Consumer Rights for Repairs under Warranty - HD May Be Replaced with Refurbished HD

LSirArthurSir on 04/11/2016 - 22:32
Last edited 05/11/2016 - 10:20 by 1 other user

The hard drive on my 11 month old Dell XPS8900 has crashed. I purchased next business day repair service. In the support email from Dell, they say that the broken part may be replaced with a refurbished part in the same condition.

The idea of replacing the hard drive with a refurbished one is unacceptable to me. In my mind I purchased a brand new computer that didn't even last the 12 months original warranty. I expect it to be replaced with a brand new hard drive! What are my rights in this regard if the on site technician wants to install a refurbished hard drive?

Or am I being unreasonable and must accept a refurbished product when I purchased new?

Computing

Comments

  • captobvious on 04/11/2016 - 22:47
    +2

    Yep. Thats normal for warranty sometimes

  • spackbace on 04/11/2016 - 22:53
    +3

    may be

    Sooo… it hasn't happened yet?

    Thought about just asking the tech when he gets there?

    • [Deactivated] on 04/11/2016 - 23:15
      +2

      Lol now we even have [Unconfirmed] forum posts…

    • havebeerbelywillsumo on 05/11/2016 - 04:47

      …..so trying to find out/clarify your rights beforehand isn't a good idea???

  • hmac on 05/11/2016 - 00:09
    +4

    This is how warranty works for computers. You will RARELY get a new replacement.

  • SirArthurSir on 05/11/2016 - 00:13

    Thanks guys for the answers. It hasnt't happend yet, but I wanted to know what my consumer rights were in case it happens. As I said in OP, the email warned me that it was a possibility.

    • scrimshaw on 05/11/2016 - 07:53

      its standard industry practice to replace hdd's with refurbished hdd's.

      In my previous job, as an e.g out of the 10 Western Digital Passports I send in for RMA, I get about 4 refurbs and 6 new ones. Whether you get a refurb or a brand new one depends on their stock, and your luck, I suppose.

    • Olokun on 05/11/2016 - 08:17

      You are required to be advised using the below statement under the ACL where refurbished parts may be used in repairs even if not in your specific repair.

      ACL Regulation Section 91
      Goods presented for repair may be replaced by refurbished goods of the same type rather than being repaired. Refurbished parts may be used to repair the goods.

    • veej on 06/11/2016 - 12:57

      Dell put labels on their boxes if something is refurbished, I've never seen a label on a replacement hard drive to indicate they send out refurbished hard drives.

    • havebeerbelywillsumo on 05/11/2016 - 04:44

      Thanks for the link blaircam. This (" your choice ") seems to say you are entitled to new

      "When you have a major problem with a product, you have the right to ask for your choice of a replacement or refund."

      This seems a bit vague but I'd claim "type" means I bought new and that is part of the "type"

      "Replaced products must be of an identical type to the product originally supplied"

      I've often wondered about this "refurbished" being foisted on a consumer, doesn't seem right to me esp for a HD, how in gods name do you "refurbish" a completely sealed unit?

      • scrimshaw on 05/11/2016 - 07:43
        +1

        Both seagate and western digital will refurbish drives by doing a surface check, and if the platters and read heads are not damaged, they will replace the controller board. This drive is then tested and then labelled as refurb. That's it! Its a very low-level repair job.

        If the platters and read heads (basically, the guts) are damaged, it is more costly to repair these drives than to produce them, since you need to pay staff members to take it to a clean room, disassemble it, replace the affected part, align the read/write heads, clean the platters of dust and then put it together again.

        All of which is a manual process, but to automate it, you'd need to have an assembly line for the sole purpose of refurbishing drives, which doesn't make much financial or economic sense. A high level repair job is too complex and time consuming — this time/money would be better spent on just making a new drive from scratch.

  • Randxyz123 on 05/11/2016 - 05:48

    Look at apple's model. If your iPhone breaks, they swap it out with a refurbished model.

    I doubt dell would give you a second hand/refurbished hard drive. If it was another part maybe but for internal computer parts it would normally be new. I think you may have misunderstood the email.

  • oscargamer on 05/11/2016 - 09:46
    +1

    accept the replacement HDD, as already stated, you have no choice
    buy an SSD
    move data from HDD to SSD
    sell HDD

  • SirArthurSir on 05/11/2016 - 14:34

    Thank you once again for the comments. They have been very helpful, particularly the link that @blaircam provided.

    • Almost Banned on 21/11/2016 - 23:37
      +2

      And yet, no + vote.
      Sigh.

  • havebeerbelywillsumo on 05/11/2016 - 14:49

    Since olokun & scrimshaw have verified that you will have a hard time arguing against a refurbished drive (policy sucks IMHO but if that's the way the rules play…) the only thing I can think of is to get a free HD monitor tool and insist on a test of the drive health while the tech is present. see

    http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-disk-health-monito…

    I would highly recommend getting familiar with whatever you choose beforehand and seeing if there is a tool that run off a USB

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