Creative support

Ave

Returned a soundcard to creative almost 6 weeks ago, was still in warranty.

I provided proof of purchase before they would give me the RMA, which stated that I wasnt the original purchaser, but that SCAN confirmed it was the same card that was on the invoice(serial no. etc).

AFTER I paid for shipping it to them(and this was a week after it arrived to them) they told me they couldnt replace it as I wasnt the original purchaser.

Ok... so I wait 2 weeks for my card to return, then e-mail creative asking where it is.

They tell me they'll look into it.

1 week later they tell me they lost it, but they'll send a replacement that has NO warranty at all.

Question: Can they take my card, hold it for 6 weeks, not even apologise, and then say "we'll replace it with a card that may/may not work, and that has no warranty"?

Considering my card WAS in warranty.

Ave

Oh, and does anyone know if it would be possible to take them to the small claims court?

6weeks(and counting) of not having the soundcard(it was delivered to them in 2 days)
And them losing it and replacing it with one that has no warranty?

Ave

Second page already, hope mods dont mind if I give it a lil bump?

Matt Simis

Ave wrote:

Second page already, hope mods dont mind if I give it a lil bump?

You had a second-hand card? Rather obviously you personally have no contract between Creative or a retailer, so you do not have a claim to warranty. However, due to the events you detailed you are getting a replacement (obviously it will work, its not like they are going to pull one from a bin or something). You should count yourself fortunate!

This is but one reason why secondhand gear is cheap. Whenever I sell someone secondhand I generally offer to put my name down on RMAs and send emails from my address if the product needs to be replaced to avoid such issues, its pretty standard practice that only the purchaser has a warranty.


Matt

Ave

Matt Simis wrote:

You had a second-hand card? Rather obviously you personally have no contract between Creative or a retailer, so you do not have a claim to warranty. However, due to the events you detailed you are getting a replacement (obviously it will work, its not like they are going to pull one from a bin or something). You should count yourself fortunate!

This is but one reason why secondhand gear is cheap. Whenever I sell someone secondhand I generally offer to put my name down on RMAs and send emails from my address if the product needs to be replaced to avoid such issues, its pretty standard practice that only the purchaser has a warranty.


Matt

only read this now

It was purchased in lieu for me, that is, he bought it because it was only available in the UK, but I paid for it.

K!LL!@N

Then you really should have gotten your mate to return it for you.
Or at least give his(her) details.

Killian

Ave

K!LL!@N wrote:

Then you really should have gotten your mate to return it for you.
Or at least give his(her) details.

Killian

I did, Scan gave me an invoice, and told creative that I had acquired it properly, etc etc.

axer

You have no right to go to creative looking for a repair or a replacement of a product which you did not buy from them. When you purchased the product from scan you created a contract with SCAN and SCAN only. Just because creative are the manufacturer of the card does not mean that they have a contract with you - this is how it is seen in law. It is SCAN that are your ONLY point of contact in matters relating to product quality or problems you may be having with the product as it is them you bought the product off of. This is what they mean by "they couldnt replace it as I wasnt the original purchaser". It is SCAN who purchased the card not you (from creative). Some manufacturers will help out a customer whom did not buy the card direct which is just being nice but they are not obliged to do so. This is the reason why most manufacturers don't sell to the public - so that they do not have to deal with them.
While they had made a mistake originally and asked you to send the card, technically it was your fault that you sent the card without legal reason (as in they did not have to repair it).
While it is unfair that they would not supply a warrenty with the new card, you never had a warrenty with the manufacturer originally anyways but with SCAN. The best thing you could do here is contact scan and get them to transfer the warrenty from the old card to this new card. Remember if you had contacted SCAN and they had told you to contact CREATIVE then it was SCAN that gave you the totally wrong advice and thus they are responsible as they broke the law.
Sorry about the long winded answer but i hope you get the jist of what im saying.

Good luck.

Makaveli

If that's the case why did Creative replace my defective mp3 player for me when I bought it from Komplett?

axer

Its the law of contract. When you purchase goods, the only person/business you have a legal contract with is the person/business you bought the goods from. I do not know whether komplett referred you to creative (which they should not have done) as you did not buy your product from creative but from komplett. There is a contract between Creative and Komplett in that Komplett supply a working mp3 player to komplett for money. Then there is a seperate contract between you and Komplett in that Komplett supply a working mp3 player to you in exchange for money. If your mp3 player is defective then the contract between you and Komplett is broken thus meaning a repair, replacement or refund is due. It is then up to Komplett to sort out their contract with creative.
Having said that, most manufacturers will help out the end user but are not obliged to do so by law.
This is also covered in the sale of goods and supply of services act 1980:

17.—(1) Where the seller of goods delivers a guarantee to the buyer, irrespective of when or how it is delivered, the seller shall be liable to the buyer for the observance of the terms of the guarantee as if he were the guarantor, unless he expressly indicates the contrary to the buyer at the time of delivery.

(2) Where, however, the seller, being a retailer, gives the buyer his own written undertaking that he will service, repair or otherwise deal with the goods following purchase, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that he has not made himself liable to the buyer under the guarantee so delivered.

(3) Sections 16, 18 and 19 shall apply to any such undertaking as they apply to a guarantee.

(4) The liability of a seller to a buyer under this section is without prejudice to the rights conferred on the buyer under section 19.

here is where it says who can be persued:

19.—(1) The buyer of goods may maintain an action against a manufacturer or other supplier who fails to observe any of the terms of the guarantee as if that manufacturer or supplier had sold the goods to the buyer and had committed a breach of warranty, and the court may order the manufacturer or supplier to take such action as may be necessary to observe the terms of the guarantee, or to pay damages to the buyer. In this subsection, "buyer" includes all persons who acquire title to the goods within the duration of the guarantee and, where goods are imported, "manufacturer" includes the importer.

(2) In any case in which a guarantor is liable to an owner in damages, the court may at its discretion and on such terms as the court may deem just afford the guarantor the opportunity of performing these obligations under the guarantee to the satisfaction of the court within a time to be limited by the court.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA16Y1980.html

can i ask, did you contact komplett when your mp3 player broke and if so, what did they say?

Ave

axer wrote:

You have no right to go to creative looking for a repair or a replacement of a product which you did not buy from them. When you purchased the product from scan you created a contract with SCAN and SCAN only. Just because creative are the manufacturer of the card does not mean that they have a contract with you - this is how it is seen in law. It is SCAN that are your ONLY point of contact in matters relating to product quality or problems you may be having with the product as it is them you bought the product off of. This is what they mean by "they couldnt replace it as I wasnt the original purchaser". It is SCAN who purchased the card not you (from creative). Some manufacturers will help out a customer whom did not buy the card direct which is just being nice but they are not obliged to do so. This is the reason why most manufacturers don't sell to the public - so that they do not have to deal with them.
While they had made a mistake originally and asked you to send the card, technically it was your fault that you sent the card without legal reason (as in they did not have to repair it).
While it is unfair that they would not supply a warrenty with the new card, you never had a warrenty with the manufacturer originally anyways but with SCAN. The best thing you could do here is contact scan and get them to transfer the warrenty from the old card to this new card. Remember if you had contacted SCAN and they had told you to contact CREATIVE then it was SCAN that gave you the totally wrong advice and thus they are responsible as they broke the law.
Sorry about the long winded answer but i hope you get the jist of what im saying.

Good luck.

I dont think you understand, almost all computer hardware these days comes with 3years manufacturer warranty as standard(for example, RAM, MP3 players, retail CPU, most graphics cards).

Also, almost all retailers tell you to contact the manufacturers about support questions, and if the manufacturer agrees there is grounds for an RMA/returns, then you re-contact the retailer.

http://dmzweb3.europe.creative.com/wwenglish/general/warranty.htm

Also, Scan referred me to creative and backed me up fully with them.

skywalker

axer, have you ever bought computer parts? it simply doesnt work like that.

axer

skywalker - yes i have and yes you can always send it back to the retail shop if you know it is faulty.
ave - what i do is send it back to where i bought if from and let them deal with it - sometimes they have complained but always agree to replace the parts as they are obliged to do so by law.
Im sorry i did not realise that you had a manufacturers warrenty.
They should replace your product exactly as it was because they foolishly lost it. I guess it was not unsolicited as they gave you an RMA number.
Sorry i sounded like i was totally against your side but people should always send goods back to where they purchased them and that stops any problems like this arising.
Something to think about, On the invoice that you have - has it got your name on it at all? If it doesnt then who is to say that your friend bought it for you in lieu.
I would contact the European Consumer Centre (www.ecic.ie) and see what they have to say about it. They generally respond quickly.

parsi

If you buy a Dyson from the ESB they proudly tell you that the number to ring if you have a problem is Dyson and not them.

axer

maybe so, but that doesnt mean you cannot just take it back to the esb

Makaveli

axer wrote:

can i ask, did you contact komplett when your mp3 player broke and if so, what did they say?

No, I rang Creative directly.
All they wanted was a copy of my Komplett invoice to show it was under warranty. Komplett weren't involved at all.