Outstanding Customer Service from Sennheiser UK

[Tim]

I have often read posts here about bad service, so I thought this was worth bringing to peoples attention.

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD650 headphones (one of 4 Sennheiser earphones I own) which are about 5/6 years old. A few weeks ago the headband snapped in the middle whilst taking them off and after a little research on the internet I found a replacement from Custom Cable (http://www.custom-cable.co.uk/headphone-spares/sennheiser-en/headbands-and-earhooks/sennheiser-replacement-foam-headband-pad-for-hd650.html), but this was £109.95!

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w63/greatgig/hd6502.jpg

I then did some digging on the Sennheiser website and found you can buy them direct for £83.35, but I also noticed they do 'Out of Warranty' repairs for the HD600 series. For £34 + VAT they offer a fixed price repair for any fault which includes parts, labour and return carriage. I filled out the repair request and shortly received a very clear reply email on how to proceed. I called Sennheiser UK as requested, paid the charge of £40.80 and was issued a service returns number.

At this point I thought I would have to return the entire headphone, which was going to cost around £10.00 via Special Delivery, so instead I removed the headband and just sent that Second Class for £1.33 and obtained a proof of postage. I kept everything apart from the two parts of the broken band. Sennheiser estimated a 3/4 week turnaround for the job. I also included a polite covering letter outlining how the product had been used during it's lifetime, that I was a loyal Sennheiser customer and very surprised that a flagship model would fail in such a way.

It's been around 4 weeks now and imagine my surprise when I took delivery this morning of a large box from Sennheiser Logistics - inside was a complete brand new pair of HD650's! All I expected to receive was a replacement headband.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w63/greatgig/hd6501.jpg

So cheers to Sennheiser, I was always a fan of theirs anyway but this has almost certainly secured my loyalty for life and also the purchase of a pair of HD800's :)

Out of warranty repair link:
http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/contact_menu_faulty-product

[anthonyTD]

hi Tim,
Thats brilliant!:)
Anthony,TD...

[Ali Tait]

Nice to see. Things like this are all too rare nowadays.

[Tim]

What was a really nice touch, was that after filling out the repair request I was given a phone number, the actual name of the person to call and her email address. As you say, rare these days to receive such personal and excellent service.

[morris_minor]

Tim,

Thanks for this info! :thumbsup:

I've got some 650s too, but also a pair of 595s - which have a cracked housing on one side and need to be held together with duct tape. So I'll definitely look into this out-of-warranty repair. :)

Cheers,
Bob

[webby]

Brilliant service. Now, all I need is a broken headband.

[Alex_UK]

Brilliant service. Now, all I need is a broken headband.

Perhaps Tim can sell us some of his spare bits and we can jump on them! ;)

[bobbasrah]

Perhaps Tim can sell us some of his spare bits and we can jump on them! ;)

Good idea..... AOS becomes a bunch of unscrupulous and cracked headbanders....:eyebrows:
Damn, my Beyers are almost unbreakable....:scratch:

[ledzep]

Wow you dont normally get that nowadays

[Tim]

Wow you dont normally get that nowadays
Indeed not - I do think my covering letter could possibly have swung the balance in my favour, but even so I'm still pretty impressed and never dreamed I would get a full replacement after all these years. All I need now is a new headband and I have two pairs :)

[barry-potter]

i had the 650's too and the headband snapped, i just taped them together with duct tape. it looked fabulous.

[morris_minor]

My grovelling letter to Sennheiser couldn't have been as grovelling as Tim's was :(.

My cracked HD595s (housing cracked near headband on both sides - one, right through) were returned today . . .

But on the up side - they are like new: new mouldings, new pads, new padding in headband. Not bad for £40 really . . . :rolleyes:

Just waiting for my 650s to break now. :eyebrows:

[Interconnect]

I too have received excellent customer service from sennheiser in the past :)

The cable strain releif started to split on my 25sp's, they were only a few months old and had been treated with kid gloves. Maplin told me to 'do one' blaming mis-use, so I wrote to sennheiser. They sent me a new cable and a lovely letter FOC.

I still use these cans (bought when princess di died) and the replacement cable is still going strong all these years later.

Anyway.... Big up ya chest Sennheiser!

[synsei]

That is excellent Tim and very well done Sennheiser :respect:

I had a similarly excellent experience with ArmourHome last year when I put in a request for some parts for my NAD C350 amp. Even though they no longer support it, they scoured their overseas operations for the parts I needed, eventually sourcing them in Canada and sent them to me at cost with no delivery charge ;)

p.s. I still have a brand new volume pot for this amp if anyone can make use of it ;)