box.co.uk - damaged item shipped via @UPS, @Mendit1 refusing to honour warranty **RESOLVED**

[Kyosanto]

Situation is still developing. I might need some help to tell me up which tree I should bark.

 

• I purchased a new PC in February at Box (@boxcouk).

 

• The liquid cooler pump failed, which meant it was no longer safe to operate the machine.

 

• Box sent me to Mendit Uk (@Mendit1), a subcontractor that deals with their warranties.

 

• Mendit offered me to either send the cooler for repair if I was comfortable removing it myself, or send the whole PC. I chose the latter as I was in a hurry. I declined insurance (of course) and had courier pick up the parcel yesterday
  • Prior to shipping I removed the drives (for data safety) and the GPU (the most expensive part)

 

• Mendit contacted me today. The PC arrived damaged and the liquid cooler had been half ripped off out of the case. Resulting in damage to both the liquid cooler and the case.

 

• Mendit alleges that I am responsible for the damage and refuses to honour the warranty, and are telling me I'll have to pay for a repair to the case and cooler if I want it fixed

 

• The reason that they invoke are
  • I used a case that is too large (downright laughable, as nobody has got a perfectly sized case at hand to send oversize items - it's a very large case)
  • It was loose inside - which I firmly deny. I used approx 5 meters length worth of bubble padding to ensure the PC was fully secure

 

• I do not exclude for now that the package may have been opened by the courier (maybe they wanted to see if it contained a nice GPU they could steal) and then replaced incorrectly. Have asked mendit to let me know if the boxes appeared like it had been opened.
•  
• To be honest it's also possible that the box was just handled so badly that everything went a bit haywire inside, but it would really have needed to take a lot of abuse for that to happen. I cannot accept that it's my fault, given the care I have given in padding this for shipping.

 

• Even if the case damage was unavoidable (it wasn't) I also cannot accept that Mendit will now refuse to replace the cooler. It was broken prior to shipping, and I have video evidence proving both that it was faulty while still undamaged. What's a warranty any use for in that case?

 

Will post more info as I get a reply from Mendit. For now I have told them I expect them to replace the cooler at least. But I'd consider getting the case reimbursed by UPS. I don't know what they're going to come back with.

 

It's a bit unclear to me who I should pursue in the first place. The carrier, mendit, the shop who initially sold me the crappy cooler? I have no doubt I am about to start a very long ping pong game between these 3 parties and I want to make sure I bark up the correct tree and that my bark is serious enough to get them to cave in.

 

This is my main PC that I used from home to connect to work. I am currently working on an alternate setup which is not great. Priority number one for me is just to either get them to fix it, or send back the damaged case so I can salvage the parts that aren't broken yet, and buy the parts I need from another retailer and get it working again.

 

I can build my own PCs and wouldn't be so careless as to not pack it properly. I only sent the whole unit to them to save time and now I regret it bitterly.

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

warranties are useless and not worth the paper they are written on and do not replace, remove or weaken your rights under consumer law.

if DPD damaged the parcel, your claim is against them. 

 

as for the faulty PC parts, if you can prove via a report the issue was there at purchase time , the retailer has one chance at a repair, however they wish that to happen.

 

dx

[Kyosanto]

Thanks @dx100uk,

 

The part wasn't faulty at purchase but developed the fault very quick (7 months into purchase). I have taken vids of the fault so can prove it was already bust before shipping it.

 

The extended warranty came "free" with the purchase so why not. But indeed looks like it's not worth the email it's written on....

 

Is it really fine that they would refuse to replace a faulty part, on the grounds that UPS damaged it. The part was already faulty and they were going to replace it anyway.

 

I thought I'd try to get them to honour that replacement at least, but then see with UPS for the rest of the item.

[dx100uk]

Well any warranty should not be used to delay or distract you.

 

As you say the part was faulty, but that's down to the retailer to decide what they do going fwd, as it was outside of 6mts since sale. It's down to you to prove it was faulty from sale 

 

The loss is down to DPD, you could equally sue them for the replacement value of the part, then go from there too .

 

Dx

[Kyosanto]

Received a reply from Mendit today. At least it's going quite fast:

 

• -They offered me a new cooler for GBP77.50   (this is more or less a normal price, but higher than what i originally paid, prices have gone up now thank you Liz)
• -And a new case for GBP116.11,  however they have confirmed the damage to the case is cosmetic only, so I intend to decline it and keep the bruised up case.
• -They are also charging GBP25 for Labour
• -They say that if I ask for it to be return unrepaired they will charge me GBP60 "for inspection and carriage" BIG RED FLAG to me
• -They claim that my packaging was not sufficient as it was under 2 inches of bubble wrap on one side, and the padding on top was not sufficient to prevent the PC from moving inside the parcel
• -They are hiding behind the fact I did not purchase insurance to say they won't claim anything on my behalf from the carrier. I'm just trying to tell them to give me the details of the shipment so I can take the matter in my own hands...
• They only offer bank wire as payment option, OTHER BIG RED FLAG

 

In a nutshell, these guys promised to repair my PC for free, but what happened instead is it got damaged, being held hostage and I'm told to pay 60 to have it returned still damaged, or twice that money to have it repaired. This Annoys me beyond belief.

 

What I intend to do:

• Suck it up and pay the GBP102.50 to have it repaired
• Once I get it back, try and claim those 102.50 from UPS or whatever courier they used.

 

What I need your help with:

• Am I doing the right thing by paying up? (Remember I want the PC back, the total price of what they have with them right now is worth around a grand)
• Am I able to pursue the claim myself with UPS even though Mendit organized and paid for the shipping, assuming they are willing to give me the shipment details (so far they have not been forthcoming at all)
• Does it really matter if the padding was under 2 inches, as long as it was padded? There were also Fragile stickers all over the box.
• Can I demand they take payment by card? What if they tell me they only take wire payments? Anything Mendit are doing right now that's unlawful? That 60GBP hostage money to get your PC back sounds like blackmail to me especially if I'm forced to wire the money.
• So far I have not involved Box.co.uk at all. Should they be informed of what Mendit are doing? (I do not intend to claim the cooler was faulty on purchase. It did last for (a meagre) 7 months, after all.

Thanks again for your time

Edited October 6, 2022 by dx100uk
Please stop swearing

[Kyosanto]

I do apologize for the rage induced swearing. I won't do it again!

 

I decided to get in touch with Box (the retailer) this morning on the off chance that they are willing to do anything about this. I haven't received a reply from either party yet.

 

This is the mail I sent box:

 

Quote

 

Hello,

 

I purchased a custom PC with you last Feburary and unfortunately need to let you know about a developing issue with your warranty provider, Mendit, that is causing me an immense amount of stress and disappointment.

 

In late September the liquid cooler developed a fault (pump making HDD-like noises, CPU temps going over 90) and it was no longer safe to operate the PC. I got in touch with you, and you sent me to MendIt.

 

Mendit arranged a courier to pick up the PC this Monday, which I had thoroughly padded and boxed. (I removed GPU and all SSDs prior to shipping)

 

The PC arrived seriously damaged at Mendit, with half of the cooler having been ripped off from the case. And the case itself being bent where the cooler is ripping off of it.

 

Mendit are now refusing to honour the warranty, and are holding me liable for the damages on the grounds that :

• The box I put the PC in was too big
• There were under 2 inches of bubble wrap on one of the sides
• I declined to purchase the insurance which they had tried to sell to me prior to arranging collection of the PC

 

I find the above reasons laughable and hold the courier fully liable for the damages. I have pictures of the unit prior to shipping to show that it was both undamaged and well padded.

 

Mendit have proposed me to either pay north of GPB200 for the repairs myself, or to pay GBP60 to them to have the unit returned to me without repairs, which is tantamount to holding the PC to ransom.

 

I am considering paying for the repairs just to have the unit returned to me, but do intend to make a claim against the courier, which for now Mendit is protecting by aggressively pinning all liability on me. They have not disclosed yet who the courier is and what the shipping reference is.

 

Before going forward I wanted to let you know of this situation and appeal to you in the case that you are able to intervene in any shape or form.

Do you think it is fair that a customer is made to pay to to replace a part that was faulty in the first place, 7 months after purchase, then damaged in transit by a careless courrier, but blamed on the customer, then held by a warranty company whilst being forced to pay to have it returned still damaged ?

Are you aware that your warranty provider operates in such ways ?

Are you able to intercede on my behalf in this situation ?

 

Thanks in advance for your time

Sincerely

K

 

 

[dx100uk]

Your mistake was not to make the retailer responsible for sorting this from day one.

 

If you had sent them an independent report proving faulty at purchase, rather than their contracted free warranty provider, thus by passing your consumer rights, none of this would have occurred.

 

You could shell out for replacements, fixing the pc, then latterly go after the courier for those expenses, but, you can't claim embetterment.

 

Dx

[Kyosanto]

Received another reply from Mendit, they are now "in talks with Box" and will update me soon.

 

I am cautiously optimistic.

[dx100uk]

hey great 

didnt realise it was you. @Kyosanto  il let you off the swearing cause you do a great job on the airline stuff.

 

good moving forward.

this should not cost YOU anything.

its really not your problem

just that you went about it by wrong way/1st target.

 

dx

 

[Kyosanto]

So... somewhat successful outcome.

 

After writing to Box, the retailer, Mendit let me know that Box would pay them for the cooler, and give me a £50 voucher for a new case.

 

After a way excessive waiting time, I was finally returned my fixed PC, free of charge. The cosmetic damage to the case was so minimal that I decided to not replace it. £50 is not enough to buy a good case so I would not have been happy with that outcome if it had been badly bruised, and would have continued the fight. But now I'm letting go.

 

In the end Box never replied to me directly, and Mendit never gave me the courier details that they were so keen to protect. I'm pretty sure the PC they returned to me had less than 2 inches of padding on one side, so basically exactly the same they accused me of not getting right!!

 

In the end it took a whole 5 weeks to get this relatively minor fault fixed.

 

A few lessons I'm taking home from this delightful experience:

• Don't buy extended warranties.
• Don't bother using the extended warranty that were given to you for free. Go straight to the retailer and let them sort it out.
• DO NOT send parts that aren't broken, even if it looks like it will be less effort for you. It's worth the extra effort dismantling your rig to avoid careless couriers trashing your stuff that still works.

 

@ Moderators, could you please mark topic as resolved?