I got myself a refractor!

[xtreemchaos]

Ohan, thats not very good, thay should of sent you a new one straight away then when you got the new one,thay should of sorted getting the broken one back,its not very good  customer support and there trying to pass the buck too. WO i thought thay would be more pro than that. clear skys charl.

[Ohan Smit]

I've now got a response from the shipping companies customer relations lady handling the claim, and even she objected to the notion of me paying shipping the get the objective back.

They are going to refund the shipper(WO) the full shipping costs since it was billed from the shippers account.(I paid the shipping in full towards the shipper)

Am I correct in assuming that these refunded funds can be used to ship the objective to and fro without me having to pay additional costs?

I would like request in an email that they ship the new objective and that I may return the old objective the following day pending collection from the shipping company.

Or am I crazy assuming I have holds to these refunded shipping funds?

Thanks for the input guys.

Regards

[John]

Are they not sending you a whole new scope then ?

[Zakalwe]

Personally, I wouldn't be getting involved with that level of discussion- it might work out, it might not. If it goes pear-shaped then you will have a devil of a job un-winding it all. My personal position would be firm, fair but non-negotiable. You paid good money for an item that was delivered damaged. The onus is on the supplier to make the situation right and fulfill their part of the contract. Anything less than that is a cop-out.

Check your statutory rights, your rights under your credit card (assuming you used one) and if necessary, use the full power of consumer law. Anything less will be an opportunity for the vendor to take the proverbial.

[Zakalwe]

consumer_protection_pocketguide1.pdf

Consumer Protection No. 8

"What does this mean for the ordinary consumer?
your right to demand quality service
Consumers are entitled to the following, when entering into agreements/contracts with
suppliers:

• Timely performance and completion of those services;
• Timely notice of any unavoidable delays in the performance of the services;
• High-quality services, which consumers are entitled to expect; and
• Suppliers are required to remedy any defects in the quality of services performed or goods supplied; or refund the consumers a reasonable portion of the price paid for the services performed and goods supplied, in the event of these being sub-standard.

Your right to safe, good quality goods

• Consumers are entitled to receive goods or services that are of good quality, in good working order and free of any defects, and that comply with any applicable standards set under the Standards Act, No. 29 of 1993 or any other public regulation.

Your right to implied warranty of quality

• •In any transaction or agreement pertaining to the supply of goods to consumers, it is an implied provision that the producer or importer, distributor and retailer each warrant that the goods comply with the requirements and standards of being safe, of good quality and durable.
• Consumers are permitted to return goods to suppliers, without penalty and at the suppliers’ risk and expense, within a period of six (6) months after delivery of such goods, if the goods are of inferior quality, unsafe or defective.
• Suppliers are obliged to refund, repair or replace the failed, unsafe and defective goods"

(Emphasis mine)

Did you buy the kit from WO in South Africa, or import it? If direct from them in SA then their obligations under the laws of your land are pretty clear.

[MartinFransson]

That is absurd! They should send you the new item and include a return shipping voucher with it. Then, when they get the defect item back, they can sort it out with the shipping company. THEY have hired the shipping company, not you. You shouldn't have to deal with it at all or have any delays due to their partnering companies.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

[big_scot_nanny]

Ach, OP I feel for you, what a disappointing situation. I would only echo what the rest have said here - you bought item, item was defective on arrival, they should replace it. If they trade directly acorss the world, they should be able to waranty effectively across the world. You should incur no costs.

What a bummer!

[paulastro]

Mmmm.  I don't think you should have to pay anything, and I would contest this myself.  WO 'customer service '  isn't very good if they expect you to go to so much trouble and expense.  Good luck with getting it sorted.

[Ohan Smit]

Are they not sending you a whole new scope then ?

Nope, they only want to exchange the objective, which I have already removed and readied for collection.

Personally, I wouldn't be getting involved with that level of discussion- it might work out, it might not. If it goes pear-shaped then you will have a devil of a job un-winding it all. My personal position would be firm, fair but non-negotiable. You paid good money for an item that was delivered damaged. The onus is on the supplier to make the situation right and fulfill their part of the contract. Anything less than that is a cop-out.

Check your statutory rights, your rights under your credit card (assuming you used one) and if necessary, use the full power of consumer law. Anything less will be an opportunity for the vendor to take the proverbial.

I used paypal to send the funds which in turn billed my business card. The only reason I got into contact with the claims lady is because WO filed a full reimbursement claim(which I was responsible for completing a rather lengthy survey) with fedex, so they will get refunded the 260USD I paid for shipping.

consumer_protection_pocketguide1.pdf

Consumer Protection No. 8

"What does this mean for the ordinary consumer?

your right to demand quality service

Consumers are entitled to the following, when entering into agreements/contracts with

suppliers:

• Timely performance and completion of those services;
• Timely notice of any unavoidable delays in the performance of the services;
• High-quality services, which consumers are entitled to expect; and
• Suppliers are required to remedy any defects in the quality of services performed or goods supplied; or refund the consumers a reasonable portion of the price paid for the services performed and goods supplied, in the event of these being sub-standard.

Your right to safe, good quality goods

• Consumers are entitled to receive goods or services that are of good quality, in good working order and free of any defects, and that comply with any applicable standards set under the Standards Act, No. 29 of 1993 or any other public regulation.

Your right to implied warranty of quality

• •In any transaction or agreement pertaining to the supply of goods to consumers, it is an implied provision that the producer or importer, distributor and retailer each warrant that the goods comply with the requirements and standards of being safe, of good quality and durable.
• Consumers are permitted to return goods to suppliers, without penalty and at the suppliers’ risk and expense, within a period of six (6) months after delivery of such goods, if the goods are of inferior quality, unsafe or defective.
• Suppliers are obliged to refund, repair or replace the failed, unsafe and defective goods"

(Emphasis mine)

Did you buy the kit from WO in South Africa, or import it? If direct from them in SA then their obligations under the laws of your land are pretty clear.

I'm not sure how these laws effect me, since I directly imported from the WO HQ in Taiwan.

That is absurd! They should send you the new item and include a return shipping voucher with it. Then, when they get the defect item back, they can sort it out with the shipping company. THEY have hired the shipping company, not you. You shouldn't have to deal with it at all or have any delays due to their partnering companies.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

I've now sent a lengthy email to the customer support  asking them how they deem it fair that I have to pay for someone else's mess and I also asked why my telescope was delivered without a Quality Control Certificate but my Field Flattener had one...

[Ohan Smit]

What impact would it have on resale value and would there be any impact on imaging if you kept it?

Is it worth imaging a star field to quickly see how it performs?

I wish I had the opportunity to do a image a star field.  Cloudy for the next week

Hows that for a defective cloudmaker... 

[happy-kat]

Good luck in sorting this.

WO have it appears very very poor aftersales care.

My expectation would have been a complete scope swap.

Hope it all works out for you.

[xtreemchaos]

i just dont get how un pro WO are, its clearly there problem it hadnt been properly  inspected before leaveing the factory, for that to of happend in transit the tube and box would have to of been in hell of a mess. well at least you can see the light at tha end of the tunnel. clear skys charl.

[kalasinman]

I know from experience if you file a claim with Ebay for "Item not as described" they will get you 100% refund with original shipping. If you state in the claim that you will not pay for return shipping, Ebay will usually support that.

[Ohan Smit]

Good evening 

I have returned my objective to William Optics, on my cost which WO kindly said the said they would reimburse once the objective is at HQ. 

The package should reach them by this coming Thursday.

My GT102 packaging in the mean time has been collected by Fedex for the investigation they have following the claim, foam and all...

Then for the following 9 days there is quite a bit of cloud cover, so I am rather content and slightly excited at the idea of having a "perfect" refractor in the not to near future.

So once I received the objective I will test it and post some much needed pictures, since I have in the mean time ordered a M48 to T2 thread adapter,some bobs knobs(SCT) and a dew strip for the WO, since my Nikon cannot fit M48 like my Canon which is pending motherboards spares, I am left with the nikon.

Clear skies gents.

Namaste

[Ohan Smit]

So I finally received my new objective via Fedex today

Im super excited and guess what.... cloudiness... thankfully just till tomorrow night

I need to put this to the test asap XD 

Pre shipping WO HQ 

At my office in Cape Town

Huzzah

I will report back as soon I have some time with the scope XD.

Have a great weekend!

[xtreemchaos]

great stuff ,ill send ya some clear skys.  charl.

[Ruud]

Hi Ohan, it looks perfect.

It has to be. The clouds are proof of that.

[Special K]

Lovely scope! Sorry to hear about the hassle and hope the replacement lens is 100%.

[happy-kat]

That's great you have got the replacement unit, look forward to reading your great views first light.

[Ohan Smit]

great stuff ,ill send ya some clear skys. charl.

Hi Ohan, it looks perfect.

It has to be. The clouds are proof of that.

Lovely scope! Sorry to hear about the hassle and hope the replacement lens is 100%.

That's great you have got the replacement unit, look forward to reading your great views first light.

Hi guys, bad news unfortunately.

Please see pics below, its seem I got a second hand lens, with the thread of the previous scope still threaded inside the lens cell

So in short, I prepped the cell and when the moment came to thread it on, there was no thread to do so inside the cell, it has already been occupied :/ One month since I got this darn scope, one nights use and 30 emails back and forth. 28 days later this...

This is by far the worse experience I HAVE EVER HAD buying online par none, sorry for the negativity but this is truly unprofessional and borderline pathetic!

There is a reducer inside the lens cell making it impossible to mount on my OTA. Probably from the previous telescope this lens came from...

I am furious...

So what do I say now in the next email without swearing and being really unpleasant??? 2200USD and I have nothing but frustration to show for the whole month since its purchase??

Please help guys, I'm thinking of letting this damn hobby go and selling of the gear just to spare myself this Rubbish.

Really sorry for the tone of this post, please bare with me.

Regards

[Ohan Smit]

and the darn thing does not budge and has been inserted at a slight angle ruining the original cell thread.       

[Ruud]

Oh man, this is horrible. I am really sorry this happened to you, Ohan.

You have my sympathy. This is a major disappointment.

[Dave In Vermont]

I'd be returning the entire thing. Demanding ALL my money back. And looking into a different company for a telescope.

That bites! My respect for W.O. is circling the drain.

Dave  

[John]

I'd be returning the entire thing. Demanding ALL my money back. And looking into a different company for a telescope.

That bites! My respect for W.O. is circling the drain.

Dave

I have to agree with Dave. It's appalling service and they deserve to loose a customer, if not more than one if others read this thread.

Sorry you have experienced these problems Ohan

[mikeDnight]

Nice looking scope. However a chip on a new scopes objective I wouldn't tolerate nomatter how good the image is. It may have had a bashing in transit or it could just be poor QC, but I'd send it back immediately.

Mike