Return of faulty graphics card

Gandorf

Hi,

I purchased a Geforce graphics card for about £300 from a well known online UK retailer in June 2017. It has a 2 year warranty.

The card stopped working in August 2018 (after 14 months of home and gaming use) and was returned to the retailer under warranty. Last week the retailer emailed me to inform me that the graphics card cannot be replaced as the exact model card is no longer available. They have offered 50% of the purchase price as a refund. According to them this is in line with UK consumer law and they will not budge.

This means I will have paid £150 to "rent" a card for a year, and now have to fork out for another new one. This seems crazy to me - I would expect a graphics card to last for years!

Given that this card is still under warranty, surely is it possible for the retailer or manufacturer to replace it with an equivalent card (of which there are many)?

I am going to contact the card manufacturer and maybe https://www.eccireland.ie/. Anything else I can do, or do I just have to take the hit and never shop there again?

theteal

Yeah 50% for 14 months is very stingy imo. I'd expect minimum 4 years from a £300 quid graphics card (I'd actually expect longer but I wouldn't be complaining about a fault after about the 4 year mark). I would not be accepting that resolution but I don't really know where to start with making a claim against a retailer in another jurisdiction - that ecc site you linked I'm sure has what you need.

Is the 2 year warranty with manufacturer? If so, it may be easier to go in that direction.

Gandorf

Hi thanks, yes I sent the manufacturer an email today explaining the situation - hopefully they will have a better sense of customer service than the retailer!

ExoPolitic

The retailer after 12 months can wash their hands of the matter. The extra 12 months warranty you have is strictly between you and the manufacturer now. That's the way it works here in Ireland.

whippet

ExoPolitic wrote: »

The retailer after 12 months can wash their hands of the matter. The extra 12 months warranty you have is strictly between you and the manufacturer now. That's the way it works here in Ireland.

Where did you learn consumer law? You might need to get a refund for whoever gave you that nugget of false information

Years ago I stupidly spent 800 on a 8800gtx to play crysis.
It broke after 3 years and they gave me the 800 back !!!!
I spent 250/300 on a new card that was twice as powerful .
Winner

theteal

ExoPolitic wrote: »

The retailer after 12 months can wash their hands of the matter. The extra 12 months warranty you have is strictly between you and the manufacturer now. That's the way it works here in Ireland.

Sorry Exo, that's completely wrong. The manufacturer can wash their hands of it as soon as their warranty is up. The retailer is subject to Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act so their responsibility is not as easily shaken off.

colm_mcm

theteal wrote: »

Sorry Exo, that's completely wrong. The manufacturer can wash their hands of it as soon as their warranty is up. The retailer is subject to Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act so their responsibility is not as easily shaken off.

Irish SOGA won’t apply to a UK retailer.

theteal

colm_mcm wrote: »

Irish SOGA won’t apply to a UK retailer.

Much the same law over there (here)

hognef

theteal wrote: »

Much the same law over there (here)

The UK Sale of Goods Act (and others) was replaced by the Consumer Rights Act in 2015, which provides improved and clearer protection for the consumer: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act.

punisher5112

It's 2 year warranty on online purchase.

You are well covered but getting it enforced can be tricky.

I had a claim in against laptops direct.

I won my case and could get nobody in the UK to actually collect my decree.

I brought the case to the EU court and was awarded the monies I paid, I sent everything to the UK sheriff and court and they replied I would have to open a case in the UK court.

I sent everything contacted numerous agency's and I got everything taken but no reply.

So it's near impossible for small amounts under £600 sonic was told.

Gandorf

hognef wrote: »

The UK Sale of Goods Act (and others) was replaced by the Consumer Rights Act in 2015, which provides improved and clearer protection for the consumer: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act.

The problem with the CRA is it appears to say that beyond 6 months:
1. The retailer is allowed to refuse to repair or replace the item if it's too expensive or not possible to do so.
2. The retailer is then allowed to reduce the refund by any amount they like (there is no guidance in the CRA)

So the UK CRA seems as useful as a chocolate teapot - it's an open license to rip consumers off by allowing retailers to apply an arbitrary reduction to a refund rather than replacing a faulty product with an equivalent one. After all, why give the customer a replacement £300 card when you can refund only £150?

I must admit I don't see the logic in the CRA at all, unless I'm not understanding it.

It will be interesting to see if the manufacturer replies and what they say.

TerrorFirmer

That is incredibly stingy on the part of the retailer. I would expect them to replace with a similar model or refund the cost of the card, given the low age of it prior to failure. The fact it's no longer available would suggest it's a 980Ti?

£150 would only buy you a GTX1050Ti which is pretty low end, or an AMD RX570 which is a good bit faster but still miles behind a 980Ti. The only really replacement card is the GTX1070 for that model, which will leave you + £200 out of pocket for pretty much the same performance which is absurd after 14 months.

Manufacturer may help, but most won't, and will tell you to go through the retailer. The only fairly bullet proof brand in that regard is EVGA....great service and warranty.

It's incredibly shoddy service by the retailer and I've not heard of something like that before. The strangest thing is that the manufacturer will take back the 980Ti from the retailer and replace it with a 1070 or some form of credit, so I would imagine you're correct in thinking the retailer is just offering terrible service to save a few pounds for themselves.

The card is only 14 months old. The £150 valuation makes zero sense as it's not even remotely enough to approach similar performance to your initial card. In fact if you stuck with Nvidia, that would buy you a performance drop of over 100%.

Gandorf

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The fact it's no longer available would suggest it's a 980Ti?

That's the absolutely crazy thing - its a 1070 which is a current model! They are saying it's impossible to replace with the *exact same card* as they can't get it, but there are 10 + equivalent 1070s listed on their website.

I've been in touch with the European Consumer Centre and they've told me I'm entitled to a replacement with a "similar or equivalent card". I passed that on to the retailer and their reply is:

"As explained a replacement/refund is not available.... As such this is all that will be offered."

Unbelievably bad customer service on their part. I really can't understand what they think they're doing.

TerrorFirmer

That is outrageous....but it also doesn't make any sense.

The card's in warranty, the RMA would pass through the retailer and back to the manufacturer with little to no cost for the retailer, so no idea why they're telling you that there are no replacements and you have to take less than 50% of the card new.

It sounds highly suspect, like they're having issues with the manufacturer for some reason, in general or with some stock, and they're making the customer the scapegoat rather than take a hit themselves. Or else you've just been fed crap by a rogue CS member.

I would ignore whatever interactions you've had so far and try social media, or else a means of contacting a person in a higher position if possible, even via physical letter to a UK address via registered post.

That is completely out of order and dreadful customer service, what's the point of a warranty if they're going to pull a stunt like this? I honestly hope for the sake of the retailer that it's just some misunderstanding or CS staff that are just plain wrong.

Personally I would love to know the name of the retailer, because you might as well buy your PC gear from a market stall if you're going to be treated like this by them in the warranty period.

ED E

Registered letter. Do it.

Metric Tensor

I buy a lot of computer gear from the UK and this worries me! I don't see any reason not to name the retailer?

As for advice - the ECC helped out a family member previously with an airline but I see you've already exhausted that route so I'm afraid I'm of no help.

Gandorf

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

That is outrageous....but it also doesn't make any sense.

The card's in warranty, the RMA would pass through the retailer and back to the manufacturer with little to no cost for the retailer, so no idea why they're telling you that there are no replacements and you have to take less than 50% of the card new.

It sounds highly suspect, like they're having issues with the manufacturer for some reason, in general or with some stock, and they're making the customer the scapegoat rather than take a hit themselves. Or else you've just been fed crap by a rogue CS member.

I would ignore whatever interactions you've had so far and try social media, or else a means of contacting a person in a higher position if possible, even via physical letter to a UK address via registered post.

That is completely out of order and dreadful customer service, what's the point of a warranty if they're going to pull a stunt like this? I honestly hope for the sake of the retailer that it's just some misunderstanding or CS staff that are just plain wrong.

Personally I would love to know the name of the retailer, because you might as well buy your PC gear from a market stall if you're going to be treated like this by them in the warranty period.

I know, I can't get my head around this at all.

The retailer is s***.co.uk.

Their support responses are confusing as they are anonymous (no names) so it's not clear if you're dealing with the same person of a different one every time. I suspect different people as the responses differ widely. Someone just quoted me a clause from the sale of goods act 1979, seeming unaware that it's been replaced with the consumer rights act. Also they frequently mix up manufacturers warranty with statutory rights, not sure if they're not clear themselves or are trying to confuse me. It's very poor.

Apart from their returns team, their feedback/customer support team also don't seem to have any interest in the matter.

Not going to let this go though, I've asked (twice now) to be escalated to a named manager (ignored so far). A formal complaint to the European Consumer Centre and/or negative comments to Gainward/Scan social media look to be the only option (not a big social media user so was hoping to avoid this).

A registered letter might be an option, not sure who I'd address it to....

I would really rather not have to do any of this, their attitude is really disappointing and frankly baffling. I will never shop there again and would advise anyone else to stay well clear.

Gandorf

Metric Tensor wrote: »

I buy a lot of computer gear from the UK and this worries me! I don't see any reason not to name the retailer?

As for advice - the ECC helped out a family member previously with an airline but I see you've already exhausted that route so I'm afraid I'm of no help.

Hi, just naturally cautious as this is still in progress, I've (almost) named them in the previous post just in case it helps you or other people out.

Everyone I've talked about this are shocked by their behaviour, even then nice lady I spoke to from the ECC was really surprised that they have flatly refused a replacement of similar value.

I suspect TerrorFirmer is right, there's something weird going on here that I don't understand, and they've decided to shaft the consumer for whatever reason.

Perhaps related to the three months plus it took them to respond to my queries on the return. Maybe they lost the card? I just don't know.

Lemming

Said retailer (assuming i am of course correct in the inference ... ) has always had a poor reputation for customer service when things go wrong. Good for carrying a wide variety of stock at decent prices, and fast delivery, but that's it. As soon as you have a problem they apparently don't really want to know as far as I have always understood; and that's going back to the early 2000s.

SuperS54

Does seem quite shoddy service. (BTW, you have provided the retailer name in the body of your post!). Is 150 pounds enough to buy a second hand card with the same spec? Perhaps that is what they are basing their offer on.

L1011

Second hand high end graphics cards have often been worked to death in crypto"currency" or other special purpose rigs abd are not a good idea

Gandorf

SuperS54 wrote: »

Does seem quite shoddy service. Is 150 pounds enough to buy a second hand card with the same spec? Perhaps that is what they are basing their offer on.

Hi, their offer is based on 50% of the warranty period remaining.

So far they have
1. Refused to honour the 2 year warranty repair / replace as they claim it is impossible to get a replacement 1070 card
2. Refused to follow EU consumer rights directive (independent of the above warranty) to a 2 year repair/replace as they claim that the UK law allows them to offer a reduced refund where a replacement is impossible. Even though the ECC have confirmed in writing that under UK and EU law replacement should be of similar or equivalent card to the original and they have eleven 1070 cards listed on their website.
3. Ignored requests to escalate to a named manager and instead reply with 1 line anonymous responses.

They are a bunch of cowboys chancing their arm. Worst company I have ever dealt with.

I've lodged a formal complaint with the ECC let's see what they say.

kathleen37

Gandorf wrote: »

Hi, their offer is based on 50% of the warranty period remaining.

So far they have
1. Refused to honour the 2 year warranty repair / replace as they claim it is impossible to get a replacement 1070 card
2. Refused to follow EU consumer rights directive (independent of the above warranty) to a 2 year repair/replace as they claim that the UK law allows them to offer a reduced refund where a replacement is impossible. Even though the ECC have confirmed in writing that under UK and EU law replacement should be of similar or equivalent card to the original and they have eleven 1070 cards listed on their website.
3. Ignored requests to escalate to a named manager and instead reply with 1 line anonymous responses.

They are a bunch of cowboys chancing their arm. Worst company I have ever dealt with.

I've lodged a formal complaint with the ECC let's see what they say.

If its a UK firm, I would also contact their local trading standards office.

What a shower... (it's not clear to me who they are - is there any reason they can't be named?)

Mountjoy Mugger

kathleen37 wrote: »

If its a UK firm, I would also contact their local trading standards office.

What a shower... (it's not clear to me who they are - is there any reason they can't be named?)

Read post 18.

Gandorf

kathleen37 wrote: »

If its a UK firm, I would also contact their local trading standards office.

What a shower... (it's not clear to me who they are - is there any reason they can't be named?)

Thanks, thats a good idea, will write them an email at the weekend. Also considering contacting the CEO and MD via linkedin if there is no movement. Basically will just have to keep plugging away.

Gandorf

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

Read post 18.

Oops!

Ah screw it.

Stay away from these chancers!

Sleeper12

ExoPolitic wrote:

The retailer after 12 months can wash their hands of the matter. The extra 12 months warranty you have is strictly between you and the manufacturer now. That's the way it works here in Ireland.

We have some of the best consumer protection in Ireland. The retailer is actually liable for up to six years in Ireland under the sale of goods act. Your contract is with the retailer not the manufacturer. However as this wasn't bought in Ireland its EU consumer applies & not the Irish sale of goods act

Gandorf

I've lodged a complaint with the ECC https://www.eccireland.ie/ and they've passed it to their UK office, who will contact the retailer. Will be interesting to see if this changes anything.

davo2001

Gandorf wrote: »

I've lodged a complaint with the ECC https://www.eccireland.ie/ and they've passed it to their UK office, who will contact the retailer. Will be interesting to see if this changes anything.

Did the manufacturer get back to you yet?

Gandorf

davo2001 wrote: »

Did the manufacturer get back to you yet?

Radio silence. Terrible behaviour all around.

Homer

There are benefits to buying in a bricks and mortar store sometimes! I know there is better price and selection online but as you have proven, when things go wrong you can be left without much assistance.

Macker1

Brother bought WaterCooling parts off this company and had a problem with damaged fittings. Had no end of trouble from them when he contacted customer services. Got sorted in the end but they as much accused him of breaking it. He will never buy from them again and would never recommend them to anyone.

I have bought multiple times from them and never had an issue (fingers crossed)

Is goes to show that you really should decide how good a retailer is based on how they react when stuff goes wrong ???

L1011

I had an issue with them taking payment for something that was apparently "out of stock" (but shown as in stock online), then flailing about refunding - they were trying to keep it as store credit, then suddenly finding they weren't out of stock at all. If it wasn't a semi-obscure product (Intel PCI Express network card for a job where the Realtek ones everywhere else sells were proving unreliable) I wouldn't have even considered them.

Back around 1999/2000 they had a great reputation. Amazing what higher sales volumes can do to what was a small enough retailer.