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Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at least
a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their supplier. And
as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to fit the new motherboard.

This strikes me a bullshit on two accounts. Firstly, they could easily
supply another model of board ex-stock but refuse to. And secondly why
should I pay a charge for them to meet their statutory obligations?

I'd quite like to guage general opinion on this before I hassle the
manager of the company concerned.


--
EMB

EMB wrote:
> Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
> investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
> confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at least
> a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their supplier. And
> as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to fit the new
> motherboard.

A bit grey...I have always worked on if the principle if I paid them to
fit it they fitted the new one, or I did it in my own time and accepted
some loss. If they just want to charge $25 to replace it, well that
sounds minimal and reasonable to me personally.

> This strikes me a bullshit on two accounts. Firstly, they could easily
> supply another model of board ex-stock but refuse to.

They will RMA the board so they wont actually pay for it, just their
time and money to do the paper work, so its a bit unfair to ask them to
use a different board if you are only waiting a week. If you were
waiting 4~6 weeks I would think that un-reasonable.

And secondly why
> should I pay a charge for them to meet their statutory obligations?
>
> I'd quite like to guage general opinion on this before I hassle the
> manager of the company concerned.
>
If it was me I'd pay the $25 and get them to fit it and not worry about
waiting a week. If its 4 weeks then I'd complain a lot.

regards

Thing

EMB wrote:
> Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
> investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
> confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at least
> a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their supplier. And
> as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to fit the new
> motherboard.
>
> This strikes me a bullshit on two accounts. Firstly, they could easily
> supply another model of board ex-stock but refuse to. And secondly why
> should I pay a charge for them to meet their statutory obligations?
>
> I'd quite like to guage general opinion on this before I hassle the
> manager of the company concerned.

Seems fine by me. They will only be able to replace with the same vendors board
under warentee, and you didnt pay for the board to be fitted.

I am surprised you were not charged for them diagnosing that it was the
motherboard myself as that is also quite a reasonable thing to charge for.

EMB <> wrote in news:ddrpje$3o8$:

> Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
> investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
> confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at
> least a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their
> supplier. And as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to fit
> the new motherboard.
>
> This strikes me a bullshit on two accounts. Firstly, they could
> easily supply another model of board ex-stock but refuse to. And
> secondly why should I pay a charge for them to meet their statutory
> obligations?
>
> I'd quite like to guage general opinion on this before I hassle the
> manager of the company concerned.
>
>

I think that is fair enough from the suppliers point of view.
A week is not an overly long time to expect a replacement to arrive.
If they had identical boards in stock, I would question waiting for the
warranty replacement to arrive, but as they don't, then expecting another
model or brand of motherboard, in my mine is unreasonable.

What are they to do with the replacement board if they give you a new one?
It may already be an obselete model which no-one will want to buy. It ends
up stuck on their shelf for 2 months until they decide to quit it at a
loss.

Question is: what does your warranty state the suppliers obligations are?
If they meet those obligations then what do you have to complain about?
Anything additional to those obligations are a bonus

And as for the installation charge, if the sold it to you in pieces, and
you put it togeather, then they don't really have an obligation to
reinstall it for you at no charge. In my mind, they could give it to you in
a bag and be done with it.

SteveM

SteveM wrote:
> EMB <> wrote in news:ddrpje$3o8$:
>
>
>>Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
>>investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
>>confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at
>>least a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their
>>supplier. And as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to fit
>>the new motherboard.
>>
>>This strikes me a bullshit on two accounts. Firstly, they could
>>easily supply another model of board ex-stock but refuse to. And
>>secondly why should I pay a charge for them to meet their statutory
>>obligations?
>>
>>I'd quite like to guage general opinion on this before I hassle the
>>manager of the company concerned.
>>
>>
>
>
> I think that is fair enough from the suppliers point of view.
> A week is not an overly long time to expect a replacement to arrive.
> If they had identical boards in stock, I would question waiting for the
> warranty replacement to arrive, but as they don't, then expecting another
> model or brand of motherboard, in my mine is unreasonable.
>
> What are they to do with the replacement board if they give you a new one?
> It may already be an obselete model which no-one will want to buy. It ends
> up stuck on their shelf for 2 months until they decide to quit it at a
> loss.

The motherboard in question is still a current model that they have in
stock. The original sale was a retail sale so is covered by the CGA
which leaves warranty responsibility with the retailer and not their
supplier.

>
> Question is: what does your warranty state the suppliers obligations are?
> If they meet those obligations then what do you have to complain about?
> Anything additional to those obligations are a bonus

See above - CGA obligations apply.
>
> And as for the installation charge, if the sold it to you in pieces, and
> you put it togeather, then they don't really have an obligation to
> reinstall it for you at no charge. In my mind, they could give it to you in
> a bag and be done with it.

They were called by me in advance and asked whether they wanted a
complete machine or a bare board in the original packaging and they
opted for a complete machine as "it will be easier to check". I have
opted to receive the replacement in it's original packaging as the PC in
question belongs to an 11 year old kid who literally can't afford the
$25. I got involved as his (non-computer literate) father is a client
of mine and I originally assembled the machine as a favour.




--
EMB

Richard wrote:
> EMB wrote:
>
>> Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
>> investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
>> confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at
>> least a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their
>> supplier. And as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to fit
>> the new motherboard.
>>
>> This strikes me a bullshit on two accounts. Firstly, they could
>> easily supply another model of board ex-stock but refuse to. And
>> secondly why should I pay a charge for them to meet their statutory
>> obligations?
>>
>> I'd quite like to guage general opinion on this before I hassle the
>> manager of the company concerned.
>
>
> Seems fine by me. They will only be able to replace with the same
> vendors board under warentee, and you didnt pay for the board to be fitted.

The machine was sold retail so the CGA applies and any warranty is borne
by the retailer - whether they can get a claim from their supplier is
their problem.

>
> I am surprised you were not charged for them diagnosing that it was the
> motherboard myself as that is also quite a reasonable thing to charge for.

As above - it was a retail sale so any diagnosis is most decidedly their
problem.


--
EMB

thing2 wrote:
> EMB wrote:
>
>> Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
>> investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
>> confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at
>> least a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their
>> supplier. And as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to fit
>> the new motherboard.
>
>
> A bit grey...I have always worked on if the principle if I paid them to
> fit it they fitted the new one, or I did it in my own time and accepted
> some loss. If they just want to charge $25 to replace it, well that
> sounds minimal and reasonable to me personally.

They were offered the return of a bare board but opted for a complete
machine - so any reassembly was their own decision.

>
>> This strikes me a bullshit on two accounts. Firstly, they could
>> easily supply another model of board ex-stock but refuse to.
>
>
> They will RMA the board so they wont actually pay for it, just their
> time and money to do the paper work, so its a bit unfair to ask them to
> use a different board if you are only waiting a week. If you were
> waiting 4~6 weeks I would think that un-reasonable.

They have replacement boards in stock, this was a retail sale, and (at
risk of sounding like Roger) the CGA applies which leaves any warranty
obligations firmly with the retailer - whether or not they get a credit
from the wholesaler is not actually relevant to this situation.

>
> And secondly why
>
>> should I pay a charge for them to meet their statutory obligations?
>>
>> I'd quite like to guage general opinion on this before I hassle the
>> manager of the company concerned.
>>
> If it was me I'd pay the $25 and get them to fit it and not worry about
> waiting a week. If its 4 weeks then I'd complain a lot.

It's the principle of the business pretty much ignoring their
obligations under the CGA that's annoying me. The kid who bought the
machine with his pocket money can't afford the $25, they opted to have a
complete machine returned to them - so overall I feel they're
responsible for everything. It's not much different to my Dad's new car
dying within warranty - the dealer paid to have it collected from where
it died, provided a courtesy car when it was not immediately repairable
and generally made sure he incurred no further costs or inconvenience.


--
EMB

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:01:27 +1200, EMB <> wrote:

>Richard wrote:
>> EMB wrote:
>>
>>> Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
>>> investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
>>> confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at
>>> least a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their
>>> supplier. And as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to fit
>>> the new motherboard.
>>>
>>> This strikes me a bullshit on two accounts. Firstly, they could
>>> easily supply another model of board ex-stock but refuse to. And
>>> secondly why should I pay a charge for them to meet their statutory
>>> obligations?
>>>
>>> I'd quite like to guage general opinion on this before I hassle the
>>> manager of the company concerned.
>>
>>
>> Seems fine by me. They will only be able to replace with the same
>> vendors board under warentee, and you didnt pay for the board to be fitted.
>
>The machine was sold retail so the CGA applies and any warranty is borne
>by the retailer - whether they can get a claim from their supplier is
>their problem.

Seems the machine wasn't a machine at all until you assembled it.
Put the board in yourself and save the $25.

>> I am surprised you were not charged for them diagnosing that it was the
>> motherboard myself as that is also quite a reasonable thing to charge for.
>
>As above - it was a retail sale so any diagnosis is most decidedly their
>problem.

EMB wrote:
> thing2 wrote:
>
>> EMB wrote:
>>
>>> Ok - a 3 month old PC has just upped and died. My initial
>>> investigations pointed to a dead motherboard. The reseller has just
>>> confirmed this and agreed to replace it. BUT there's a wait of at
>>> least a week whilst they obtain a replacement board from their
>>> supplier. And as the PC was supplied unassembled they want $25 to
>>> fit the new motherboard.
>>
>>
>>
>> A bit grey...I have always worked on if the principle if I paid them
>> to fit it they fitted the new one, or I did it in my own time and
>> accepted some loss. If they just want to charge $25 to replace it,
>> well that sounds minimal and reasonable to me personally.
>
>
> They were offered the return of a bare board but opted for a complete
> machine - so any reassembly was their own decision.

I'd agree with you there. The week waiting is OK, but if you got the
board as a component, you should be able to give it back that way. If
they want to replace it, it's on them.

EMB <> wrote:

>They were offered the return of a bare board but opted for a complete
>machine - so any reassembly was their own decision.

I don't agree. You gave them the option of a complete machine or the
motherboard. They were happy to have the whole machine because the
board would be easier to test. But it doesn't follow that they have an
obligation to return the PC in a repaired and assembled state --
because that's not the state in which you received the motherboard and
the other bits.

As for warranty -- generally the customer's warranty is with the
manufacturer, and the shop acts as agent. It's common practice and I
assume it's is acceptable under the CGA, but I'm not a lawyer or a
shop-keeper.

Overall, I think the retailer is being reasonable.