u/Major_Bootheroyd

We all like sturdy, well made and quality items that will last a long time.

But, considering we take care of our belongings in an effort to make them last as long as possible, couldn’t everything be considered BIFL with a little TLC?

I have high quality items of clothing I spent a lot of money on and I also have T-shirts bought from a supermarket over 10 years ago and I still wear both regularly. The T-shirts are admittedly starting to look a little tired but on the whole they’re still in pretty good condition considering they were bought pretty cheaply so long ago.

I’ve also got a cheap socket set that’s now over twenty years old that I’ve used on every car I’ve owned and it’s yet to let me down.

I don’t baby my belongings but I equally try not to abuse them and if I do then I will try to clean/service them sympathetically.

So my point is, whether it’s the cheapest tools, clothes, boots or whatever else, they can all be considered BIFL as long as you don’t abuse them.

What do you think, am I wrong?

I've had an issue today on a shoot with my Wireless Pros.
Bought in March, very much still within warranty.
Channel 1 stopped outputting to my camera, both mics still connected to the receiver but channel 1 not coming through.
A clear hardware issue as there must be a problem with the 3.5mm jack.

I need the mics for a shoot in a few days and so I got in touch with Rode support hoping for a straight swap with a replacement set being set out.

Nope.

Official advice from rode is to buy a new set and then return them when my faulty set has been either repaired or replaced.
Bear in mind I was told a warranty claim can take between 5-10 business days before the units will even be looked at and then they'll be added to the queue to be repaired.
So realistically, by the time I get either a repair or a replacement the window to return the set I'll have had to buy will be closed, so I'll be left with another set of mics and I'll be out of pocket by a few hundred.

Rode also don't handle the warranty repair themselves, so I've had to reach out myself to one of their "trusted partners" to facilitate it.
I had to fill in another form and give them all the same details....

WTF?

This is shockingly bad customer service