Where do i stand on a refund (Outside 30 day refund window)

MorbidX

Just need an idea of what my options are.

I bought an all-in-one water cooler for my PC (Lian Li Galahad Trinity III 360 performance) on 25/07/2023. It worked fine until 17/09/2023 when the water pump in it developed a vibration/rattling noise. I raised a support ticket with the E-tailer and while i was waiting for a response from them it failed completely on 21//09/2023.

I spoke to them on the phone on 22/09/2023 and was told because I’m out the 30-day window they won’t refund at all and they would replace it but they would need to organise an RMA and send it to the manufacturer which would be time consuming. 

They advised I might be able to get a quicker turn around if I raised a warranty claim directly with the manufacturer. I did this and the same day the manufacturer agreed to send a replacement unit out. 3 weeks later I’ve still not received it or any update on and after chasing them via literally every means necessary (support ticket, twitter, reddit, facebook) I finally got a response saying they won’t have stock until 20/10/2023 and I would receive the replacement unit by early November at the latest.

While all this has been ongoing from looking around on the internet it seems this particular model is failing left, right and centre with the same issue, noisy pump then the pump dying completely so in my opinion it seems to be an inherent design/manufacturing flaw causing the failures.

Ideally I want to get rid of this and get a refund so i can buy something else that isn’t going to fail but i think my hands are tied.

If any of this info helps the E-tailer is overclockers.co.uk (Uk based computer e-tailer) and the manufacturer is Lian Li (Taiwan based component manufacturer). The purchase was made on a credit card.

Okell

Assuming this was not a business purchase and the contract is subject to UK law then your legal rights against the seller are under s19(14) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) which creates a legal presumption that any product that fails within 6 months of you taking delivery of it must have been faulty at the time of purchase - unless the retailer can establish otherwise.

Your remedies against the retailer are to either a repair or a replacement.  (After 30 days you can't claim a refund straight away - unless you can get the seller to agree to give you a refund.) If the repair or replacement fails you then have a legal right to a refund from the seller.

Any remedies against the manufacturer depend solely on the terms of any manufacturer's guarantee/warranty.

MorbidX

Okell said:

Assuming this was not a business purchase and the contract is subject to UK law then your legal rights against the seller are under s19(14) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) which creates a legal presumption that any product that fails within 6 months of you taking delivery of it must have been faulty at the time of purchase - unless the retailer can establish otherwise.

Your remedies against the retailer are to either a repair or a replacement.  (After 30 days you can't claim a refund straight away - unless you can get the seller to agree to give you a refund.) If the repair or replacement fails you then have a legal right to a refund from the seller.

Any remedies against the manufacturer depend solely on the terms of any manufacturer's guarantee/warranty.

So essentially i have to go down the RMA replacement route but if the replacement unit fails, which i expect it will, at that point i can push for a refund? If so, is there a time limit that  i can claim a refund if the replacement fails?

Alderbank

I think you have been unlucky.

Lian Li is a quality manufacturer and all the independent reviewers that I respect rate your model very highly, eg. tomshardware.com says 'Lian Li Galahad II Performance 360 Review: A New Level of Liquid Cooling Excellence

The strongest AIO we’ve ever tested'.

Lian Li said they will replace it as soon as they get their new stock next week and you should have it by early November. I can't see how they could do any better?

Wait and see what November brings. The pump has a rating (I think) of 40,000 hours and techpowerup.com say the whole cooler has a manufacturer's warranty of 5 years so you should be OK next time.

However UK consumer law says that if it fails again you would be entitled to a refund from the retailer Overclockers quite separately from any remaining manufacturer's guarantee.

MorbidX

Alderbank said:

I think you have been unlucky.

Lian Li is a quality manufacturer and all the independent reviewers that I respect rate your model very highly, eg. tomshardware.com says 'Lian Li Galahad II Performance 360 Review: A New Level of Liquid Cooling Excellence

The strongest AIO we’ve ever tested'.

Lian Li said they will replace it as soon as they get their new stock next week and you should have it by early November. I can't see how they could do any better?

Wait and see what November brings. The pump has a rating (I think) of 40,000 hours and techpowerup.com say the whole cooler has a manufacturer's warranty of 5 years so you should be OK next time.

However UK consumer law says that if it fails again you would be entitled to a refund from the retailer Overclockers quite separately from any remaining manufacturer's guarantee.

Thanks for the reply, i was always under the impression Lian Li are a premium brand, I have their Lancool III case and its supberb, more than happy with it. The Cooler though is another thing, when it worked it worked great but when it failed it essentially tried to cook my CPU. Their reddit is littered with peoples Galahad II Performance 360 that have the same issue and have failed within about 2 months of them buying it so i can understand why reviews are good but real world experience is different.

One of the main things that has irked me is that the communication from them about the replacement has been rubbish and i only got a response finally about the shipping situation (in general) from pinging one of their reddit admins that deals with their support. I've had no other update from any other avenue.

If the replacement fails is there a timeframe where i can claim a refund from overclockers

Alderbank

MorbidX said:

Alderbank said:

I think you have been unlucky.

Lian Li is a quality manufacturer and all the independent reviewers that I respect rate your model very highly, eg. tomshardware.com says 'Lian Li Galahad II Performance 360 Review: A New Level of Liquid Cooling Excellence

The strongest AIO we’ve ever tested'.

Lian Li said they will replace it as soon as they get their new stock next week and you should have it by early November. I can't see how they could do any better?

Wait and see what November brings. The pump has a rating (I think) of 40,000 hours and techpowerup.com say the whole cooler has a manufacturer's warranty of 5 years so you should be OK next time.

However UK consumer law says that if it fails again you would be entitled to a refund from the retailer Overclockers quite separately from any remaining manufacturer's guarantee.

If the replacement fails is there a timeframe where i can claim a refund from overclockers

Not as such but they can reduce the refund for the amount of use you have had from it.

In practice they would probably go for straight line depreciation over 5 years so if it failed after 2 years you should expect 60% back.

MorbidX

Alderbank said:

MorbidX said:

Alderbank said:

I think you have been unlucky.

Lian Li is a quality manufacturer and all the independent reviewers that I respect rate your model very highly, eg. tomshardware.com says 'Lian Li Galahad II Performance 360 Review: A New Level of Liquid Cooling Excellence

The strongest AIO we’ve ever tested'.

Lian Li said they will replace it as soon as they get their new stock next week and you should have it by early November. I can't see how they could do any better?

Wait and see what November brings. The pump has a rating (I think) of 40,000 hours and techpowerup.com say the whole cooler has a manufacturer's warranty of 5 years so you should be OK next time.

However UK consumer law says that if it fails again you would be entitled to a refund from the retailer Overclockers quite separately from any remaining manufacturer's guarantee.

If the replacement fails is there a timeframe where i can claim a refund from overclockers

Not as such but they can reduce the refund for the amount of use you have had from it.

In practice they would probably go for straight line depreciation over 5 years so if it failed after 2 years you should expect 60% back.

Assuming the replacement dies quickly (which i expect it will) i imagine i could expect all if not most of the refund?