Build The Ultimate Custom PC (2005)

Chapter 19 — Everything You Need to Know about Warranties 339

Ways to contact the mail order company include

Email (or web contact form)

Telephone

Snail mail (takes a long time and isn’t recommended)

One of the best ways is using email (available on their website usually). That way, not only do you get everything down in writing but you also get a response in writing. In addition, you get the contact name of the person at the company who will be handling your problem.

When you get in touch with a mail order company make sure that you give them the following information:

Your name

Address

Order number

Defective item in question

Brief description of how the item is defective

When you get in touch with a mail order company by email or web contact form, then allow them two working days to respond (many will respond earlier). If you don’t get a response, then you can either send another message or escalate to the phone.

When you do return the product, make sure you return everything, including the invoice (keep a copy), your complete contact information, and a brief description of the problem with the item. If you were given a returns number, include this both on the note inside the package and also write it clearly on the outside of the package.

Take special care when packaging the item. You don’t want to take any chances that the item is going to get even more damaged in transit. The best packaging to return a product in is the packaging it was sent to you in — that way the vendor can’t say that you didn’t take enough care of it in transit!

Think carefully about whether to insure the package in transit. If the package gets lost of further damaged in transit, the vendor might not take responsibility for it and you could be out of pocket.

Products or Components That Fail within Days or Weeks

Generally, you can deal with products that fail within a few days or weeks in much the same way as you would deal with an item that was found to be DOA. Most vendors and stores are more than happy to exchange products that become faulty soon after purchase. Most vendors have a good relationship with their suppliers and can exchange a defective product for a good one and return it up the supply chain back to the manufacturer. Get in touch with the vendor and see if they will help you.

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Most products come with at least a year’s warranty (and some with longer warranties — check your documentation!), and given the fierce competition between manufacturers most nowadays offer customers good warranty terms in order to keep an existing customer.

Occasionally, you might come across a vendor or supplier who, after selling you a product a few days go, just won’t want to know about any problems afterwards. If you come across a company like this, we’d recommend that you not deal with that company again. There are plenty of good vendors out there, especially in this age of e-commerce, and there’s no reason to have to continue dealing with a poor quality vendor.

But what do you do?

Check your documentation; there should be information on what to do if something goes wrong. Sometimes it’s an email address, sometimes a telephone number, and sometimes a website. Other manufacturers might offer you a variety of ways to get in touch with them. You are looking for a tech support contact — even if you know that the component or product is dead you will probably have to go through tech support and allow them to offer you hints and suggestions before they will probably accept that the product is actually defective and replace it.

One key thing to remember is to be patient during this process and remain helpful, courteous, and cheerful at all times, even though you might not actually feel that way!

Again, if possible, favor using email as a contact medium over other methods because of the written record it offers and because you will get a contact name of the person working with you.

When you get in touch with a manufacturer, make sure you give them the following information:

Your name and complete contact information

Defective item in question

Details of where you bought the item

Date of purchase

Brief description of how the item is defective

Products or Components That Fail within a Year

If your product or component fails after the first few weeks, you are definitely in the hands of the manufacturer for warranty support. Very few vendors will offer assistance for products older than a couple of months.

Look through your documentation or look for the manufacturer’s website by using a search engine and then contact them for details on how to get a replacement. There are some companies that don’t really want you to get in touch!

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Same contact guidelines apply:

Your name and complete contact information

Defective item in question

Details of where you bought the item

Date of purchase

Brief description of how the item is defective

Check out the “Warranties Q&A” section for information on options that might be open to you beyond the first 12 months.

Warranties Q&A

What follows is a quick Q&A that relates to problems and warranties that should answer most of your questions.

1.Are problems common?

No. Given the complexity of the PC and the components that it contains, a PC is a surprisingly robust and reliable bit of kit, and you should get hundreds of thousands of hours of use out of the components.

2.What are the legal definitions of a “warranty”?

This varies — check locally and seek advice if in doubt.

3.Do I have to return a defective product in the original packaging?

No. Remember, you are returning a defective product, not defective packaging. However, it’s a good idea to keep packaging until you have finished building the PC just in case you do encounter a DOA component because if you use the original packaging to return the product, no one can quibble about possible damage in transit due to using the incorrect packaging.

If, however, you are returning a product because you ordered the wrong item, then you will need the original packaging in order to have any chance of a refund.

4.What if I break something?

Technically, you are not entitled to an exchange product if the damage is the result of negligence or misuse on your part.

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However, if you took reasonable care when handling and using the product, then most vendors or manufacturers will honor the warranty unless you deliberately tampered with the item or misused it.

5.What if I bought the wrong item?

In the event that you bought the wrong product, most vendors will be happy to help, although some might ask you to pay a restocking fee for the extra workload and inconvenience. For mail order products, you will be expected to cover both the costs of returning the wrong item and delivery costs of the replacement item.

6.Do I need to keep a receipt?

As a rule, yes, although many online vendors will accept an order number as proof of purchase. Most manufacturers will require proof of purchase if you go to them for help.

7.Do I have to have filled in and returned a warranty card in order to get any technical assistance?

No.

8.Doesn’t a vendor have to give me a one-year warranty?

No. A 12-month warranty is usually offered by the manufacturer, although many good vendors will assist you in the event you have a problem within the first few weeks.

9.Are the extended warranties offered by stores any good?

As a rule, no. The cost is high and the service offered is generally poor.

10.Can warranties last longer than 12 months?

Indeed they can. For example, the exchange period of a hard drive can last for many years. In the case of a dead hard drive, it’s always a good idea to check with the manufacturer’s website to see if the product is covered under an exchange warranty.

11.I don’t have a sales receipt! What can I do?

Don’t give up! There’s still hope! Many stores keep a copy of the sales receipt and will be able to check their own records if you can remember the date you bought the product.

If you ordered via the Internet, check your email, because you should have a confirmation email of your order.

Another benefit of online ordering is that many online vendors keep your order history — you could always print out the appropriate page and present that as proof of purchase.

With some products (hard drives being a good example), you don’t need any proof of purchase. The drive will have on it the manufacturing date, and the makers will offer a fixed warranty period on drives.

12.If my hard drive breaks, will the maker recover my data?

No. Always, always, always make backups of your data.

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13.Are there warranty issues with buying goods from a different country?

There can be. Many manufacturers only warrant goods in the country in which they were sold. If, for example, you live in Europe and you bought a product via mail order from the United States, then European tech support may not honor your warranty. With many devices they can tell where the product was sold — from the serial number, for example.

It’s always better to buy goods from your own country. Quite often freight costs, import taxes, and general hassles of returning things and warranty problems quickly make any savings vanish and can in fact cost you much more in the long run.

14.Are second-hand parts covered by warranty?

Not usually. Be wary of anyone that offers you much in the way of any kind of warranty on second-hand parts.

15.What kind of warranties come with software?

Software warranties are quite complex. Usually there is a separate warranty for the actual physical discs that you receive (which can be anything from 30 days to a year) and a support period. Some software makers limit you to a fixed number of free support calls, while others offer unlimited support.

Check your software documentation for more details.

Summary

In this, the final chapter in this book, we’ve looked at what you should do if or when things go wrong with your PC.

We hope that you won’t need this information, but that if you do, that you find it useful and that you get your system up and running quickly.

All the best with your new PC! May it give you years of trouble-free service!

348 Part IV — Appendices