Partial refund on faulty product

errodiel

Hi, newbie here, hope I'm posting in the right sub-forum.

I bought a graphics card for my PC in September 2013 for about £170 (decent deal at the time). It became faulty in December 2014, so I contacted the manufacturer for advice on troubleshooting. They said that there was a 2 year warranty, and that I should contact the original retailer and arrange to return it.

I contacted the retailer on 23/12/14, and they arranged a courier pickup on 7/1/15. On 9/1/15 I got an email that said:

A refund will be issued once the RMA has been closed.

As per our terms and conditions and in line with the Sale of Goods Act 1979, as this item is over 6 months old you will only qualify for a proportionate refund of the original purchase price. Therefore we are unable to issue a replacement as initially requested.

This was immediately followed by an email saying the RMA was closed and a refund had been issued. I still haven't had a refund (nor do I know how much they plan to refund) which I've chased with them today.

My question is, given there's a 2 year manufacturer warranty, are they just chancing it by trying to offer a proportional refund in the first place? The product in question (a Sapphire HD 7870 GHz OC edition, if anyone's interested) doesn't exist anymore, but I'd be more than happy with a refurbished model, or a modern equivalent (Sapphire R7 280X, for example, which happens to be cheaper than the 7870 was).

My understanding was that the Sale of Goods act says that products should last a "reasonable" amount of time. The fact that there's a 2 year warranty on this product suggests to me that dying after 15 months is not reasonable, and I'm entitled to a repair or replacement, surely? If the partial refund is enough to buy a modern equivalent I'll likely not chase it further, but I'd like to know where I stand before I kick up a fuss! Thanks

Edit: forgot to add, this is an online UK retailer, and I paid with PayPal Express Checkout.

CoolHotCold

Let me guess Ebuyer?


And yes a Partial/Proportionate refund is within the Law.

visidigi

Yeah standard eBuyer response.

Shame, the manufacturer would have covered it under warranty - eBuyer seem to prefer to proportionally refund, then they get a refurb to sell..

bris

A warranty is over and above your statutory rights from the manufacturer but Ebuyer, the retailer who your contract is with are treating it as a SOGA issue.


This allows them to choose the remedy of repair, replace or refund which ever is the most cost effective for them.


They have chosen the refund option which is within their rights and yes they can deduct a percentage for the 15 months use you have had from it.

bris

visidigi wrote: »

Yeah standard eBuyer response.

Shame, the manufacturer would have covered it under warranty - eBuyer seem to prefer to proportionally refund, then they get a refurb to sell..

Not true or they would let the manufacturer deal with it.


Ebuyer are a huge player in this market so in order to get goods cheaper from the manufacturer they forgo their warranty rights and deal with any problems themselves, taking the manufacturer out the loop, this is also why the manufacturer referred the OP back to Ebuyer.


This is standard practise now for the big players and the manufacturers are happy to play along, you see once the deal is done the manufacturer gets no returns so are happy, the retailers get cheaper goods so they are happy but the consumers losses out.

bod1467

Do Ebuyer advertise that such products come with a manufacturer's warranty?

visidigi

bris wrote: »

Not true or they would let the manufacturer deal with it.


Ebuyer are a huge player in this market so in order to get goods cheaper from the manufacturer they forgo their warranty rights and deal with any problems themselves, taking the manufacturer out the loop, this is also why the manufacturer referred the OP back to Ebuyer.


This is standard practise now for the big players and the manufacturers are happy to play along, you see once the deal is done the manufacturer gets no returns so are happy, the retailers get cheaper goods so they are happy but the consumers losses out.

No its not, the manufacturer referred them back because as is standard the contract is with the retailer.

eBuyer operate this way as its easier and lower cost - they partially refund then deal with the manufacturer in bulk, removing individual return and replacement costs from their business.

Its not standard practise with the big players, its an option they have to operate that way, but I know that a large number of graphics card manufacturers self manage warranty repair to manage the supply chain effectively.

Its an option to take on the warranty, but its not a guarantee, hence why is this case the manufacturer confirmed it had warranty but it was to be handled via the retailer.

errodiel

Thanks for the responses! I'm disappointed but not surprised. And yes, it's ebuyer, although Sapphire didn't know that when I contacted them. It makes the 2 year warranty a bit of a farce really (though I can't honestly remember if they advertised that at time of purchase. Their current stock doesn't advertise an extended warranty.

Now I just need to actually get the refund. I'm hoping it'll be reasonable and not something like 9/24ths.

wealdroam

Errodiel, you might like to look at this very recent thread.

Although the item in question is of a much lesser value, perhaps you'll get an idea of how much your refund could be.

errodiel

wealdroam wrote: »

Errodiel, you might like to look at.

Although the item in question is of a much lesser value, perhaps you'll get an idea of how much your refund could be.

Brill, thanks for that - gives me hope that we'll get enough (or near enough) to buy something of equivalent spec. Which I'll probably buy elsewhere...

errodiel

Ebuyer are refunding us £132, which I suppose in the grand scheme of things means we've had a year's use of a decent GPU for less than £40, which is OK. They're also chasing up my refund with PayPalPayPal too, so that's a decent resul .