siliconchip.com.au Australia’s electronics magazine June 2019 63
a new set of headphones, and I pur-
chased a pair of Sony wireless Blue-
tooth “over-ear” style headphones
from a local big-box store. I couldn’t
wait to get home and try them out, but
was extremely disappointed when I
plugged them in and discovered that
while they were well-made (as with
most Sony products), and comfort-
able, the sound quality was abysmal.
I was annoyed with myself more
than anything; the only store who
carried this particular model of head-
phones didn’t have a “try-before-you-
buy” stand like many others (policy,
they said), so I’d thrown caution to the
wind and relied on price-point, brand
recognition and faith that being Sony,
they should be good quality.
Before I discovered the benefits of
decent earplugs, I’d had my hearing
pounded by years of exposure to power
tools, high-octane model-aircraft rac-
ing engines, playing in bands and at-
tending too many rock concerts. But
I can still differentiate between what
sounds good and what doesn’t, espe-
cially when using headphones.
So I took them back to the store
and had a stand-up argument with
the teen-aged ‘manager’ who insisted
that either I hadn’t charged the battery
enough or that I expected too much fi-
delity from a Bluetooth wireless sys-
tem. Apparently, this was no basis for
returning them.
I politely informed the guy that the
battery was well charged and that the
Bluetooth earbud headphones I bought
from China for a few dollars to use
with my mobile phone had excellent
fidelity and outperformed these ex-
pensive Sony ‘studio’ ’phones by a
wide margin.
I stood my ground and asked to try
out another set of the same model
headphones, in case the originals were
faulty, but the manager informed me
Sony wouldn’t allow them to open a
sealed box without a sale, so I demand-
ed a refund instead.
While I eventually got my money
back, the store made me jump through
hoops and wait for more than a fort-
night while they sent the headphones
back for ‘testing’ and got the warran-
ty sorted.My complaints that this whole pro-
cess broke our consumer-guarantee
laws fell on deaf ears (LOL), but I was
vindicated a few months later when I
read reports that this chain of stores
had been prosecuted, found guilty
and substantially fined for dozens of
similar breaches of consumer regula-
tions. I certainly won’t be shopping
there ever again.
It’s no wonder then that I (and oth-
ers) increasingly shop online, often
from overseas vendors. Not only do I
avoid being patronised, but I also cut
out the greedy middle-man altogether,
and this makes my hard-earned dol-
lar go further.
However, the government has
caught on – most likely due to lobbying
by campaign-funding, cry-baby big-
box retailers who constantly whinge
about an ‘uneven playing field’, de-
spite them having gouged consum-
ers blind for years – and are intent onDo you have any good servicing stories that you would like to share in The Serviceman
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