Instead of replacing or repairing damaged phones, OnePlus gives customers worthless vouchers
With OnePlus closing down in North America and Europe, its customers are receiving worthless vouchers.
OnePlus warranties are replaced with useless vouchers | Image by PhoneArena
Things are up in the air when it comes to OnePlus. The company is subtly withdrawing from the US market and while the OnePlus 15 is still supported by the company, the brand has been disappearing from retail stores such as Best Buy. The latter has removed physical displays from its stores and OnePlus devices are listed as permanently discontinued.
OnePlus parent Oppo is reportedly pulling back in North America and Europe
Certain configurations of the OnePlus 15 are out of stock, and some purchasers are limited to a single color or a storage option that they don't want. Parent company Oppo has reportedly decided to pull back from North America.
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In Europe, things are even worse for OnePlus owners. As we told you at the end of last month, OnePlus is pointing European consumers towards Oppo phones, and online UK and European Union stores are practically all sold out of OnePlus inventory. That is one of the reasons why there is a OnePlus warranty issue on the continent.
Device owners are receiving vouchers instead of replacements or repairs
Instead of replacing or repairing OnePlus devices covered by a warranty, the company is sending out vouchers instead. Normally that might not be seen as a problem, but these vouchers can only be redeemed at OnePlus online stores. Again, under normal conditions this would be perfectly fine, but as we said, the inventory in OnePlus' virtual stores is practically non-existent.
The OnePlus 15, released late last year. | Image by PhoneArena
Could things get worse for European OnePlus users? Why, of course they can. The shopping vouchers are good for one month only. You might consider this if you're planning to buy a OnePlus phone.
Most of the vouchers sent by OnePlus to customers are worthless and here's why
European OnePlus users who receive a voucher have two options. They can accept the voucher, or deal with a device that is unusable. On Reddit, a European OnePlus user detailed his sad tale. He had to send his 120W SuperVOOC charger back to the company to be repaired and was told that it was at its end-of-life (EOL) status. He got back a voucher with the equivalent value of his returned charger.
Originally, OnePlus couldn't find the charger. When they did, the customer received a €100 ($114 USD) OnePlus store voucher. The voucher recipient said it would have been a good deal except that 95% of the OnePlus store is sold out. The remaining 5% is made up of OnePlus Tab Go2, Nord 5, and Nord CE5 devices. The Redditor was going to buy a tablet, but since the only inventory left is discounted and on sale, he has a major problem.
A customer's 120W charger is exchanged for a useless piece of paper
You see, the system used by OnePlus blocks vouchers from being used on sale items, seriously limiting what this customer can buy with his voucher. The customer explains what happened to him in a clear and concise sentence: "They literally took my 120W charger, kept it, and handed me a digital code with a functional value of €0."
After reading this I wanted to check about the future status of OnePlus, so I checked in with the one important piece of hardware that every tech writer must have in his or her bag of tricks: The Magic 8 Ball. And when I asked it whether this customer's voucher would ever have any value, the response was "It is very doubtful."
The OnePlus support team, obviously watching too many episodes of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," said that the worthless €100 voucher was their final answer.
Another OnePlus customer, this one whose OnePlus Buds Pro 2 conked out inside the two-year warranty, was offered a voucher with a €199 value (the full cost of the product). But OnePlus had no headphones in its inventory that he could use the voucher to buy. He also asked the company if it would allow him to use the voucher toward the cost of repairing the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, but was shot down.
While OnePlus has not officially announced plans to shut down in Europe, it certainly feels like that is what is happening. It's a sad ending to a company that started life as a "Flagship Killer," but ended up dying in North America and Europe surrounded by worthless warranties.
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