Re: Problem with Ibanez UV70p Thomann does not want to replace
The 14 days period of Thomman are not connected to any DOA. Those are called withdrawal (from the purchase transaction), regardless of whether the item was dead, defective, etc... or not.
In the case of withdrawal, seller pays the shipping. In case of the rest of days in 30-days money back period, buyer pays the shipping.
Talking about time windows, make it 6 months and you are describing the european law about defective products. The buyer has the right to claim :
- partial refund
- full refund
- fix
- replacement
within the first 6 months of ownership of any proven defective product bought in EU soil - WITHOUT PROVING THAT THE FAULT IS NOT A CONSEQUENCE OF HIS OWN NEGLEGENCE OR IMPROPER HANDLING OF THE PRODUCT!!. It strikes me how hard is for people to even google for the freaking law..
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/shopping-abroad/guarantees/index_en.htm
3043/2002 (ΦΕΚ 192/21-8-2002 Τεύχος Α')
http://www.efpolis.gr/el/library2.html?func=startdown&id=5
Thomann knows very well the law, that's why they tried to minimize their loss without making the buyer turbo-mad. About repair/rebuild, I don't know how skillful those guys are at Ibanez.de, or whether they would invest manhours in moving around holes in the body and neck join, only to have the buyer come back with similar problems. My guess is that they will replace the guitar. A possibility i have mixed feelings about.
It puzzles me why you should mention Trimmis, and his supposed right to not cover any guarantee. I would not hand antything to trimmis even if he covered the guarantee. And I am sure trimmis would not cover anything even if the law dictates that he should.
Trimmis and his initial refusal for any after sales support on a deffective Ibanez I had bought from him a couple of years ago, and the fact that I had to print the ΦΕΚ about defective products and stick it to his face, (which subsequently made him get the deffective one back and give me a new one out of the box) was the reason I turned to Thomann. Trimmis never had that specific model btw. As it seems, things in internetland are not much brighter than Greece. I will have to wait till Xmas to get the (whatever) damn 7-string in my hands, which is hilarious.
Anyways, the future is clearly not in the internet shops. The whole idea about them is flawed and wrong by design. Those guys ship 20,000 pieces/day without even knowing what's inside. The ideal would be to have shops here in Greece who would check the deliveries from the manufacturer upon arrival, setup guitars up, and also provide some basic maintenance services, and honor the greek and EU laws without ifs and whens. In this case I would definitely choose to buy from Greece. But unfortunately in greek shops (e.g. Trimmis) they are neither friendly nor do they honor their obligations.
Abou Czech, I have been there, and it was an amazing experience as I happen to know some of south slavic languages which almost got me anywhere in Prague. Fantastic place and people. As far as costs are concerned, I dont think that the living standard in Prague is lower than Athens, nor that labor is that cheap. Most probably ppl do business with them because they are simply effective. (but I really dont know how Czech is connected to this case of mine, most of ppl i talk via email from Thomann must be of Romanian descent, judging by the names)
