Warranty is a funny word. In principle, it means the manufacturer stands behind their product. In practice, it often means you get three weeks of email ping-pong with a customer service robot, after which you’re politely told the fault is due to "user action" and you’re welcome to buy new ones.
We do things differently.
24 months, without fine print
Valco’s warranty is 24 months. It covers material and manufacturing defects. If your headphones stop working under normal use, we’ll fix them. No need to fill out forms in triplicate or send a receipt notarized.
In practice, you need your order number and a photo of the fault. After that, Hannes or someone else from the service team in Kajaani will sort it out. Usually faster than Henri can get his Alfa started on a winter morning.
We repair — we don’t throw away
This is the big difference. When big-brand headphones break, at best you get a new unit in return. Sounds nice until you realize the old pair ends up in a landfill and the new one lasts the same 18 months.
Valco's headband models are designed to be repairable. The cushions twist off. Drivers can be replaced. Our service swaps the parts and sends the same device back — working. This isn’t charity, it’s sensible design. And a bit of that environment stuff, but we can’t be bothered to greenwash it any further.
What if it’s your fault?
Let’s say the dog ate the left earcup. Or you dropped them off a balcony railing. Or ran them over with a tractor — we know, those cases have happened too.
That's not a warranty matter, but it doesn't mean the device is done for. For the VMK headband models we have a repair package: a flat 69 € regardless of the fault, spare parts and postage both ways included. The repaired pair also gets an extra year of warranty on top. The service is available within the EU. NL earbuds and Nordell speakers aren't repaired, but a unit that breaks under warranty is swapped for a working one and the broken ones are recycled into spare parts. With big brands, the equivalent option is usually "buy new at full price and better luck next time."
Worn-out cushions after over a year of use are normal wear — like car tires or Henri’s patience on Monday mornings. New cushions can be ordered separately.
Competitors’ warranty on paper vs in practice
Many big brands list the same 24 months on paper. The difference is what happens when you call customer service.
- Big brand: Chatbot -> email form -> "wait 5–7 business days" -> "send the device to us" -> 3 weeks of silence -> "the issue is not covered by the warranty"
- Valco: Send a photo and order number -> the Kajaani service team repairs -> you get the device back
We’re a small company. We can’t afford to lose customers to bureaucracy. Nor do we want to. Every satisfied customer funds 0.000001 percent of our Death Star, so your satisfaction is literally a strategic investment for us.
In short
24 months of warranty. Real service in Kajaani. We repair, we don’t throw away. If you broke it yourself, the repair package for the headband models saves the day. If something’s off, drop a message at info@valco.fi — we’ll reply faster than most big brands admit they have a problem.
