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Ah, but you have authorised it.Originally posted by petrefax
probably not a great deal of help but you could get your £30 back straight away by contacting your CC company & requesting a chargeback - if you've not authorised this payment (which you haven't) then your CC will instantly recharge their bank for the £30 - in this instance its the responsibility of their bank to prove you authorised the transaction, which they obviously cannot
ok, so you're still down £300+ but its a start
When you buy from a company you are (in most circumstances, and depending on exactly how their website works) accepting their terms and conditions. That this charge will be made is part of theior terms and conditions. It actually says £20 plus return shipping costs, and then VAT.
Look at it from their point of view - in the general sense - not in the context of this case.
They flog a product, and get it sent back as non-working. I;d guess that in a fair percentage of cases, the product works just fine and the buyer is simply getting it wrong. Or alternatively, the buyer had damaged the goods. I was standning in Watford Electronics one day several years ago and a bloke was moaning (very loadly) about a defective CPU, and how he wanted his money back, and right now or he was going to do this, that, and the other (Watchdog, etc).
The salesman asked him which way round the CPU wad been when put in the socket. Blank look from customer. "Well, how was it oriented" said the support guy. More blank looks. "It's square," says the support guy, "so it can go in the socket in four different ways (he demonstrates), so which way round di you insert it?".
"What does it matter," says the guy, "it don't <bleep> work."
At which point (yeah, you've guessed it) the support guy turns it other, points out the bent pins, points out the orientation markings in the Socket A slot and tells the guy that THIS iswhy it didn't work - and is now damaged. The irate customer still won't have it, and demands his money back. It ended with the bloke swearing and cursing, and being told to leave the premises or the police would be called.
Operations like OcUK HAVE to operate a policy of only replacing or refunding if there are good reasons, and not just because the customer is a twerp, or the goods have been damaged. If they didn't, they'd have to be charging PC World-level prices. They are quite within their rights to test returned products, and to charge if the products are not faulty. It all takes time, and costs money, to do, so why shoyuld they pay for it if the fault is not theirs.
It has also been suggested that the entire system be returned for testing. Two things about that. Firstly, their returns policy states explicitly that RMA's are issued with respect to specific goods only, and that other goods are NOT to be returned.You MIGHT have better luck going there with the whole system, but I'd suggest doing it by prior appointment. Otherwise, you can't expect their staff to drop everything just because you walk through the door expecting instant action.RMA's are issued for specific products only. Please do not send other items not covered by the RMA such as full systems
Also, when you buy a product, it is expectedto not be faulty, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will work with YOUR hardware. If you bought two items together, you can reasonably expect them to work together. If you explicitly stated what the items were going to be used in (i.e. that the video card you buy will be used in a specific motherboard) then they legally MUST be compatible. But, there have been occasions when I've bought Socket A motherboards and 478 processors, because I was building various machines, and they were the bits I needed for completion, in conjunction with components I already had, or had ordered elsewhere. It is NOT the supplier's responsibilty to ensure that the buyer knows what he is doing. It is the buyers - to either be competent, or two explain EXPLICITLY what he wants, if he wants to be sure to be protected.
Returning to this specific situation, I would first try all reasonable steps. Explain to the shop, and or Spie himself, exactly what the problem is, that the goods have been independently tested by TWO other organisations and found to be faulty. Give them opportunity to sort the problem out. I would also ensure that any further communications on this matter were send by recorded delivery.
I would not, at this stage, start threatening small claims court, or watchdog, etc. For a start, as soon as you start talking about Watchdog, you will achieve two things - you will annoy the shop, and quite possibly causethem to react by saying "well, go ahead then". Secondly, it is a hollow threat. Watchdog will NOT be interested in something like this. It isn't 'sexy' enough and wouldn't make good TV.
I would also contact my local country court, and get the necessary forms for a claim in the small claims court. I'd start filling them in, reading up onthe necessary procedures and documentation, and be ready to move to that stage.
If, despite all reasonable attempts to get OcUK to sort the problem out, they refuse to budge, then you have a genuine trade dispute on your hands and there is only one practical course left open to you. Small Claims Court. Let the court decide who is in the right and who is in the wrong.
IF, repeat IF the circumstances are exactly as described, and if OcUK do not have a convincing rebuttal, then you should win such a case, and can claim damages for breach of contract, including the refund of the credit card charges and, for that matter, the costs of returning the products to OcUK and court fees, etc.
If, repeat if the circumstances are as described, I doubt OcUK will let it get that far, as they must be aware they would probably lose. However, we only have one side of the story here, and it is not beyond possibility that OcUK have a good response, and one that just might be valid in court. If you push it to a court, and lose, you'll end up with your cosur costs too. Those costs are delberately kept low for small claims court, but it could yet end up costing you more than it has already.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind, though. OcUK may well be obliged to repair or replace faulty components, but are quite possibly NOT obliged to refund you your original purchase price.
If the goods are faulty ON DELIVERY, you CAN demand your money back. This is because the trader has failed to meet their obligations under the contract - the process is called "recission". However, you only have a "reasonable" time, after delivery, to inspect the goods and contact the trader to notify them of the fault. "Reasonable" is not defined anywhere, and will likely vary accordingtothe nature and complexity of the goods. But in any event, it is likely to be days, or a week or two, and is VERY unlikely to be as long as a month.
It is POSSIBLE that a fault might exost on delivery that is not noticable right away. If that happens, and IF you ordered the goods long-distance (i.e. mail-order, internet, etc rather than buying in a shop) then within the first 6 months the trader has to prove that the goods were NOT faulty on delivery, rather than you having to prove they were. So, the 6-month cut-off can be important.
However, in this case, it has already been stated that the goods were working, and then stopped. THAT effectively hands OcUK the proof they need that the goods were not faulty on delivery. Unless OcUK were notified ofthis problem within the first couple of weeks after delivery, then almost certainly a court will hold that the goods were not faulty on delivery, and that they ahave been "accepted". The right to a refund is therefore lost.
What you DO still have, if the goods are gone faulty after "acceptance" is the right to repair or replacement. You might still get offered a refund, but cannot require one.
I have to say that, were I OcUK, I would be suspicious about a motherboard AND video card that were BOTH working, and then BOTH fail. Even if the goods are now defective,then the question remains "why?".
Did they fail, or were they damaged?
Was there user-error. Was the card removed while power was present on the mobo - especially considering the soft-power-on status of modern mobo's? Was there a PSU fault? Was there an external mains voltage issue?
I'm puzzled by BOTH products suddenly just developing faults, unless something caused it.
And if it WERE some external factor, the fault of a PSU (not supplied by OcUK) or user-error, then OcUK have no liability in replacing goods damaged this way.
I have no reason to love OcUK, and as some here may know, have had my own run-in wth Spie. My own forums, the Digital Darkroom is, so far as I know, still a banned link at OcUK. I have no reason to stand up for him or his company BUT - sincethey are either not aware ofthis thread, or choose not to participate in it, I feel that it is necessary to redress the balance somewhat.
I have a lot of sympathy for Vaul, and right may be entirely on his side. However, we have not had the other side of the story. OcUK may well have very good reasons for taking the stance they have taken.
As I said, I have no reason to love OcUK, but my own experience with them has been that when I have had a problem, it has been sorted out very expeditiously and to my entire satisfaction. Also, on these occasions, I had ordered anonymously and OcUK had NO IDEA that I was one of their moderators at the time, so had no reason to give me preferential treatment.
Originally Posted by Saracen
