Return & Refund policy of OCZ (non UK) Faulty SSD.

Azimuth99

Hello,

I need some advice with a very complex return/refund problem I'm stuck with.

Under a year ago, I purchased an OCZ PCI-e SSD (very specialized fast hard disk for a PC), from e-buyer.

E-buyer guarantee the item for 1 year. There is a 3 year manufacturers warranty.

The total cost was £595.43.

After 11 months of good use, the item began to fail badly. So I was faced with returning the item to e-buyer.

I had strong reservations returning the item to e-buyer. Primarily, my entire family, employer and private details and files were intact on the hard disk, and could not be erased at all.

I was uncomfortable returning such an item to e-buyer due to confidentiality. I feared the item and my data would end up in a bad situation, which could get me fired (employer wise).

Secondly, e-buyer stopped stocking the OCZ range of PCI-e SSDs entirely, which I felt was a bad sign.

So I decided to deal with OCZ direct.

OCZ have no UK representation at all, so my dealings are via the web with OCZ in the Netherlands.

I struck up two dialogues with OCZ (the first one was answered quickly, then nothing for days), and a second one which asked me to return the item via recorded RMA for replacement or refund. I also got a confirmation from OCZ, that they would erase my OS and private data, which I was unable to, so I was glad to be dealing with professionals.

This is where things got silly.

I returned the item as asked, properly recorded and signed for - and waited for a replacement.

This week, a new face appeared from OCZ (via e-mail), saying they no longer stocked my model, and would 'calculate' a refund.

Within their complex warranty terms, I had used the item for 1 year out of 3 available.

OCZ calculated my refund at $451 (USD), which equates to £295 - via a complex formula.

Now I am faced with no replacement SSD, and not enough refunded money to even buy a new one, or a lesser model.

I realize this site advises not to deal with the manufacturer (rather the seller), but my situation was a tricky one due to my inability to erase (wipe clean) the hard disk.

Do I have any rights at all? I suspect not - but the fact that the company has no UK front end makes the situation very tricky. I feel the refund makes the entire exercise a wasted effort.

Any help welcome.

Azimuth99

wealdroam

Firstly, I will not offer any opinion on whether you were right or not to deal with the manufacturer.
Of course, you have no rights with the manufacturer beyond those afforded you by their warranty.
If their warranty does not state how they calculate the refund amount, you are totally reliant on their calculation.

Ignoring any 'complicated formula', the manufacturer seem to have decided that the the product depreciates by 50% in its first year.
This may (or may not) be considered unreasonable for this type of device.
If you accept their offer, you have effectively paid ~£300 for one years use of a hard drive.

What is the price of a similar drive now?
What is the model number and capacity of this drive?

I fear that having chosen to bypass the seller, you are stuck with whatever the manufacturer will offer you.
I suppose you could try and refuse their offer and hope they raise it a little, but there really isn't much stopping them actually reducing the offer further.

Azimuth99

Thank you wealdroam. A welcome speedy reply.

I agree with all your comments. Sadly, my hands were tied and my inexperience shows.

The original PCI-e SSD product was OCZ RevoDrive 3 x2 MAX IOPS (now returned).

A similar capacity (but slower) PCI-e model is the OCZ RevoDrive 3 x2 240G, to be found on Amazon UK for £510 (Delivered. All in).

The capacity is 240GBytes. There are larger and smaller capacities within the range (120GBytes - 960Gbytes), but the model I returned was 240Gbytes.

Have accepted the offer by sending my bank details, which OCZ say will transact in 2-3 weeks time. I felt my position was too weak, despite the card failing.

I suppose I could ask for the slower model as a straight exchange. I'd be perfectly happy with that.

Azimuth99

bris

Your hands wern't tied, you should have dealt with ebuyer, the sensitive data is a poor excuse for not dealing with them. There is no reason the data would be any less secure with ebuyer than the manufacturer.

Now that you are dealing with the manufacturer you have no choice but to accept their terms, which tbh aren't that bad considering the price of these drives have come down considerably over the last year.

Azimuth99

Many thanks Bris. Agree with your last paragraph. I also think the offer is the best given the circumstances, although I'm saddened they could not honour a replacement as they first offered.

However, E-buyer is a good box-shifter with limited tech support. In this case, their ability to wipe the drive was zero - same as me. Also, their ability to replace with identical or similar was zero - as they no longer carry the line at all.

OCZ, however, gave me the assurances I needed. Most people dismiss data security issues. I cannot.

If I'd been working for a company, and facing the same issue - the drive would be destroyed and a purchased anew. Risk=0.

Interestingly, some manufacturers are starting to fit manual wipe switches - but not many.

Azimuth99

Azimuth99

UPDATE

OCZ have offered to replace my SSD with an equal capacity, but slightly slower model, the non-Max IOPS version RevoDrive 3 x2.

This is a superb result for me, and exactly what I needed.

If I understand the offer correctly, they have returned RevoDrives 3 x2 needing repair in the Netherlands. These will be returned to Taiwan for fixing, then sent back for distribution. ETA is obviously unknown at this time.

I'll update again when I know more. Hope this helps any others in similar trouble.

Az99