Faulty GPU? Only offered £30 less than actually paid.

Diminutive

Hello!

I bought an XFX 6950 1gb for £165.99 (ex postage) from Aria.co.uk on the 5th of July.
It was always a bit dodgy from getting it but the problem really got worse and on the 17th of November, I contacted aria who told me to contact the manufacturer (XFX) who after making me spend ages testing, eventually said it was faulty and to contact aria.co.uk again and RMA.

The RMA was requested on the 20/12/2011 - and finally after them taking ages, they accepted it was faulty after testing - and after dealing with their suppliers, gave me a credit note (I specifically asked for a credit note , instead of replacement). However, they have only credit noted £130 - something I didn't realise until I tried to buy a replacement card (a far more expensive one at that).

I complained and in response they just said -

Hi Lisa,

Unfortunately as more components are released that are better than the previous generation of components and this unfortunately means that prices are increasing/decreasing each time. What we credit you is what our supplier credits us which is the current market value of the item.
Kind Regards,
[Aria rep name]


This seems completely unfair! Can they do this???? do i have any protection from the consumer act?

Also, I don't know anywhere (decent/legit) where you can get a 1gb XFX 6950.... the only 1gb 6950 on their website is £175.


thanks for any advice.

i've been without a GPU for ages now and its stopping me being able to do my uni PhD properly -_-;

arcon5

They can make a deduction based on the usage you have had of the item. I wouldn't expect a 15% deduction off an item that has lasted not much over 4 months! Most components do though loose their value much quicker in the first year rather than equally over the life span. I'd expect a deduction of about £15 max.

bod1467

Maybe just my own belief, but I didn't think deductions were valid if the product failed before 6 months? (As any fault is assumed to be inherent, thus present at the point of sale).

arcon5

The fault is assumed to be inherent unless proven otherwise - but a deduction can still be made to reflect the use, in the same way after 6 months if a fault is proven to be inherent they can deduct from the amount.

Although i've not seen many cases of retailers doing so where the customer has had little use.

vaio

if a retailer is crappy enough to try and make a deduction for the time you been using it rather than just refunding what you paid then I'd be thinking about adding consequential costs to the bill to reflect the time you've wasted testing and generally messing about.

I'm also dubious about whether a deduction for use is even appropriate given that the OP mentions problems from day one and two months of the use is tied up in testing and waiting for an rma etc.

I'd say that any refund should be based on what you paid rather than what they get back from their supplier, seems if they buy something for £10, sell it to you for £50 and if it's faulty then they get to keep their profit even though they've sold you a defective bit of kit.

Time to start writing formal letters I think, I'm pretty sure once it gets past the first line customer (dis?) service you'll get a full refund

shilcor

vaio wrote: »

Time to start writing formal letters I think, I'm pretty sure once it gets past the first line customer (dis?) service you'll get a full refund

And make sure you don't stuff it full of acronims - I had to Google GPU to find out what on earth you were on about

ThumbRemote

shilcor wrote: »

And make sure you don't stuff it full of acronims - I had to Google GPU to find out what on earth you were on about

I'm sure the supplier of the product will understand though!

ivavoucher

Did the retailer have the option of replacing the item with a new one?

If they did and you requested a credit note then I think it fair they refund the current retail price.

mattyprice4004

The deduction is a bit steep, but they are allowed to deduct for time used.

I'd say 10% would have been closer to the truth - 15% would assume the product would only last just over 2 years if the value was zero at the end of the term.

stugib

Diminutive wrote: »

Unfortunately as more components are released that are better than the previous generation of components and this unfortunately means that prices are increasing/decreasing each time. What we credit you is what our supplier credits us which is the current market value of the item.

Completely irrelevant what their B2B relationships are, or the current retail price of it. If they want to deduct an amount it should be based on the original contract (price you paid) and be a fair deduction from that starting point.

What if the supplier discontinued it and flogged them off for half the price? Would they think you'd only be entitled to half? Nonsense.

Diminutive

Thank you for all the advice guys

It does seem like I screwed myself over by asking for the credit note - I don't think they actually stock the card anymore, so would have been in a better position if I let them offer me a credit note in place of a replacement.

I've now ordered a graphics card from elsewhere (a much much better deal than anything they had on the site - the card I've ordered was £30 cheaper than what aria had!). Then I'll use the credit note from aria to get an SSD. Aria have definitely lost out on my business though, I was going to order the GPU, the SSD and 2 monitors from them.... now they only get the SSD business and only because of the credit note.

I think their policy of credit note the amount the supplier gave is completely unfair as some of you have said - they seem to completely forget that they would have added mark up in the first place.