To think this is poor service from John Lewis

[Sunflower20]

I bought some Sennheiser headphones from John Lewis, tried them once and the sound quality is shockingly bad, no better than the free ones that came with my phone. There is so much treble and I have to turn the sound right up to compensate. I really expected a bit more for £70.

I spoke to John Lewis customer service and was told that I can't return them unless they've been inspected and deemed faulty, if they're not faulty it's a no as I've used them. But to me they're unusable and if they costed £20 I would probably just bin them.
What's the point of being honest? I could literally have just returned them as they still look untouched.

AIBU in expecting a refund??????

This is the second similar post in two days, are Amazon trying to convince us not to shop elsewhere?
If they're that bad maybe they're faulty? First thing I would do is take them in store for advice

Oh there was a similar post?
I really expected better from them, that's why I bought from them rather than Amazon.

Can you do it under the TS... Not as described.... If they're described as top quality sound etc etc

The other post was about a king size bed sheet not fitting properly.

Your comment about the quality from John Lewis being better than Amazon makes no sense if they're a branded product. They'll be the same from any retailer.

You should have researched the product properly. Not John Lewis's problem. Resell them.

Did you not listen to them before you bought them? Shops always have them out to try.

I don’t think it’s sensible to spend £70 on something like this without knowing what they sound like first - I doubt you would be able to return them anywhere if they are not faulty because of the hygiene issue.

@AmIThough
I meant I expected better customer service etc, not quality of product as it's the same product.

But I guess I'll have to accept that these headphones are just shit.

@Sunflower20 did you buy them with the intention of using and returning? Otherwise the customer service wouldn't be relevant.

For future reference, Amazon's customer service is fantastic.

The product was not of expected quality.
I would expect John Lewis to return.

Otherwise op leave stinking review of headphones and how jl wouldn't return.

Sennheiser are a decent brand so perhaps they are actually faulty? Have you even taken them into store to be looked at/tested? If they are not faulty then obviously you won’t get a refund as they are now used and not in a sellable condition

I've had similar "customer service" with electronics goods that were fault from John Lewis. They make you run around after their customer service centre, sending them away for repair and checking and then eventually they are returned to you with the same fault.

Consumer Protection legislation applies here, whatever John Lewis say. The goods must be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose, and at that price for a pair of headphones, they don't sound as if they are. You can write a threatening letter pointing this out and if they don't refund you at that stage, you would have to do a small Claim I'm afraid.

If they look unused then just take them back. The person at the counter isn't going to know you've called and spoken to them and said you've used them. It's a different person! Don't tell them you called; just take them back.

That won't work because usually premium headphones like that come with a seal on the box. If it's broken then they are no longer in brand new unused condition.

At least with Amazon you would have had distance selling laws protecting you.

Couple of things I'd check before escalating this though:

• Have you definitely pushed the headphones properly into the socket on your phone? Sometimes the shape of the jack plus any cases you might have on there intersect poorly and the connection isn't good, which causes the sound to be poor. Alternatively try them on a different source e.g. radio, partner's phone, laptop.

• Have you checked the audio you're trying to listen to is of high quality? If you're listening to something that has been compressed then it isn't going to sound nice no matter what headphones you use.

I returned my Bose headphones to John Lewis after a year because the cable control
Went wonky and they gave me a full refund!!

I would try again OP, they're customer service is usually amazing and you've got grounds. If not, contact senheiser as they're great too.

Try them plugged into a different device - it might be your phone audio equipment that’s crap not the headphones

I had a bedsheet issue with JL. Not the one posted. They were superficially kind but insisted on laying the entire sheet on the floor of the shop - the main shop in Oxford St - with a fucking measuring tape to check I was correct (ie that one end was 10cm narrower than the other so it wouldn’t fit over my mattress). Had my heart in my mouth doubting myself. Lots of narrowed eyebrows. Finally I was awarded a refund. I get a sense the generous customer service has been squeezed a bit but if you fight your corner they still can be decent.