BFC Sounder Issues

[yellahunter]

i had to contact Lowrance again from home, otherwise nothing would have happened, they then sent me a prepaid con note thing so i can send the item into them. They advised me that it will probably take about 2 weeks to get it back.

they are better about it than BCF,
its just a shame that when you buy something and its faulty from the outset that you cant get it replaced on the spot, its not like it was a warranty claim 6 months after purchase, Its like if you buy a tv from harvey norman and you go home, set it up and then it doesnt turn on. Im sure they would swap it over and be sorry for the imconvinience.

Somehow I dont think they would say well you phone sony and get it fixed.

see my point, its a joke,

lets hope that Lowrance are good about it, im sure they will be,
with any luck il have the sounder back this week

[dfox]

Now what happens yella? As "i" understand it youve sent the transducer away to be checked, What if the problem is in the sounder?
As i see it the sounder and transducer should have been taken to the bcf store and hooked up to the instore display. Even a novice could then work out if the problem is in the unit or transducer?
Then ring lowrance, they'd say give yella a new transducer or unit and send us the faulty one.
I had a transducer play up on a furuno once and thats what we did at sundown marine.
Good luck mate, looks like a small problem thats been unfortunately made big ...foxy

[yellahunter]

As i see it the sounder and transducer should have been taken to the bcf store and hooked up to the instore display. Even a novice could then work out if the problem is in the unit or transducer?
Then ring lowrance, they'd say give yella a new transducer or unit and send us the faulty one.

EXACTLY!! thats what i thought, but they couldnt even be bothered standing there on the phone to lowrance so how would they go changing the sounder/tranny with one in there and testing it.
I ended up sending the tranny and head unit to Lowrance so im covered either way. Im hoping its something simple

[Far_Canal]

[quote author=mad max link=1168390591/30#33 date=1168677153]So does that mean that if i slam my loomis in the car door, completely my fault, i should take it back to BCF and say it had a weakpoint in the blank and should therefore be given a brand new rod on the spot ?

what is the relevance of this post???,
i didnt break the lowrance, it was faulty.

is that not clear enough here[/quote]

the relevance of that post was in response to cam's post regarding replacement "faulty" products, i was trying to outline that people do break stuff, take it back, yell and scream for a replacement because it was "faulty".

no where have i said you broke the lowrance

[Poseidon]

Dfox, you are spot on the money...

Yellahunter, I wish you all the best in getting this sorted and hope that you finally get what has been paid for. Put it down to one of those things in life that shouldn't have ever occurred but has been a challenge and something to draw strength from.

Regards Cameron.

[Far_Canal]

EXACTLY!! thats what i thought, but they couldnt even be bothered standing there on the phone to lowrance so how would they go changing the sounder/tranny with one in there and testing it.
I ended up sending the tranny and head unit to Lowrance so im covered either way. Im hoping its something simple

why didnt you think to ask them ?

[yellahunter]

i did and they didnt care,
said it was an issue for lowrance to resolve

[outsiderskip]

why dont u just take it down to lowrance aust at tweed heads and tell them u r not satisified with bcf service and they will check it out

pete

[Sniper]

Guys, I used to work in a customer service roll for a large electrical appliance company. Now I'm not stiking up and defending anyone here. Yella had very bad customer service from BCF. It should have been handled a hell of a lot better than that. From the retailers point of view, they sell these products on behave of the Brand ie; Lowrance. The warranty is from Lowrance, not BCF. Now BCF should have done the leg work for you, not handing you the phone. With most products, mainly electrical, suppliers have what they call DOA periods, which is Dead On Arrival. These vary from manufacturer to manufacture, sometimes from 7 days though to 30 days or more. IF the faulty product is returned within this DOA period and proven to be faulty in store, then a replacement should have been given straight away. Outside of this period, then the warranty kicks in. You will find most warranties are repair or replace, depending on cost effectiveness, but this is up to the manufacture, ie Lowrance. Refunds are a last resort in my eyes, as the customer has bought the product for a reason, and by giving a refund, just means that that retailer is wiping their hands of the issue.
Now I used to get a little abuse from customers to start with, but 95% of the time they walked out of the store happy with the service that my department gave them. By the sounds of the problem, with the service at this certain BCF store, you should have asked to speak to the manager, as I had customers do, to get a satifactory solution for both parties, and not put up with the crap service that you did.
I'm probably gonna cope some crap here, but just remember, there is always another side to the story.
Hope everything works out better for you, and if thats sort of service is common in that BCF store, then make a formal complaint to their head office with details of who you dealt with, or should I say didn't deal with.
Bill

P.S. When you said that you couldn't get a reading, I gather that it was in water as a transducer will not display anything when its out of the water, well both of mine don't

[roydsy]

Yellahunter, I have been to BCF Burleigh about 1/2 a dozen times and found each experience as bad as the first. The staff are all "learning the ropes" (to use their own words) when I ask about a product. I have no problem with the attitude of the cashiers, they are always pleasant to me, its the floor staff that give me shits. Yes, they are always stocking shelves, putting up labels, and talking about their weekends, rather than providing assistance.

BCF is a specialty store, focusing on camping, fishing, boating and the outdoors and 10,000 to 15,000 product lines isn't much when you think about that most the items are either generally boating, camping or fishing related with many duplicate items (eg. lures). If BCF provided better working conditions and abolishes their use of (AWA's) Australian workplace agreements with descent penalty rates and remuneration while also employing people who have an interest in the product range, it would be a better experience for customers.

BCF are not your local fishing tackle store, they are not customer focused, and because i my poor experience with them, I will always recommend the smaller locally owned businesses over large companies.

regards
Roydsy

[gotya]

Tackleworld at Kingston seem to b more friendly and at least u can haggle a bit. There got my vote and Bias Boating down there as well.
At least they !!!.

BCF................ hold me back!

[Burley_Boy]

Hey Jeremy I sympathise with you and what you have to deal with. In a big operation such as BCF there has to be operating procedures that are kept to. There will always be dodgey staff as plenty of new recruits won't measure up and hiring good staff is damn hard.
This staff member was a goose, that a retailer has to ensure that they are able to return goods that is not in original condition is just common sense in a tight margin market. You need to make money on all sales to keep competitve or you're toast.
Your sounder will get fixed if faulty, if it was in original condition I'd expect an immediate replacement too but transducers are a fickle product. Good luck.

[fish_on]

#### bcf all together boys and go to ya local tackle shop. every time i go there im looked after. ill never step a foot in bcf

[ozscott]

PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS POST AS ADVICE NOR RELY ON IT - I have had to generalise and there are many variables - do not rely on this post and when in doubt consult your solicitor.


Hi all - I have spead read most of this post. I have, unfortunately experienced pretty poor service on most of my visits to BCF (in fact no service at all sometimes) which is odd because my local supercheap auto store (good for things like car polish and a cheap compressor but not a lot else) gives good service.

What I want to make clear to everyone however (I have been a litigation lawyer for many years so I can talk about these things from knowledge of the law) and this will delight the consumers on this site and make the retailers a bit uneasy, is that under the Sales of Goods Act (applying generally to sole traders etc) and the Trade Practices Act applying generally to corporations there are implied warranties in the CONTRACT OF SALE. You enter a contract of sale every time you walk in and purchase an item. Interestingly the advertised price on the shelves is not an offer. You offer to purchase the goods when you take them to the cash register - you offer to buy them for the advertised price. The retailer then agrees to sell them for that price and the price is paid and goods given over -anyway thats just trivia.

By selling the goods the RETAILER which is, in the vast majority of cases, the contracting party (ie contracts with you) warrants to you as a term of the contract of sale (forget about contracts having to be in writing - common misconception - contracts for the sale of real property - land - need to be, but apart from that they can and are often purely oral contracts or implied from the parties conduct - in fact the Sale of Goods Act specifically recognises such matters) that the goods are of merchantable quality (taking into account the type of good and the price paid etc) and are reasonably fit for the purpose for which they are sold (including any purpose made known to the seller and the natural and only purpose - eg a pair under undies - but for fitness of purpose it has to be shown that the buyer relied on the skill or judgment of the seller - so always make sure you ask whether the product is right for your application even if you think it is). In terms of the warranty as to merchantable quality if the buyer has examined the goods, there is no implied condition as regards defects which such examination ought to have revealed. Those warranties are made by the RETAILER. It is open to a court to find that goods are not of merchantable quality even though they may be fit for the purpose. It is a question of fact whether the goods are of merchantable quality or are fit for the purpose and the onus of proof is on the buyer. I am having to generalise in my attempt to assist people here because the legislation is not identical - for example the merchantable quality implied warranty does not apply under the TPA is the defect has been shown by the retailer to the purchaser.

The manufactuer also has obligations in respect to product defects causing injury and loss etc (or the Retailer if the manufacturer has no base in Australia) and may give a manufacturers warranty - but such warranty is in addition to the implied warranties under the legislation that is cast on the Retailer.

Please force the issue with the retailer when things like this happen. The bloke above who works for BCF and makes the point that the punter does not determine whether the goods are faulty to the exclusion of the retailer - good point. Most of the time however it is clear where the fault is or what the goods do not do, that they should do. In the end if the store will not refund etc then you dont have to put up with it, but remember 'what am I going to do now?' - ie if you are nice to the store but press them they will probably attempt to help. If that means sending it to the manufacturer well thats better than going off and issuing proceedings in the small claims court for breach of contract of sale - at least for smaller items and at least given the time taken to resolve things and get an outcome by doing so. So - push retailers nicely but firmly to refund or replace and in the last resort let them give the item to the manufacturer to fix or replace.

The retailer does not have to refund if they have a readily available replacement for merchantable quality issues if there one you get is broken for example - it all a question of fact though because even an unbroken item can lack merchantable quality if its inherently defective for example - lots of permutations. If a good however is not fit for the purpose really press for a refund. In fact a refund is not required for goods like a fish finder at all under the legislation - however; the nett result if they were sued for breach of warranty is that a refund would be likely in a practical sense because damages would normally include the purchase price! It all gets a bit complicated.

In the end, if you are not getting the service you feel your reasonably entitled to then dont hesitate to go and seek legal advice (even from say the Caxton Legal Service in the Valley in Brisbane or similar that is usually free for this sort of stuff) and litigate if the advise is to do so - but generally that is never going to happen in things like with with a sounder.

PLEASE DO NOT RELY ON THIS POST AS ADVICE - I have had to generalise and there are a lot of variables to these things including the value of the goods and the kind that they are. The main thing I wanted to point out is that DONT just accept the "We dont warrant - its the manufacturer who warrants" from mobs like BCF etc!!!


Good Luck

Cheers

[rick k]

I'll have to blow the e-dust off my (now) online copy of the TPA OZscott, but thanks for taking the time to post.

It was refreshing to read the pragmatic approach in parts of your post. We have all got used to the no questions asked refund approach usually adopted by the largest retailers than anything different gets our attention

How do you see this applying where the manufacturer/wholesaler/importer is selling something as principal through retailer as agent?