I got my mudita phone last week and I really like it so far and the idea behind it. But when I checked the website again I realized it now costs 50€ less than when I bought it, so really bad timing. I contacted support saying I could theoretically return it since I am still in the 2 week window and reorder it for a much lower price but if it is somehow possible to refund me the difference since I don’t want to waste resources.
They said they are not able to do it, basically saying they prefer me erasing the phone, sending it across Germany to Poland, for mudita to unpack it, check it for reselling, then packing basically the same product again, shipping it across Poland and Germany and then me enjoying the phone for a lower price. I then ended the support contact but I find it disappointing that internal policies then seem to end up in something I would define as the opposite of mindful.
I still like the phone and would recommend it for anyone, but that was a bit disappointing.
@stschulte Thanks for sharing this, and we completely understand why the return-and-reorder scenario feels unnecessarily complicated, especially when you’re trying to avoid needless shipping and handling.
At the same time, promotional pricing has defined start and end dates, and we need to apply those terms consistently to everyone. If we retrospectively refunded the difference in individual cases, we would also need to determine how far back that should apply, and inevitably create another cutoff where customers on the other side of it would be treated differently.
We really appreciate that you chose not to return a perfectly good device simply to reorder it, and we understand why the situation is frustrating. Your feedback about the process is fair, and we’ll pass it along internally.
Hi Urszula, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I understand the general idea that there are periods in which “you are simply lucky” and others were you are not. And special offers are limited for a reason. But to your point that every cutoff would be arbitraty I disagree: People in the two week period could refund the phone and reorder it to get the cheap price anyways which in general is not in the interest of the company either:,You have additional handling, it may be harder to resell a phone that went through refunding etc.
It is your decision in the end. I also just asked to see what they respond, not because I think I am entitled to anything and then it was odd to hear support saying they cannot make a decision on their own and have to adhere to policy but are more than happy to guide me through the return process (which again I think is a lose-lose for both parties so unclear for me why this is preferred somehow). I feel the mudita advocates to use technology wisely and to our advantage, but in this instance it felt the support system leads to disempowering people to bring their own judgement to an individual situation. Of course I am biased here as I can only draw conclusions from a single support contact, but from what mudita stands for this was unexpected.
Thanks again for reading this. I just wanted to share my thought here.
Hello, first time poster and new Kompakt owner here. I was really interested coming across this post, as I had the exact same issue a few days ago. I’d been enjoying my new Kompakt so much, I decided to check out Mudita’s clocks too when I saw an email advertising these were on sale. I then noticed (to my surprise) that I could return my Kompakt and repurchase both a Kompakt and Harmony 2 for less than the cost of my original purchase of just a phone, even with return postage taken into account. I didn’t want to do this given the C02 emissions involved in sending a return, so asked Support for a similar solution to @stschulte too, but they refused, without explanation… (though I do appreciate Urszula’s response in this thread). I was disappointed that Mudita wanted to me return my phone and order a new one, rather than adopting what seemed like an easier approach that would obviously help the environment. Though at least I have some knowledge of the ridiculously complicated customs procedures we now get to enjoy for sending items from the UK to the EU
This doesn’t change my opinion of the Kompakt (and, as of yesterday, Harmony 2) - I’m really enjoying them both, it’s clear that a lot of careful thought and expertise has gone into making them, so thank you to everyone involved. They are so much better and “human-friendly” than a traditional smart phone and alarm clock. Not to mention a lot easier on the eyes and brain, with their beautiful e-ink screen
(One of these days I may write a fuller review, when I’ve used them for a longer period, but just wanted to put this on record here!)
Can’t you all just make a policy where if a purchase happens with X days of a promo you’re able to give credits and such? That would take a lot of the guesswork out for consumers while also avoiding e-waste, carbon emissions from pointless shipping, etc…. seems like a no-brainer.
It would seem logical, to offer a refund of the difference between purchase price and offer price, within the 2 week window. As said by others it would save resources and costs to both parties. It may also sway people who are about to return their Kompakt into keeping it.
To be fair to both sides of the argument.. the 14 day return window exists as consumer protection, not as a price-matching mechanism, so naturally we don’t encourage using it as a workaround. However we also can’t ignore the practical reality (this thread [also] points out). Within those 14 days, asking someone to ship a working device back to Poland just to reorder it at a lower price helps nobody, not the customer, not us, and certainly not the environment.
So we’re adjusting the approach: if the price of a product you bought at store.mudita.com drops within 14 days of your order, we’ll refund the difference on request.
How to claim it: If this applies to your order, do reach out to us at [email protected] with your order number and our Customer Support will verify the dates and process the partial refund. It’s the weekend, so our team is back on Monday!
[this applies within the 14 day return window only, since outside of it there’s no return to avoid in the first place]
Appreciate raising this topic and everyone’s input on this!
It would be unusual to offer a refund in these circumstances, I certainly would not open this can of worms, but I see this as a good time to buy another Kompakt, thanks for the price drop!
