPS ground. The player was received on January 27th. I was told that it would take 3-5 business days for the player to be received and processed, and another 3-5 days for a unit to arrive from California.
2/4 Called to inquire about the unit. They said they had no status on it, but had received the unit.
2/10 Called to inqire. Amanda in SD (Did not get her badge number) said they had not received the original unit from me. (They said they received it from me on 2/4, I gave her the UPS tracking number.) Amanda said she was putting an e-mail in to the warehouse to get status.
2/14 Called again. Spoke to Ben (Badge 477). Ben informed me that they had a shipment of units arriving from China and that I should call back on 2/17 to get status.
2/17 Spoke to badge #297, did not get her name. She e-mailed the rep from 2/10 to get status on the status e-mail sent on 2/10.
2/17 and 2/18. I received calls from Vizio on my cell phone informing me that they were going to send me a replacement unit, it would be a newer model. (A Vizio VBR231) No word on when the unit would be shipping
2/24 Spoke to Rob, badge 479. Rob had no information on the status of the replacement unit or a tracking number. Rob sent a request to the warehouse.
3/1 Spoke to Marie, badge 458. Marie said that they just had a "new" status system put in place. Marie didn't know if Rob's status from 2/24 went in on the old or the new system.
3/4 Spoke to Brock, badge 438. Brock informed me that the status of my order was now "Refund for credit", then apologized saying he shouldn't have told me that as it was for internal accounting for their business. Brock informed me that a replacement unit was ready to be shipped on 3/3, but was unable to provide me a tracking number, only a reference number, and I could use the reference number to track the package status through UPS.
Since 3/4, I have searched for this reference number on both the UPS and the FedEx sites. As you can guess, neither UPS or FedEx have any record of such a reference number.
I will try to call back again today to see if they have a tracking number.
The service request ticket number I have been using is 1371619.
Resolution I would like (Any are acceptable):
- Vizio to provide me a tracking number for the replacement Blu-Ray player (UPS or FedEx ground, 2nd day air, or overnight at this point.) A phone call to my cell phone informing me of the tracking number.
- Vizio to refund me the purchase price of my Blu-Ray player plus the 7% New Jersey sales tax. (You received a copy of the receipt on December 30th 2010)
Of course, the reviews on the replacement unit are pretty crappy (2.5/5 stars at Amazon). So, we will see what happens.