terpfan1980 terpfan1980

Belkin support sucks, DO NOT BUY BELKIN products

Belkin support sucks, DO NOT BUY BELKIN products

Big fat warning in advance to anyone that ever considers purchasing a Belkin product -- DON'T DO IT.

Most especially don't do it if you aren't prepared to find that their so called "lifetime warranty" on their product is anything but.

Why am I attacking what should be a fine company that stands behind their products? Because they don't, or should I say, won't stand behind their product.

Recently I purchased a used/like-new Belkin Bluetooth adapter via eBay. There-in lies the problem. In it's infinite wisdom, Belkin's support staff has decided that because I purchased through a third-party, I must go back to said third party to get the item replaced or repaired, and then that third-party may in turn get the replacement. Unfortunately, since I purchased the item from a third party, Belkin feels that they can void their own warranty and ignore their promise to their customer.

Such exclusions can be common place, but I've never experienced difficulties with Belkin products, and in fact have had to get some Belkin products which I purchased from retailers such as CompUSA or others replaced. In those instances, Belkin has generally stood behind their products, which I greatly appreciated.

But it is not acceptable to me that Belkin has now decided that they can void their warranty because someone has purchased an item used, or from a third-party vendor.

Not providing support reflects incredibly poorly on Belkin. They used to be a company I would go out of my way to buy products from, but if they wish to start trying to weasel out of providing support for their products, than they are most certainly no better than any other provider I can buy from, and also most certainly not worth spending any sort of premium on. Their prices have traditionally been higher than cheaper alternatives, but again, they deserved to be paid higher prices because they stood behind their products.

Now they no longer wish to stand behind their products, and instead wish to use technicalities to avoid having to provide replacement for their products. Such business practice is shameful. When a customer is honest with Belkin about where they purchased a product, they are turned away, where if someone lies to them and says that they got the product as a gift, or purchased it long ago from a retailer like CompUSA or Best Buy they will continue to receive support.

The best answer I have is to vote with my wallet, and to encourage others to do the same. DO NOT BUY BELKIN PRODUCTS. They won't support you, especially if you buy from a third party. Give your money to other vendors that will provide support. I know that Belkin just cost themselves big at my normal place of employment, and any future place of employment I might be involved at. Congratulations Mr. Tyler and the Belkin customer service department for a great reputation that you've now ruined.
129,503 views 55 replies
Reply #26 Top
Even more to consider would be whether a large company that provides a limited liftime warranty on their product considers the sellers on ebay as retailers.
Reply #27 Top
Oops, double post and Paul you beat me to a similar thought!
Reply #28 Top
fact is you bought a used item from a private individual..I my self could not expect a manufacturer to honor a warranty, when the item I bought was not purchased from a licenced distributor/retailer. your gripe should be with the seller. since he has taken it upon himself to act as resaler.

even a thread about "Ebay making sellers offer 30 day warrantys for all sold items" would have made more sence to me, than this one has .......
Reply #29 Top
You got hosed by some moron on eBay and it is the manufacturers fault! This is exaclty the reason I don't buy anything off eBay. The eBay seller ripped you off face it.

Belkin has a contract with Compusa. They do business together everyday. They have a relationship. They have no such relationship with the guy that ripped you off.

Belkin has every right and obligation to their owners to protect themselves with strong precise language. They have every right to structure their warranty to protect themselves from abuse. The vast number of cable manufacturers and outlets to buy them make any assertion of being a monopoly absurb.

Ask the guy who sold you the adapter to give you your money back. If not file a complaint with ebay and tank his seller rating. You did check his seller rating didn't you...
Reply #30 Top
Ok terpfan, I'll give you a personal example from a personal experience.
About 6 yrs ago I bought a JVC TV from STEVENS (a well known electronic store in NYC) The set came with a 3 yrs factory warranty from JVC and I also purchased a 2 yrs extended warranty from the store (covering parts and labor) within the 1st year an internal transformer shorted. The store warranty covered the repair and before the 3 yr the set lost all picture. I contacted JVC and they honored the warranty and replaced the set with a brand new one.
2 years ago I purchased a brand new in-the-box Seagate HD at a computer show from an un-known vendor, the disk crashed shortly before a year and even though I had all the original papers and documents of the product. Seagate wouldn’t honor the warranty since I had no legal receipt from an authorize dealer. That served me as a lesson well learned and the next purchase was directly from the company.
Some times in the search for a good bargain we end up paying double the price.
Reply #31 Top
Think of it this way, why doesn't it work? Are you sure it is a defect in the card?

Go buy yourself a motherboard. Put on a nice wooley pair of socks, and then go scoot around on carpet for a half hour. When you touch it, you are going to pass your static off unless you use a static strap.

So people buy this stuff, make a silly mistake putting it in, and then when the manufacturer balks at replacing it, they pawn it off on you. You think you are buying something that works, but really you are buying hardware that some shmuck ruined.

Why should Belkin deal with it? If you buy hardware from Ebay, you take a risk. Defective manufacuturing is just one among many reasons hardware fails. We're lucky any of them take anything back for that reason. The local guy I buy my motherboards from insists on opening the pack and testing the motherboard before it leaves the store. For that reason, he won't take ANY back, for any reason.

Belkin can't do that, and they are stuck taking things back that someone messes up after they buy it at CompUSA or someplace like that. That's fair enough. Taking back second hand hardware just makes them pay for the negligence of people that don't work for them.

I don't blame you for being upset, but you should be upset with the guy at Ebay for selling you a DOA card. If the seller doesn't guarentee that their equipment won't be DOA, don't buy it from them, or only buy stuff that hasn't been opened.
Reply #32 Top

I have to agree that buying on eBay has it's risks.  I never expect any warranty from an eBay seller unless it's specifically outlined in the auction.  I know some companies will allow you to transfer warranties, but like I said, unless it's specifically stated I wouldn't expect it.

Reply #33 Top
and here's another thought...

Did you consider that maybe the guy that sold it to you bought it bad from someone else. Once he found out he put it back up for sale to unload it. This one adapter could have been sold a hundred times on eBay waiting for someone to get stuck with it!
Reply #34 Top

Let's keep this discussion civil please.

 

Reply #35 Top
Baker - the part that irritates me the most is I've seen tons, and I mean that literally, of stuff that passed through CompUSA sold on eBay after the fact.

CompUSA takes the materials back, then gets credit for the defective merchandise back from the manufacturer. They then offload the defective materials (less a UPC, a label, or some other materials that need to be returned back to the manufacturer) on wholesalers that pay pennies on the dollar for the goods, then sell the items on eBay or elsewhere for whatever they can get for the stuff.

Meaning, more morons are taking stuff back to CompUSA because they've destroyed it, damaged it, bought it defective, or whatever, and more of those individuals are damaging the items than are the poor end users that sell a used widget to someone else on eBay.

The part I bought is not DOA, it is however defective from the manufacturer. The connector on the USB stick is bad. It's not broken, it's not bent, it's just defective. It doesn't make good contact with the ports on the system I'm using, nor my secondary system. I can wiggle the connector and it works. It doesn't keep working, it just stops on it's own and causes my pc's to make the "boop" noise from the removal of a device without "stopping it" first.

I fault Belkin for not wanting to get past the "where I purchased" the product enough to see that the product is defective and left their factory that way. I could have bought the item from anyone, but it turned out to be someone on eBay. If I had been lucky enough to buy it from CompUSA instead, then the warranty applies, but because I didn't, the warranty is considered void?!?! Either way Belkin made a defective product, through their manufacturers processes, and now doesn't want to honor the warranty. That is the part I'm unhappy with, and which I feel is unacceptable.

A good manufacturer stands behind their product, and it seems Belkin no longer wants to do that for their products.
Reply #36 Top
Did you consider that maybe the guy that sold it to you bought it bad from someone else. Once he found out he put it back up for sale to unload it. This one adapter could have been sold a hundred times on eBay waiting for someone to get stuck with it!


Only problem with that assumption is the clam shell casing the product ships in was included, unopened. The person that sold it to me never opened the item completely. He did apply for a rebate (apparently) and had cut out the UPC code so he could get it. Otherwise, the package was *brand new*, meaning the defect was at time of manufacture, which means that Belkin should be held accountable to meet their stated warranty.
Reply #37 Top
and had cut out the UPC code so he could get it.


I smell a rat!

Purhaps he dropped it while retrieving the UPC symbol. Just because there was nothing physically damaged on the outside, doesn't mean it wasn't damaged on the inside. Since you bought the new hardware from him, can we assume he imbursed you the rebate money?

Sir? I hate to say this, but, you've been had!
Reply #39 Top
The only "Lifetime Warranties I know of are from companies like sears (craftsman), Snap-on, etc. A tool breaks, for ANY reason, bring it in and they will give you a new one. Electronics? No way! Not through a third or fourth or fifth party.
Reply #40 Top
Terpfan1980 - The only way Belkin would honor your warrenty is if you had the original sales recipt from a store - not ebay.
Reply #41 Top

Please Note: All product warranties are limited. Products purchased from third parties, most specifically auction site sales, are not warranted for replacement.

There are a 'few' companies on the planet who have an 'unconditional' warranty on their products.....Zippo springs to mind.

"lifetime' has often been questioned....Siddons Industries in Aus used to own 'Sidchrome' [tools]...and were guaranteed for life...it was unconditional...if it broke it was replaced...no matter who had it...or where it was sent...you could go into any outlet and it'd be honoured...not needing receipts or original shop, etc.  A US co bought them...and the first thing they did was 'quantify' 'lifetime' to read '100 years'....apparently more 'legally defensible'....but I believe it's now 'lifetime' meaning lifetime of original purchaser.....each time they simply lower the bar.

Eventually it'll be 30/30 .....30 minutes or 30 yards from the shop....

You haven't been 'had'....you simply did what a lot of people do....thought [wrongly] you could get a too good to be true bargain off the net.

If it's 'too good to be true' it probably isn't.

Next time....buy legit...and be 'protected'...

Reply #42 Top
Our Lesson For Today: Unless the mfgs. are feeling very charitable they have no responsibility to honor warranties on products purchased outside the authorized chain. Since the dawn of the consumer electronics era we've been plagued with "grey box", "white box" product, sold by unauthorized dealers, and the mfgs. have been well within their rights to refuse support for these illegitimate items. I have no knowledge of any mfg. that recognizes eBay as an authorized dealer.

As far as Belkin is concerned, I'll likely use their MIMO wireless set-up, as the reviews I've read show it to be way ahead of the alternatives. The Belkin products I now have, have functioned well, and I have no complaints.

Next time try NewEgg.
Reply #43 Top
I once bought a Kirby vacuume cleaner for $1000. THey said there was not another one built as tough or as strong, and they would guarantee full repair of any Kirby part (motor, hoses, plastic adapters) should it break, for no cost to the consumer. This is what the sales person said to my husband and myself as she was cleaning our carpeting.
Twenty years later, The motor started to heat up, we called Kirby, and we were told that Kirby would rebuild the original motor ONCE (but only once!)in the lifetime of the machine at no cost to us, except of course the shipping and handling. Know how much a Kirby weighs? I have to have a second vacuume cleaner for my upstairs because I can't stand lifting the thing up there every time I want to vacumme. It cost my husbnad and I less to go to a small local "fix it guy" shop than it would have been to ship the darned thing to Kirby.

Always read between the lines!! ALWAYS!

I've been 'had' too!

But I learned something from it!
Reply #44 Top
Except how to spell 'vacuum'.... Spell checker
Reply #45 Top
Right you are, Jafo!!
Reply #46 Top
Know how much a Kirby weighs?


oh yes. got rid of mine - 1953 model - in '96
1988 a vacuum salesman stopped by, my mom was bored and let him spiel. kept talking about his was better than ours guaranteed. after 15 mins he mentioned that for about the 6th time. i stopped him and told him he never asked what we had. when she told him, he packed and left. when kirby works, it'll suck the carpet right off the floor.
Reply #47 Top
when kirby works, it'll suck the carpet right off the floor


So true, Bichur! So true!!

Oh yes. got rid of mine - 1953 model - in '96

Didn't they guarantee it for life?

Reply #48 Top
Didn't they guarantee it for life?


yeah, but mine was getting shorter and shorter lugging it around.
Reply #49 Top


I hear ya!
Reply #50 Top
just had a thought i put some stuff in storage in '96....now I'm wondering...am I truly free? I haven't looked in it in years.