Advice on motherboard warranty claim hassle/situation...

Ok this is the situation...

Ebuyer have said they will honor the 3 year warranty on my ASUS board, which has developed a fault with 1 of the 2 PCI express full slots.

Its a ASUS P5E AiLifestyle Series iX38 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard.

However they no longer have my board, so have offered £72 in cash instead of new board.

Now my board was approx £130 in 2008, and to replace it now will cost me min £95 for an equivalent Asus board (there's an ix48 version which appears to be pretty much the same).

As you can guess I'm not overly happy - either I have to buy something else cheaper, and lose features which would annoy me, or I have to stump up more money, upgrade my whole rig, and try and sell off my remaining components....

Where do I stand with ebuyer on this? The chap on phone kept saying this was legally all they were obliged to do - but I have claimed on long warranties before and been offered an alternative product as an option to cash?

Anyone got any guidance or experience?

cheers

Andy

Is the warrantee from Ebuyer or from ASUS? It sounds like an Ebuyer warantee. ASUS would expect you to return it for warrantee repair or replacement.

What were the terms of the warantee? If it clearly said "three year replacement" they are liable to replace it or to return the entire amount you paid for the board and the warrantee (but not shipping).

Check the fine print for exclusions and limits on cash back. Many items have a pro-rated cash back warrantee where the cash drops with time. ()Tires, batteries, etc.)

Suppliers will often change there warrantee rules and tell you "tough luck". I've had one company tell me they no longer back their lifetime warrantee at all.

Your choice then is to hire a lawyer, which will end up costing you 100's out of pocket, or taking whatever they offer.

Getting a new board for 23 pounds is not a bad deal, if the board is still up to date technology. Or take the money and get something better.

Warantees are not worth the paper they are written on. It's all about the good will of the company and their concern for their public image.

BTW If the written warantee has been broached get it in writing and then spam the internet, consumer organizations and the local district attorney (whatever the Brit name is for it) office with fraud complaints. Also, make sure everyone you know is told not to deal with the company. Won't help monetarily but it does provide satisfaction. If you can convince 5 people not to deal with them they are loosing money by not honoring the warrantee. If they get a legal summons over a complaint it will cost them thousands in legal fees. Being jerks really is not in a companies best interest.

Or go have a beer and forget about it... Life is too short and there are too many jerks who will cheat you over the years. My list is very long. Lazyboy and ATI are at the top of it.

I'd spring for the ix48 and offer to pay the difference. Just make sure it comes as the same memory type, else it could be expensive