[Joseph8011]

Contact cleaner and distancing the springs was no longer working effectively. So I asked Sennheiser's customer service for new gold springs and cables to fix the problem; they would only send the cable not the springs. Instead, they insisted I sent in my headphones for a "fair and reasonable fee." The drivers are in perfect condition, the cables are fine, they only needed a minor repair taking minutes. I can purchase a new pair of Sennheiser HD580 headphones from Comp-u-plus for $146.

What irks me most is they refuse to send these back unrepaired without charging a $35 dollar fee. "Return of unrepaired unit subject to a minimum charge of $35.00."

Obviously Sennheiser needs either acknowledge or become more accountable for this design flaw. Any suggestions or advice before my contacting them?

Joseph

 

[seeberg]

Welcome to HeadFi

Sorry about your wallet- it lived a good life, and it rests here now and forever, depleted and gone

That sucks, man. I'd think Sennheiser would do better for you, but maybe this isn't the case. Someone should be able to give you some good advice, so I'd bump the thread if I were you until someone does(I just did, they should be coming... right about... now). I don't get why they'd suggest to send them in, saying they'll fix them, and then do nothing, turn them around to you, and then ask for more money. That just doesn't seem right to me, especially for something like that.

I sure hope that doesn't happen to my HD580's that are on their way- if it does, I hope I have a better experience with Sennheiser on that matter, should it arise.

,
Abe

 

[acs236]

A pragmatic solution might be to either solder the cable yourself or send it to Larry and have him do it -- of course, either of these is ideal because one of the nice features of the Senn 580 is the replacable cable.

You might try writing a letter to the appropriate people at Sennheiser explaining that Senn has known about the defect for years and you think it should be repaired free of charge. I wouldn't expect much, but it might be worth a shot.

 

[JackFrost 77]

Well your not the only one...well I didnt have to pay for my sennheiser hd270's to be fixed when the right headphone just stoped working one day, I went into the store I bought them from and they said the headphones would have to be sent to sennheiser to get repaired.....3months later and I still dont have my headphones back and there is nothing i can damn well do about it....sennheiser stole my headphones.. :'(

 

[spencexxx]

Don't mean to gloat, but I teach English in Germany, and one of my former students was the owner of the company that does outsourced repairs for Senn. I got on his good side, and he aggreed to fix my 545s for free. Even got a free second cable out of the deal! I saw the bill though, and yikes, its expencive to fix a problem that is so typical for the line!

 

[Joseph8011]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acs236 A pragmatic solution might be to either solder the cable yourself or send it to Larry and have him do it -- of course, either of these is ideal because one of the nice features of the Senn 580 is the replacable cable. You might try writing a letter to the appropriate people at Sennheiser explaining that Senn has known about the defect for years and you think it should be repaired free of charge. I wouldn't expect much, but it might be worth a shot.

Well this was considered an out-of-warranty repair.... so I do understand a nominal charge. But it would be comparable to my sending a television with a broken knob to be serviced, and them charging as if the tube, or the main component, were broken. Although, the $35 charge to return my headphones back unrepaired does smack me as a subtle form of extortion.

I guess it was foolish of me to trust the word of a big company. Or perhaps everyone just has a different opinion of what fair and reasonable really means... which is why I asked for an honest opinion here. But you're probably right. Not only will I send a letter to the appropriate person at Sennheiser, but a straight to the point, professionally written, yet strongly worded one.

 

[Joseph8011]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spencexxx Don't mean to gloat, but I teach English in Germany, and one of my former students was the owner of the company that does outsourced repairs for Senn. I got on his good side, and he aggreed to fix my 545s for free. Even got a free second cable out of the deal! I saw the bill though, and yikes, its expencive to fix a problem that is so typical for the line!

You must be a really good teacher.

 

[JRoyen]

nevermind

 

[Bob_McBob]

Did they actually tell you about the $35 fee when they had you send them in?

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph8011 Contact cleaner and distancing the springs was no longer working effectively. So I asked Sennheiser's customer service for new gold springs and cables to fix the problem; they would only send the cable not the springs. Instead, they insisted I sent in my headphones for a "fair and reasonable fee." The drivers are in perfect condition, the cables are fine, they only needed a minor repair taking minutes. I can purchase a new pair of Sennheiser HD580 headphones from Comp-u-plus for $146. Joseph

What kind of problem does your HD-580 suffer from? And by "spring", do you mean the connectors that connect the cable to the phones themselves?

 

[Joseph8011]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorander What kind of problem does your HD-580 suffer from? And by "spring", do you mean the connectors that connect the cable to the phones themselves?

It's hard to describe, but they are these very tiny springs that accept the plugs in-between its tines to create a connection. After a while the connection starts to short out, and it becomes sporadic or intermittent. It's as pleasant as repeatedly turning on and off your stereo, while trying to listen to or concentrate on music.

Too bad I didn't take a picture before sending them off for repair.

These replacement cables can be purchased on-line for $17.01 from Sennheiser, however, the springs are no longer included. The cable's sturdier redesigned plugs are supposed to fix a lot of the intermittent connection problems; they are also now gold plated for better contact. So basically they're charging me $76.80 to do something that could have taken me 5 minutes.

http://shop.sennheiserusa.com/retail...ct_prod=081435

And Bob_McBob, you actually bring up a very good question. They didn't tell me about the $35 fee on the phone. It also doesn't make any mention of the fee during the on-line Service Request, or the Service Call e-mail they sent me. Although, if you dig through their site, in the Service FAQ, it does state, "Repair cost minimum is $35.00 to evaluate the unit. This cost is included in your repair if you decide to have the unit repaired." Which is far more ambiguous language than the far more straightforward, "Return of unrepaired unit subject to a minimum charge of $35.00"

I sent a letter to the President and CEO of Sennheiser Electronics Corporation, but have yet to receive a response.

Although, I have a feeling, I'm going to have to either: a) pay $35 to get my own headphones back unrepaired (after already paying shipping) or b) pay $93 for the repair with a limited 60 day warranty c) purchase brand new headphones for $146 with a 2 year warranty d) contact the BBB, FTC, and Attorney General's Office e) none of the above.

 

[seeberg]

of f) do what I did to Sony, in particular their SCEA branch. I kept complaining about their PS2's, which I found out were defective up until recently (bad ventilation; too much of it is a VERY BAD thing), and kept calling, and eventually told them that if I had to, I'd report this to every watchdog group that watches them and blow the whole thing wide open(This wouldn't apply to Sennheiser, I'm sure they'd admit their faults soon enough). So they buckled, and now I have a working PS2 (3rd one; the original two kept screw**g up), with electrical tape mods to block unnecessary ventilation, and two extra controllers that came with the two refurbished consoles

So keep those nagging calls coming, I'm sure Sennheiser will likely buckle if this is the case.

,
Abe

 

[VR6ofpain]

I love how everyone complains about Grado's being so cheap...apparently Sennheiser isn't perfect either huh.

You problem sounds like auto repair shops. They charge to 'diagnose' the problem (today usually consisting of connecting the car to a port to scan for fault codes, taking all of 30 seconds)...even if you don't have them repair it.

 

[Joseph8011]

I recently received a very apologetic e-mail from the president of Sennheiser, as well as from a person in their service department. I am very impressed with the swiftness of their responses. While my letter was more than justified, their resolution was even more than fair and adequate. They offered a complete courtesy replacement for my old headphones, of which were delivered yesterday afternoon.

In fact, there was even a slight misunderstanding on my part, as the $93.81 service quote was actually for a replacement pair of HD580s, at 33% off their suggested retail price.

I'm just hoping this newly redesigned pair allows me to put any intermittent connection problems behind me, once and for all. I'm also impressed with the few changes made to the HD580's design and build quality in the last five years.

So, at least for me, not only does Sennheiser build world-class sounding headphones, but when given the chance, they are also willing to stand behind their products.

 

[gshan]

^ Wow. And out of warranty!