returning music system

ztoical

hi all,

I don't think I've any rights with regards this issue but I thought I might as well ask. I got a music system for xmas from my brother and mum - its a Philips streanium WACS7000 - I was in the middle of buying a house so I left the system in my mums until I moved which was last week. Today I finally got round to opening the box and after setting up the system discovered it didn't work with Macs. Now the whole point of this thing is that it has a hard drive you can copy your music on to but all my music is on my iMac. The music system has a USB port for connecting MP3 players but again doesn't take apple products so my ipod wouldn't work.

If I can't copy my music on to the system its pretty much just a really big expensive radio. I'm pretty sure my mum got it at the end of november and doubt she still has the receipt and I've taken everything out of the box - still have all the bits and only turned it on once but I assume theres no chance of returning it for something that would work with my mac?

ztoical

found out from mum she got it in Dixons and still has receipt. Called Dixons just to see if I could do even a partial exchange - wasn't looking for a refund at all and the guy was really rude on the phone. If he had just said too much time had past that would have been fine but he snapped at me before I could even finish and started going on about how my mum should have know it didn't work with Mac and once I opened it they couldn't take it back end of story. I'd the box in front of me and point out it actually doesn't have any system requirements on the box at all and I had to open the box to find out and he said thats not our fault and hung up - cheek.

masseyno9

Not sure about your rights, but If you go into the store in person and ask for the manager and explain everything calmly (especially the bit about the rude employee) he/she will probably help you out. From dealing with, and working in shops it is obvious that you will always get a better result if you are calm and polite. Do NOT go in all guns blazing with demands left, right and centre!!

Now thats not to say you will (or are entitled to) get a good result, but its a hell of a lot more likely this way; in person and with a clear and thorough explanation (and quiet complaint about the phone-answerer!)

ztoical

masseyno9 wrote: »

Not sure about your rights, but If you go into the store in person and ask for the manager and explain everything calmly (especially the bit about the rude employee) he/she will probably help you out. From dealing with, and working in shops it is obvious that you will always get a better result if you are calm and polite. Do NOT go in all guns blazing with demands left, right and centre!!

Now thats not to say you will (or are entitled to) get a good result, but its a hell of a lot more likely this way; in person and with a clear and thorough explanation (and quiet complaint about the phone-answerer!)

sadly I live in Kilkenny and I'm not going to drive all the way to Dublin on the off chance the manger will be there and will speak to me. I've done my fair share of retail work over the years including manning phones which is why I was so annoyed with the guy on the phone. I don't expect a refund but the thing is just sitting in my living room now figured it was worth seeing if I could do some sort of exhange for a cheaper system [this system cost a fair few euros] - it seems easier all round to just sell the thing online.

daiixi

Write the manager a letter explaining the situation then. Send in a copy of the receipt with it. It's worth a shot. Otherwise over to adverts.ie with you!

masseyno9

ztoical wrote: »

sadly I live in Kilkenny and I'm not going to drive all the way to Dublin on the off chance the manger will be there and will speak to me. I've done my fair share of retail work over the years including manning phones which is why I was so annoyed with the guy on the phone. I don't expect a refund but the thing is just sitting in my living room now figured it was worth seeing if I could do some sort of exhange for a cheaper system [this system cost a fair few euros] - it seems easier all round to just sell the thing online.

Apologies, didn't realise visiting the shop was not an option. Agreed with above poster, either a letter, or maybe even a phone call to the manager. Or a letter with a follow-up phonecall (letters can be thrown away by ignorant employees) just to check he/she got it and ask if there were any options open to you. Again, gently push the fact you were treated badly by staff, the manager may be more keen to settle with you, in the hope of keeping you as a customer.

As an aside, could you get a lend of an external hard-drive and copy music to that, then onto the system? If you cant resolve the shop issue that is.

jahalpin

It sounds more a case of it not working with Apple's propriory protected AAP standard rather than with Macs? Would you be able to transfer unprotected MP3's from your Mac to the system

Apple are very protective of their standards and rarely allow third parties use them. I can't think of any system rather than a Mac (or Windows pc with iTunes) that can access these files.

The Philips product is designed to play MP3's and WMA's and is clearly marketed as such.

As you have opened and used the product, Dixons wouldn't be able to sell the item as new and would have to sell it at a huge discount, which would lead to them losing money on the transaction.

Zapp Brannigan

Try ringing Dixons headoffice and explain everything to them, including the rude employee on the phone. They might offer you an exchange.

JohnC.

The Philips website doesn't seem to say anything about Macs either way. But it does say it works with iPod. It could be what jahalpin suggests and the music is in Apples AAC format rather than MP3.

xtradel

I'm a store manager in retail & i would recommend speaking to the manager in a calm & civilised manner but i wouldent mention the previous rude employee because straight away you are telling him he's a sh1te manager who cant manage his staff! If he cant do anything for you check if a letter to dixons head office would make any difference & chances are he'll say yes because he's done his job correctly & any exchange would be his boss's decision.
If he does look after you himself then thank him & then mention the rude employee but only after you've got your exchange. He'll see it as you helping him.

ztoical

I checked with on a message board for the music system and this model doesn't work with Macs - for some models you can download a patch to make it work thou you do still have to convert all your music to MP3 format but so far no one has been able to make this model work with OSX. Regarding the ipod - the leaflet that comes with the system very clearly says it only works with ipod shuffle no other make of ipod but you have to open the box to find that out.

Thanks for the replies but I'm just going to give the system to my brother - I really only wanted to see about an exchange as it was a gift and I felt bad about not using it - but I've spent hours trying to make it work, talked to rude man at Dixons and posted on a couple of message forums so I don't feel so bad about it now. I didn't need/want a new music system quite happy with the cheap one I have.