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2 year warranty - know your rights!!

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  • Graphics Cards
Last response: in General UK & Ireland Discussions
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January 7, 2010 9:42:11 AM

Recently I had a problem with my graphics card, which ended up in the company I purchased it from refusing to replace/refund it even though relatively new EU legislation extends warranties of everything bought in the UK to two years. However I knew I was right, took them to court and won getting a complete refund including the court fees (only £25).

It seems to me that so few people know if this that I should point it out (and if the mods decide this is useful and sticky it I'll rewrite it and make the main points clearer so if anyone is in the situation I was in they can easily find what they need).

The short version is that EU directive 1999/44/EC, active from 2001, gives you 2 years warranty on anything bought within the UK providing they were bought no more than 2 years ago (obviously!), you are reporting the fault within 2 months of it occurring and the item shows no signs of user damage.

To compliment this the Sales of Goods act was modified to give a warranty of up to 6 years, but which is based on the 'expected lifetime of the item' (for most computer parts this is over the 1 year warranty provided by a lot of companies).

Initially with me the company I was dealing with said they abided by the Sales of Goods Act instead of the EU Law (as they are allowed to do), however I pointed out that they would then need to justify why a £300 graphics card has a life expectancy of only 1 year.

Using the extremely simple Money Claim Online service https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp I submitted my claim (costing £25) and got a phone call just over a week later from the company offering me a full refund.

If anyone is on the verge of losing hundreds thanks to a 1 year warranty point that out! One thing to keep in mind is that these laws affect the company you purchased the item from and not the manufacturer (if they are different), manufacturers may only give you 1 year, so it is then down to the seller to provide the service after that.

More about : year warranty rights

January 7, 2010 9:56:30 AM

Very interesting, if it is all true i think this should be a sticky, i even work part time at a well know high street electronics store when im not at uni where we sell 2 year warranties on laptops at what i think is a rather high price. will be interesting to talk to the managers bout this n see whtat they think or are aware of.
January 7, 2010 11:19:16 AM

Oh it is all true, believe me. I spent ages reading through web pages on it to make sure I was right before I went to court (thinking it would cost more than £25!).

Providing you are within 2 months of the fault appearing, haven't caused it yourself and can argue that it should last at least two years (if they go the Sales of Goods Act instead of EU law), you are covered. It all came about because most things you buy now are made to such a quality (and often cost so much) that 1 year of use simply isn't enough.

It wouldn't surprise me if your managers didn't know either, it seems that so few people are aware of it that shops that don't know are none the wiser and those that do choose not to advertise the fact that they are bound by law to help you for 2 years! The only shop I know of that say they give you two years warranty are John Lewis.
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January 26, 2010 7:44:25 PM

haydox said:
Recently I had a problem with my graphics card, which ended up in the company I purchased it from refusing to replace/refund it even though relatively new EU legislation extends warranties of everything bought in the UK to two years. However I knew I was right, took them to court and won getting a complete refund including the court fees (only £25).

It seems to me that so few people know if this that I should point it out (and if the mods decide this is useful and sticky it I'll rewrite it and make the main points clearer so if anyone is in the situation I was in they can easily find what they need).

The short version is that EU directive 1999/44/EC, active from 2001, gives you 2 years warranty on anything bought within the UK providing they were bought no more than 2 years ago (obviously!), you are reporting the fault within 2 months of it occurring and the item shows no signs of user damage.

To compliment this the Sales of Goods act was modified to give a warranty of up to 6 years, but which is based on the 'expected lifetime of the item' (for most computer parts this is over the 1 year warranty provided by a lot of companies).

Initially with me the company I was dealing with said they abided by the Sales of Goods Act instead of the EU Law (as they are allowed to do), however I pointed out that they would then need to justify why a £300 graphics card has a life expectancy of only 1 year.

Using the extremely simple Money Claim Online service https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp I submitted my claim (costing £25) and got a phone call just over a week later from the company offering me a full refund.

If anyone is on the verge of losing hundreds thanks to a 1 year warranty point that out! One thing to keep in mind is that these laws affect the company you purchased the item from and not the manufacturer (if they are different), manufacturers may only give you 1 year, so it is then down to the seller to provide the service after that.




Makes me laugh this crap....

Why is it the dealers fault if a company produces shabby goods...

The dealer didnt make it, the manufacturing company made it......

Im a dealer and had a stupid woman complain about a printer which she broke and had for nearly 3 years.

Dealers profits are constantly being hindered by online companies and people like your self are out to get what they can get.

I appreciate your card failed, I appreciate your upset, but put it in the prospective that it takes nearly 30 cards at 10 profit to sell to pay for your card when the dealer only gets one year warranty from the manufacturer.

Typical Labour - made a act which fecks up the country in the long run.

There is a percentage of honest reputable computer dealers which are constantly hounded over what rights they feel that they have.

There is a percentage of companies which rip the arse off of people... One of the biggest high street pc shops included.

HP are the biggest makes of brands which have not lived up to the hype and only hp makes hp products where the dealer if lucky makes a fiver.

In the long run - service will suffer as there will be no one around who can be bothered anymore.
January 26, 2010 8:02:33 PM

Firstly I object to you saying that i was out for what i could get. Overclockers could have taken it for repair and didn't have to pay me the full amount (i would have accepted half which they were well within their rights to offer), however they played it childish and ignored me (not such an 'honest dealer') which pissed me off. I can't however argue that it isn't unfair on dealers, if it was possible to change it to cover manufacturers that would definitely be better (it's also an eu law, not a labour one). Still, Overclockers have a dreadful rep for customer service which i can now appreciate so unlike smaller businesses i find it hard to be sympathetic towards them.
January 26, 2010 8:34:05 PM

haydox said:
Firstly I object to you saying that i was out for what i could get. Overclockers could have taken it for repair and didn't have to pay me the full amount (i would have accepted half which they were well within their rights to offer), however they played it childish and ignored me (not such an 'honest dealer') which pissed me off. I can't however argue that it isn't unfair on dealers, if it was possible to change it to cover manufacturers that would definitely be better (it's also an eu law, not a labour one). Still, Overclockers have a dreadful rep for customer service which i can now appreciate so unlike smaller businesses i find it hard to be sympathetic towards them.



Overclockers are a typical company of that ilk

sell them cheap and no customer service

I know where OC buy some of their stock from. As i do the same.

Also OC has no faces to meet which to moan at. its all done i assume by either phone or email

I could go on about issues i have had with Acer, let me tell you, you think you had it bad with OC wait till you try and get a Acer laptop fixed.

But by the by, Im glad you got a result and sorry if i came across harsh but i have had 3 people now come to me with this and it really isnt my fault that Asus, HP and MSI have provided crap products.

labour, eu their all the same a$$holes to me
January 26, 2010 8:49:13 PM

Haha, i don't think i've got anything made by Acer, but thanks for the warning! Must admit, i now look for things with more than 1 year manufacturer warranty (like my replacement card) just so i can avoid all the hassle i had with OcUK, but it's nice to know that it helps stop dealers get hit (to be honest i never realised that before, i didn't know what kind of profit they/you made). Also, must agree with you on the Labour front, idiots!
January 27, 2010 5:51:28 AM

haydox said:
Haha, i don't think i've got anything made by Acer, but thanks for the warning! Must admit, i now look for things with more than 1 year manufacturer warranty (like my replacement card) just so i can avoid all the hassle i had with OcUK, but it's nice to know that it helps stop dealers get hit (to be honest i never realised that before, i didn't know what kind of profit they/you made). Also, must agree with you on the Labour front, idiots!



To ad insult to injury, these online companies deal with manufacturers direct..

They get better discounts - sometimes the online price is cheaper than what I can buy it for..

Now how is that fair...

This financial situation is largely down to firms cutting out the middle man who made them famous in the first place..

Trust me, HP etc would not be where they are today if it werent for recomendations from me over 20 years ago, I remember when the first Deskjet came out in black and white and it was £700. You made a profit then.

now its 50 and you make about 3-5.

PC World have quoted a customer cost less 10% so it makes a loss on a printer - that was a couple of years ago when DSGI were in the crap - no wonder.

This trade is very hard work, it used to be easy but now its just tiresome and this just adds to it all.
a b U Graphics card
January 27, 2010 3:56:59 PM

Hellboy said:
To ad insult to injury, these online companies deal with manufacturers direct..

They get better discounts - sometimes the online price is cheaper than what I can buy it for..

Now how is that fair...

This financial situation is largely down to firms cutting out the middle man who made them famous in the first place..

Trust me, HP etc would not be where they are today if it werent for recomendations from me over 20 years ago, I remember when the first Deskjet came out in black and white and it was £700. You made a profit then.

now its 50 and you make about 3-5.

PC World have quoted a customer cost less 10% so it makes a loss on a printer - that was a couple of years ago when DSGI were in the crap - no wonder.

This trade is very hard work, it used to be easy but now its just tiresome and this just adds to it all.



LOL, thanks to you HP is a company, ya right!!!!!!
January 27, 2010 5:45:24 PM

daship said:
LOL, thanks to you HP is a company, ya right!!!!!!



yeah i didnt read what i typed


what i meant to say is hp is not the company it is to day with out people like me recommending their hardware and then they went direct....


my bad..


anyway its true, hp was recommended all over the place and then they knocked the people that mattered and now sell crap.


ho hum
January 28, 2010 5:59:24 PM

Hellboy said:
Makes me laugh this crap....

Why is it the dealers fault if a company produces shabby goods...

The dealer didnt make it, the manufacturing company made it......


And you chose to sell it. Sale of goods act places the liability for replacement of failed items on the seller. You supply the goods, you are the 'face' therefore your problem. The situation is no different for on-line sales.


January 29, 2010 7:22:26 AM

audiovoodoo said:
And you chose to sell it. Sale of goods act places the liability for replacement of failed items on the seller. You supply the goods, you are the 'face' therefore your problem. The situation is no different for on-line sales.



Its all well and good, but when a manufacturers product that has known for its reliability in the past then things change.

I just don't understand this stupid setup.

Sony produced dodgy batteries and who paid the price - sony

hp produce a crap printer, its my fault ???
January 29, 2010 4:56:50 PM

Well if you sell a product from a company that is well known for it's unreliability you may be able to argue that it only had a life expectancy of say 1 year (although this alone may not win you the court case).

The law does state that the seller is responsible although I agree that it should really be the manufacturer. I suppose one could argue that the seller should only sell products that will last 2+ years, however how is a retailer to know how reliable a newly released product is.

I personally think that a retailer should be able to place whatever warranty they want on their goods, as long as they make this very clear to the customer.
January 30, 2010 3:35:16 PM

Hellboy said:
Its all well and good, but when a manufacturers product that has known for its reliability in the past then things change.

I just don't understand this stupid setup.

Sony produced dodgy batteries and who paid the price - sony

hp produce a crap printer, its my fault ???


I think you'll find a good few retailers took a hit on the sony batteries, even if only in admin. The difference between the two scenarios you describe is that Sony did a recall, very different from standard warranty cover.

What nobody has picked up on here is that the seller can take up a claim against the distributor / manufacturer. The seller also has some rights.
January 30, 2010 7:44:43 PM

I think the problem with that is that often sellers are from other countries. In my case, i don't know how OcUK would have gone about starting a claim against HIS who are based in the far east (china or japan i think).
February 3, 2010 5:52:51 PM

That's for them to sort with their distributor. In the case of grey imports they are fubar. At the end of the day it's their problem not the consumer. Let's face it folks, if it was simple we'd all be running our own shops and taking staff discount.

This is why I stopped doing builds for anything other than beer money. They buy the parts, I do the work - easy.
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