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WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 4th 06, 05:53 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Jim Howes
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 26
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?

I have just received two pre-built 'budget' PC's from a vendor who, for the time
being, shall remain nameless (unless, of course, I fail to get a satisfactory
response to this question from them). You are of course, free to name, shame,
praise or otherwise guess as to A) Who you think it is, and B) Who you have had
similar from.

The system is advertised on the web site as having, among other things, "with 4
DIMM slots, maximum capacity up to 8GB".

PC's are designed to be upgradeable. I might want to add DVD-RAM drives, more
hard discs, more memory, different video cards, exotic interface cards, etc.

Therefore, I take very unkindly to discovering 'Warranty void if seal broken'
stickers on the back of the case.

While I am all for rejecting, or charging for returns from ham-fisted morons who
wouldn't understand the dangers of high voltage static discharges if they got
hit by one in a thunderstorm, I'm a professional, damn it. I take perfectly
adequate anti-static precautions (my work surfaces are one big earthed
anti-static mat, I have, and use anti-static wrist straps. I do not, as a rule,
scrape the sharp pointed ends of my various screwdrivers (of which I use
several, knowing the difference between Phillips and Pozidrive screws, for
instance), nor do I use an entire tube of heat transfer compound for one
CPU/heat-sink, or crunch the corner off the CPU when installing it. I even,
sometimes, manage to complete a build without getting bitten by the sharp edges
inherent in cheap cases)).

While the build quality of these machines is adequate (actually very good for a
sub-£200 PC), this particular issue irritates me sufficiently that I am sorely
tempted to return them solely for that. (And not, in fact for the reason that
one of the machines, after going through the OEM windows welcome script, was
discovered to have died of a STOP 0x9C Machine check exception when the
installer resealed the OEM preinstall before it was shipped)

I thought we had got away from the days of warranty stickers when Amiga bit the
dust.

So, my questions to the group a
1. What experience have you had with manufacturers placing warranty stickers on
devices that are designed to be opened and upgraded by end users?
2. In the event of a warranty claim, what is the likelihood of a claim by the
vendor that the warranty is void standing up to trading standards/SOGA, or in court?
  #2  
Old December 4th 06, 06:06 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Conor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 562
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?

In article , Jim Howes says...

So, my questions to the group a
1. What experience have you had with manufacturers placing warranty stickers on
devices that are designed to be opened and upgraded by end users?
2. In the event of a warranty claim, what is the likelihood of a claim by the
vendor that the warranty is void standing up to trading standards/SOGA, or in court?

1) It's already been tested in Court AFAIR. The upshot was that as a PC
is a modular item designed to be upgradable, it was unreasonable to
void a claim because someone had taken off the lid to perform a
function the PC was advertised as being capable of.

2) Not very for the vendor.

--
Conor

The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how
seldom they defeat us.
  #3  
Old December 4th 06, 06:56 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Palindr☻me
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 34
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?

Jim Howes wrote:
I have just received two pre-built 'budget' PC's from a vendor who, for the time
being, shall remain nameless (unless, of course, I fail to get a satisfactory
response to this question from them). You are of course, free to name, shame,
praise or otherwise guess as to A) Who you think it is, and B) Who you have had
similar from.

The system is advertised on the web site as having, among other things, "with 4
DIMM slots, maximum capacity up to 8GB".

PC's are designed to be upgradeable. I might want to add DVD-RAM drives, more
hard discs, more memory, different video cards, exotic interface cards, etc.

Therefore, I take very unkindly to discovering 'Warranty void if seal broken'
stickers on the back of the case.

While I am all for rejecting, or charging for returns from ham-fisted morons who
wouldn't understand the dangers of high voltage static discharges if they got
hit by one in a thunderstorm, I'm a professional, damn it. I take perfectly
adequate anti-static precautions (my work surfaces are one big earthed
anti-static mat, I have, and use anti-static wrist straps. I do not, as a rule,
scrape the sharp pointed ends of my various screwdrivers (of which I use
several, knowing the difference between Phillips and Pozidrive screws, for
instance), nor do I use an entire tube of heat transfer compound for one
CPU/heat-sink, or crunch the corner off the CPU when installing it. I even,
sometimes, manage to complete a build without getting bitten by the sharp edges
inherent in cheap cases)).

While the build quality of these machines is adequate (actually very good for a
sub-£200 PC), this particular issue irritates me sufficiently that I am sorely
tempted to return them solely for that. (And not, in fact for the reason that
one of the machines, after going through the OEM windows welcome script, was
discovered to have died of a STOP 0x9C Machine check exception when the
installer resealed the OEM preinstall before it was shipped)

I thought we had got away from the days of warranty stickers when Amiga bit the
dust.

So, my questions to the group a
1. What experience have you had with manufacturers placing warranty stickers on
devices that are designed to be opened and upgraded by end users?
2. In the event of a warranty claim, what is the likelihood of a claim by the
vendor that the warranty is void standing up to trading standards/SOGA, or in court?



The seal does not affect your SOGA rights.

Breaking it can void any *additional* warranty provided by the
manufacturer - as it is additional, the manufacturer can make it
conditional on the box only being opened by authorised persons and the
seal remaining intact..

You break the seal and you fall back on your SOGA rights.

--
Sue




  #4  
Old December 4th 06, 07:52 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Jason Russell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?

Jim Howes ejaculated:

I have just received two pre-built 'budget' PC's from a vendor who,
for the time being, shall remain nameless (unless, of course, I fail
to get a satisfactory response to this question from them). You are
of course, free to name, shame, praise or otherwise guess as to A)
Who you think it is, and B) Who you have had similar from.

Acer I'm guessing!


  #5  
Old December 4th 06, 08:05 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Mad Mum
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?

sounds like my Acer got the 2nd drive in a cheap eBay usb caddy at the mo..
lad won't let me open it.. am tempted to ring their tech support and ask....
I am a it person by trade so should know what I am doing . . .

"Jim Howes" wrote in message
...
I have just received two pre-built 'budget' PC's from a vendor who, for the
time
being, shall remain nameless (unless, of course, I fail to get a
satisfactory
response to this question from them). You are of course, free to name,
shame,
praise or otherwise guess as to A) Who you think it is, and B) Who you
have had
similar from.

The system is advertised on the web site as having, among other things,
"with 4
DIMM slots, maximum capacity up to 8GB".

PC's are designed to be upgradeable. I might want to add DVD-RAM drives,
more
hard discs, more memory, different video cards, exotic interface cards,
etc.

Therefore, I take very unkindly to discovering 'Warranty void if seal
broken'
stickers on the back of the case.

While I am all for rejecting, or charging for returns from ham-fisted
morons who
wouldn't understand the dangers of high voltage static discharges if they
got
hit by one in a thunderstorm, I'm a professional, damn it. I take
perfectly
adequate anti-static precautions (my work surfaces are one big earthed
anti-static mat, I have, and use anti-static wrist straps. I do not, as a
rule,
scrape the sharp pointed ends of my various screwdrivers (of which I use
several, knowing the difference between Phillips and Pozidrive screws, for
instance), nor do I use an entire tube of heat transfer compound for one
CPU/heat-sink, or crunch the corner off the CPU when installing it. I
even,
sometimes, manage to complete a build without getting bitten by the sharp
edges
inherent in cheap cases)).

While the build quality of these machines is adequate (actually very good
for a
sub-£200 PC), this particular issue irritates me sufficiently that I am
sorely
tempted to return them solely for that. (And not, in fact for the reason
that
one of the machines, after going through the OEM windows welcome script,
was
discovered to have died of a STOP 0x9C Machine check exception when the
installer resealed the OEM preinstall before it was shipped)

I thought we had got away from the days of warranty stickers when Amiga
bit the
dust.

So, my questions to the group a
1. What experience have you had with manufacturers placing warranty
stickers on
devices that are designed to be opened and upgraded by end users?
2. In the event of a warranty claim, what is the likelihood of a claim by
the
vendor that the warranty is void standing up to trading standards/SOGA, or
in court?



  #6  
Old December 4th 06, 08:09 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Chris Dyson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?


"Mad Mum" wrote in message
. uk...
sounds like my Acer got the 2nd drive in a cheap eBay usb caddy at the
mo.. lad won't let me open it.. am tempted to ring their tech support and
ask.... I am a it person by trade so should know what I am doing . . .



I bought an Acer last year and it had these stickers attached. The plan was
to upgrade the PC immediately with memory I already had, and install a
floppy drive. I was going to fit the bits anyway, but I thought I would
e-mail Acer to see what they had to say. This is the reply I got:

***
Hello, Thank you for contacting Acer.

Regarding your enquiry,

With regards to your warranty position on adding a floppy drive. You are
able to add one yourself, however if by doing so you damage any of the
internal components of the machine your warranty would become void. Also
note, that Acer would not support any additional drive added by yourself,
nor would we support any software conflicts arising in this configuration.
The same applies to upgrading of RAM. The labels on the machine are there to
discourage in-experienced personnel from tampering with the machine, if you
feel comfortable with performing this then you may.Otherwise, please contact
us again and we will happily (for a fee) install these items for you.

Regards
Acer Technical Support Team
***

I would expect the situation to be the same of any manufacturer these days.
Hope this helps.

Chris.


  #7  
Old December 4th 06, 08:13 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Gaz
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 50
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?

Jim Howes wrote:
I have just received two pre-built 'budget' PC's from a vendor who, for
the
time being, shall remain nameless (unless, of course, I fail to get a
satisfactory response to this question from them). You are of course,
free
to name, shame, praise or otherwise guess as to A) Who you think it is,
and
B) Who you have had similar from.

The system is advertised on the web site as having, among other things,
"with
4 DIMM slots, maximum capacity up to 8GB".

PC's are designed to be upgradeable. I might want to add DVD-RAM drives,
more
hard discs, more memory, different video cards, exotic interface cards,
etc.

Therefore, I take very unkindly to discovering 'Warranty void if seal
broken'
stickers on the back of the case.

While I am all for rejecting, or charging for returns from ham-fisted
morons
who wouldn't understand the dangers of high voltage static discharges if
they
got
hit by one in a thunderstorm, I'm a professional, damn it. I take
perfectly
adequate anti-static precautions (my work surfaces are one big earthed
anti-static mat, I have, and use anti-static wrist straps. I do not, as a
rule, scrape the sharp pointed ends of my various screwdrivers (of which I
use
several, knowing the difference between Phillips and Pozidrive screws, for
instance), nor do I use an entire tube of heat transfer compound for one
CPU/heat-sink, or crunch the corner off the CPU when installing it. I
even,
sometimes, manage to complete a build without getting bitten by the sharp
edges inherent in cheap cases)).

While the build quality of these machines is adequate (actually very good
for
a sub-£200 PC), this particular issue irritates me sufficiently that I am
sorely tempted to return them solely for that. (And not, in fact for the
reason that
one of the machines, after going through the OEM windows welcome script,
was
discovered to have died of a STOP 0x9C Machine check exception when the
installer resealed the OEM preinstall before it was shipped)

I thought we had got away from the days of warranty stickers when Amiga
bit
the dust.

So, my questions to the group a
1. What experience have you had with manufacturers placing warranty
stickers
on devices that are designed to be opened and upgraded by end users?
2. In the event of a warranty claim, what is the likelihood of a claim by
the
vendor that the warranty is void standing up to trading standards/SOGA, or
in
court?


If the PC is sourced from a Dixons Store Group business, ie PCWorld, Currys
and Dixons, the engineers take no concern about a warranty sticker.

Gaz


  #8  
Old December 4th 06, 08:17 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Mad Mum
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?

mine was from Comet - same price as ebuyer AND no postage and no waiting...
now, where's my chisel, blowtorch and axe - as if adding a drive would
damage the mobo . . . I do NOT work for ****y World....



"Chris Dyson" wrote in message
...

"Mad Mum" wrote in message
. uk...
sounds like my Acer got the 2nd drive in a cheap eBay usb caddy at the
mo.. lad won't let me open it.. am tempted to ring their tech support and
ask.... I am a it person by trade so should know what I am doing . . .



I bought an Acer last year and it had these stickers attached. The plan
was to upgrade the PC immediately with memory I already had, and install a
floppy drive. I was going to fit the bits anyway, but I thought I would
e-mail Acer to see what they had to say. This is the reply I got:

***
Hello, Thank you for contacting Acer.

Regarding your enquiry,

With regards to your warranty position on adding a floppy drive. You are
able to add one yourself, however if by doing so you damage any of the
internal components of the machine your warranty would become void. Also
note, that Acer would not support any additional drive added by yourself,
nor would we support any software conflicts arising in this configuration.
The same applies to upgrading of RAM. The labels on the machine are there
to discourage in-experienced personnel from tampering with the machine, if
you feel comfortable with performing this then you may.Otherwise, please
contact us again and we will happily (for a fee) install these items for
you.

Regards
Acer Technical Support Team
***

I would expect the situation to be the same of any manufacturer these
days. Hope this helps.

Chris.



  #9  
Old December 4th 06, 08:27 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
o'Really
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:09:14 GMT, "Chris Dyson"
wrote:


"Mad Mum" wrote in message
.uk...
sounds like my Acer got the 2nd drive in a cheap eBay usb caddy at the
mo.. lad won't let me open it.. am tempted to ring their tech support and
ask.... I am a it person by trade so should know what I am doing . . .



I bought an Acer last year and it had these stickers attached. The plan was
to upgrade the PC immediately with memory I already had, and install a
floppy drive. I was going to fit the bits anyway, but I thought I would
e-mail Acer to see what they had to say. This is the reply I got:

***
Hello, Thank you for contacting Acer.

Regarding your enquiry,

With regards to your warranty position on adding a floppy drive. You are
able to add one yourself, however if by doing so you damage any of the
internal components of the machine your warranty would become void. Also
note, that Acer would not support any additional drive added by yourself,
nor would we support any software conflicts arising in this configuration.
The same applies to upgrading of RAM. The labels on the machine are there to
discourage in-experienced personnel from tampering with the machine, if you
feel comfortable with performing this then you may.Otherwise, please contact
us again and we will happily (for a fee) install these items for you.

Regards
Acer Technical Support Team
***


Strikes me as a very reasonable response/position.
  #10  
Old December 4th 06, 10:58 PM posted to uk.comp.vendors,uk.comp.homebuilt
Sylvain VAN DER WALDE
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 68
Default WTF? 'Warranty void if seal broken' stickers?


"Jim Howes" wrote in message
...
I have just received two pre-built 'budget' PC's from a vendor who, for the
time
being, shall remain nameless (unless, of course, I fail to get a
satisfactory
response to this question from them). You are of course, free to name,
shame,
praise or otherwise guess as to A) Who you think it is, and B) Who you
have had
similar from.

The system is advertised on the web site as having, among other things,
"with 4
DIMM slots, maximum capacity up to 8GB".

PC's are designed to be upgradeable. I might want to add DVD-RAM drives,
more
hard discs, more memory, different video cards, exotic interface cards,
etc.

Therefore, I take very unkindly to discovering 'Warranty void if seal
broken'
stickers on the back of the case.

While I am all for rejecting, or charging for returns from ham-fisted
morons who
wouldn't understand the dangers of high voltage static discharges if they
got
hit by one in a thunderstorm, I'm a professional, damn it. I take
perfectly
adequate anti-static precautions (my work surfaces are one big earthed
anti-static mat, I have, and use anti-static wrist straps. I do not, as a
rule,
scrape the sharp pointed ends of my various screwdrivers (of which I use
several, knowing the difference between Phillips and Pozidrive screws, for
instance), nor do I use an entire tube of heat transfer compound for one
CPU/heat-sink, or crunch the corner off the CPU when installing it. I
even,
sometimes, manage to complete a build without getting bitten by the sharp
edges
inherent in cheap cases)).

While the build quality of these machines is adequate (actually very good
for a
sub-£200 PC), this particular issue irritates me sufficiently that I am
sorely
tempted to return them solely for that. (And not, in fact for the reason
that
one of the machines, after going through the OEM windows welcome script,
was
discovered to have died of a STOP 0x9C Machine check exception when the
installer resealed the OEM preinstall before it was shipped)

I thought we had got away from the days of warranty stickers when Amiga
bit the
dust.

So, my questions to the group a
1. What experience have you had with manufacturers placing warranty
stickers on
devices that are designed to be opened and upgraded by end users?


I had the same problem with a PC assembled for me by Aria Technology. This
was a highly upgradable MidiTower computer. Of course, these bloody warranty
stickers came as a big surprise. Nevertheless, when I decided to add a TV
card (among other things), I just took the stickers off and hoped for the
best.
Aria have a poor reputation, and I have never dealt with them again.

Sylvain.

2. In the event of a warranty claim, what is the likelihood of a claim by
the
vendor that the warranty is void standing up to trading standards/SOGA, or
in court?


I have no idea.


 




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