On Sunday 6/2/13 we went to Radio Shack on ***** Road in ***** Plaza to ask about their repair services. The male associate at the desk pointed us to the sign on the desk listing the services and costs but advised us we would likely get a better rate by going to a local shop and handed us a referral card.
On Monday 6/3/13 once the local shops were open S called and was told that particular shop didn’t service the Marauder, S called a few more places and got a quote from another local shop but ultimately the prices at Radio Shack were cheaper.
That afternoon S went back to the Radio Shack and first spoke with a female employee and stated he wanted to use their cell phone repair service. The associate consulted with another employee who asked Steven about the kind of warranty, etc that he had on the phone. S made it clear there was no warranty on the phone and repeatedly stated he wanted the repair service advertised on the door and on the sign on the desk. The male associate stated he didn’t know how to process the repairs and told the female associate to call someone at another store.
After speaking with the associate at another store the female associate was still unable to ascertain how to process the repairs, repeating out loud that she needed a green and white box. The male associate in the store did not know where to find the “green and white boxes” as they kept referring to it. The male associate was simultaneously assisting another customer with purchasing a phone. The female associate went to the back and returned to the front with the extended service plan and S once again advised he did not buy the phone at Radio Shack, did not have a warranty or plan and wanted the specific service advertised to fix broken cell phones at cost to the customer.
The male associated repeated again that he did not know how to do it and the female associate continued to stand there silently and did not attempt further assistance. S began looking for the “green and white box” around the store and eventually asked to speak with a manger. The male then identified himself as the manager. S found the “green and white box” hanging right on the display under the desk and the manager said to the female associate, “Oh, just ring that up and he’ll have to mail the phone in.”
As a result of how long and frustrating the experience was, when S came home and told me what happened, I called the store to find out the name of the manager and the female associate who had been in at 3:30PM that afternoon. The associate N answered the phone and advised the manager’s name was Shawn and the female would have been Jenny (operator name on the receipt is “JK”), at my request N also provided the name and corporate number for the district manager Scott Mate. The phone number just led to a mail box and having eventually “received” the repair service at that time S declined to leave a complaint. Since he's much easier going than I am he probably would never have given this a second thought except for what happened next.
*It's worth noting nothing on the green and white box lists what specific brands (HTC, etc) are serviced by the repair service, just that they repair iPhones and Androids, including broken screens.
The cell phone and receipt showing purchase were mailed into Werx and two days afterwards, today 6/7/13 ,S received an e-mail stating the phone could not be fixed by the service as Pantech was not a brand covered by the service. Despite paying $86.39 (including sales tax) for the service, the email from Werx advised a refund was available minus a $30 fee for shipping charges incurred.
Of course by the time he saw the e-mail it was about 8PM and when he called their customer service line he just got voicemail; their website looks like they're close on weekends.
At this point I'm completely frustrated by Radio Shack. I left a message for the district manager and also use the feedback website on the receipt to send them the above complaint. If Werx won't refund us the full cost, I really think Radio Shack should pony up the $30. Now we have to wait a couple more days for S's phone to get back to us, then he has to go to the one local place that said they could do it, wait for them to order the part since it's not something they have on hand.
EDITED:
Monday the DM called my husband, apologized about the situation, said they would refund the $30 and that it was the general manager S had dealt with last week and the store would receive training. S went in on Monday to get the refund, dealt with an assistant manager he hadn't seen before. When they were processing the transaction, S looked at the screen, told the AM it looked like a charge, this needed to be a refund and asked him mid-transaction to verify this was a refund, and the AM assured him it was a refund. Tonight I was checking our account to balance it, and guess what? Yep, instead of refunding us $30, the idiot charged us $30