Beware of OnePlus EU Warranty: Offering useless shop vouchers while emptying their inventory
Hi all,
When the OnePlus 13 was released, OnePlus bundled the phone with headphones or smartwatches. It might not have been the greatest deal on earth, but I decided to go for it (my wife got a black one + Watch 2R, I got a white one + Buds 2).
Unfortunately, after about 1.5 years, my headphones quit their job. Since the warranty period is 2 years in my country, I returned them for a check-up. OnePlus confirmed they are defective and that I am eligible for a replacement.
This is where things get interesting. OnePlus wants to hand me a voucher for the full price of the headphones (199€) to use in their webshop because the product is "End of Life".
I thought, "Ok, that's a little shady, but let's check if I can add a few bucks and just buy their newest headphones instead." But guess what? The ENTIRE shop in my country is completely empty! The only things you can still buy are phones and tablets. No headphones, no watches, no cases, not even frickin chargers. Since my wife and I already have phones that are 1.5 years old and a tablet that's just a year old, a shop voucher is completely useless to me.
Well, then I thought, "Ok, let's see if OnePlus is willing to deduct the 199€ from a repair bill," because my wife recently managed to smash her phone's screen. Nope. OnePlus support stated that vouchers are for the webshop exclusively and cannot be used for services or repairs at all.
I've just dropped them another email explaining the situation and demanding a proper refund in cash, as pushing a useless voucher under legal warranty is a joke (and illegal in my country btw). I'm quite upset! All my gear is from OnePlus because I really liked their approach and the 13 is a brilliant phone; but seeing how they treat EU customers while quietly scaling back their shop inventory before finally dropping the EU business overall, this is definitely the last thing I will ever buy from this company.
Edit / clarification: I haven't accepted the voucher. I just checked what I COULD do with it, deeming it unusable for anything.
Further note: when I told the support I'd also like to get my wife's screen fixed (only other possible use case for a voucher), they told me that "any damages to the device that are found during inspection must be repaired before the device can be returned". I've asked if they really mean it, and they confirmed. Wtf? I send in my phone for a screen repair, and they "find" a damage to the USB socket, I have to pay for this as well, otherwise they'll just hold my phone as a hostage?