Misleading or incomplete specs on shopping websites

semo

Who can you contact if you find that a product on a shopping website does not have complete spec or is misleading?

I just bought a motherboard from a website and on the spec page it said it supports DVI, HDMI and VGA. However, I later found out that the HDMI and DVI can not be used simultaneously (you can either do HDMI/VGA or DVI/VGA).
I’m a bit tired of all these gotchas! I’m an IT technician and even I didn’t know this. I knew that you can’t use all three (bear in mind that a non-technical person probably would have assumed otherwise) but that came from experience.


Shouldn’t you be able to find this info out from the spec page rather than the hard way?

bris

But it does support DVI, HDMi and VGA. Does it say it supports them the way you want it? A spec page on a shopping site is not going to give you the whole user manual to read. If you require it to do certain things then a bit more research is needed before you buy it.

squeaky

IF you decide you'd like to pursue things further you could contact:-

Advertising Standards Authority

semo

squeaky wrote: »

IF you decide you'd like to pursue things further you could contact:-

I was thinking about ASA, but is this case considered as an advertisement issue? If so, what type of a complaint should i submit? Internet?

squeaky

The main pages on the ASA site tell you exactly what they cover and lead you step by step through the various ways of making your complaint. You'll need to read there and then decide on what to do that best fits.

DCFC79

Why did you not research it correctly then

semo

DCFC79 wrote: »

Why did you not research it correctly then

I did. I needed HDMI output to drive a TV and a DVI port to drive a monitor. The specs said that DVI and HDMI are available. I use dual monitors all the time and I know that such a product would drive 2 displays. This time, my assumption was wrong. I have an ATI X600 at work that can drive 2 digital displays simultaneously so I assumed that a couple of years down the line this would not have changed. Ever since I can remember, you could have always picked 2 of the outputs of a GPU (integrated or not) and drive displays off of them. If you needed more than 2, then you go to Matrox or more recently, Eyefinity.

In the manual there is a small note next to HDMI. The note says

Simultaneous output for DVI-D and HDMI is not supported

Why doesn't the spec sheet have this note?

Don't tell me that "correctly researching" something is to read its manual before you buy the item.

Money_User

semo wrote: »

Who can you contact if you find that a product on a shopping website does not have complete spec or is misleading?

This is obvious the website owner!

Just send it back under the distant selling regulations, this is the whole point of them. Like others have said they can't publish everything, they will probably amend it if you tell them. Why don't you tell them rather than going to someone else first?

semo

Money_User wrote: »

This is obvious the website owner!

Just send it back under the distant selling regulations, this is the whole point of them. Like others have said they can't publish everything, they will probably amend it if you tell them. Why don't you tell them rather than going to someone else first?

I'll try that first thing on Monday. I'll mention the distant selling regulations as well, thanks. I just have the funny feeling that this won't be straight forward but I'll report back whatever comes out of it.

Forwandert

If you were already aware certain things wouldn't work simultaniously why didn't you contact the company you purchased from before purchase for clarification? Doesn't sound like it was misadvertised just a lack of knowledge on your part as to the item purchased, if you needed it to do certain things always worth a little research rather then buying and hoping it will do what you require.

neilmcl

semo wrote: »

Don't tell me that "correctly researching" something is to read its manual before you buy the item.

A lot of people, me included, do this if its readily available online, especially if looking for some specific functionality.