General tips for getting warranties honored:
- look at info on consumer affairs about the situation and know your rights
- ask why they are refusing
- if going to a physical store bring print outs of the relevant consumer affairs info
I've never had a warranty honored straight away with no difficulties, but those approaches have got me through so far. They always find an excuse to refuse at first, probably assuming I don't know my rights and will just give up.
I think it's actually illegal to offer an excuse that would deprive you of your statutory rights. I've been pleasantly surprised in the past, especially with phones that _aren't_ sold from Telstra Shops. I've known a few cases where someone has a phone that has a 12 month warranty but is still under the contract, and the person is only phoning up to ask about getting out of the contract or buying a new phone only to have the telco volunteer that the phone is effectively under warranty because it is still under contract, despite what any warranty that comes with the phone might say, and replace or repair it. The only downside to that is that the repair turnaround is generally weeks and they will often offer a temporary phone but it will be pretty crap, but it's still cheaper than a new phone. I bought a satnav device from DSE online a few years back, and when it arrived it was obviously a faulty return that had been resold... it was dirty, missing the charger, and didn't work. I called up and they said to take it into the nearest store for exchange. I did that and the store didn't have the same model but they did have a slightly better one for about $100 more, and when I asked if they could give me a bit of a discount they just did a straight exchange. A happy customer who might consider shopping there again (vs an unhappy customer who will readily complain to anyone who will listen) is worth at least that but most places just don't get it. James