Overclockers UK

Jayke.

I made an order on January 4th 2014 for a full computer build over at Overclockers UK. I paid £1.1k for the full system and everything was great all until the 9th May 2014 just 4 months and 5 days from the original purchase date where the graphics card failed. After buying all new parts to 'test' upon their advice it turned out to be what I suspect it of. Being scared of getting charged for sending back an unfaulty product, it turned out it was faulty and it took over a month to get it sent back, repaired and replaced. It was indeed the Graphics Card for the value of £399.99.

All is good, I have my build back up and running, then comes the 24th September 2015, 1 Year and 4 months after having it replaced the exact same problem happens again.. Under warranty and at my own cost of £40 now to send it back (including the first time) I have the card sent back to be repaired. Instead this time they sent me back an actual graphics card that they had received from another customer sending it for repair. So they sent me a totally different, second hand repaired graphics card.

That's two completely different cards I have now been in possession of, once again it ran fine everything was good up until recently, the 25th July 2016 the card had the exact same fault, it basically crash's under 3D load deeming it absolutely void from its primary usage.

As the card is now not under warranty, I have received these responses so far;

Hi

Unfortunately this card is now well out of warranty.

I am sorry for any problems caused by this

Bailey

The card comes with a 2 year warranty from the original date of purchase

The warranty expired on 04/01/2016

So if the card is actually faulty we wouldn't be able to RMA it now if it is gone faulty again.

Sorry if this causes an issue.

Bailey

The warranty on all gainward graphics cards are 2 years and it always goes from the original date of purchase.

You dont get a fresh warranty on a replacement as effectively you could get an unlimited warranty and it doesnt work like that.

If I could RMA it I gladly would do but the warranty expired on 04/01/2016

Again I am sorry about that.

Bailey

That is correct

Just to let you know if you send a letter in it would be dealt with by myself.

I believe my colleague spoke to you on the phone as well who informed of the same stance.

Bailey

Ok not a problem

Again sorry for any inconvenience with this situation.

If it was something we could RMA we gladly would do.

Thanks

Bailey

If you wanted to purchase a new card to get up and running I could authorize a discount and free shipping if this helps?

Bailey

Hello

I am sorry to hear that Gainward were not much help over the phone, you may want to drop them an email on support@gainward.de if this is better for you.

That is correct when purchased you were governed by the sale of goods act so with that being said as the item is over 6 months old there is a reversed burden of proof on the end user to prove the item was faulty.

As this is a replacement item over 6 months old again you would also need to prove that this card was faulty as it was a different one.

We would need an unbias 3rd party report in order to prove that the card is actually faulty. Even if this can be proven it doesnt mean that a repair / replacement will be given under the SOGA.

I totally understand this is quite upsetting but there is an acceptance period on a product and as when you purchased the product it was sold with a 2 year warranty so by purchasing this you have accepted this warranty period.

The best thing I can do in this instance is to drop gainward an email with your serial number and they will then tell me if its in warranty.

If it is we can accept it back to be sent for repair or you can sent it to them directly, if not we would not be able to RMA it at all.

Bailey

The reason the RMA claim was rejected previously by the staff on the phone and myself is simply because the card is out of warranty.

if we got every card back which was out of warranty and refunded or replaced them we would go out of business. This is why cards are sold with warranty periods.

You do not get an unlimited warranty on any graphics card that I am aware of and the warranty does not reset if you get a repair / replacement.

Even if you do get a repair / replacement it does not mean that the card was faulty within 6 months at the time of sale. It means it was faulty at the time of return and not inherent.

Yes items can fail (as with any electrical product) and we as a retailer do not knowingly sell faulty items, where is the business model in that? It seems that it has developed a fault over time which can occur.

I can email them your serial number to see exactly what they say if you do not want to do it yourself.

Yes the SOGA is aimed at the retailler not the manufacturer so if you can provide a 3rd party report for this card to prove it was faulty at the time you received it the best outcome we could potentially offer providing your claim is accepted would be a partial refund in compliance to the SOGA.

Bailey

Morning

I will get it back and test it for you personally to see if there is anything we can do for sure.

But if the item is faulty the best case scenario is that we would offer a partial refund in compliance to the SOGA.

If we do offer a partial refund and the item is faulty it could be used as an upgrade to a newer card

Bailey

Hey

Providing the card is faulty the partial refund in compliance to the SOGA works out around £189.79.

So we would have to test the card and find the issue before the partial refund could be issued.

From there if you wanted to go ahead you can just purchase the new card and then the refund would be put back on your card.

I will be honest if you save up a little more I would go for a 1080 for sure, they are amazing.

Bailey

That is worked out over the 6 year SOGA law so it works out a monthly percentage of the product.

It doesnt go from the replacement however it will always go from the original invoice date.

Bailey

Thats correct

That is the partial refund which we are offering.

Dont forget that it would be £189.79 + VAT as well

Bailey

Hello

We are not bullying you in any way shape or form, we are mearly explaining your legal rights in compliance to the Sale of Goods Act which can be detailed below as well for your reference.

Here is an extract from the SOGA which details your case as well which details the rights:

Quote:
Remedies
If a product that was faulty at the time of sale is returned to the retailer, the consumer
is legally entitled to:
• a full refund, if this is within a reasonable time of the sale (“reasonable time”
is not defined in law but is often quite short); or
• a reasonable amount of compensation (or “damages”) for up to six years
from the date of sale (five years after discovery of the problem in Scotland).
This does not mean all goods have to last six years! It is the limit for making a claim
in respect of a fault that was present at the time of sale. It is not equivalent to a
guarantee. These are long-established rights and they remain available to the
consumer after the Regulations come into force on 31 March 2003.
Please note that a product doesnt have to last up to 6 years, this is why items are sold with a warranty period which is how long a product is expected to last from the original invoice date.

If the item falls outside of the warranty period and a repair / replacement can not be actioned under the SOGA the following can occur:

Quote:
a partial or full refund, depending on what is reasonable in the
circumstances.
It may be the case that a full refund is not the reasonable option because the
consumer will have enjoyed some benefit from the goods before the problem
appeared. This needs to be taken into account before a reasonable partial refund can
be assessed.
As illustrated in the flow chart on page 4, consumers can switch between certain
remedies if they find they are getting nowhere down the route originally selected.
However, they would have to give a retailer a reasonable time to honour a request
before they tried to switch, and they could never pursue two remedies at the same
time.
Proving the fault
Generally, the consumer needs to demonstrate the goods were faulty at the time of
sale. This is so if the consumer chooses to request an immediate refund or
compensation (damages). It is also the case for any product returned more than six
months after the date of the sale.
2
There is one exception. This is when a consumer returns goods in the first six
months from the date of the sale, and requests a repair or replacement or, thereafter, a
partial or full refund. In that case, the consumer does not have to prove the goods
were faulty at the time of the sale. It is assumed that they were. If the retailer does
not agree, it is for him to prove that the goods were satisfactory at the time of sale.
Again re itterating myself the partial refund would be the scenario providing we find a fault with the product and we are well within our rights to offer this. as decribed in the IMGUR link above.

If you want to contact legal advice you are entitled to do so but as we are operating legally and following the law this is the correct procedure to follow and they will more than likely inform you the same.

This is all we can offer in this instance unfortunately.

Bailey

Am I being unfair? At first they told me to :mad: off, I was persistent, laying down the facts.. Then all of a sudden they have changed their tune. The point is, I have offered them 2 occasions to repair the card which have both failed, they are now offering me 47% of its value which in turn would buy me a graphics card on their store of lesser specification. Only if the card is tested faulty. Not just a little, but quite a considerable difference.

I am more than certain this is a somewhat fault in this cards build, there is no way I would have the same issue 3 times on 2 different cards, I have also seen reports that other users with the exact same card have had this exact same issue.

wealdroam

I haven't read all that - there is simply too much - but from the last couple of sentences it looks like OC are offering you a partial refund if the card proves to be faulty. Is that correct?

If so, that is perfectly in order.
In fact, the seller could ask you to prove that the card has an inherent fault - an inherent fault being one that was present at the time of the sale but not necessarily apparent at that time.

If the thing is deemed inherently faulty, then the seller must provide a remedy. That remedy could be a refund. The law allows that refund to be reduced to take account of the use you have had.
So a 53% reduction could well be seen as acceptable.

It is not intended that the partial refund should be enough to buy a new card, but it is possibly enough to buy a used card the same age as yours. But that isn't important - the point is you have had use of the card for some time and the reduced refund reflects that.

Spies

That's a perfectly reasonable outcome.

Jayke.

wealdroam wrote: »

I haven't read all that - there is simply too much - but from the last couple of sentences it looks like OC are offering you a partial refund if the card proves to be faulty. Is that correct?

If so, that is perfectly in order.
In fact, the seller could ask you to prove that the card has an inherent fault - an inherent fault being one that was present at the time of the sale but not necessarily apparent at that time.

If the thing is deemed inherently faulty, then the seller must provide a remedy. That remedy could be a refund. The law allows that refund to be reduced to take account of the use you have had.
So a 53% reduction could well be seen as acceptable.

It is not intended that the partial refund should be enough to buy a new card, but it is possibly enough to buy a used card the same age as yours. But that isn't important - the point is you have had use of the card for some time and the reduced refund reflects that.

This is the 3rd card I have had over the span of 2 years and 4 months or so.. Twice I have allowed them at a cost to myself to repair it, both times have failed. I have not 'used' the card for that long, I was given a totally different physical card in September of 2015 the current card I have now which as gone wrong again.

At first they were stern in the fact that they could not and would not do anything. It was only until recently they actually budged and offered to do something. Offer £189 for a card that was purchased for £400 in January of 2014. The £189 they are offering originally is not including VAT.

Would the VAT they are adding be for the original purchase price of £400? Or would it be 20% of their offered amount?

The fact in why this has annoyed me so much is, Graphics Card do not have an expected life span of 2 years, I know people that have had cards for 5+ years still running fine. I have never owned 1 single card for longer than 1 Year and 4 Months. They have became defective every single time.

If the VAT is of £400, making the refund amount £269 I would be more than happy to accept it, because for that sum I could buy a card that is slightly better than the one I have now.

I just dont think £189, 47% of what I paid for a card thats failed me 3 times now, each time has been at the cards fault not the users.

JJ_Egan

<<I just dont think £189, 47% of what I paid for a card thats failed me 3 times now, each time has been at the cards fault not the users.>>

You are doing well out of them at £189 for a machine built in 2014 .

Jayke.

Would you be happy accepting an amount that would in turn buy a piece of hardware that is quite a big/noticeable decline in performance? That's like buying a Playstation 4 and ending up with a Playstation 3.

I am not ungrateful, I appreciate somewhat what they are offering. But the fact in hand is, if I wasnt acting like 'that customer', and no I dont complain about everything under the sun this is the first time I have actually had to take anything this far I just dont see it as fair.

I have more than the burden of proof to show its the card and not the user, I have patiently and at expense to myself allowed them to repair the card 2 times, both have failed.

Yes, something is better than nothing granted but still.. Their attitude is, out of warranty, out of our concern, end of story.

hammers81uk

VAT will clearly be on the offer of £189, there is no possible way that I could read what they have offered as VAT on your original purchase price. What they have offered is fair and I am even surprised at that, I would take the offer and look elsewhere.

Spies

It's out of warranty, it's quite simple, why do you expect the retailer to take the hit for the full price of the card after 2 years? Take up your issues with Gainward, Overlockers UK have fulfilled their obligations and you're getting a very good deal of it it.

The new Radeon X480 is £182 on ebuyer right now and 50% faster than a GTX 960, so just buy that!

What is the model of the card that gone wrong?

NotRichAtAll

why did you not rma the card in may 2014 when it first failed? i use overclockers alot for my things and i cannot fault the service i have had from them.
Lets assume the card is perfect, how much do you think you could get for it privately, what model card is it? i doubt you'd get £189 if sold private. just my opinion. gainward used to offer the lowest warranty on graphic cards 2yrs most other companys offer 3yrs

Jayke.

NotRichAtAll wrote: »

why did you not rma the card in may 2014 when it first failed? i use overclockers alot for my things and i cannot fault the service i have had from them.
Lets assume the card is perfect, how much do you think you could get for it privately, what model card is it? i doubt you'd get £189 if sold private. just my opinion. gainward used to offer the lowest warranty on graphic cards 2yrs most other companys offer 3yrs

You make a valid point, and no I am not faulting Overclockers at all. Their RMA process was great, but I shouldn't have to RMA it every year, GPU's are and should last longer. I dont overclock, I literally play games and do a little recording thats it.

The warranty was 2 years yes, these are the dates in which I had issues;

9th May 2014 (4 months 5 days from purchase) - First issue, RMA'd sent back the same card.
24th September 2015 (1 Year 4 Months 15 Days) - Second issue, different repaired card sent back to me.
25th July 2016 (10 Months 1 Day). - Third issue, current card.

The thing in my mind is, I want to replace or have a card at the same specification, £189 will not get me a card of same specification. Overclockers.co.uk, the closest Nvidia card of similar specification is the 960 I believe, thats £200 and its benchmarks are of a considerable lower value as per the 3D Mark score.

Btw, I did RMA the card in May.. I have RMA'd it twice.

Either way, it is what it is I just wont buy a Gainward card again, period. When you buy something, you expect it to last a fair amount of time, in my case it has not on 3 occasions and now I will have to settle for a second hand card if I want to get something of similar spec. Thanks for the help.

Retrogamer

Jayke. wrote: »

Would you be happy accepting an amount that would in turn buy a piece of hardware that is quite a big/noticeable decline in performance? That's like buying a Playstation 4 and ending up with a Playstation 3.

What graphics card were you using which has failed?