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When "Lifetime Warranty" Memory... Isn't

Posted by Cliff on from the word-of-warning dept.

InakaBoyJoe asks: "What do you do when memory with a 'lifetime warranty' fails? You send it back to the dealer of course -- if they're still around. But when I called The Chip Merchant, they refused to honor the warranty, citing a change in ownership. But they also claim on their website to have been doing business since 1985, and are still using the same name, domain, and phone number as before. So it seems the new owners are trying to reap all the benefits of a connection with the old company, while incurring none of the liabilities. How convenient! Instead of an apology for the months of headaches caused by the bad RAM, I got the runaround and was told to contact some guy in San Diego. The policy is also mentioned here. This means that anyone who bought 'lifetime warranty' memory from The Chip Merchant before April 19, 2004 is SOL. Given the popularity of this vendor, I think this is a pretty big deal. And what these guys are doing sounds vaguely illegal. What recourse do we have when companies pull a fast one like this?"

6 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Computer Senility? by biryokumaru · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are you telling me my computer is going to go senile and there's nothing I can do about it?

    Speaking of senile, I wonder if god will give me a refund on grandma...

    --
    When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
  2. Apparently by Neil+Blender · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lifetime refers to the life of the chip.

  3. Hay by Leffe · · Score: 5, Funny
    What recourse do we have when companies pull a fast one like this?


    Fire, lots of it. Burn their offices down. And see if you can find my stapler while you are there, it is red!
  4. Bad publicity by general_re · · Score: 5, Funny
    What recourse do we have when companies pull a fast one like this?

    thechipmerchantsucks.com is currently available. ;)

    --
    ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
  5. Re:Shameless plug by dpilot · · Score: 2, Funny

    But that would have been a shameless plug.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
  6. Re:Fairly simple, effective solution by cloudmaster · · Score: 2, Funny

    Trust me, IAAL

    And to think, just a couple of months ago you were working in the computer lab at a university and Arguing with me about how easy it is to get around Chicago - now you're a lawyer! Congratulations on the promotion.

    I should note that I didn't recognize you as the pizza guy until I looked at a couple of back posts, and recognized a response after reading it, BTW. It's purely coincidental that I happened to not believe the IAAL claim.