Chile Forum

My rant will go to myself and Ripley...

After making the decision of buying a dinning room set , i went to Ripley in Valpo.

The salesman (Victor Hugo) was very helpful, and inform me that the delivery will be the same day around 5 pm to 7 pm.
I even was able to obtain free shipping.

Also, he told me to "revise" the items .

Delivery truck came at around 7 pm , and I "revised" that the items purchased were delivered ( 4 chairs and a table)


BIG MISTAKE!!!... Revise means to open (literally) and check every part (nut and bolt) etc of every single box.

Guess what, ... the table was broken.

This little number made in Malaysia, came with one screw forcefully attached, that splitted the frame where the legs get screwed. NO REPAIR POSSIBLE.

So far , the salesman has been very receptive to my demands, i even talked to the head of the furniture department.
A case number was given to me.

And ensure me ,that they will replace the table at no cost to me.

My case seems to be an Exception to the Rule, because once you receive the item and sign the guide , there is NO RETURNS.


Unfortunelly, the delivery guys , don't call ahead of time, they just show up.

I missed one delivery ( while i went to the store to ask for the 2nd time for my replacement).

They scheduled another delivery for yesterday between 9 AM and 3 PM.....

Still no table today.Called the 600 number , they will notify the supervisor on Monday after 11AM.

The learnings from this are:

1) Always know the name of your salesman and his boss.Get their phone numbers, if possible.

2) Revise,inspect, open every single box ,count every item before signing anything.MOST IMPORTANT!!!

3)If is possible buy everything in one place,to avoid shipping charges.

But the most important part , don't buy everything at once.

Let the salesman know that you are interested in buying other articles ( expensive ones) in their department,in the very near future.

That hook will ensure good customer /salesman relationship , in case of problems.

4) Be firm and secure, and when things don't seem to work your way, start taking notes...
Get pen and paper and write everything said, ask for names and job descriptions.

One day, I will have my table, one way or the other......

Zulu, there are a legal guarantee for 3 months included with any purchase in Chile under "Ley del Consumidor", if in this period the good malfunction or is defective they are oblied to repair or replace, you can sue the seller in case they refuse to execute the legal guarantee at the Juzgado de Policia Local on the jurisdiccion corresponding to sued company.

Is a simple tramitation and you do not need an attorney to carry on, I sued the chilean representative of Nikon Cameras time ago, because they refused to replace a camera failed at 2 /12 months after purchase, they was very rude with me and I sued, they had to give me apologies and replace for a brand new camera at Juzgado.

The only requeriment to make the guarantee valid is to hold the receipt with the date of purchase.

There are a goverment office called "SERNAC" (Servicio Nacional del COnsumidor) but they cannot sue, act only as mediators and generally are worthless, much better made sue by oneself

excellent tip Tombrad2! Didn't realise Chile had such things as "Consumer Rights"

It is not easy to find and few people uses it, but the law exist, at http://www.bradanovic.cl/jpliquique.htm
I published the text of my demanda, may be used for almost any sue because the legal arguments are the same ;-D

A link to my first hand experience from another thread.

http://www.allchile.net/chileforum/view ... t=din#5140

Update: finally defective table was replaced for a new one.. No problems.

the vendor made sure that i was home for the dilivery, even when they showed up 2 hours late...

But I 'm happy.Now i can bang on the table , when things don't go my way.....

I'm glad that it worked out in the end for you.

Customer service isn't easy here, but I've found that threats usually work best, unless its a nice person, in which case they'll just try to make it happen.

I like the format of the suggestions you posted. I think we should start a thread with the collective rules, techniques, and cautions, over to formal chile wiki customer service section. There is like a page of really good information in this thread alone. I am sure as the customer service thread grows, we will put together a lot of stuff like this that will help with the art of customer services.

I have added a thread for nomination of collective customer service bits and knowledge here:
http://www.allchile.net/chileforum//vie ... php?t=1189

And a government consumer rights web site and law here:
http://www.allchile.net/chileforum//vie ... php?t=1189

If anyone is up for it, we could use some help translating some of the documents, forms, and laws that are on the government site. Later we will wiki them for the masses.

B ring it on , Charles , bur slowly....