Am i expecting too much?

Zenduri

Zenduri

Zenduri

Soldato
Joined
17 Mar 2009
Posts
6,654
Location
Nottingham
I'll be sparse on the details for now but I need a sanity check on my thinking.

I buy a pc component from an e-tailer. It's working fine and as expected and im happy. 54 days after I purchased it, it develops a vibration noise so I raised a ticket with the e-tailer reporting the fault and requesting a replacement unit/swap. The SLA given on the ticket is 1 day, (3 days in busy periods).

4 days pass and I decide the next business day I’ll call and chase the ticket however that night the part catastrophically fails and renders the PC unusable. I ring the company up in the morning and ask what’s going on with the ticket and that the part has catastrophically failed now rendering the PC I use for work and leisure unusable without a replacement part. I asked if we could do a return/swap where they pick up the faulty part and deliver a replacement at the same time as they have done this before and I was told because its outside of the 30 days it would need to be sent back to the manufacturer for them to test before they would issue a replacement and they then quoted up to a month for the turn around which obviously isn’t viable/acceptable.

I then offer to pay for a complete new unit to get me up and running and they can RMA the old one at their leisure and once its confirmed as faulty they can then refund me the original purchase. The short answer was no we won’t refund you in that instance if its confirmed faulty they would replace it meaning I would then have 2 of the same item which is of no use to me. Finally, I was essentially told, if you want sort it any quicker then try getting in contact with the manufacturer and dealing with the RMA/Replacement directly with them.

What boggled my mind, is I provided video and screenshots of the fault and if I returned it to the company in question, they have the means and staff to test it on a testbench and confirm its faulty as it would take all of 10 minutes to do so. Once they confirmed its faulty then they could chase a stock replacement from the manufacturer on their time.

In the immortal words, am I being unreasonable with my customer service expectations as i feel if this was someone like amazon it would be no questions asked?
 
If the warranty is RTB (return to base), then that's exactly what it is. When they respond to your ticket, they will ask you to send the faulty unit back. They'll test it and if they do reproduce the fault, then they'll send you a replacement unit. I've had failures rending my main desktop PC unusable, so that's why I have a laptop as a computer to tide time over when I'm dealing with RMAs.
 
Kinda. Problem is they probably don't have a system setup for this specific part or issue (their benches are different department?) so it has to be done manually. Just leave a trustpilot review saying too slow to sort out RMA and you'll shop elsewhere.

I'd just go with a cheap purchase to get you up and running while you're waiting. Or just go with the same part new and sell the other when it comes.

This is part of the reason i keep two PCs. Utter ballache chasing problems.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
If the warranty is RTB (return to base), then that's exactly what it is. When they respond to your ticket, they will ask you to send the faulty unit back. They'll test it and if they do reproduce the fault, then they'll send you a replacement unit. I've had failures rending my main desktop PC unusable, so that's why I have a laptop as a computer to tide time over when I'm dealing with RMAs.
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The problem is they wont test it themselves when they 100% have the staff and resources to quickly test it. They insist on it going back to the manufacturer. I've provided video and photographic evidence of the fault and that its entirely dead so there isn't really any testing to be had anyway.
 
Goods bought online must be:

  1. Satisfactory quality – your goods shouldn’t be faulty or damaged, and of at least satisfactory quality. For example, second-hand goods aren’t held to the same standards as new.
  2. Fit for purpose – you should be able to use it for the purpose they were supplied for.
  3. As described – your goods or service must match the description, model or sample shown when you bought it.
If within the first 30 days you have the right to reject the goods if they do not meet any of the three criteria above.

After 30 days you are not legally entitled to a refund, however you can ask the retailer to repair or refund the goods. Between 30 days and six months it’s assumed the fault was there from new, so it is up to the retailer to prove that it wasn’t there when you bought it, meaning it’s up to them to get it inspected to find the fault.

After six months, it’s up to you to prove it was faulty when it was delivered, although most decent retailers will assist in getting in inspected.

So according to the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the retailer is perfectly entitled to say what they’ve said.

Very annoying I know, for both you and a the retailer, as the vast majority of the time the retailer won’t cover postage to the repair centre :(
 
Zenduri said:
The problem is they wont test it themselves when they 100% have the staff and resources to quickly test it. They insist on it going back to the manufacturer. I've provided video and photographic evidence of the fault and that its entirely dead so there isn't really any testing to be had anyway.
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While you’re 100% genuine, you can imagine the amount if people that take the absolute pee out of retailers. Maybe the fault was caused by something else in your system?

While they might have the staff and resources, it’s all a cost which they can avoid by directing it to the manufacturer because if it is faulty they’ll only have to send it off the manufacturer and wait for them to verify it anyway to get it repaired or replaced.
 
This is another reason we are where we are in terms of amazon dominance. Refunds are generally dealt with immediately, even if at a loss to them, to ensure they remain market leaders in customer service and hence trust and market share.
 
I think this is why a lot of people are going to the rainforest site a lot more these days. I've had a few examples of electronics going wrong, get onto live chat, every time been offered credit or a refund to get another sorted immediately and then returning after the fact. Sometimes in the multiple hundreds of pounds region.
 
Megahurtz400 said:
Goods bought online must be:

  1. Satisfactory quality – your goods shouldn’t be faulty or damaged, and of at least satisfactory quality. For example, second-hand goods aren’t held to the same standards as new.
  2. Fit for purpose – you should be able to use it for the purpose they were supplied for.
  3. As described – your goods or service must match the description, model or sample shown when you bought it.
If within the first 30 days you have the right to reject the goods if they do not meet any of the three criteria above.

After 30 days you are not legally entitled to a refund, however you can ask the retailer to repair or refund the goods. Between 30 days and six months it’s assumed the fault was there from new, so it is up to the retailer to prove that it wasn’t there when you bought it, meaning it’s up to them to get it inspected to find the fault.

After six months, it’s up to you to prove it was faulty when it was delivered, although most decent retailers will assist in getting in inspected.

So according to the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the retailer is perfectly entitled to say what they’ve said.

Very annoying I know, for both you and a the retailer, as the vast majority of the time the retailer won’t cover postage to the repair centre :(
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Yeah I get that but they have done a doorstop swap before without all this hassle so it's almost like they decided to downgrade their service. I would have hoped they would offer the better customer service option over "erm.. actually the law says" approach. At the end of the day the items 100% dead so its not a question of testing based on what ive provided so far.

My irk is that if they did the swap i would be up and running again and they could take whatever time they need to test or return it to the manufacturer and then get credited for the faulty unit or replacement stock without me having to sit here waiting like a pillock. No-one would lose out financially, it's just a time thing. It's not a great journey in such a clear cut component failure like this one
 
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Yeah, I'd say it's pretty rubbish customer service. Not OcUK I hope?

A good way to deal with it would be send out a replacement while dealing with the return but as Megahurtz400 says there are too many pee takers these days so would probably ruin a company to do that.
 
It is pretty rubbish but I find the whole after 30 days deal with the manufacturers a pain in the arse. Should be that for first 12 months the retailer issues a replacement and they deal with the manufacturer.

If I spend £400+ on a pc part/tv/console etc and it breaks 40 days in I don't want it fixed or a reconditioned unit sent out. I want a new replacement boxed and sealed.
 
Zenduri said:
Yeah I get that but they have done a doorstop swap before without all this hassle so it's almost like they decided to downgrade their service. I would have hoped they would offer the better customer service option over "erm.. actually the law says" approach. At the end of the day the items 100% dead so its not a question of testing based on what ive provided so far.

My irk is that if they did the swap i would be up and running again and they could take whatever time they need to test or return it to the manufacturer and then get credited for the faulty unit or replacement stock without me having to sit here waiting like a pillock. No-one would lose out financially, it's just a time thing. It's not a great journey in such a clear cut component failure like this one
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I wholeheartedly agree with you.

But as someone who's on the other side of the fence as a retailer, most of the time the manufacturer will opt for a repair instead of a replacement, in that scenario, the retailer is left with a unit they can only sell as refurbished meaning they lose out.

They'll also lose out on shipping it to the manufacturer most of the time, which is either an expensive third party collect from customer > manufacturer option, or two shipping charges, one from you to the retailer, then to the manufacturer.

Essentially like @Puzzled says, really the manufacturer should be accept responsibility for a faulty product and arranging everything, at the moment essentially both the customer and the retailer lose out :(
 
Megahurtz400 said:
I wholeheartedly agree with you.

But as someone who's on the other side of the fence as a retailer, most of the time the manufacturer will opt for a repair instead of a replacement, in that scenario, the retailer is left with a unit they can only sell as refurbished meaning they lose out.

They'll also lose out on shipping it to the manufacturer most of the time, which is either an expensive third party collect from customer > manufacturer option, or two shipping charges, one from you to the retailer, then to the manufacturer.

Essentially like @Puzzled says, really the manufacturer should be accept responsibility for a faulty product and arranging everything, at the moment essentially both the customer and the retailer lose out :(
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This.
I owned an online retailer for 6 years (and still work for them now) and it’s a case of getting shafted by the supplier a lot of the time when it comes to warranty claims - the terms just aren’t reasonable or conducive to keeping the customer happy,

Very annoying!
 
mattyprice4004 said:
This.
I owned an online retailer for 6 years (and still work for them now) and it’s a case of getting shafted by the supplier a lot of the time when it comes to warranty claims - the terms just aren’t reasonable or conducive to keeping the customer happy,

Very annoying!
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Suppliers/manufacturer's being useless and taking weeks if not months to pull their finger out to fix or replace something for a customer, meanwhile you're the one getting a phone call from an angry customer everyday.

I have one manufacturer at the moment which is truly hopeless, i've taken to telling the rep i'll be handing his mobile number out to customers if things aren't dealt with in good time and lo and behold things start to get sorted :p
 
Megahurtz400 said:
Suppliers/manufacturer's being useless and taking weeks if not months to pull their finger out to fix or replace something for a customer, meanwhile you're the one getting a phone call from an angry customer everyday.

I have one manufacturer at the moment which is truly hopeless, i've taken to telling the rep i'll be handing his mobile number out to customers if things aren't dealt with in good time and lo and behold things start to get sorted :p
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Amusingly I’ll be dealing with something very similar tomorrow - gotta love Mondays! :D

It’s ever so frustrating when I’m trying to buy their products and give them money. The joys…
 
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