Why Suppliers Reject Warranty Claims, and How to Get More of Them Paid
For stores and distributors4 min read
A customer brings back a soundbar that stopped playing music four months after they bought it. It’s a genuine fault, so you swap it from stock and send the faulty one to your supplier. Three weeks later, the answer arrives: declined, returned incomplete.
The remote is still in the customer’s drawer at home, and the box went out with the recycling weeks ago.
Most suppliers will honour a genuine claim. When one is turned down, the fault is usually real, and what’s missing is something small. Some rejections are fair, of course. The warranty really has run out, or the product really has been dropped. But plenty of good claims fail for want of a remote, a serial number or a photo, and that’s money you were owed.
Why good claims get turned down
No serial number.
Without it, your supplier can’t confirm the product is theirs, or that it’s still under warranty. By the time anyone thinks to look, the unit is in a box somewhere.
“Not working.”
It’s true, but it gives your supplier nothing to go on. They come back with a question, and if nobody answers it, the claim goes no further.
Nothing to look at.
You saw the fault, but your supplier didn’t. Without photos or findings, it’s your word against their policy, and if they say it’s been dropped, you have nothing to show that it wasn’t.
It went in too late.
The unit waited on the shelf for someone to get to it, and by the time the claim was sent, it was past the supplier’s cut-off.
Every supplier wants something different.
One wants a form, another wants photos and a third wants faulty units sent in batches. Remembering who wants what is a job in itself.
No proof of purchase.
If nobody asks for the slip on the day, nobody can find it by the time the supplier does.
Get it right on the day
Almost all of this is easy to collect on the day the product comes in, while the customer and the unit are in front of you. A month later, you’re relying on memory and a very patient customer.
- Note the serial number, and what came in with the product.
- Take a few photos before the unit goes anywhere.
- Describe the fault in a sentence your supplier can use.
- Send the claim while the details are fresh.
A rejection isn’t always the end
Often it’s really a question: send us the remote, send us a photo. Answer it, and the claim can still be paid. The risk is that the reply arrives on a busy afternoon, gets read, and nobody gets back to it.
Over time, rejections also tell you something. If one supplier keeps turning down the same kind of claim, you know what to collect next time, or what to talk through with them.
Send a claim that’s hard to turn down
RepairStep helps you get the claim right before it’s sent. The serial number, photos and fault are recorded when the repair is first logged, along with the proof of purchase.
When you start a claim from the repair, all of it comes along, with the findings and the history. Your supplier gets one link with everything they need, and no account to set up.
CLM-0231
Soundbar
Bluewater Imports
- Serial
- SB-48213
- Photos
- 3 photos
- Sent with
- Remote and cables
Their answer stays with the claim. If they decline, they give a reason, and if they have a question, you’ll see it, so a question doesn’t turn into a lost claim. You can also see at a glance which claims are still open, and how many you’ve recovered over time.
CLM-0231
Soundbar
Bluewater Imports
- Their answer
- We’ll cover it
- Asking for
- Credit
- Amount
- $68.00
You can try it on your first 20 repairs for free, with all the features and no credit card.
Frequently asked questions
Can we go back to a supplier after they’ve rejected a claim?
Yes. If you’ve found what was missing, you can send it to them. For a supplier who isn’t on RepairStep, you can reopen the claim and note why.
What if a supplier only credits part of the claim?
You can record what they actually credited, along with the credit note, next to what you asked for.
Does our supplier need to use RepairStep?
No. They get a link by email and can answer from there, without an account.
What if the supplier rejects a claim we’ve already replaced for the customer?
You’ll still have the whole record, including what you sent and what they said, so you can decide what to do next. If you decide to let it go, you can write the claim off so it no longer shows as outstanding.