is this a normal warranty? Are all warranties like this?

[autumn_suns3t]

I read on Gigabyte's site
" Claims under this warranty can only be made for products purchased in the participating countries and can only be made in the country in which the product was originally bought. Condition for this is the previous successful registration of the product within four weeks after date of purchase. "

Meaning that if I live in UK and Amazon.co.uk sells a mobo at €150 while Amazon.de sells it at €110, if I buy from Germany I have no warranty ?!?!

So I ask you if most/all warranties are like this.. before about their smartphone Sony told me their warranty is European, not national.

[note for moderators: should citing e-shop names be unruly, erase the shop's name/let me know. I am quite new here.]

 

[rolli59]

Some companies have global warranty but most not. In your case since retailers handle warranty claims in Europe you could claim warranty through Amazon.de.

 

[Ijack]

Don't worry. European consumer laws give you protection that is at least as good as, and probably better than, the warranty.

 

[autumn_suns3t]

@rolli59
Is global warranty the opposite of limited warranty? (I always find "limited warranty" in whatever terms I read).

I read in Fractal Design's warranty I have to ship the product to the retailer I bought for (=> no problems for me)
but Gigabyte says I have to ship to them directly.. and my country and country in the receipt must be the same.
If I find something less unfair in Asus warranty maybe I'll get an Asus [mad].

@ljack

I don't know much about that, but I think EU laws cover a 2-year period (and apply to sellers, not to manufacturers, maybe?).
After 2 years, it's only the customer and the manufacturer.

 

[rolli59]

@rolli59
Is global warranty the opposite of limited warranty? (I always find "limited warranty" in whatever terms I read).

I read in Fractal Design's warranty I have to ship the product to the retailer I bought for (=> no problems for me)
but Gigabyte says I have to ship to them directly.. and my country and country in the receipt must be the same.
If I find something less unfair in Asus warranty maybe I'll get an Asus [mad].

All warranties claim limited! European consumer laws force the retailer to handle your warranty claim (within 2years) so in this case Amazon.de regardless of what Gigabyte says.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

In eu manufacturers are not required to give warrantee so your rights are against the retailer first , any warrantee is extra and in addition to sale of goods act rights

Manufacturer can say warrantee is only valid if goods sold in country x etc

There may be problems with grey imports
So UK branch of manufacturer may not accept warrantee for goods intended for US market etc

If you buy from German company (Amazon.de) then German retail law applies to contract


If you buy from manufacturer such as Dell your rights can be both under warrantee and sale of goods act

For retail (not business sales) Under UK sale of goods act for first 6 months if a product failed it is assumed it had a manufacturing defect unless this can be disproved by retailer.

After 6 months the purchaser must prove the problem was caused by a manufacturing defect in order to make a claim

Consumer Rights last for upto 6 Years in UK

The Retailer is not liable for problems caused by :- misuse , accident, setting mains voltage switch to 110V when it should be 230V etc
Or trying and failing to upgrade hardware or software
Or over clocking hardware speed themselves

Regards
Mike barnes

 

[autumn_suns3t]

Ok. After 2 years I have to deal with Gigabyte and not the seller anymore. In the first 2 years I can choose between the manufacturer or the shop.

Thanks all

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

under eu laws consumer rights against retailer last for a minimum of 2 years UK have 6 years other states vary
But having sale of goods act rights is all very well, you have to show there is a latent defect not misuse
Laptop batteries are disposable products
Hard drive do not like shock or vibration while in use

It is rare for most manufacturers give more than 1 year year Warrantee

Regards
Mike Barnes

 

[autumn_suns3t]

Mr. Barnes, I am purchasing an SSD provided with 10-year warranty, and a motherboard with 5-year warranty .

I don't abuse products.. but I don't know how I can prove that I didn't lol.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

Which SSD maker gives a 10 year warrantee/ guarantee?

I know a few hard disks have 5 years warrantee

There are some advantages in warantees over sale of goods act rights


Regards
Mike Barnes

 

[autumn_suns3t]

After some research, I have drawn some conclusion.

Every product, new or used, purchased from a professional seller, is given an Europe-wide «Legal warranty», formally spread across two years, just with the little detail that past the first six months it is up to the buyer to prove that it wasn't him/her to damage the item, something, to quote Europen Union's official site, «which can be not simple».
In other words, the EU grants customers a factual six months warranty.

Single members of the Union can establish and apply further acts, only aimer at widening customer rights and product warranty.

All of this regards the buyer and the seller, not product manufacturer.

Then there is the Commercial warranty. It can be provided for free or upon a fee by sellers or manufacturers themselves. It can exceed Legal warranty, or be shorter and more restricted, however, Legal warranty stands.

All together, manufacturers are free to dispose of customers as they wish, while nearly the totality of people is unaware of legal facts. Warranty, not soundbytes and claims, not either claims of warranty, but sheer warranty terms and condition clearly spoken, are what shows the true features of a brand.
Commercial warranty can be international and/or national, the latter covering merely products officially sold within the nation, solely by residents in that nation; as for international warranty, it comes into play when you bought the product from another country, it can be denied, or acknowledged on condition the product be sent to the country of original purchase, or provided in-place, if the company has a repair center there and if they want to.

For example see SanDisk's website and you'll notice it is rather easy to locate where to read the full warranty terms (they are included with products, as well). 10-year warranty is on their top SSD, the Extreme Pro (they give lifelong or 30-years warranty on other flash memories etc.).

See Gigabyte's site: product pages show nothing about warranty, while the main site provides a directory leading to a supposed warranty section, that either leads to nothing or to naked indications such as «motherboards have a 3 year warranty».. with no further legal indications. This means that there's no public agreement between you and Gigabyte, but a generic promise on their side to assist you with their product for some time. In other words, they can do or not do whatever they wish.

The same applies to Asus. Clicking on «warranty» on one of their product pages few lines speak of many-years warranties, list some cases to which warranty does not apply, plus a delicious and bewildering «Warranty on Asus products is based on their serial number».
It is after a weary search, and using Google (certainly not any understandable or guessable on-site route) that we reach Asus full warranty terms. Here we find a lot of menacious talk, plus the solution to former puzzle: it is, warranty time count starts from when the product is manufactured, not from purchase date )!
More important, outside from Legal warranty, past the first six months in other words, companies can do what they like most. Which oftentimes is to be negligent and deny any policy of fairness to the customer.

I speak as a customer, who today tried to search for warranty conditions provided by brands he is interested to buy from and was awed by the total absence of any terms and conditions, or by the way they are concealed, and spoken.

Were not in close terms with companies and multinationals, it would be to our governments and parliaments to rectify this unrighteous field of warranty. Starting from forcing every company to provide a link to their full warranty, and it be visible and on the home page.

This link contains some official EU information on the subject.
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/faq/index_en.htm