How to get a valid warranty

[archp2008]

To quote Thermaltake in their eRMA service agreement: "Customers located in Canada are responsible for any Customs Releases or Duty Fees." Are they saying we are responsible for charges that are NEVER EVER incurred. It seems to me that wouldn't make sense. I don't think anyone here is lying and I don't think people on other forums who say they HAVE in fact been charged brokerage fees on items marked "warranty replacement" are lying either. It appears that brokerage fees MAY OR MAY NOT be charged. It MAY depend on whether or not the shipper stipulates on the declaration that the returned item has some commercial value or marks it as "no commercial value" or some low value, e.g. $1.00 I'm not fully clear on this and I don't know how Thermaltake or other companies fill out their customs declarations. Looking at it from the viewpoint of the Courier, it seems to me that if they have to fill out papers to transfer the item across the border it is not totally unreasonable that they should levy some reasonable fee, but it is ironic that the company honoring the warranty should get away with paying some of the courier charges but not all of them. The amount of the brokerage fees which UPS charge is often excessive. It seems to me that the company COULD pay the brokerage fees as well if such fees are legitimate and they wanted to pay them. Only a lawyer specializing in this area could answer the question of whether or not such charges are legal and only a judge could overturn such a charge imposed by a courier once it is levied. Meanwhile this has been an academic discussion for me because I am yet to get my psu tested to confirm that it is in fact defective. The only fact I know is that I was playing a DVD when my computer spontaneously shut down and there was subsequently a burnt smell. Now I get no beep and no POST. I just get enough power to run the fans.

[Silvgearx]

Just stick with Antec, they have some good PSU and RMA depot is in Canada.

When you buy something don't expect it to break, warranty is just there for assurance. From my experience, most of the time it is myself that voids the warranty rather than it fails on me with proper use.

Here is a huge thread about Canadian RMA. Keep an eye out for the "Any extra fees?"

[moocow]

It seems to me that the company COULD pay the brokerage fees as well if such fees are legitimate and they wanted to pay them. Only a lawyer specializing in this area could answer the question of whether or not such charges are legal and only a judge could overturn such a charge imposed by a courier once it is levied.

You would have to sue the PSU MFG to get a judgement and I suspect you will lose badly. The terms of sales have been written clearly saying they only warranty certain defects during a certain period. No where in the terms & conditions does it say they will pay for transportation in order to service the item under warranty. Therefore, you have no leg to stand on. Hell if they want they could make you pay for the return shipping cost. You could sue them for that since a contract is suppose to be fair to both parties.

[archp2008]

Thanks Silvgearx,
I ascertained that Antec does have a middleman RMA service at Memofix, 330 Millway Avenue, Unit 3, Vaughan, Ontario L4K 3W2 CANADA, at least I understand that is correct. They do have another International RMA center in California, though. So who knows? The best warranty is one that I won't need at all. The PSU that expired was approaching 3 years old so considering it was borderline capacity for my system with poor ventilation (fan with only 1/8" of space for air to get in at bottom of my Silverstone HTPC case) it could have failed sooner. Perhaps I will elvevate case a inch or so when I get the new power supply. The minimum cost for shipping it back to the States would have been just under $30 by Canada Post. This 500watt TR2 Thermaltake only cost $45 new $44 now. Even assuming I were to have gotten off without having to pay a cent to UPS which, based on my past experience with them, I would have considered some kind of miracle, it is doubtful if a refurbished 500watt Thermaltake psu would have been worth the $30 postage. My computer store verified the Thermatake was failing so I ordered the new Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply at $59.99. I'm hoping it makes my computer work again and that it will last longer than the 3 years that the Thermaltake did. Thanks to everyone who commented.

[Bloodystumps]

I bought a couple of Samsung 128 SSD's couple of months ago and went to register them on .ca there is no listing for SSD so I go to the U.S.A site there is a listing but I can not register the drivers because I am Canadian, So I phone the support number and I am told to call Seagate which I do and she says seagate has nothing to do with SSD's only the HDD's , She even goes so far to call Samsung and is told the same thing .

this goes on for about 3 - 4 hours ( yea I got patients maybe a little stupidity too ) I call back and get someone that actually does his job and he registers it for me .

last week I bought a 256 and tried again...... nope got to call seagate so I demand to speak to a supervisor this guy was even less help so I ask to speak to his supervisor , I bitch at him for a while and try and explain that this should not take this much effort to register my drives so I can get warranty if I need it . he then registers my drive .

So after being jerked around I felt Samsung should be aware of how difficult it is to register a SSD so I E-mail them and this is the reply.

"We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused you.

Samsung Canada does not sell SSD products, Samsung U.S.A is selling SSD’s in North America.Here is the warranty card for SSD, Samsung America will take care of warranty service for Canadian customer’s also"

Why do I care if Samsung Canada or Samsung U.S.A sells a product ? if it is sold here should they not support the product here ? Why is it my job to research what part of a company is selling a product ?