Meta’s bad support and how they are sending damaged 64GB units because they ran out of proper refurb

[potatoch1p]

TL;DR Meta/Oculus is out of 64GB headsets (both new and refurbished) and are sending damaged units for warranty returns. I’ve seen some posts here and there about damaged lenses, but so far I’ve received 6 different refurbished headsets and all of them had various amount of damage to the lenses. Meta refuses to provide new headset (since they ran out of 64GB and refuse to send 128GB headsets). Closing up to 5 months having to deal with their support.

Timeline:

8 May 2022: Contacted Oculus about a dead pixel in the display of my still in warranty Quest 2 64 GB. Wasn’t sure if it was covered, but Oculus told me it is and agreed to receive it under warranty. Due to ongoing issues in my life, I kindly asked them if there was a way to reduce the time I wouldn’t have any headset, which they told me they couldn’t help. They told me they’d send a return label and to contact them if I didn’t receive it. To note here is that my headset was basically in pristine condition. Always kept in its case, the lenses had literally 0 scratch, since I take extremely good care of my stuff and I use prescription adapters.

13 May 2022: For some reason, I had not received the return label, so I contacted them again and they sent me the return label. I sent the headset the same day.

25 May 2022: They had accepted the return and sent me a refurbished unit that I received on this date (25 May 2022). Opening the box and removing the unit, I instantly found it odd that the lens protective stickers were put on badly. Removing one of the sticker, I found the lens had a decent size scratch on it. I didn’t even check the second lens and directly contacted Oculus. They agreed that it was not acceptable and to send back the item. From a quick search online, it seemed to be a common issue and told them about it, asking them not to make me send back headsets on and on (I wanted to minimize the time I did not have a headset) and if I could simply get a non-refurbished unit (i.e. a new unit). They told me they’d “wait for feedback from the support team”.

14 June 2022: They get “feedback from the support team” after 3 weeks of waiting to tell me that they can’t do anything but do another RMA for another refurbished unit. I begrudgingly accept and send back the unit the same day.

22 June 2022: I receive the latest refurbished headset. As expected, there are scratches on the lenses. Not as bad, but still not something that was ever present on my headset and neither does it respect their own refurbished guidelines (”No scratches on the display.” ref: https://store.facebook.com/ca/quest/products/quest-2/refurbished/, click “more info” under “as good as new”). I contact them again the same day.

24-25 June 2022: Meta responds and ask me for the same shipping details, which I give. I ask them again not to go through the whole back-and-forth with damaged headset being sent as “refurbished”.

26 June 2022: The support rep apologizes and say they’ll contact the proper team about the issue. They ask me to wait.

8 July 2022: I ask for feedback since I did not get any info from Meta in the meantime. They tell me to wait.

15 July 2022: They say they will replace the headset. I ask them if it will again be a refurbished unit. They respond that it will, but they’ll send it before I send back the one I currently have (arrived with damaged lenses on 22 June) and that I could send back the device it this “new” refurbished one is fine.

20 July 2022: I receive the latest refurbished headset. Still damages to the lenses, with large blemishes at the bottom of the lenses. I contact Meta again.

22 July 2022: They say they’ll send an “expedited return” as “an exception”. I ask them if it’ll be another refurbished unit. They tell me it will, but that they are “well taken care of”.

27 July 2022: I receive the refurbished unit. Still damages to the lenses, this one is even worse, with a bunch of scratches in the center. I contact Meta again.

28 July 2022: They agree to send another replacement and send the return label. I ask if it will be a refurbished unit, but still send back the unit.

2 August 2022: They tell me it will be a refurbished unit again, citing their limited warranty. Their limited warranty actually says that it can be a refurbished, reconditioned or new unit, at their discretion, so I ask for a new unit since they actually say that it can be. I also point out their description of a refurbished unit on their website which actually says there should be no scratches on the displays at all and "no visible cosmetic imperfections.”

3 August 2022: They ask me to wait for feedback again.

7 August 2022: They tell me they “unfortunately” cannot send a new unit. “As of right now, we currently do not have any new unit available to provide and can only issue refurbished units.” I respond that they do have 128 GB in stock and that they clearly ran out of 64GB new and proper refurbished stock, and are only left with damaged units. Their response: ”We do understand how you feel given the whole situation but all we can do is to replace the current headset with another 64GB refurbished unit. Regarding compensation all we can offer is store credit.” I ask about the compensation amount.

8 August 2022: They respond that it would 50$ in store credits. I did not respond to this. They also note: ”As you may already know, the 64GB units have been discontinued some time ago. Due to this reason for some time now we've only been able to provide refurbished replacements for 64GB units, as you may have already guessed, and sometimes some issues may get past the refurb process unnoticed.” They also ask for me to go through the return process again, which I tell them I already did on 28 July. They send back another headset.

12 August 2022: I receive the refurbished headset. This one is one of the worse. The whole lense is scratched over and basically has a significant “haze” effect because of the scratches when reflecting light. I contact Oculus again. They ask me to wait.

15 August 2022: They send me another return label and I send back the headset the day after (16 August)

26 August 2022: After having no news for a while, I contacted Meta to tell them that I had sent the headset on 16 August and to tell them NOT to send by a replacement in the next two weeks (until 7 Sept) as I will be away from home on vacation.

At this point, I found out Meta had closed the ticket. I guess having a ticket open for months was having a toll on their CS ticket solving time.

28 August 2022: They responded to me saying they would take the time to “review”.

30 August 2022: Without any response from Meta, they sent back a headset even though I asked them to wait until I got back from vacation…

31 August 2022: The headset got delivered without signature in front of my unit’s building, for everyone to take. I had to rush to ask a neighbor to take it while I’m away. In every other case, if I wasn’t home, UPS would just leave a note and drop it off at their pickup point. Now since I asked not to deliver it, I guess they took it as a “deliver it at all cost”.

9 September 2022: I finally had the time to open the newly sent headset, which still has damages. The lenses have some sort of strange liquid sticking on them (although there are far fewer scratches compared to previous units I’ve received) and there are black scuff marks that aren’t erasable by friction over the front of the headset. I contact Meta again.

11 September 2022: No news from Meta, I contact them again since I didn’t receive an email from my last contact with them on 9 Sept.

13 September 2022: They ask for my name and the headset serial number, which I respond to on 16 Sept 2022 (was sick in the meantime).

17 September 2022: They deny my request for a replacement and respond to me in French (all our exchanges have been in English) that they would send me 50 Euros in credits… I am from Canada and I’ve never been to Europe. Those credits I can’t use because they’re not in the same currency as my store, as per the Meta Store.

Conclusion: if you intend to send back your 64GB unit for warranty for a small thing you can deal with, don’t. You’re almost guaranteed to get a worse headset back. At this point I’m considering legal action, but might as well share my experience with you.

I’ve never seen a customer service so bad or useless. The 50 Euros credit thing is a spit in the face at the end.

[Slade1973]

They’ve been accepting returns for the Quest Pro lens haze issue, and sending out replacements with the same problem.