donated item warranty issue

norrchr

Hello,

I purchased a motherboard from a charity on eBay. 

To keep it short, the motherboard worked fine for around 2 weeks then had issues and would not boot up due to a hardware issue.

The charity have told me the motherboard was donated by a big retailer in the UK. I contacted big retailer and they said to go to the manufacturer. I went to the manufacturer who agreed with me that it sounds like a hardware issue and the motherboard needs to be replacement under warranty. I checked the warranty status of the motherboard and it shows its within its warranty period. Manufacturer told me I have to go through the retailer as they do not deal directly with consumers. They have a retail agreement in place with their retailers that they deal with all returns and replacements during the warranty period.

I went back to the retailer and told them what the manufacturer said, got put through to a supervisor who put in an escalation request. This was on the 5th January and have had no response from this escalation. 

I got back in touch with the manufacturer telling them that the retailer is not helping, that I brought the motherboard from a charity of which the retailer donated the item. In their terms of warranty it does state if no proof of purchase is provided they would go on shipment date to retailer. They said they would require proof of purchase for out of process warranty, and would only do an out of process warranty if the retailer went bust. They also mentioned the motherboard did not originate from the UK.

I chased up the retailer again on the 16th January, and got escalated again but have yet to hear a response from this as well.

I contacted them again on the 24th and just got told by a supervisor there is nothing they can do. I have asked them if they can track the donated item to the charity, but it seems they are not willing to do that.

I have been in contact with the charity manager, who said the retailer do not provide them with any paperwork. They just get a phone call to say a pallet is ready to be collected. The charity from the start have been good though and offered a refund, but I have not taken them up on this offer yet as I deem it a last resort to take money back out of a charity and the people it serves. 

I asked if the charity could help get me in contact with someone at the retailer, and they managed to put me into an email with someone. I explained all that had happened, but got no response from the contact at the retailer. Instead, I got an email two days later from the charity manager, asking me for a favour to drop the case against the retailer. I am not sure if the retailer has contacted the charity or not, but the charity manager is afraid the retailer will pull future donations if they question the procedures and practices of the retailer.

I am stuck on what to do. My principles tell me I should not let the big multi billion dollar retailer win and let the charity lose money, but if I carry on I could potentially make the charity lose future donations from said retailer. If I take the refund, I'm taking money back out of the charity which is needed by the people it serves.

Any advice please??

(Note: I have not mentioned the name of retailer in case there is backlash against the charity from said retailer, but you can probably guess who)

IvanOpinion

Thank you for keeping it short.
What sort of value are we talking about and what was the motherboard.

400ixl

Personally I would either write off the cost to support the charity, or accept their offer of a refund. Clearly they do not want you to be potentially putting their relationship with the retailer at risk.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP multi-billion pound businesses aren't donating to charity purely out of the kindness of their hearts, it may be a convenient way of disposing of stock or good PR for example, even with good intentions regardless of the reason there will very likely be a financially motivated element and I really can't see a business of that size would stop donations due to one person returning a motherboard to the charity, especially as the charity is likely to send it for recycling. I can't see the retailer will accept back donated items that the charity doesn't want.

Regarding consumer rights the company that donated the goods doesn't have a relationship with yourself so any help they offer would only be goodwill. If the manufacturer offers a warranty they have to abide by the terms given, which you'd have to check, but these terms aren't required to follow consumer rights except that the terms should be legally fair.

Regarding the moral aspect, the views of others are often tainted and may not represent what they would actually do in the exact same circumstances, IMHO it's a personal decision for you to make   

Sandtree

Your consumer rights are only with the charity as that is who you have a contract with.

Big retailers often take on risk from their suppliers in exchange for lower wholesale pricing. They have clearly written off the cost of the motherboard by donating it to the charity, it could well be a customer return, ex display, old stock etc (certainly wont have been bought to be donated). Whilst its a hit to their financials most companies now are publishing policies around the environment, sustainability, social responsibility etc and clearly a big donation to charity helps that -v- sending it to landfill.

What you are effectively asking the retailer to do is put their hand in their pocket for a second time and provide another item or a repair for free where you have no rights to do so and arent a customer of theirs. If they did agree to do so its a pure hit to their financials as there is no PR spin that can be added to show how this makes them a good corporate citizen 

Depending on how much it was, take the money back from the charity or write it off as bad luck

theoretica

The retailer gave the item away - so could give infinite refunds of the purchase price - zero. 

Is the warranty transferable?  The charity got it from the retailer, but you had it 3rd hand. 

born_again

Manufacture donates to charity to cut down on waste disposal costs. 

Local charity shops would not take any of the items we wanted to donate all in good condition. Dinner sets & other china items. As the cost to dispose if not sold was so high. In end they just got thrown in skip.

norrchr

Thank you everyone for your responses.

I can fully understand that my contract, and therefore rights is with the charity, and not the retailer. All I'm trying to do is make it my last resort to take money back out of the charity. I would like to note that the motherboard that was donated was brand new, value of the motherboard is around £300.

I am not asking the retailer to "dip" into their deep pockets and replace the motherboard out of their own pocket. All I have asked all along is for them to be able to provide some proof of donation which then may be able to be used as some sort of proof of purchase/donation for the manufacturer or to just start the RMA process from their end. From what I can gather from the manufacturer, the retailer just manages the RMA process and takes on no risk themselves. Instead of a RMA taking weeks, the retailer will be able to send out a new board quicker and sort out the rest behind the scenes. This is at least how it happened when I used to work at another retailer.

The retailer provided no paperwork to the charity, so the charity can not provide anything to me that I can provide to the manufacturer as a proof of donation/purchase.

powerful_Rogue

norrchr said:

Thank you everyone for your responses.

I can fully understand that my contract, and therefore rights is with the charity, and not the retailer. All I'm trying to do is make it my last resort to take money back out of the charity. I would like to note that the motherboard that was donated was brand new, value of the motherboard is around £300.

I am not asking the retailer to "dip" into their deep pockets and replace the motherboard out of their own pocket. All I have asked all along is for them to be able to provide some proof of donation which then may be able to be used as some sort of proof of purchase/donation for the manufacturer or to just start the RMA process from their end. From what I can gather from the manufacturer, the retailer just manages the RMA process and takes on no risk themselves. Instead of a RMA taking weeks, the retailer will be able to send out a new board quicker and sort out the rest behind the scenes. This is at least how it happened when I used to work at another retailer.

The retailer provided no paperwork to the charity, so the charity can not provide anything to me that I can provide to the manufacturer as a proof of donation/purchase.

How much did you actually pay?
The retailer does not have to provide paperwork to the charity shop when donating goods. Exactly the same as when people donate to charity shops. Really think you're clutching at straws here.

theoretica

I think the key point is that the charity have said they would rather give you the money back than you continue chasing the retailer.  I see no justification (and perhaps much arrogance) in going against their expressed wishes.

Manxman_in_exile

theoretica said:

I think the key point is that the charity have said they would rather give you the money back than you continue chasing the retailer.  I see no justification (and perhaps much arrogance) in going against their expressed wishes.

I agree.  I see absolutely no point in the OP pursuing this in the circumstances - especially if the charity wants to refund them.

I fear there may be some misguided "point of principle" here...