Page 1 of Shoddy customer service from Dabs

Having bought a graphics card from Dabs five weeks ago - a fault has developed with the fan - can`t find a replacement anywhere.

So I have elected to return the card to Dabs. They have informed me that I will have to return the card at my expense (around 10 pounds!) and that the card will be sent to the manufacturer to be repaired under warranty and this is likely to take between 4 and 6 weeks.

So in short I have been sold a faulty good - I am expected to pay for this both in cash terms (Postage) and time by having to do without an essential part of my computer for around a month.

This is very shoddy service from a major internet etailer and I will certainly not be purchasing from them again.

If the goods are faulty they should pay for the return postage,me thinks thats the law!

It sounds to me like you need to quote the Sale of Goods act at em....it never fails to make them sit up and take notice. This states that it should be of `merchantable quality`, and `fit for purpose`. If it`s only lasted 5 weeks before developing a fault (durability?), then it doesn`t meet those requirements in my opinion. I would expect either an exchange or full refund incl p+p.

From the act:

1.—(1) In section 14 of the [1979 c. 54.] Sale of Goods Act 1979 (implied terms about quality or fitness) for subsection (2) there is substituted— "(2) Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business, there is an implied term that the goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality.
(2A) For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances.
(2B) For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—
(a) fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,
(b) appearance and finish,
(c) freedom from minor defects,
(d) safety, and
(e) durability

This is providing the goods weren`t sold as faulted or seconds. ie no fault was pointed out to you when you bought it.

Full details of the Act here:

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/Ukpga_19940035_en_1.htm

Mark.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 29th May 2002, 23:17

Thanks for this info guys/gals - I have since sent the following email to the customer service rep and will see what emerges - any further advice would be appreciated -
Further to our earlier conversation - this transaction is attracting a lot of attention on the forum websites that I use (Over 200 viewings so far) - It appears other customers are not very satisfied with dabs.

However it also appears that your company is dicing with a contravention of the sale of goods act 1979 from which the following is an extract -

1.—(1) In section 14 of the [1979 c. 54.] Sale of Goods Act 1979 (implied terms about quality or fitness) for subsection (2) there is substituted— "(2) Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business, there is an implied term that the goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality.
(2A) For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances.
(2B) For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—
(a) fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,
(b) appearance and finish,
(c) freedom from minor defects,
(d) safety, and
(e) durability


The full act is viewable here -
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts199...940035_en_1.htm

In short you have sold me goods which are not of `merchantable quality` or `fit for purpose` with direct reference to the goods durability (which at 5 weeks I am sure you would not even dispute).

All of this information is presently being passed on to bbc`s watchdog program and two widely read PC magazines - I think it would be in your best interests to take action and avoid further negative publicity - I couldn`t hazard a guess at what damage this has already done your company`s reputation but it will only be the tip of the iceberg compared to what will happen if either the magazines I have corresponded with or the tv program decides to publish the situation.

I am also currently corresponding with trading standards over your failure to fund the return postage costs of the goods.

If you are not in a position to affect dab`s choice of action as regards this particular transaction then I would very much appreciate the contact details of someone who is as soon as possible,
regards,
Stephen McDonald

Sounds nice and strongly worded to me :-)

I maybe wouldn`t have told them about the bad publicity yet, until you give them a chance to reach an amicable solution. But at least now they know you mean business.

ComputerActive magazine consumer column is a good one to get involved too. I used them a few months ago with a bad purchase I had from Jungle, when they were giving me the runaround for 3 weeks. ComputerActive had it sorted within a day, just by saying they were going to run an article about them.

Email: evitcaremusnoc[at]ku.oc.evitcaretupmoc

I`d be interested to hear the outcome.

Mark.

PS. I just noticed the link you posted is a dud....part of the 1994 is missing replaced by... and the UKpga_ bit is missing too. I get page cannot be displayed.
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/Ukpga_19940035_en_1.htm

This item was edited on Thursday, 30th May 2002, 17:47

This is unbeleivably bad service. Complete contrast to a recent Argos incident.

I bought a Remington beard trimmer (I have a goatee!) over 18 months ago from Argos that came with a 2yr manufacturers warranty. It recently developed a fault so I took it back expecting it to be sent away for repairs.
I was suprised when the lady at customer services desk asked me for my switch card! She explained that as they didnt have any of the items in stock I would get a refund!

Service or what?! This was only a £15 item and I had already had good usage out of it for 18months.

Besides - who the f**k repairs a graphics card. Unless it was a top of the range Geforce 4 it probably wouldnt be worth the manufacturers time and effort.
Contact the manufacturer and complain about Dabs if possible. I had a problem with some item a couple a years ago where the shop was going to return the item for repair. I spoke to the manufacturer who told me that they dont repair - they replace. The lady I spoke to gave me her name and direct contact number to pass onto the store authorising them to issue me with a replacement item. I did this and the store reluctantly supplied me a replacement.

Dabs have always been great for me, but the same sort of thing happened when I ordered a Geforce3 Ti200 from Buy.com (using vouchers)(now johnlewis)
It came within two days and was faulty, They told me it would be over a week before it was collected, then at least another week to be tested and the IF it was faulty then they would send a replacement which would take another couple of days.(about 3 weeks in total)Geforce 5 would have been out by then :)
I ended up telling them to shove the repacement and just return the money as soon as it was found faulty, logged onto dabs and ordered one from them which came the next day.
It took Buy about a month to refund my money.

From my own experience, you are unlikely to receive a repaired item in that timescale from dabs - on separate occasions, I have returned two motherboards from different manufacturers and been quoted 8 weeks for repair. When you consider most components are manufactured in the Far East you can take at least 2-3 weeks for postage, and in most cases the cost of repair will be greater than the cost of manufacture.

In both cases I was made to wait the full 8 weeks - the first time I managed to get a refund, the second I was made to wait an additional week while they "investigated", before they replaced the product, and yes they did sting me for the postage.

I don`t believe dabs ever expected to receive repaired goods - so when the quoted time is up demand a replacement/refund as your contract is with dabs as the supplier of the goods NOT the manufacturer.

Well here`s an update - last Thursday 6 weeks had elapsed since I returned the card. I had heard nothing in the interim. I sent an email to the 5 different people whom I had previously dealt with in this matter demanding to have a progress update and to inform that the 6 week dealine was up.

By Monday morning I had heard nothing and the steam was billowing from my ears. Late morning I receive an informative email which revealed my card was still being repaired under warranty! At this point I decide a phone call is needed (Though such a service is not normally accorded a non-trade customer).

When I logged in to my account with them for my account no. lo and behold I notice that about 15 mins earlier a replacement had been ordered and would be dispatched wthin 24 hours.

I now have the new card installed and it is working - tho the last one did - for 5 weeks.

The lesson from this is not to deal with dabs - ever.