repair Studio 3 Beats?

[Jason Davies]

Hi Smuggers,

I wonder if anyone can help me disentangle myself from a car crash of an
Apple support chat. They really should tell their staff what they do..

My son got some Studio Pro 3 free with a laptop I bought in Sept 2019.
He (he's in Wales) said today that something cracked in the bit where
they emerge from the headband and now they don't sit properly on that
ear, and the metal shoulder that joins the over-head band to the
earpiece is obviously slightly wonky.

Tracking down the right repair link to do Chat took forever (they don't
appear on most options, I stumbled across them by accident, and they're
not listed anywhere as a purchase - nor is the laptop).

Eventually I got hold of someone who said that each item to be repaired
was £194.44, as in 'for each and every fault they discover after
mail-in, they charge nearly £200', which is ridiculous as they are
£300 new. I tried to find out if the £200 fee basically covers a full
repair of all items (the battery is also showing signs of age, for
instance) but they refused to say more than each item being that much.
So I asked what happens if we decline the repair, is there a fee for
shipping them back? And the answer was 'no, you only pay for sending'
and they refused to tell me that amount as it was a technical decision.

If we are going to get a remanufactured pair of headphones, essentially
a full replacement, £200 is ok, even though I think they should have
lasted longer. But I felt like we were sending them into a hostage
situation.

Does anyone know better than the person I was talking with? I'm not
offended their English and typing was flakey per se but I really don't
know if we understood each other, despite my best efforts and rewording
etc (some of what they typed was simply incomprehensible).

They told me to put stuff into the Apple feedback page which - surprise
surprise - does not acknowledge the existence of Beats gear. Sigh.

Cheers,

Jason

[Tony Crooks]

I’m sure you can find the UK equivalent but

https://support.apple.com/beats/repair/service/pricing

suggests that what you’ve been told is correct. “Some damages aren't eligible for out-of-warranty service at all; for example, if your device broke into multiple pieces.”

You might get better pricing from an authorised service provider.

It might be the case that they regard the headphones as unrepairable, in which case they might offer a refurb replacement. Cost? Who knows. I’d bet it would probably be £199. You’d have to send the headphones in to get a definitive answer.

Faced with this I’d probably buy new headphones, not Beats, and in the £100-150 bracket getting something audibly superior.

--

Tony Crooks
tcr...@gmail.com
+44 7428 706227

[Toby Leighton]

It's surprising that Apple feedback don't acknowledge the existence of the Beats gear, since I recall Apple bought the Beats company, so basically Beats headphones ARE apple headphones.  (My understanding of it anyway)

I would say that in the headphone world Beats don't exactly have a good reputation... they are fashion accessories basically.  If it were me I'd cut your losses and buy some better ones.  Senheisser do a bluetooth over the ear headphone on john lewis site at the moment for  £  133 which would probably be better headphones all around, and with support from senheiser/john lewis if they go wrong.   For non-bluetooth headphones I have for noodling with music I have some beyerdynamic DT770 headphones that I'd consider semi-industry standard.  You see these in studios everywhere, and on TV (not adverts, but used by the people who actually work there) and every spare part of every piece of them is available from studiospares.com.  These headphones cost me a touch over  £  100

Its for your son though so it's a bit of a tricker situation, he might have his heart set on the beats for the fashion and be reluctant over others.

Back to the point, even though the item was "free" with the purchase of a laptop is irrelevant.  I presume you bought them from Apple, so you will have the receipt.  goods and services, fair wear and tear, all the regulations around purchases still apply the same as if you had purchased them outright.  It's over a year ago so you might be out of luck

Toby

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[Jason Kitcat]

Counter view: I’ve been using Beats Bluetooth headphones since they got the Apple chips in them and have always been really happy with them. For running I find them to have much better fit than security than Apple equivalents whilst retaining all the benefits of the Apple ecosystem. 

J

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Jason Kitcat

http://www.jasonkitcat.com

+44 7956 886 508

On 28 Mar 2021, at 15:43, Toby Leighton <tobi...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Jason Davies]

Actually, finding the UK equivalent site for Betas repair is extremely difficult. Over and over again despite choosing the UK one, you are suddenly on the US site, and usually, sooner or later, Beats disappears from the list of options.

Nor is the purchase visible anywhere online, whether from my past orders on the Apple UK site or AppleID; even the laptop doesn't show up, presumably because he's logged into it. The Beats don't show up for him either. The Order number goes nowhere too ('Sorry, can't find that').

This is important as the normal way of initiating a repair is to select the product; no product, no route to the repair process (even if you go from the Beats site itself).

One of the most infuriating things was them refusing to say what it costs if you send in for assessment then decline the repair. I just wanted to know if we would be charged £25 or something even if not going ahead (I don't mind being charged but keeping the amount secret until it's too late is barmy).

Agreed on 'there are better'. However he's very happy with them, particularly the noise-cancelling so (permit the pun) if it [the brand] ain't broke, don't fix it. £200 quid is £200 quid, as it were.

So, while I am venting a bit (forgive me, it took two hours to get to this point) I'm after whether anyone has info on whether they routinely swap for remanufactured or actually repair the thing then charge you (and I just can't believe it's multiples of 200, they must have been mistaken about that).

cheers,
J

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Cheers,

Jason

[Tony Crooks]

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/beats/repair/service

But I note Argos are selling Studio 3 Wireless for £170 -

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8645546

[Jason Davies]

On 28 Mar 2021, at 16:14, Tony Crooks wrote:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/beats/repair/service

Thanks - but if you click to start a repair, you'll see a list of products (none of which are Beats, for me) of things you're registered on, and an invitation (if you don't see the right product) to visit your Apple Id account page (which is also significantly lacking in Beats products...)!

But I note Argos are selling Studio 3 Wireless for £170 -

Now that is interesting...and the standard ones are still 300 there which implies these don't have something (but I can't tell what). Have fed it through, thank you (could these be pre-Apple, I wonder? seems a hell of a price-drop).

Cheers,

Jason

[Tony Crooks]

I notice Amazon has them in white at a very similar price. And they are the latest with the W1 chip

[Jason Davies]

and even the black ones are 250 on Amazon - has made me wonder if
there's now ones rumoured or Apple are clearing the lines, or
something...

On 28 Mar 2021, at 17:23, Tony Crooks wrote:

> I notice Amazon has them in white at a very similar price. And they
> are the latest with the W1 chip

Cheers,

Jason

[Tony Crooks]

I think it is clearance of models branded as “Beats by Dr Dre” as same models from Apple Shop are branded “ Apple Beats”. Specs seem unchanged.

[Jason Davies]

On 28 Mar 2021, at 15:56, 'Jason Kitcat' via Sussex Mac User Group
wrote:

> Counter view: I’ve been using Beats Bluetooth headphones since they
> got the Apple chips in them

For anyone curious, I think I solved the mystery of why some Studio 3
wireless were well under £200 and others £300 - it was Jason's clue
here that made the penny drop. The cheaper ones don't claim to have the
Apple W1 chip in them so must be legacy ones.

Cheers,

Jason

[Tony Crooks]

Unfortunately this isn’t the case. It’s stock branded Beats by Dr Dre that is being reduced. These have the W1 chip. Amazon makes this quite clear in the case of stock sold and fulfilled by them.

[Tony Crooks]

And here is the page

[Jason Davies]

ah, I see this is correct. The Argos ones, however, seem to vary pretty much only in the presence (or not) of the W1.

I get why some companies don't have impenetrable names the way Sony and Dell like to do, and just stick to the product name even when it changes, but at least you can be precise about what you're getting!

cheers,
J

On 2 Apr 2021, at 15:47, Tony Crooks wrote:

Unfortunately this isn’t the case. It’s stock branded Beats by Dr Dre that is being reduced. These have the W1 chip. Amazon makes this quite clear in the case of stock sold and fulfilled by them.

Cheers,

Jason

[Tony Crooks]

In the Argos Q&As they answer your query. They do have the W1 chip. I note Argos now ask £190