Later in 2007 I bought a Griffin DirectDeck tape adapter for $15. It worked well enough and lasted until about a year later, upon which time it broke and so I bought myself a new one.
A DirectDeck in new condition
This new one lasted for about 5 months before it started making strange noises, which got louder as time went on until it was interfering with my ability to listed to my music peacefully. This new tape adapter being under warranty I contacted Griffin for a replacement explaining my situation, this is the email I received:
“Hey Ari,
Sorry to hear about your DirectDeck. I would be happy to replace that for you. Rather than have you send us the defective product, we will request taking a digital picture of the defective product destroyed. You can smash, burn or crack open in whatever way you would like, so long as you do so safely. Also, take a digital picture (or scan a copy) of your receipt.
Next, send us the pictures. Just reply to this email and attach the digital pictures of the defective part and the receipt.
Once we receive the email and verify the photos we will send a replacement to the address that you have provided us below. In order to ensure that we receive your email, please limit the size of the email to around 3MB.
I can then send you out a replacement.”
This approach just makes so much sense, skip the shipping fees for something you know is broken while providing the user with some closure/revenge on their broken product. So, I did as the email asked and chose my weapon for destroying my tape deck… although not exactly by the rules. You see, I wasn’t about to be unable to listen to my Zune for 5 days while the new tape adapter shipped, so I instead opted to destroy my original DirectDeck from over a year ago and just bear with the malfunctioning adapter until the new one arrived. I chose to use the back of a hammer to cause the necessary damage, and even with my currently broken hand I was able to do this:
The DirectDeck post hammering
I submitted the picture and information Griffin asked for and received a quick follow-up email:
Hey Ari,
Thanks! I just wanted to let you know that your replacement is on it’s way. If you have anymore questions, please let me know.
And a few days later I received a brand new tape adapter. I just wanted to share this story because I thought it an interesting approach to customer returns.
