This is an article about how to make your returns for broken/busted/non-functional stuff you bought just a tad more pleasant.

It is an unfortunate truth that in most electronics retail the salespeople are given little to no training whatsoever as to how to handle returns and repairs. In fact, more often than not the only thing their told to do is point a finger to the customer service desk. That’s where the "Hi, hope we never see you again" comes from. Salespeople are obviously trained to sell but rarely if ever to service.

Here’s two examples of what I’m talking about:

Good Sales and Service: HRO, West Marine

The staff in both these stores are all well-versed and customer service oriented. You are supported before the sale, during the sale and after the sale. And if something goes wrong, you’re not pointed to a desk and labeled a SEP. Whatever problem you encounter is taken care of properly and expediently.

Bad Sales and Service: Verizon Wireless stores, Wal-Mart

Both these stores are notorious for finger-pointing. If after the sale you encounter a problem you’re either pointed to a desk or pointed to call someone else. Granted, there are exceptions and some stores are better than others, but by and large you’ll get the finger (pun intended).

Beware of the "farm-out"

The most notorious of all ways of dealing with returns/repairs/etc. is the farm-out, as in "when something breaks we ship it to someone else". The days of in-house repair shops are long gone and this unfortunately is the way things are done.

How to deal with the farm-out:

Let’s say you buy a camcorder. The camcorder breaks within its warranty period. So you go to the place you bought it from only to find out they’re sending it somewhere else for repair. While this doesn’t sound so bad at first, you usually have to go to that repair shop just to pick it up off-site. And as far as status of the repair if it’s taking a long time? The retailer has no clue. They farmed out the repair to someone else and couldn’t care less. You’re left with no answer other than, "When it gets here it gets here, shaddup and go away. Have a nice day!"

The questions to ask to get around this nightmare:

1. Ask how long the warranty period is. They’re not all 30-day. Some are 14.
2. Ask whom to call if something breaks with the unit. I guarantee they will give you a number, but it won’t be the store. For example, with JVC equipment they have their own special service line. If you know this number you can completely skip calling the retailer and go straight to the source to get an RMA.
3. Ask what local shop services the make/model of what you bought and get a phone number and a physical address. You’ll probably have to go to the service desk to get this information but it’s well worth it. Get the "authorized service center" information; the people you contact after you get your RMA. It will be some separate company you’ve never heard of probably less than 10 miles away from the store – but that’s okay. All you have to do is call them with the RMA you acquired and they’ll fix whatever you have that’s busted. In addition it’s good to know this shop to find out how much it would cost to fix stuff out of warranty (always good information to get, and they will know).

Does this mean you can get your whatever-it-is serviced without ever having to call the store you bought it from? Yes. And that’s the way a store with bad sales and service prefers it.

Said honestly it’s just sad that this is the way modern electronics retail is done for most of the stuff we buy.

Have you ever encountered a nightmare with a return and/or repair?

Were you given the runaround? Did you find a way around the nightmare for future purchases (or not)?

Let us know in the comments.