TLDR: No service support for out of warranty product from Nothing.

Really sad to write this post but I feel, being an early member, investor and an avid advocate of Nothing products with friends and family, I need to highlight the challenges I faced as a customer.

Bought Nothing ear(1) a few weeks after launch in early Sept 2021. But that one failed within 1.5 months of usage. But got a replacement under warranty, more details in old thread: https://nothing.community/d/1043-issue-fixed/93
Exactly a week after the 12 months warranty was over, in mid Sept 2022, I noticed the volume of the Right ear bud is slightly less as compared to left one. It felt like volume was at 90% in right bud in comparison to the left one. After few days it slowly started decreasing further and to a point that right ear bud is around 50% now. Anyone who tried the ear(1) in home, confirmed the same that yeah right ear bud volume is very low.
Contacted nothing customer care. The tech support executive requested me to visit the nearest Service Center. As the nearest service center is far from my home, I requested if a courier pickup can be arranged, I am okay with paying the charges or if I can courier it myself. He said as it’s out of warranty I have to go to service center.
So today, on my only holiday, I went to service center after an hour of driving. This is a shared Service Center supporting multiple brands( I counted 7: JBL, Nokia, Boat, Noise, Ptron, Flex and Nothing). So, obviously it was very crowded. Waited for 130 mins for my turn. Within 10 seconds got a response, Oh this is out of warranty we don’t service these for Nothing brand! I said there might be some misunderstanding, Nothing customer support requested me to visit the service center. No one was ready to talk or listen to me, they just wanted me out of that place. Finally after struggling for 45 mins, I was able to get hold of the service center manager, he said it’s Nothing company policy so we can’t do anything. I said but I was requested to visit service center. Manager spoke with couple of guys, I think one of them was from Nothing. Manager said please call customer service again and ask them to say the same thing.
So I called again Nothing customer service, explained everything about how I called earlier and now I am at service center. No one is willing to have a look at my device and half of my Saturday is already gone in this back and forth. Can you please speak with them as this is a registered service center mentioned on your website. Then came the biggest shock. She said, as the product is out of warranty i.e. 12 months, NOTHING can be done from our end! I was confused, so again checked because exactly opposite was said by other customer support executive few days back. I was not ready to believe that Nothing policy is to throw the device once it’s out of warranty. Such premium product can’t just have a shelf life of 12 months. I have multiple buds at home with family members from different brands, all of them are 2 to 4 years old and way cheaper than ear(1), but still working fine. So requested her, can you please email me what she is saying, as I am hearing this for the first time for any brand that service center won’t entertain you if your product is out of warranty.
And indeed I got an email within 5 mins. I’ll let the email screenshot speak for itself:
Somehow, I still don’t believe that Nothing will do this to their customer for an year old product. Technically, this ear(1) is only 11 months old as my original one was replaced after 1.5 months. Now I am not sure what more I can do, I have tried customer support few times. Visited service center and spent more than 6 hours for someone to have a look at my ear(1) and provide support.
The worst part is, if this is actually the policy and I have to just throw my ear(1) after warranty is over and they have some issues. I am really disappointed, not because I lost my money. More because I literally forced my family, friends and office colleagues to buy ear(1)s. Atleast 6 have bought these after my strong recommendation. Not sure now what I’ll tell them 😐