Other PC Technology Buyers Guide: Consumer Rights

[Cutter]

Added to your rep and agree this should be a sticky too!

[Blogins]

Originally Posted by Arghnews

Blogins, my situation (well, not mine exactly, but for simplicity's sake).

I bought a £200+ touch-phone online within the last 6 months, paying with credit card. It locks up and becomes unresponsive and has other such errors that mean it is clearly defective. Do Acts such as the Sales of Goods Act apply only to retailers? Or can a potential individual seller, some single person selling the product, be subject to having to refund or replace the item?

As this guy is saying he doesn't do warranties or refunds or replacements, but that we can send it back to him and then he'll charge us the specialist's fee to replace it. Obviously I could this myself without P&P charges, so I'd rather be able to get a working replacement or a refund.

Thanks

So we're talking ebay here? Very few rights with auction sites I'm afraid if that is the case.

[McLovin9091]

Recently my 2 year old processor stopped working and i require to RMA it.

I contacted the supplier, detailed the problem and and asked what details they would need in order for me to RMA it back to them. Their reply has been that the warranty is only for 3 years and not 6 (i have stated twice that the contract is with them and that it extends to 6 years) and that i should be contacting the Manufacturer and not them, they have even given me the links to the required pages.

As i am away working this week i cannot do anything about until Friday so that gives me time to clear a couple of things up before i email the retailer telling them that they need to sort this out and not the manufacturer.

1. I am right in saying that the retailer is responsible for RMA

2. Do they have to provide a refund (not expecting a full one) or can they give me 'store' credit? As i have already bought a replacement and have no need to spend any more money on my PC for a while.

3. What happens if they say the fault was because of overheating and i can't prove that it wasn't? (I very much doubt it overheated as i was only on the internet before i switched off and then the next day the computer wouldn't POST)

Cheers

[Arghnews]

Originally Posted by Blogins

So we're talking ebay here? Very few rights with auction sites I'm afraid if that is the case.

Ah, that's a shame. I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure where the genius who bought this actually acquired it from, long story, but thanks for the answer anyway. And good thread!

[McLovin9091]

Originally Posted by McLovin9091

Recently my 2 year old processor stopped working and i require to RMA it.

I contacted the supplier, detailed the problem and and asked what details they would need in order for me to RMA it back to them. Their reply has been that the warranty is only for 3 years and not 6 (i have stated twice that the contract is with them and that it extends to 6 years) and that i should be contacting the Manufacturer and not them, they have even given me the links to the required pages.

As i am away working this week i cannot do anything about until Friday so that gives me time to clear a couple of things up before i email the retailer telling them that they need to sort this out and not the manufacturer.

1. I am right in saying that the retailer is responsible for RMA

2. Do they have to provide a refund (not expecting a full one) or can they give me 'store' credit? As i have already bought a replacement and have no need to spend any more money on my PC for a while.

3. What happens if they say the fault was because of overheating and i can't prove that it wasn't? (I very much doubt it overheated as i was only on the internet before i switched off and then the next day the computer wouldn't POST)

Cheers

With regards to the above problem i was in contact with the company and they provided quick replies to my emails until i sent them a copy of the sales of goods act template (with the relevant bits filled in) and now they are ignoring the email.


Can i do anything about it?

[Blogins]

Originally Posted by McLovin9091

With regards to the above problem i was in contact with the company and they provided quick replies to my emails until i sent them a copy of the sales of goods act template (with the relevant bits filled in) and now they are ignoring the email.


Can i do anything about it?

After 6 months it is your responsibility to prove the goods had an inherent fault when purchased. If it had been under 6 months, then it is the retailers responsibility to prove there was not a fault. You do have options at this stage. If the processor cost £100 or over and you used a credit card then Section 75 applies (read first post in this thread). Besides this you can go to the small claims court but be aware this is an added expense and if the court rules in your favour there is no real framework in place that forces the retailer to pay you after the fact anyway!

[Blogins]

Got a refund for my faulty XBOX 360 Elite Console of 3 years and 7 months of ownership!

Yes I do feel I'm entitled to shout about it!

Have a read of my updated post on Page 4 of this thread...

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthrea...=217849&page=4

It's a good example of what you can achieve armed with the knowledge about your consumer rights.

[teppic]

Originally Posted by Blogins

Got a refund for my faulty XBOX 360 Elite Console of 3 years and 7 months of ownership!

Yes I do feel I'm entitled to shout about it!

Have a read of my updated post on Page 4 of this thread...

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthrea...=217849&page=4

It's a good example of what you can achieve armed with the knowledge about your consumer rights.

That's a brilliant result - it only required a couple of short emails from you and was resolved without any arguments or having to resort to legal threats. It encourages me to buy from ebuyer in future -- one reason I've preferred Amazon over most places generally is their excellent aftersales and easy return policies.

[Blogins]

Can't fault ebuyer, top company!

I'm very happy spending my £98 refund with them on the next generation Nvidia card when they swing into view.

[McLovin9091]

Originally Posted by Blogins

Got a refund for my faulty XBOX 360 Elite Console of 3 years and 7 months of ownership!

Yes I do feel I'm entitled to shout about it!

Have a read of my updated post on Page 4 of this thread...

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthrea...=217849&page=4

It's a good example of what you can achieve armed with the knowledge about your consumer rights.

Ah bugger off!

With regards to my problem, i contacted AMD who authorized RMA and i am now waiting on the new processor

[Salty Wagyu]

May be slightly off-topic but wondered what your views on this would be:

I ordered two Humax Freeview recorders from Amazon for the home and according to HDNL tracking it has been signed for by a customer this afternoon, which certainly wasn't me. I was at the property all day today and HDNL was never here.

I suspect they delivered to the other "The Drive" road about 3 miles away which has the same name as ours in this area, but whoever signed for it shouldn't have accepted it should they, as it wasn't addressed to them? Isn't this illegal? If that did not happen then could HDNL have stolen it?

Either way I've reported it to Amazon, but I've no idea what to expect and how long this will take to resolve, I need those recorders now really plus they were expensive :/

Cheers

[faugusztin]

It is not illegal. It is just loss for the delivery company (or their insurance company). You will report item was not delivered, Amazon will send you new ones, Amazon will report items to the delivery company as not delivered to the correct address, Amazon will be paid the insurance money.

When i ordered Windows 7 from Amazon, it got lost in the transit. True, Amazon forced me to wait through the whole 30 days it was allowed for post delivery to take, but on day 31 i reported the item as not delivered and on that day i got sent another one. In your case you probably won't have to wait all those days, as the item was delivered, just not to the customer they sent it to (you).

[Blogins]

Originally Posted by Salty Wagyu

I suspect they delivered to the other "The Drive" road about 3 miles away which has the same name as ours in this area, but whoever signed for it shouldn't have accepted it should they, as it wasn't addressed to them? Isn't this illegal? If that did not happen then could HDNL have stolen it?

The mistake of HDNL. I regularly sign for post before checking the postage address and this is not illegal. Although I would say a duty of care applies to the recipient of the goods. Over the years I've found HDNL to be an absolute shocking delivery service so this mistake doesn't surprise me in the least.

Contact Amazon and let them sort it out. Incidentally did you pay for it by credit card? If the items individually cost over £100 you have some powerful leverage in the form of Section 75. However I'd advise you pay off the credit card in full first because any claim against an expenditure before the payment is made would accrue interest.

[Rapture2k4]

First off, sticky, awesome, lots of win!

How much of this applies to US consumers? Wading through google right now.

If a consumer armed with all this knowledge gets ignored by the retailer/manufacturer, what do they do? I.E. I buy something, it is delivered, and fails well within the 6 months of ownership. Fault not from misuse by the consumer. The consumer sends the appropriate letters via snail-mail and the retailer/manufacturer simply fails to respond or blatantly ignores the letters. Does it have to go to court? How does this affect the consumer (help/hurt/doesn't matter)?

The reason I ask is because I lost a battle with Gigabyte over a motherboard that is faulty (albeit randomly). It will randomly lock up and the only thing going on is a buzz from the speakers. This happens in both Windows and Linux (indicative of hardware, no?) I did the RMA process twice and it came back "non-faulty" twice. I paid S&H only once though. So, I replaced my RAM, my case, my UPS, my HDDs, my CPU (NewEgg simply mailed me a brand new one, no questions asked), and finally my PSU (OCZ sent me a new one while the old one was still being tested). Armed with all this, I explained in a rather lengthy letter via snail-mail and e-mail. Third time is a charm, right? Not so much. They sent me nada. No e-mail, no phone call, no letters. I even attempted to call them a few times. I am a very very patient person and played the "Please hold" *30-45 of music* "How can I help you?" *New person*, rinse, repeat, ad nauseum. By my third phone attempt, I finally got someone to "look into the matter", but still no response/action. Suffice it to say, I will never buy Gigabyte again.

Given this is a Tiawanese company, I doubt I can take them to small claims court... Moreover, I don't have the time or resources to do so.

[samkiller42]

What rights would i have if i was to Order an item, Pay in Full. Wait 8 weeks, Cancel the order due to unexpected issues, but accept i may incur a charge, Receive 1 email, and hear nothing back from them in Months despite sending off various emails. Total money lost = £460, Paid with a Visa Debit card (No Credit Card available) and Visa (Natwest) wont help.

Anything i can do? bar asking a mate who loves arguing with people over the phone, to phone them.

Thanks,
Sam

[GeorgeK]

The first thing that comes to mind is a scheme run by visa called chargeback (like the credit card protection) http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sho...ard-chargeback

Also, I'd act fast if I was you - looks to be a time limit on it...

[samkiller42]

Thanks, I know about Chargeback, sadly it was too late before i found out about it. And unfortunately, i'm not the only one who has fallen foul of this company.

Sam

[GeorgeK]

Bugger...

I'd start to try to get things in writing if I was you as it may be a case for the small claims court... http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sho...complain#court God bless moneysavingexpert.com Has the company gone bust? If so going to court may not be worth it but if not then, by the looks of it, it would be worth it even though you'd have to pay some fees...

[Blogins]

Originally Posted by samkiller42

What rights would i have if i was to Order an item, Pay in Full. Wait 8 weeks, Cancel the order due to unexpected issues, but accept i may incur a charge, Receive 1 email, and hear nothing back from them in Months despite sending off various emails. Total money lost = £460, Paid with a Visa Debit card (No Credit Card available) and Visa (Natwest) wont help.

Anything i can do? bar asking a mate who loves arguing with people over the phone, to phone them.

Missing too much information. Did you actually get the goods for a start? Give us a more detailed picture. However from the sounds of it you have rights under the Sale of Goods Act which you can pursue with the retailer and then through the courts as GeorgeK suggested.

With regards to you Rapture2k4, I'm not versed in US consumer law so couldn't answer. I would suggest searching for a relevant US orientated consumer rights website.

[faugusztin]

Originally Posted by samkiller42

Anything i can do? bar asking a mate who loves arguing with people over the phone, to phone them.

Settlement offer before pushing it to the courts. That usually helps "move things". If not, then courts.