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WH-1000XM3 Headphones - Both Headband Sliders Broke

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Inprimus
Explorer

WH-1000XM3 Headphones - Both Headband Sliders Broke

My sliders broke through normal use after only 5 months!! of buying these expensive phones.
I of course tried the reseller who claimed that the warranty doesn't cover this.

I tried Sony support to find replacement parts and the only oem supplier parts I could find for a while was in the states, who claimed that I had to spend over $200 on the site if buying using my credit card.

I tried to get the US support to hep me and through clicking around the link they sent me, I found this EU supplier: https://www.eetgroup.com/en-se/eet whom, if I might add want you to be a reseller before being able to order from them.

I of course, regrettably, ordered what looked like the OEM part from ebay only to realise that they're not, so money down the pan.

 

Sony, considering that I found a whole lot of posts world over from reddit to the community forums, on different world regions if I might add, that this is surely an issue, but of course you won't admit it because of cost. However if you recognise it's an issue, the absolute least you could do is to make the parts easily available for a reasonable price so that, some of us that can't be bothered to deal with your near fictitious customer service/support department, can resolve the problem without the hassle we're putting ourselves through all of this hassle.

I look forward to hearing from you on how I can resolve this.

Thank you for your time.

8 REPLIES 8
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HannahEd01
Community Team

Hi there, no warranty covers physical damage as yo know, but you might find this link helpful as it explains how to use EET website as a consumer not a reseller:

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00238906

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Inprimus
Explorer

I saw the link and already contacted them, but my issue is, given how common this seems to be a problem with these particular headphones, why is it not easy to find these particular parts in a web shop without having to email a reseller to get a private quote or be referred to another entity just to buy a small piece of plastic??
There'd be less complaints about this if we could, go online, easily spend 10€ or fix it and forget about the problem. As it is right now, you can only get something remotely similar on Ebay shops.
I'm not going to get into whether this is covered by warranty or not as we all know that obsolescence is built into these kinds of products these days. (Way to go on caring for the environment eh? If tiny pieces of plastic are being discarded after 5 months of use 🙄)

 

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Inprimus
Explorer

Just so you know, I used the BOSE QC35 for over a year plus before ordering this product and, other than pad wear and tear, I don't have any issues with that.

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HannahEd01
Community Team

Hi Inprimus, if I were you, I would contact Sony directly with this feedbacl, the more users report, the more Sony listens.

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Inprimus
Explorer

I tried. Hence why I am venting here in the hopes that they will take notice.
Just for the record, contacting EET and their partners for the products yielded nothing in terms of acquiring the parts.
@SonyI hope you realise that the right to repair law (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57665593)  is now in effect and so far I haven't been able to acquire the parts to repair your product.

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HannahEd01
Community Team

Hi Inprimus, so what you're saying that you can't even find the part with EET? Did Sony give you the part number?

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Inprimus
Explorer

The only information I got from Sony was the link to EET which I had already found.

EET responded by referring me to their partners, one of which responded so far and have said they are unable to supply the parts.
Even if the other supplier manages to respond positively, it is still not ok that the parts are not easily/readily available for order.
It would mean another unhappy customer would have to traverse a 3 chain of responsibility deference (Sony --> supplier --> supplier_partner) before being able to order a piece of plastic to fix this.

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HannahEd01
Community Team

I understand how you feel, you should contact Sony with this feedback.