RMA-ing a motherboard,return to seller (Scan) or manufacturer (MSI)?

[Rob_B]

Hi all,

My son's motherboard has decided it no longer wants to output any audio apart from a loud screech so it needs to go back, is going direst to MSI better than Scan or would Scan just send me to them anyway?

Thanks!

Rob

EDIT: I stated it was bought form CCL at first but seems it was from Scan.

[kalniel]

CCL can't send you to them - if you bought it from CCL then they're responsible for sorting you out. That's not to say it might not still be quicker to go direct to MSI rather than waiting for CCL to pass things on if they need to - I don't know - but CCL can't duck their responsibilities.

[Saracen999]

CCL can't send you to them - if you bought it from CCL then they're responsible for sorting you out. That's not to say it might not still be quicker to go direct to MSI rather than waiting for CCL to pass things on if they need to - I don't know - but CCL can't duck their responsibilities.

Digging a bit deeper into that, they can kind-of send you to MSI (or whoever the manufacturer is) but yes, they definitely can't duck their legal responsibilities.

There's two wrinkles, however.

Wrinkle 1), and you mentioned it, they can advise going direct to Mfr under warranty, as being faster, and they might well be right. They just can't insist.

Wrinkle 2), and this one is more significant and worth considering :-

Seller is responsible for the usual Sale of Goods Act stuff (satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose, etc) but ONLY for inherent faults.

Manufacturer can be held to whatever ther warranty coverage is, which might well be more generous coverage.


So an important thing for the consumer to consider is what they think went wrong, why it went wrong, and whether the manufacturer warranty or seller 'consumer law' obligations are best suited.


To be clear, I 100% utterly agree that a seller cannot just palm you off onto the manufacturer, though Gawd knows enough still try, though it's been illegal since, well, at least the late '70s and the '79 SoGA so you'd think their staff training would have caught up in the 50+ years they've had. It's almost like certain well-known names .... uhhh .... did it deliberately.

But .... they can advise that, circumstances-dependent, it might either be faster, or more likely be covered, and sometimes they would be right.

In direct answer to Rob's question, my answer would (unfortunately) be - it's hard to know.

Some (few) retailers will both have the ability and inclination to, first, assess the fault, and second, address it themselves, while others will just package up the item and send it back to the Mfr who, frankly, are usually MUCH better equipped to test and diagnose.

Some retailers have arrangements with the Mfr for the retailer to do an initial quick diagnosis and in clear cases, replace for the consumer immediately and directly, and worry about the bit between seller and mfr later. But many don't have that.

I have no idea what arrangements CCL have in place.

One factor, Rob, is how old the board is?

In terms of the consumer rights stuff, IF it's very new, and I mean wthin about 30 days at most (for most products) your rights are strongest and you can just insist on refund or, at your choice, replacement. This applies if you haven't "accepted" the goods which is not quite what it sounds like, and does NOT refer to accepting delivery.

If that initial rejection period is past, but you're still in the first 6 months, your rights are still pretty strong and the fault will be presumed to be one where those SoGA rights cover you, unless it can be proven otherwise. But if it's more than 6 months, that burden of proof switches and you might have to prove the fault is "inherent", or it will be presumed to not be. And at that point, it may very well be that the mfr warranty is more generous and longer lasting.

But then, how long is the mfr warranty for? A month? A year? Five years? 20 years?

I have a kitchen blender, for instance, where the mfr's motor warranty is for 20 years. Yup, twenty years. My consumer rights are, at best, for seven years.

Essentially. manufacturers are bound to offer a warranty, but if they do, and if the buyer knew of it and relied on it when buying, then a court can (if required) enforce it. Nothing required that manufacturer to offer 20 years, but they did, and I took copies of their web pages etc that offered it and saved them with the sales receipt.

I buy some clothes from an online service where the guarantee is (or was, I haven't checked recently) two months, for any reason. Got a cigarette burn? You're covered. Dog chewed them? You're covered. Don't like the colour? Covered. Wore them to a wedding then sending them back. Covered.

Of course, a couple of those are damned cheeky. I actually asked them about those and they said "Yes, we'll replace or refund but our warranty is generous to encourage reasonable people that our offerings are risk-free. However, if people abuse it like that, we'll honour what we said but reserve the right to decline to sell to that person again".

My point is that what your consumer rights offer is decent, but significantly weakens after 6 months, which is a time point hard-defined in law.

The manufacturer warranty might well be much more generous but also might be for a hell of a lot longer (my blender) or a hell of a lot shorter time (those clothes).

All I can really suggest re your mobo and CCL is to have a look at CCLs policies, and the manufacturer warranty. CCL will be required to at least comply with consumer law, but can optionally be more generous. Or not. The manufacturer warranty isn't really proscribed as to what it offers, or indeed if it exists at all, but they can be held to whatever they do offer.

Beyond that, it's down to anecdotal evidence about CCLs typical responses and attitude and while no doubt many here have dealt with them and can comment, I haven't, so can't.

[Rob_B]

Cheers guys, I'm aware the CCL are responsible but figured if they would just send to MSI then I'd be best doing that.
Any experience with either of these companies from anyone?
board is ~5 months old

[Saracen999]

....
board is ~5 months old

I'd strongly advise .... check the date and before the 6-month bit, at the very least, get an email off to CCL outlining that fault, AND therefore giving you proof it was within 6 months of purchase. That is an important time point. Get your evidence in before the clock ticks past.

[Rob_B]

So based on that I checked and it was actually bought from Scan on 13th Dec. I've dropped them a support msg.

So does that change anything? Not had to RMA with them before (I don't think)

EDIT: Got an RMA, now to break the news to my son that he won't have a PC for a while