Faulty graphics card and 10% refund under warranty?...

[adinmatty]

Hi everyone,

 

One of major UK online PC components retailers, with whom I had very good experience for several years, dissapointed me big time recently. Graphics card i bought from them nearly 2 years ago developed a fault which was confirmed by them after posting the item over to them. On the 2 years warranty there was about 2 months left, therefore I was quite happy the fault appeared now rather in few months time. So what was my dissapointment when after around month waiting I was informed about refund in amount... 17 pounds + VAT!... for card I paid 209+VAT. The card is no longer on sale therefore refund. I do understand that I have received benefit from the item, but... I have received 90% of it already?...

 

The company backed their refund with:

 

1.

"Disproportionate cost"

A retailer can decline the repair or replacement remedy if the cost would be disproportionately higher than the cost of Reasonable partial refund.

We therefore reject your request for a repair or replacement

 

2.

I can confirm all refunds we offer are calculated inline with current legislation, and a benefit of use deduction is applied, an extract of the legislation is shown below for your reference:

a partial or full refund, depending on

what is reasonable in the circumstances.

It may be the case that a full refund is not

the reasonable option because the

consumer will have enjoyed some benefit

from the goods before the problem

appeared. This needs to be taken into

account before a reasonable partial refund

can be assessed.

 

3.

The card is warrantied for a period of 2 years, if the card fails within the warranty period and we conclude that the refund route is the only possible route available the refund is calculated to compensate you for the lost months of warranty due to the premature failure of the card under warranty, from the records it seems the card had 3 months warranty remaining, so the refund offered is made to compenate you for the 3 months of warranty you lost.

 

So to sum up, I was offered refund, based on the reminder of my warranty period. I suspect that is not right at all. I have tried to bring into dispute "reasonable amount of time to expect the goods to last" term but it wouldnt stand their arguments (I probably wasnt consistent there, but hey.. im not a lawyer, just consumer).

 

I have also paid for it with my credit card, it should open the door to claim against credit company. But should I ask the retailer for the product (faulty) to be returned to me first? What about the warranty left than?

 

I have tried to look up this problem but could not find any definite answer Is it than correct that with warranty running out value of eventual refund also is going to zero?... Does not seem right to me.

 

What would you advise friends?

[sparx]

How long would you expect a graphics card to reasonably last? My last PC lasted 5 years, the graphics card is going strong even now. If a "reasonable person" would expect a card to last longer than 2 years then they have misread the legislation: http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/sogaexplained

 

You have up to 6 years as part of SoGA.

 

Others will be along shortly to back up/correct me on these points.

[adinmatty]

Sparx,

 

Thanks for your input, but honestly I do not get it: " If a "reasonable person" would expect a card to last longer than 2 years then they have misread the legislation: http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advic.../sogaexplained"... I should not expect the card to last longer than 2 years? How does it play with refund amount?

 

I have read OFT guidance already, but it is not clear to me. All I could see there was refering to items broken from the beginning, my card seemed to fail after several months. Is it the same? I am lost there.

 

Thats why I came to ask for help and explanation here.

 

Thanks a lot!

[sparx]

SoGA applies in 3 cases: Item is not as described, Item is not fit for purpose, and Item is not of satisfactory quality.

 

If you have looked after this graphics card as you should have (fitted properly, etc), then any faults that occur would probably be due to faulty components used at the time of manufacture and therefore not sufficiently durable (not of satisfactory quality). You MAY be asked to prove this by the retailer through an independent engineers report.

 

What I mean by what a "reasonable person" would expect is that if a reasonable person would expect a graphics card to last 4 years (example), then you would be looking for approx 50% partial refund, rather than 10%. If this company won't budge then you may have to take this further (to the CEO of the company... or the small claims court). Others should be here either later today or tomorrow to provide more info.

[blitz]

There is a difference between misreading legislation and deciding that a product would last 2 years rather than 3 or 4 (and the item fails on the satisfactory quality, not fit for purpose only because of the previous and certainty is as described).

 

I would be in the mind to say a Graphics Card would last 3 years under normal gaming use, 2 years under heavy gaming use. (Which for a £209+VAT Graphics Card I presume you used it for either gaming or graphics?). What was the fault and typical use?

 

A partial refund is a legitimate offer from the retailer, the argument is over the time. It might be worth stating a reasonable person would expect a Graphics Card to last 3+ years and as such you would like a refund based on this (£81+VAT).

 

The other option is to speak to the card manufacturer who as part of the 2 year warranty who might be willing to replace it for a newer card as part of that warranty, and if they are retrieving the card to send to them

[adinmatty]

Blitz,

I have used the card for gaming but lets say average, normal use. Developed fault showed up as artifacts on the screen. As I am from IT industry too, I could say that probably one of memory units started failing. As you know that happens and normal memory sticks (RAM) develop similiar fault too. But thats not up to me test and decide.

The market value of similiar cards (taken from eBay with bids on auctions) is anything between £70 and £100 what would be in tact with around 3 years life span for such card.

What I am however concerned most here is that retailer is so free to decide about value and way to solve the dispute. I am concerend about any future purchase because I feel that in case of failure I can easily loose market value of the item when retailer decides its worth 10% after year or two. That doesnt feel right.

In my case I would be happy with at least 2 more years, but for offered refund what I could buy now?

 

I am not sure how could I contact Sapphire directly now. Will try to follow that somehow.

 

What about credit card way here by the way?

[dx100uk]

yes the credit card is equally liable under soga

 

but soga to the retailer is your weapon.

 

the card has failed within a 'ressonable time'

 

it appears to me the retalier is going on about warranty & that because it is almost out of warranty, it was due to fail anyway

 

UTTER RUBBISH

 

any warranty is in ADDITION to your statutory rights under SOGA.

 

for the price of the card when brought, you can buy a better card today anyhow.

 

dont know why they are arguing

 

dx

[sparx]

There is a difference between misreading legislation and deciding that a product would last 2 years rather than 3 or 4 (and the item fails on the satisfactory quality, not fit for purpose only because of the previous and certainty is as described).

 

The way the op post was written it seemed like the retailer had taken the view that it should only last 2 years because it only had 2 years of warranty (Exactly what dx said).

[dx100uk]

i know...crap retailer!!

 

dx

[Bang!]

i know...crap retailer!!

 

dx

 

Name 'n shame?

 

I certainly would not want to deal with them based upon your experience!

 

I'm in bed on my phone incase you did name them - as its not really the easiest way to take all info in.

[branicles]

I had a similar problem in the past with a company called ebuyer.com, in the end I caved and accepted a partial refund. It would not suprise me if it was them.

[rebel11]

Further info:-

 

10) SALE OF GOODS ACT-EDUCATE YOUR RETAILER CLICK HERE

11) DISTANCE SELLING-EDUCATE YOR RETAILERCLICK HERE

12) SOGA SUMMARY CLICK HERE

13) WHICH? TEMPLATES CLICK HERE

[adinmatty]

Right, so I have some update. But first company name as I hate them from now http://www.scan.co.uk - welcome

 

I have started the case with credit company as I was tired of Scan. After some time they come back to me asking for warranty terms. All terms I had were on back of the invoice which I had already sent to them. Week later (about week ago) I received response from credit card company, which was word in word same as from scan.................. Basically if SOGA i have to prove fault was inherent from buy date, and if warranty - they were right offering refund based on reminder...

 

In the first case I asked Scan already what kind of proof they would accept. In second I asked on what base (there is nothing about that in term as conditions) they justify reminder of warranty as base for refund. Questions were always avoided, never had any answer to them.

 

I am getting tired of it to be honest. I have read / quoted SOGA and OFT guidance to no avail. Its like hitting the wall.

 

What would you advice?...

[labrat]

letter before action

 

lay it out give them

 

1. your refusal of their offer

2. guides of roughly what cards of that age market value is

3. what you expect from them i.e. the cards value with reasonable depreciation costs (electronics i would place around 20% per year) based of reasonable lifespan NOT warrenty period

4. what you intend to do if they do not meet this, ussually small claims court

5. state that if they wish to make an increased offer after you have started small claims action you would require that they paid the court fee's (around £35 for MCOL)

 

however i would recommend not sending this letter unless you intend following it up, mcol is very easy to do, costs very little, needs no lawyers and will allow you to add (reasonable) costs on

i.e. travel time, costs of letters, cost of time etc

[dejv82]

I have exactly the same situation with SCAN.CO.UK!! They offered me now 100+vat pounds for 570gtx oc version!

 

This card still is on one more year warranty! I can't even buy something similar to my card for 100+vat!! But what is more ridiculous that they have 570gtx from another branch for more than 300pounds now!

[biggeorge]

Thanks for the heads up, Will now be avoiding [problem].CO.UK, Never really had a problem with anything I have purchased from

them but will make sure larger purchases are made elsewhere.

 

Warrant is just that, It breaks down before it expires they fix or replace it.

Just had my DGM 23" monitor fail on me, 9 days till the warranty was out, DGM picked up the monitor and I had a nice

24" LED TV/DVD as a replacement within 7 days, Could not fault them.

 

George

[steampowered]

Remember that warranties are about faults, not about time: you are entitled to have any faults arising during the period put right. If a fault arises in the last day of the period it must be put right, the retailer cannot simply assume that a fixed card would fail the moment the warranty finishes. A working card outside warranty still has value.

 

Under SOGA the GFX card is probably not satisfactory quality, hence you would be entitled to a repair/replacement/refund to get you what you should have, namely a working 2-year old GFX card.

 

I don't think it matters whether you refer to the warranty or SOGA or both, as in this case you get to the same result - your entitlement is a 2-year old GFX card or damages of equivalent value. I would check the value of a working 2-year old card by taking an average price from ebay or some other website. You can then demand that by a Letter Before Action and then small claims if necessary.

Edited February 26, 2013 by steampowered