Forced Refund

[fisnik]

I bought a XFX 8800GTS 320mb from Scan in may 2007. It got fried whilst I was playing Fallout 3. RMA-ed it back to scan about 3 weeks ago and it was found faulty straight away.

I had to wait about two weeks for them to hear back from XFX to also find it faulty. But after not hearing for a while I decided to ring them. I was told apparently that XFX had decided to credit Scan, so I was told to wait for an e-mail that would let me know what's going to happen.

I just got the e-mail today and I was told that the only thing they could do was offer me a refund of £50 + VAT and whether I would like them to start the procedure. Now considering I payed £180 a little over one and half year ago I was bit shocked. How can they work that out? I mean, I know I got 1.5 years use out of it, but even so £57.50 is just a joke of an amount.

I considered the cheaper newer cards that are available nowdays but quickly realised that they're not good enough. Looked on the net and, a new 8800gts seems to cost around £100 at least. Fair enough, I can accept that Scan can't provide a 8800GTS to me but they can at least give me a similar performing card.

Suffice to say I wrote back that I didn't want a refund and that I would like a similar performing card to the 8800 GTS. They wrote to me back straight away saying that they're starting the refund procedure anyway and that they worked out the money using a legal method. Basically I don't even get a say in the matter... Why did they even ask me in the first place then...?

I'm quite dissapointed with this. I thought Scan's customer service was better than this. Making decisions without talking to customers first or trying to explain doesn't say much. The reason I shopped at Scan in the first place was because of their customer service which has been pretty good in the past. Who knows maybe it's gone downhill since I had previously dealt with them.

[DavidM]

If you can PM me your invoice number, or the query reference, I'll forward the details to the relevant department to look into this further.

[fisnik]

Seems you got a full inbox and can't accept any more PM-s. You're a busy man, hehe. I'll try and send you one later.

[DavidM]

Thanks - I'll try and clean it ... see if it stays empty a bit longer

[Dr Cool]

When you do come around to buying a new one after refund I'd say a HD4850 would be a perfect replacement .

[SiM]

A 9600GT would be a fair replacement (and a slight upgrade). But for cash, £57.50 is a great deal! You wouldn't have been able to sell a working XFX 8800GTS 320mb for that much!

[LuckyNV]

The new GTS is quite a bit faster than the old GTS.
Something like an HD3850 or 9600GSO/8800GS is more on par.

[fisnik]

Well that's what I was thinking that I would get another card like the 9600GSO. To be honest I don't want to have to add money on top. Even if it's only a £10 or £20.

Although you might not be able to sell a used 8800gts for that much, that would be mainly because it's used and the other person will instinctively think, there might be something wrong with it. For the same reason I don't want to have to spend those £57 on ebay to buy a used 8800GTS.

[SiM]

Although you might not be able to sell a used 8800gts for that much, that would be mainly because it's used and the other person will instinctively think, there might be something wrong with it. For the same reason I don't want to have to spend those £57 on ebay to buy a used 8800GTS.

No, that is not the reason... People won't pay that much because it is crap, not because they think something is wrong with it... If people thought there was something wrong with it, they would only be willing to pay closer to zero (maybe up to £10-15 for a gamble).

[Mick@SCAN]

fisnik,

I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed with the outcome, however we have offered a refund which is a fair amount more than what you are legally entitled to, this decision is final and the refund will be processed ASAP.

Regards,

[Oldjim]

So basically the XFX warranty for Europe should be completely ignored

WARRANTY PERIOD
XFX warranties hardware Product for a period of two (2) years. WARRANTY PROCEDURE: Upon return of the hardware Product XFX will, at its option, repair or replace Product at no additional charge, freight prepaid, except as set forth below. Repair parts and replacement Product will be furnished on an exchange basis and will be either reconditioned or new. All replaced Product and parts become the property of XFX. If XFX determines that the Product is not under warranty, it will, at the Customers option, repair the Product using current XFX standard rates for parts and labor, and return the Product UPS Ground at no charge in or out of warranty.

[Bluey]

It cannot legally be ignored.

[fisnik]

Tbh I'd rather have the card back, but I guess I'll just have to add some money on top and get a 9600GSO or GT which would be the same as having my card back. I don't know if it's XFX or Scan that's at fault here but if XFX has a policy of giving a replacement, surely Scan is aware of it. I might just give XFX a call and find out what happens in these cases, and how do they actually work out that credit.

[Oldjim]

From previous Scan posts I believe that they assume the expected life is the warranty period and then calculate the refund on the proportion of that remaining

[fisnik]

Hmm seems a bit simple.

Anyway have written to XFX now. Let's see what they have to say.

[SiM]

From previous Scan posts I believe that they assume the expected life is the warranty period and then calculate the refund on the proportion of that remaining

Yeh they do something like that... What I don't get is why they assume that the rate of depreciation is linear? Surely, they can model the value better than that! Under their assumptions, an item with 2 month of warranty is not worth double an item with 1 month warranty!

IMO there should be a jump down at the beginning of the warranty period followed by a strictly decreasing rate of depreciation.