Caveat Emptor or Lifetime Warranty
I bought a phone case from Crave for my Pixel 7a, when I bought it, in late 2023. This summer, it failed dramatically. The buttons fell out, the case shell cracked and broke off, and the inner rubber ripped. I dropped them an email and they sent a replacement, no problem.
This week, the replacement case chipped. When I contacted them, they were no longer willing to ship me a replacement case. I believe that they view a lifetime warranty to be the lifetime of the phone, and that they believe the lifetime of a phone is no more than 24 months.
Perhaps I will consider an Otterbox case for my next phone. I spoke with a friend who let me know that in her experience they are not designed to work for the life of a phone, either.
In case, I was able to achieve the result of receiving a new phone case by telling them what I thought of their policies. The correspondence is copied below as an example of an effective technique to deal with this sort of tomfoolery from business. I did remind them that the Google 7a comes with 5 years of software support from the manufacturer, in the hopes that it helps them understand better the "lifetime" of a phone. Perhaps they trade mostly in Samsungs and iPhones and those are different? I have no idea.
My Amazon review of their product stands at 1-star. Perhaps I will revise it again and give them another star or two. I don't feel compelled to place this activity high on my priority list.
Them.
Thanks for reaching out to us—we really appreciate it.
As I can see, this is the second replacement request for this order. According to our replacement policy, you’ll need to send the broken case back to our warehouse this time. Please note that we do not provide shipping labels. Once you provide a tracking number (which is required), we will be expecting the package for prompt handling. Sending it via tracked USPS First-Class Mail will cost approximately $4.50.
This replacement policy was put in place for two reasons:
To prevent warranty abuse, and
To help us track case models that frequently break, so we can improve the manufacturing process in future batches and prevent recurring issues.
Me.
Send a replacement, now, so that I have a case to hold my phone while the second broken product you have provided me is returned to you.
I can't imagine why you mention the word abuse in your mail when I have been confronted with a product of poor construction that does not do the job that it is advertised to do and breaks without even a collision never mind abuse which is the job of the product.
Further, I didn't inquire and I can't understand what led you to believe you should share the reasoning for your replacement policy. Frankly, the choice to share it comes across as an insulting accusation! Furthermore, the policy itself comes across as more insulting. You don't need me to return the case in order to track which models break, you know which model broke because I told you! Or are you accusing me of being less than honest? Have a picture! Perhaps you would not have a need for such a policy if you were able to make a product that stood up to your guarantees! Truly, Crave is the one who was less than honest in this situation - Crave made some guarantees about the product that say sold me and did not provide a product that was able to fulfill the guarantees! Crave is the party not to be trusted, here.
This is no way to treat a customer. I doubt that I will ever purchase another low quality product from your business, nor will I have anything good to say in my review of your product.
Them.
Just a kind explanation: You have been using this case since November 2023, which is a pretty solid time in my opinion, for items like phone cases that we use 24/7 every minute in our hands. Regarding our policy, we provide a first replacement instantly and request a return from the second replacement and so on.
Me.
First of all, I don't know what "a pretty solid time" has anything to do with a lifetime warranty.
Second, I have not been using this case since November 2023! I received this particular case in June of this year! It did not last 6 months!
Them.
To be honest, the first point looks convincing to me. Sometimes it may be misleading for people when they see a lifetime warranty. Please provide your shipping address, and I will provide a replacement for you this time without any return, but I will have to request this policy point if this situation occurs again.
Me.
Thank you, I was just starting to write a long email that explained why I think crave believes that the lifetime of a phone is 18 months, and has designed cases to last that long, but I think we now see eye-to-eye. For the record, the Google 7a comes with a guarantee of OEM software support until May 2028 (5 years). Newer Google phones come with 7 years of Software support.