Do you get a refund of the DT  fees, or do they only charge that if it does get to that stage?

Handle9: It's funny how once you made a formal claim they settled.

I'd interpret this more charitably.

It sounds more like the issue finally got to someone, apart from the manager the OP had the problem with, who had the purview to resolve it.

The first post in this topic was only two weeks ago which is about normal for such wheels to work in about 2-4 weeks.

Hammerer:

Handle9: It's funny how once you made a formal claim they settled.

I'd interpret this more charitably.

It sounds more like the issue finally got to someone, apart from the manager the OP had the problem with, who had the purview to resolve it.

The first post in this topic was only two weeks ago which is about normal for such wheels to work in about 2-4 weeks.

 

Handle9:

 

This wasn't one rogue employee. OP tried with the store manager and then customer care. Either 2degrees are incompetent or deliberately obstructive.

They've got form for doing this. I'd say it was deliberate.

Hammerer:

 

Handle9: It's funny how once you made a formal claim they settled.

 

I'd interpret this more charitably.

 

It sounds more like the issue finally got to someone, apart from the manager the OP had the problem with, who had the purview to resolve it.

 

The first post in this topic was only two weeks ago which is about normal for such wheels to work in about 2-4 weeks.

 

No, it started on the 27th January. It's been 4 and a half weeks, and lodging a claim with the disputes tribunal. 

The manager.
A member of staff.
The social media staff member.
The help desk staff.
Whoever the hell the Manager spoke to who declined the claim.

That's 7 ish people who were either unwilling, unable or just against helping me whatsoever. 

I had to spend $45 to get them to listen me.

The icing on the cake? 2Degrees is my cellphone provider.
So I am giving them money for services as a customer and they still treated me like this.

I am glad they "resolved' your issue, but I would say you should still send the documentation you have collected, to the Commerce Commission. They have broken the law repeatedly, and whilst YOU have had an outcome you can live with, the type of behaviour they have exhibited shows this is pretty standard fare. Unless they are held accountable, this will happen again, and again, and again. You were fortunate you have a community to draw advice from and a determined personality. A less strong person would likely have given up and walked away, letting them away with not meeting their legal responsibility.

Yes, it's a hassle, but probably less so than attending the actual DT and you'll be helping others by exposing their horrible business practices. 

I say this without a drop of malice toward 2D themselves, I would say this of anyone. There is clearly a serious issue inside of 2D as it relates to how they handle these matters. 

Geektastic:

 

I went through it but it proved to be entirely pointless. I won, the guy still owes me $6500 2 years later. Even Baycorp have failed to get anywhere.

 

Seriously? any update on your case? May expose this to media could help you gain more attention on the issue?

tehgerbil:

 

**Update**

 

 

 

Out of the blue 2Degrees Customer relationship manager stepped in and finally sorted this out.

 

They've replaced the headphones with a pair of AKG N700 NC headphones!

 

I've got to wait ten days after lodging the Disputes tribunal case (so Wednesday) to withdraw my claim.

 

 

 

I contacted FairGo prior to them responding and didn't get a response, so presume they weren't interested.

 

This is the modus operandi of many retailers, deny responsibility up front. This deters 90% of claims. Then, of the 10% who complain , try to put them off.  This might then leave 5% of customers who are willing to use disputes -- then settle before the court hearing. 

The government implicitly supports scurrilous retailers -- by not prosecuting. 

I have made complaints to the commerce commission before, and they simply acknowledge your complaint and that is the end of it. 

I made a complaint to the CC about noel leeming shortly after they had successfully prosecuted noel leeming for CGA abuses.   That went nowhere, I was surprised , because it was a part that had failed a week after the warranty expired and NL refused to fix on the basis of being outside warranty.   (after research I found noel leeming had entered the wrong warranty period in their system, so I was covered by the manufacturer warranty -- after bringing this to their attention NL fixed the product - but, the point is they refused to fix it because they thought it was out of warranty).