Ebuyer not honouring the Sale of Goods Act for refund of defective item

FunnyMunny

On 01.05.14 I bought online a top end power supply unit (PSU) a Corsair AX1200i, costing £229.99 for my PC from Ebuyer. The store page for it is here.

One of its main selling points is that this PSU has a silent mode where the fan doesn't spin at lower loads. Turns out that there's a design flaw with that model where the fan makes a very audible "click" every 10 seconds when the fan isn't spinning, which only manifested itself after 3 days of use. On researching it, I found out that this is a design flaw with no solution other than a refund, since they all do it. This means that the PSU is not as described and I'm due a refund under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

I hadn't gotten around to fitting the PSU until around three months had passed, so I can't claim under the Distance Selling Regulations (since superceded by the Consumer Contracts Regulations). Note that crucially, this is well within the 6 month period where the Sale of Goods Act puts the burden of proof on the retailer to show that the fault wasn't there when I bought it, after which it switches to the buyer.

I tried to raise a return, but Ebuyer's online system only allowed for a replacement, even though it's possible to put a note against the request. I know that they will simply ignore that note and just give me another PSU, which will have the same fault. Therefore, I raised an eNote with their customer service department, putting in the claim below for a mis-described product.

Of course, now instead of processing my refund, they're just telling me to raise a return. I repeated that I wanted a refund and why, but they refuse to actually address anything I've said and instead just keep telling me to raise a return. I reckon that this is a deliberate ploy to try and get out of paying me back my money.

I've put the full dialog with them below, where you can see I'm just getting the runaround, instead of the refund they owe me.

I reckon I've got two options at this point:

1 make a chargeback claim with my credit card

2 take them to the small claims court

I think option 1 is best and will get me my refund the fastest. I'd be grateful for any advice before I start attempting to force a refund from Ebuyer.

I have anonymized the message thread for obvious reasons. Note that despite signing off as the technical support team and then the customer support team, I actually received a response from the same guy each time.


eNote title: Refund claim under the Sale of Goods Act for mis-described product

Hi Ebuyer

I am claiming a full refund of £229.99 plus any return shipping costs to you for this Corsair AX1200i power supply unit (PSU) since it has a serious design flaw not disclosed at the time of sale, which breaches the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and for which there is no technical remedy.

While I ordered it in May 2014, I only began to use it in the last few weeks when I finally had time to upgrade my PC. Everything was fine for 3 days, after which I noticed a continuous, very distracting and annoying clicking sound coming from it approximately every 10 seconds when the fan wasn't spinning. Note that the fan does still spin briefly at power-on as per the design of this PSU, so it does work.

Quietness is very important to me, so my PC is built with quiet, high end components and sits on my desk in a quiet room with the side panel permanently off, therefore this noise is especially intrusive and intolerable.

I've made the obvious troubleshooting attempt of disconnecting the mains cable and reconnecting it, but it unsurprisingly didn't help. Note that even when the PC is running intensive 3D graphics, such as the latest games and therefore consuming the most power, it makes very little noise due to quiet fans and doesn't put enough load on this 1200W PSU to spin up its own fan, which is why I bought it. Hence, this constant clicking noise quickly became intolerable, forcing me to remove this PSU and reinstall my old one after less than a day of it starting.

I've since researched this problem where it turns out that it's caused by a design defect, rather than a manufacturing fault. In short, the fan control circuitry sends a small pulse of current to the fan motor every 10 seconds while in stopped mode, which causes it to start making this noise after a few days. Unfortunately, there is no technical remedy, so every Corsair AX1200i has the same problem, and therefore replacing it won't solve it.

The description of this PSU on your website, along with that on the box, emphasizes the silent mode of this PSU with the fan stopped, which is the main reason that I bought it and obviously since it clicks it's not silent. Crucially, the description makes no mention of any clicking noises coming from it, hence this PSU is not as described regarding a major selling point, which breaches the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

Given the lack of a technical remedy explained above and since I bought this PSU less than 6 months ago, I am claiming a full refund of £229.99 plus any return shipping costs to you under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 Sections F39 48A and F40 48B, rather than a repair or replacement.

Regards


EBUYER'S RESPONSE

Hi

Thank you for your e-note.

I'm sorry that you are having issues with your PSU. You can return the
product to us as faulty under warranty and raise a return online via our
website. Once this has been done all you will need to do is ring our
Technical Support Team and they will process your return further.

If you need any further advice please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards,

Ebuyer.com
Technical Support Team


MY RESPONSE

Hi

I initially started to do this, however, the only option from the menu was
to request a replacement. Yes, there's a box there where I can put my
claim in, but I very much suspect that the claim will just be ignored and
all that will happen is that I'll get another PSU back, which as I
explained in the claim, will have the same fault.

Also, you advise me to ring the tech support team after raising the return,
however, they will just be set up for a replacement. I don't need tech
support for this PSU, I need a refund, as I explained.

Therefore, I'd be grateful if you could please raise the RMA and set it up
for the refund, not replacement, as per my claim.

Regards


EBUYER'S RESPONSE

Hi

Thanks for your e-note response.

Within the first 28 day period the item has a refund or replacement on
this. After this period the product is still under its warranty and will
have a repair or direct replacement issued out. If you want to call our
Technical Support Team to discuss this further they can be contacted on:
03303 339 390.


Kind Regards,


Ebuyer.com
Customer Support Team

frugal_mike

If you paid by Credit Card then your best bet will be to make a Section 75 claim against them, not a chargeback. Because the goods cost more than £100, the Credit Card provider are jointly and severally liable for the contract.

They are permitted to give you a replacement though. Has there been some kind of official statement saying that the silent mode for the PSU does not work? You may have to accept a replacement, and when they fail to give you one that is silent you will be in a better position to push for a refund.

bris

If you read into it hard enough you will have discovered that there was a batch with this problem but Corsair refuse to see it as a fault, instead saying it's perfectly normal.


You would also have discovered that they do not all have this problem so if you can convince them to take it back they are entitled to issue a replacement, or actually fix it.


At this point you need to give them the chance to rectify it according to SOGA, if all attempts fail then you would have a case.

AJXX

bris wrote: »

If you read into it hard enough you will have discovered that there was a batch with this problem but Corsair refuse to see it as a fault, instead saying it's perfectly normal.

Links?

I can't seem to find anything other than a few people having the same problem. Even on Corsair forums they're saying to RMA it - that would suggest not all models/batches are faulty.

Do we actually have some solid evidence for this faulty claim or are we doing the usual "oh look these other people have exactly the same problem so this must be a widespread manufacturing issue that will never be resolved".

FunnyMunny

Ok, thanks for the replies, people.

I did some googling at the time and also came across the Corsair forums. I then posted about it, but didn't get an official response from Corsair about it.

It was PSU expert Jon Gerow who runs www.jonnyguru.com who ended up trying to help me. It was him who explained to me that it's that current pulse which causes the problem, making the fan motor click.

He did indeed say that there were later versions of this PSU which don't have this fault and tried to get me the batch number to ask for. However, he eventually explained that Corsair never documented the change, after trying to get this info for me through his Corsair contacts. It's likely Corsair did this in order to try and avoid the liability of a recall. How nice of them.

Since this is a two year old model and I somehow managed to get an early batch although they should have all been flushed out of the system by now, I have little confidence that I'd get one of the revised versions regardless of retailer, hence I just want my money back and I'll get something else.

On a thread or two on there, some people had actually gone through the RMA process with Corsair for this problem, but kept getting back faulty units with the same problem which is one hassle I really don't want.

Funny how Corsair's fun and games with admitting liability are making it easier for them and harder for me to get a working replacement or refund, isn't it?

The irony is that it's such a tiny little fault over some firmware programming which has such a showstopping consequence. Turns out that the firmware can't be user upgraded since the function wasn't built into the hardware, making it a manufacturer-only fix.

You can see my thread here and Jonny's replies. My username on there is GPU.

visidigi

Try here, yellow beard should be able to advise...

http://forums.hexus.net/power-supplies/

AJXX

Although it's an annoying situation you're going to have to get on with it.

eBuyer are allowed to repair, replace or refund under SOGA - entirely their discretion. If they replace it and it's still an issue you could then have more negotiations over refunding, but they're unlikely to refund straight off the bat.

Unfortunately the thread you provided is not solid evidence of an inherent fault, unless you can get an independent expert to officially verify this. Ultimately without any kind of official response from Corsair, you won't be taken seriously.

Bantex_2

Could the click just be classed as a characteristic rather than a fault?

gik

From what I've seen recently if they do refund it'll be a partial refund.

FunnyMunny

visidigi wrote: »

Try here, yellow beard should be able to advise...

http://forums.hexus.net/power-supplies

YB did advise to RMA it with Corsair in the thread I linked to, which in other circumstances I might have done.

AJXX wrote: »

Although it's an annoying situation you're going to have to get on with it.

eBuyer are allowed to repair, replace or refund under SOGA - entirely their discretion. If they replace it and it's still an issue you could then have more negotiations over refunding, but they're unlikely to refund straight off the bat.

Unfortunately the thread you provided is not solid evidence of an inherent fault, unless you can get an independent expert to officially verify this. Ultimately without any kind of official response from Corsair, you won't be taken seriously.

Yes, unfortunately not having the official Corsair statement confirming this problem does make it harder for me, as I acknowledged above and I'm pretty peed off about it.

I guess I might have to give them the chance to repair or replace it after all. I just know how it's going to go and I so wanted to avoid the hassle. If the next unit is faulty, then I will demand my money back and make a claim through the credit card if Ebuyer don't cooperate.

I'm going to speak to the credit card company about this situation and see what they think. Remember, the onus is on Ebuyer to prove it's not a design fault, not me.

Bantex wrote: »

Could the click just be classed as a characteristic rather than a fault?

In short, no. It's not silent, it wasn't revealed anywhere before purchase and it's a very distracting noise, especially with a quiet PC in a quiet environment, which is the situation in my home. It effectively becomes the classic "water torture" where you go mad waiting for the next drop to fall on your head.

It hadn't started doing it for long before I yanked it out of my PC and installed the old PSU back in it, which is the legendary Corsair HX850 v1 which still works perfectly after 5 years. It's not silent however and doesn't have the high end features and efficiency of this model, which is why I replaced it.

chickendipperbabe

Be Warned! Ebuyer operate a very shady returns policy if your product is over six months old. You would be very lucky to receive a full refund or even a replacement, they will offer you a refund or replacement initially but once they receive your RMA they'll fob you off with a partial refund - its their proportionate refund policy. They will promise all sorts over the phone so don't be suckered in!

Your best off going for the jugular and initiating a chargeback with your card provider.