Sale of Goods Act vs. Manufacturer Warranty - think I'm being shafted by ebuyer

chickendipperbabe

This seems to be cropping up more and more often with ebuyer.

What I don't get is the blatant lies they tell you over the phone assuring the customer that they'll be receiving a replacement when they know fine well they'll be getting fobbed off with a partial refund if its over six months old.

Why cant they tell customers that they'll only receive a partial refund in the first place?

neilmcl

We still need some answers from the OP. In particular, was the OP aware that he was purchasing an OEM drive and was it advertised as such.

cookie365

'Warranty' can mean a lot of different things.

What were the terms of the warranty offered when the OP bought the drive?

Cycrow

Looking at the ebuyer site, they do list quite a few hard drives as OEM.

however, none of the toshiba drives are listed as such.

its possible that its toshiba thats claiming its OEM when it isn't, to get out of any warranty claim

neilmcl

Cycrow wrote: »

Looking at the ebuyer site, they do list quite a few hard drives as OEM.

however, none of the toshiba drives are listed as such.

its possible that its toshiba thats claiming its OEM when it isn't, to get out of any warranty claim

Or its possible that when the OP bought the thing 18mths ago it was advertised as OEM on the ebuyer site. Would help if the OP came back and answered some questions.

Kushan

neilmcl wrote: »

Or its possible that when the OP bought the thing 18mths ago it was advertised as OEM on the ebuyer site. Would help if the OP came back and answered some questions.

Sorry, I have been busy playing ticket tennis with them.

To answer:

No, the drive was not advertised as an OEM drive.

Toshiba didn't just claim they don't deal with OEM's, they stated that they only deal with external drives and not internal. They don't sell internal drives to retail (apparently), just OEM's. I tried looking for info on Toshiba's site regarding this, but it's not very clear at all. It was a nightmare finding their RMA process in the first place.

The description on ebuyer's site is no different to when I purchased it originally. I remember the 2 year warranty specifically. In fact, the web archive has got it right here: http://web.archive.org/web/20130703144933/http://www.ebuyer.com/481473-toshiba-3tb-internal-hard-drive-dt01aca300

Interestingly, the original page just says 2 year warranty, so at some point they've updated to state it's a manufacturer's warranty.

neilmcl

Kushan wrote: »

Toshiba didn't just claim they don't deal with OEM's, they stated that they only deal with external drives and not internal. They don't sell internal drives to retail (apparently), just OEM's.

I think someone's given you the wrong information. of course Toshiba sell retail versions of their drives. The even have a link to online retailers when you go to their hard drive product.

Nilrem

Cycrow wrote: »

Looking at the ebuyer site, they do list quite a few hard drives as OEM.

however, none of the toshiba drives are listed as such.

its possible that its toshiba thats claiming its OEM when it isn't, to get out of any warranty claim

IIRC there are at least 3 or 4 different ways hard drives are sold, and OEM can mean one of two things.

The first is the strict OEM - the drive is only intended for sale to system builders and should not be available to the general public.

The other OEM used to be called a "Bare" drive, in that it is the same warranty as the full retail packaged drive, but rather than getting it in a fancy box, with drive brackets, cables and possibly installations/clone software you get it in either an anti-static clamshell or anti-static bag.

Most "OEM" drives sold by most retailers are the "bare" type, I haven't seen a retail packaged traditional drive for something like a decade online (the only one I ever bought was a 60gb Maxtor from memory).

IIRC some etailers have a nasty habit of buying in drives from the international market without checking the real status of them, or poor internal stock keeping and get the "true oem" drives that are only meant to be sold as part of a pre-built system mixed up with the "bare OEM" drives that are meant to be sold as a part for the end user.
I've seen Ebuyer for example state an "OEM" drive having the same warranty as the "bare" version so either they'd used OEM to mean Bare, or they'd got the warranty length/type confused.

neilmcl

Nilrem wrote: »

Most "OEM" drives sold by most retailers are the "bare" type, I haven't seen a retail packaged traditional drive for something like a decade online (the only one I ever bought was a 60gb Maxtor from memory).

So what would you describe this as? http://www.dabs.com/products/toshiba-3tb-dt-series-sata-6gb-s-32mb-3-5--desktop-hard-drive-retail-8QJQ.html?q=toshiba%203tb&src=16

Kushan

Well here's the latest response from their complaints department:

Dear xxxxx
RE: Complaint Order xxxxxxx.

Section F40 48B of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) does state that a buyer must not require the seller to repair or replace the goods if that remedy is disproportionate in comparison to an appropriate reduction in the purchase price.

As a replacement would be disproportionate in comparison to an appropriate reduction in price and because your item is over 6 months old, we are then entitled to issue you with a partial refund.

I understand that the item is still within warranty, however as mentioned above in line with the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) as the item is now over 6 months old we are entitled to issue you with a partial refund if we’re unable to provide a repair or a like for like replacement.

Kind Regards,
Jaz | Managing Directors Assistant
Ebuyer (UK) Ltd

Thoughts? Next steps to take?