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

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?"

Comments

let's see if slashdot helps

[yagu]

Hmmm, since you managed to get this as a slashdot article I'm not going to lose any sleep that you won't get you your refund. You will.

This is a perfect example of where I think there is some power and benefit to blogging, as discussed in this slashdot article, and my post, among others. Dollars to donuts, you'll get your refund, and The Chip Merchant will issue some clarification of their policy. Good luck!

(And the poster does seem to have a valid point, I'm looking at different listings for memory for "The Chip Merchant", and under warranty for the memory I looked at, they are all listed as lifetime .)

Hmmm, maybe when memory fails, they're unable to remember their policy.

Shameless plug

[dpilot]

I hate to make a simple, shameless plug, so I'll just give my reasoning.

I pretty much always buy my memory from (Company X) because they're owned by (Company Y) who actually makes memory chips. I figure they own it, they built it, they tested it, their name goes on it, and there's no dilution by being able to point the finger at someone else. I also like the fact that I can buy from a memory maker, rather than some reseller or DIMM builder.

I recently had a DIMM from (Company X) go bad. I called them up, told them my story, and exchanged the bad one for a new one, no problems or hassles at all.

It had a lifetime warranty, and was about 1.5 years old.

Go to court

[AuMatar]

I actually saw a case like this on a court TV show once. It was about a company honoring a previous owner's coupons, but same difference. The company lost. So if you do go to court, you have a decent chance of winning.