Jabra warranty return process (Jabra Elite 65t Earbuds)

I purchased my Jabra Elite 65t earbuds in April 2019, on recommendation from a work colleague. I've been very happy with my Jabra 65t earbuds, decent quality sound both from music via phone and in calls.

They do a good job of keeping outside noise down to a minimum, to the point my office colleagues can be talking to me without me seeing them and I won't know until they tap me on the shoulder! Batteries have lasted as long as I've needed them to (couple of hours), the case they live in also acts as a charger when I'm not using the earbuds. So while not in use the battery is being topped up, so long as you remember to plugin the case from time to time. So, the Jabra 65t are decent bluetooth earbuds if you're in the market for some.

Jabra 65t problems

Role on a year to May/June 2020 and I start having an irritating issue with audio in one of ear buds fading out within a couple of seconds of starting music. So I fired up the Jabra phone app to try trouble shooting and it turns out there's a new firmware version available. That could fix it. So I followed the Jabra firmware update process, that was easy enough. Still have sound fading out issue. Following various directions from the web I tried unpairing / repairing with phone. I tried removing and re-installing / re-syncing the Jabra phone app but that didn't help. So I though on the off chance they could help I'd contact Jabra.

Jabra return process

Now the fun starts, reporting the fault to Jabra. Easy enough...

Me:                   I found a form on their website where I filled out some info about my purchase, described symptoms and so on.

Jabra Support: Please try the following... reset earbuds, check for firmware update " If this challenge persists after the above steps, please answer the following questions:"
                         Remember how I filled out that webform to get the conversation started? Yeah, they me to describe the symptoms again.

Me:                   Describes issue again, provides purchase date (again)

Jabra Support: Try updating the language (with guidance on how to). (Language update? well ok)

Me:                   Follows language update process and replies to Jabra Support to say so.

Jabra Support: We need to arrange a warranty return.

Me:                   Yay!

Posting

At this point it's taken 2 days to go from submitting web form to starting to sort a return under warranty. Not too bad. So I reply to that email from Jabra with requested information (invoice from Amazon - good job it was Amazon, makes it easy to find the invoice after 12 months!) and a photo of the earbuds in their case, they were after the serial number that appears in the charging case I think.

6 days after my last email with requested info I get an email saying I'll be sent an email with a label to return the earbuds. I was starting to wonder at this point after 6 days if I needed to contact them again. On the bright side, I don't have to pay for postage, well done Jabra. Later that day the email arrives with my postage label.

Shortly after that postage label email I get another email asking for feedback on the process. I've not done that survey yet, and don't intend to until I have repaired or replaced earbuds in my hands.
The documentation sent with the label was very clear, they MUST be returned in a box. Ideally the one they were originally in. Who keeps packaging that long?! So it had to wait until I aquired a suitable Jabra sized box.

Posted (for free to me) on 2nd July. According to ParcelForce my parcel was signed for by Jabra on 6th July.

On the 15th July I get an email from Jabra telling me they've received my parcel and are progressing the return. So what was happening for the 9 days between the Parcel Force delivery and the email saying they've received the parcel? I have no idea.

Order created

24th July - receive email saying an order has been created. With shipping & billing addresses detailed in email, so hopefully that means replacements are on the way.

Shortly after that email I get one with order details, though the link in that email for tracking doesn't work. A few hours later I get another email, this time tracking link does work and shows my replacement Jabra ear buds should arrive on Monday.

Monday

Sure enough, as promised by Jabra, my new earbuds turned up today. Yay! :)
So while it seems there may be room for improvement and streamlining of the Jabra warranty returns process, they have swapped out failing earbuds for a new pair without arguing about it (only fair they ask ask me to go through the trouble shooting steps).

It's a shame my earbuds failed, but it is reassuring it is possible to get replacements sent under warranty, certainly defers concerns about buying Jabra headphones / earbuds again in the future.

December 2021 - time to change my mind about Jabra earphones?

I originally purchased my Jabra 65t earphones in April 2019. A little over 12 months later they had given up.
To be fair to Jabra, they did honour their warranty and got a replacement pair sent out.

That was June 2020 according to the meta data of this page. Now in December 2021 the same thing is happening, the right hand ear bud (the 'controller' side) has gone dead.
So it seems 14-18 months is the standard lifespan for the Jabra 65t earbuds.

Is that a good lifespan? Given my partners cheapo units have been good for at least as long as 2 pairs of Jabras that cost 5 times as much I certainly don't have as much faith in Jabra as I did. Maybe I should get get some cheapo ones next time and save some cash!