Warranties: How To Proceed

kah22

This seems the best board. Here’s where I’m at.

On March 1 this year I bought an Iomega 1TB external hard drive (HD) from a business seller on e-bay making my payment by Paypal – payment under £100. About a week back the HD gave up the ghost, I'm now hearing what is commonly known as the 'click of death!

As a subscriber to ‘Which? Online,’ I advised them of my problem and asked what my rights were, some people had suggested it was just bad luck and because it was an auction site guarantees did not apply. However here is a short extract of the reply I received from ‘Which? Online:

I was disappointed to hear that your 1TB Hard Drive developed a problem so soon after purchase.

However, I am pleased to confirm that your rights regarding dealing with faulty goods should not be affected as you bought from a business seller.

My question to the Board is more practical than legal. I’ve contacted the seller describing what has happened and looking a full refund part of my letter stated:

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 section 14 sets out that it is a breach of contract to supply goods that are not of a satisfactory quality and, as such, I am entitled to request a full refund. As I’ve only had the item since the 1 March I consider that it is not of satisfactory quality. The item carries a three year manufacturer’s warranty. I request a full refund.

So far the seller has not responded, he has no current items for sale/auction on his shop and it is a reasonable guess, I think, that he is no longer trading. Now I know that I can go through the whole trading standards bit, and the county court small claims court but I have a feeling that’s all I’d have for it.

The HD’s box says: ‘three year warranty with registration,’ but I didn’t return the warranty card. Does that guarantee still apply and would members think that it may be a safer bet to contact the manufacturer, explain what has happened and seek a replacement machine from them?

Iomega it would seem have been having difficult with the ‘click of death,’ for some years now.

Would appreciate any suggestions as to what way to go.

withabix

Most hard drive manufacturers operate their own Return/Replace system.

Forget about your eBay seller.

Just register your product and then immediately raise a warranty/RMA request

CHR15

I agree the Ebay seller route is more grief than it is worth.

Enter the details on Iomega's site to see how you stand on warranty

https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/iomega_eu_en.cfg/php/enduser/cci/product.php

My guess would be that it would still be more grief than it is worth.

I made mistakes years ago buying a couple of brand new/factory sealed hard drives from an Ebay Business Seller. They arrived in sealed in the Anti-Static bag including desiccant as I am used to.

Both drives gave it up within a few Months, seller nowhere to be found, Manufacturers site claimed they were pre-installed in a system so could not have been sold as new.

there will be lots of responses along the lines of "Fight them on the Beaches", "Take them all the way to the European court" and all that jazz.... but for less than £100... Is it worth it??

Weirdlittleman

The warranty may only apply to the original reseller.

kah22

Weirdlittleman wrote: »

The warranty may only apply to the original reseller.

Surely warranties apply to the purchaser not the seller. The guy in question is registered as a business seller.

pug_in_a_bed

weirdly I bought an iomega last year also from ebay, registered it online for the warranty, it broke, they replaced it no questions asked. So I would register it and hope you get the same service. I had had it about 3 months.

kah22

Got the gear registered, then contacted support, explained what had happened, sent a copy of my ebay receipt. Now wait and see what happens.

Kevin