Warranty support ratings.

[thekeemo]

Introduction:

A very important aspect of buying that is usually overlooked is the after buying experience.

So so it's time for us to come together and make a database of our experiences.

The closer the country is to you the more accurate the experience will be for you.

To add your own experience simply follow this link http://goo.gl/forms/kQSqcZBq7u. 

Adding your response via forum reply has been discontinued please use the form.

Detailed breakdowns of the results are available here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VVAow6pn7sT0IQ9kHfKDYyIHbaxF8DBYQ3LV4wj5B3k/edit?usp=sharing

 

Current results:

 

Manufacturers:

• Acer | 6.5
• AsRock | 0.25 | 6 | 3.5
• Asus | -∞ | 5.5 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 | 4.75 | 7
• BeQuiet! | 8
• Cooler Master | 2.5 | 6
• Corsair 8 | 7 | 4 | 6.75 | 7 | 5 | 4.375
• Creative | 5
• Crucial | 6 | 7
• Dell | 7
• EVGA | 6.5 | 7.5 | 3.75 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7
• Final Mouse | 6
• Gigabyte | 2.75 | 4.75 | -∞ | 5.75 | 0 | 4.75 | 3.375 | 4 | 0 | 3.625 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0
• G.Skill | 7
• HP | 4.5 | 0
• iOrange-E | 7
• Kingston | 7 | 6
• Logitech | 9 | 8.75 | 9
• Mad Catz | 5
• MSI | 5.25 | 7 | 6.25 | 7
• NZXT | 9
• Patriot | 7 | 7
• Phanteks | 7.75
• Razer | 6
• Samsung | 3.25
• Sapphire | 5
• Seagate | 8
• Sony | 6 | 5.75
• Steel Series | 7
• Swiftech | 6.75
• ThermalTake | 5.75
• Western Digital | 8 | 7 | 5.5 | 0 | 0
• XFX | 7

Retailers:

Receipt criteria does not apply so out of 8 

• CyberPowerPC | -1.75
• DTG | 0
• EKey | 0
• FiercePC | 5
• Massdrop | 6
• Microcenter | 6 
• Newegg | 6
• Oneclick | -8
• PCComponentes | 7
• Rueducommerce | 6
• Replacedirect | 4.75
• Scan | -∞
• Xtremmedia | 5.5

 

Hall of Fame with ~ 9/9 or 8/8:

Spoiler

• Logitech
• NZXT

 

Hall of Infamy with an average below 5/9 or 4/8:

Spoiler

• Gigabyte
• AsRock
• Powercolor
• CoolerMaster
• Oneclick
• Samsung
• CyberPowerPC
• Scan
• Sapphire
• Replacedirect
• Asus

 

Scoring (outdated)

Spoiler

 

1 point for each item below:

• Do they require a receipt. Receipts can easily be misplaced or in some occasions meaningless because the item was purchased in a country without official resellers.
• Do they respond to you quickly? 1 point for within 24 hours. - 0.25 for every 2 days over that.
• Do they have local service centers? Shipping across borders can be very expensive.
• Do all the forms of communications they list actually work? Does someone pick up the phone?
• Do they pay for shipping both ways? 1 point for always 0.5 for outside the service centers country.
• Quick turn around. How long does it take for them to process the item once they have received it. 1 point for under a week. -0.25 for every week over.
• Do they falsify information? Did they make stuff up to avoid compensating you?
• Did they give you goodies? Having to deal with sending something in causes undue stress and wastes your time. Did they compensate you for that?
• Do they have an advanced replacement policy? Minimize lost time.*

Please leave a rating out of 9

 

Examples (outdated):

Spoiler

Kingston:

• Yes, but first time you deal with them they make an exception.0.5
• So far all within 24 hours.1
• Nope. 0
• Email and phone numbers work. 1
• Yes. 1
• About a week. 1
• Nope 1
• Nope 0
• Yes. 1

Rating 6.5/9

 

Gigabyte:

• No. 1
• Average of 3 days. 0.75
• Nope. 0
• Phone number works 1/10 times. 0.5
• No. 0
• About a week. 1
• No. 1
• Board came with NO accessories not even a manual and it was as lightly damaged refurb. -0.5
• Yes. 1

4.75/9

 

EVGA:

• Sometimes 0.5
• All quick 1
• Nope. 0
• Yes 1
• Yes but I had to ask and depends on who you talk to. 0.75
• All fast. 1
• Nope. 1
• Nope. Just a bare brown box with just the replacement psu in it not even a AC cable. 0
• Yes. 1

6.25/9

Cooler Master:

• Yes. 0
• So far all within 24 hours.1
• Nope. 0
• Only tried live chat it worked 1
• Nope. And cost for shipping is more than cost of replacement. -1
• Unknown. Reports say over 2 months.
• Unknown.
• Nope 0
• Yes. 1

2-4

[Rohit Jackdaw]

Western Digital 8/9

Corsair RAM 5.25/9

ASRock 6/9

Corsair PSU 6.25/9

[thekeemo]

Western Digital 8/9

Corsair RAM 5.25/9

ASRock 6/9

Corsair PSU 6.25/9

Could you elaborate? Where did they lose points? Need them to add to the database

[Rohit Jackdaw]

Could you elaborate? Where did they lose points? Need them to add to the database

WD lost a point because they didn't give goodies. ASRock lost due to them making up things saying something with my end and long time to process the replacement and no goodies. In both cases Corsair lost due to long return time and no goodies and their customer service was not swift and in the case of RAM they asked me to pay for International shipping to them which adds to around 30% the total cost of the RAM

[iamdarkyoshi]

Patriot Memory

 

Do they require a receipt. Receipts can easily be misplaced or in some occasions meaningless because the item was purchased in a country without official resellers.

No reciept, no original packaging, no proof of purchase, no questions asked,

 

Do they respond to you quickly? 1 point for within 24 hours. - 0.25 for every 2 days over that.

Same damn day!

 

Do they have local service centers? Shipping across borders can be very expensive.

Yup.

 

Do all the forms of communications they list actually work? Does someone pick up the phone?

Their website's form worked the first time, second time needed to be done using email.

 

Do they pay for shipping both ways? 1 point for always 0.5 for outside the service centers country.

Unfortunately, no. It is up to the buyer to send it there, they send it back.

 

Quick turn around. How long does it take for them to process the item once they have received it. 1 point for under a week. -0.25 for every week over.

They process it as soon as they receive it.

 

Do they falsify information? Did they make stuff up to avoid compensating you?

No questions asked, they replaced my faulty RAM I got in a used custom PC and I had no purchase details of any sort

 

Did they give you goodies? Having to deal with sending something in causes undue stress and wastes your time. Did they compensate you for that?

No, nothing other than an "upgrade" (RAM I had was no longer sold, so they sent a newer kit)

 

Do they have an advanced replacement policy? Minimize lost time.*

No. Not needed as I can send out faulty ram and get a replacement in a week

 

 

Make of this what you want m8

[The Official Czex]

Dell... Not even going there.

[iamdarkyoshi]

ASS rock

Do they require a receipt. Receipts can easily be misplaced or in some occasions meaningless because the item was purchased in a country without official resellers.

Never got that far

Do they respond to you quickly? 1 point for within 24 hours. - 0.25 for every 2 days over that.

Hell no, took more than a week.

Do they have local service centers? Shipping across borders can be very expensive.

Never got that far

Do all the forms of communications they list actually work? Does someone pick up the phone?

I tried email, and after a week I got a retarded response

Do they pay for shipping both ways? 1 point for always 0.5 for outside the service centers country.

Never got that far

Quick turn around. How long does it take for them to process the item once they have received it. 1 point for under a week. -0.25 for every week over.

Never got that far

Do they falsify information? Did they make stuff up to avoid compensating you?

You fucking bet they did. I had a z77 extreme4 die due to troubleshooting video (turns out the OEM DVI cable was bad) and it killed the board. Their response after a fucking WEEK?

"Physically damaged board"

And nothing else.

Did they give you goodies? Having to deal with sending something in causes undue stress and wastes your time. Did they compensate you for that?

Never got that far

Do they have an advanced replacement policy? Minimize lost time.*

Never got that far

Template:

Do they require a receipt. Receipts can easily be misplaced or in some occasions meaningless because the item was purchased in a country without official resellers.

Do they respond to you quickly? 1 point for within 24 hours. - 0.25 for every 2 days over that.

Do they have local service centers? Shipping across borders can be very expensive.

Do all the forms of communications they list actually work? Does someone pick up the phone?

Do they pay for shipping both ways? 1 point for always 0.5 for outside the service centers country.

Quick turn around. How long does it take for them to process the item once they have received it. 1 point for under a week. -0.25 for every week over.

Do they falsify information? Did they make stuff up to avoid compensating you?

Did they give you goodies? Having to deal with sending something in causes undue stress and wastes your time. Did they compensate you for that?

Do they have an advanced replacement policy? Minimize lost time.*

[hypnodog]

I'm going to rate these companies based on how I felt the experience was, instead of the system you made. As long as you don't mind lol

Greatest to least:

Corsair: 8.5/9. The RMA experience(s) was almost flawless. They approved my RMA request immediately (same day) and sent me a brand new kit of RAM about a day after they got the faulty kit. My only gripe was that I had to pay for shipping. The story was even better when I had to RMA the front panel of my case, since they overnighted me a new panel without needing to send my faulty one back. All for free.

 

Logitech: 5/9. The experience(s) with Logitech was a bit different. When I RMA'd my KB, they gave me a brand new KB and a 2 year warranty extension all for free. It was different when I had to RMA my G27 6 months later. I couldn't locate ANY contact info for the RMA department. I couldn't even make a support ticket since all I could do was go on their forum. I had to Google their number to contact them. They gave me a free shipping label to send my faulty unit to them. Afterwards, they took 2 weeks to send me a new one.

 

EVGA: 2.5/9. The absolute WORST experience with any company I've dealt with. I had to RMA my 660, so I opened a ticket with them and everything went smoothly for the most part, until I got the replacement. It was faulty too. I had to open yet another ticket, same process as before and got another one...but it was faulty too. I did the same thing 5 times and 4 of those times I had to pay for shipping until they offered me an Advanced RMA for free. After the third time, they started getting salty with me, saying that they couldn't send me a new card at all (I was asking for a new card because I was getting tired of doing RMA after RMA), and they were saying that the card was "too old and too weak" and they couldn't do anything about that. I even contacted the manager and he said the same thing. I just told them that if the 5th card was faulty, I would never buy from them again...lo and behold it was faulty too! So I RMA'd for the last time and sold the card. Other than that, their shipping times were decent, with them shipping the refurb 3 days after receiving the faulty unit.

 

Sorry for the wall of text! I just felt like getting into detail lol...now my fingers hurt from typing

[thekeemo]

I'm going to rate these companies based on how I felt the experience was, instead of the system you made. As long as you don't mind lol

Greatest to least:

Corsair: 8.5/9. The RMA experience(s) was almost flawless. They approved my RMA request immediately (same day) and sent me a brand new kit of RAM about a day after they got the faulty kit. My only gripe was that I had to pay for shipping. The story was even better when I had to RMA the front panel of my case, since they overnighted me a new panel without needing to send my faulty one back. All for free.

 

Logitech: 5/9. The experience(s) with Logitech was a bit different. When I RMA'd my KB, they gave me a brand new KB and a 2 year warranty extension all for free. It was different when I had to RMA my G27 6 months later. I couldn't locate ANY contact info for the RMA department. I couldn't even make a support ticket since all I could do was go on their forum. I had to Google their number to contact them. They gave me a free shipping label to send my faulty unit to them. Afterwards, they took 2 weeks to send me a new one.

 

EVGA: 2.5/9. The absolute WORST experience with any company I've dealt with. I had to RMA my 660, so I opened a ticket with them and everything went smoothly for the most part, until I got the replacement. It was faulty too. I had to open yet another ticket, same process as before and got another one...but it was faulty too. I did the same thing 5 times and 4 of those times I had to pay for shipping until they offered me an Advanced RMA for free. After the third time, they started getting salty with me, saying that they couldn't send me a new card at all (I was asking for a new card because I was getting tired of doing RMA after RMA), and they were saying that the card was "too old and too weak" and they couldn't do anything about that. I even contacted the manager and he said the same thing. I just told them that if the 5th card was faulty, I would never buy from them again...lo and behold it was faulty too! So I RMA'd for the last time and sold the card. Other than that, their shipping times were decent, with them shipping the refurb 3 days after receiving the faulty unit.

 

Sorry for the wall of text! I just felt like getting into detail lol...now my fingers hurt from typing

Im going to have to research all the stuff you glossed over. Damn you.

[hypnodog]

Im going to have to research all the stuff you glossed over. Damn you.

Sorry my fingers couldn't type anymore so I had to cut stuff out

[scottyseng]

Corsair 8/9:

• Do they require a receipt. Receipts can easily be misplaced or in some occasions meaningless because the item was purchased in a country without official resellers.

I was asked for a receipt / invoice. I think they do require receipts though. I just sent them my Newegg Invoice (in PDF form)

• Do they respond to you quickly? 1 point for within 24 hours. - 0.25 for every 2 days over that.

Yes, sometimes multiple times in 1 day.

• Do they have local service centers? Shipping across borders can be very expensive.

I have no idea on this.

• Do all the forms of communications they list actually work? Does someone pick up the phone?

I used the online support corsair ticket system only, not sure about calling or the other methods.

• Do they pay for shipping both ways? 1 point for always 0.5 for outside the service centers country.

Yes, they paid for shipping both ways.

• Quick turn around. How long does it take for them to process the item once they have received it. 1 point for under a week. -0.25 for every week over.

They usually took about one business day to process the RMA.

• Do they falsify information? Did they make stuff up to avoid compensating you?

No, they did not.

• Did they give you goodies? Having to deal with sending something in causes undue stress and wastes your time. Did they compensate you for that?

No, they did not. I wish they did. I lost a lot of time dealing with the RMAs / unstable power supplies / potential data loss and corruption / labor spent troubleshooting and playing with the self test buttons.

• Do they have an advanced replacement policy? Minimize lost time.*

Yes, but they charge full price for the item even if I bought it for half.

 

My story with the refurbished AX860i (Okay, it was probably my fault for thinking a refurbished power supply was a good idea to save some money, but judge my story on how you want):

Well, I thought I had gotten a great deal getting two of these PSUs for my bro and I. Let us call these PSU #1 and PSU #2.

PSU #2 came with a missing corsair link cable. No big deal, just talked to support and they sent me a new one without issue.

Well, after two weeks, both PSUs began to randomly shut down and get stuck in a restart loop. It did not get out of the loop until I unplugged the PSU and let it set for a hour. Then it would work...but it worked for random periods of time, from 5 min to several hours.

Well, after talking to corsair support, they told me both units probably had a faulty thermal probe. A temporary fix was to force 50% fan speed on the PSU using corsair link. Well, unfortunately, to RMA the PSUs, I would have to send back both PSUs and all cables. So the thought of having to undo hours of cabling (to convert to the corsair cables) and reinstall the old PSUs in both PCs was very unpleasant (Not to mention having to redo the wiring when I did get the replacement units...and not knowing if the replacements would last long or not).

Well, I opted for the express RMA. Well, as you know, they take a credit card to charge first. I had no problem, but they temp charge the full price ($200 per PSU). I thought it was a error, because I was like, I only paid $100 each for the PSUs. Well, it wasn't. I just accepted it and so they sent two more units, PSU #3 and PSU #4.

Well, they arrived a week later, so I first did my brother's PC with PSU#3. It started fine after doing some initial checks. Since my brother was at work, I turned the PC off and left it alone. That night, when my brother came back from work, the PSU #3 refused to turn on at all, and self test did not work. So I swapped it with PSU #4, which I had not gotten to installing in my PC.

Well, PSU#4 worked. However, I still had PSU #1 in my PC. I asked for another RMA on PSU #2 and #3. I sent them back, and waited another week for PSU #5 to come in. In that week, PSU #1 began to turn unstable, even with manually fixing the fan speed to 70%. Well, I got PSU #5 and it works to this day, and I sent back PSU #1. I was credited for $400 the next week after Corsair received the dead units. Both units work fine to this day, however, I don't really trust them to last beyond the 1 year warranty, but we shall see.

In the end though, I really regret not spending the extra $50 to get the Cooler Master V850 ($150 at the time). The amount of data I lost / potentially might've lost (My LSI MegaRAID card's CacheVault saved me a lot...I had to clean install Windows because the massive amount of restart loops caused the OS to run really slow / buggy) was not worth the savings. The labor required to attempt to diagnose, swap out, and self test (using the self test button) the unstable PSUs cost me quite a bit of time.

This is just my experience, so if you are lucky and you get a unit that works, you'll be fine. However, I don't like playing the PSU lottery.

[thekeemo]

Corsair 8/9:

• Do they require a receipt. Receipts can easily be misplaced or in some occasions meaningless because the item was purchased in a country without official resellers.

I was asked for a receipt / invoice. I think they do require receipts though. I just sent them my Newegg Invoice (in PDF form)

• Do they respond to you quickly? 1 point for within 24 hours. - 0.25 for every 2 days over that.

Yes, sometimes multiple times in 1 day.

• Do they have local service centers? Shipping across borders can be very expensive.

I have no idea on this.

• Do all the forms of communications they list actually work? Does someone pick up the phone?

I used the online support corsair ticket system only, not sure about calling or the other methods.

• Do they pay for shipping both ways? 1 point for always 0.5 for outside the service centers country.

Yes, they paid for shipping both ways.

• Quick turn around. How long does it take for them to process the item once they have received it. 1 point for under a week. -0.25 for every week over.

They usually took about one business day to process the RMA.

• Do they falsify information? Did they make stuff up to avoid compensating you?

No, they did not.

• Did they give you goodies? Having to deal with sending something in causes undue stress and wastes your time. Did they compensate you for that?

No, they did not. I wish they did. I lost a lot of time dealing with the RMAs / unstable power supplies / potential data loss and corruption / labor spent troubleshooting and playing with the self test buttons.

• Do they have an advanced replacement policy? Minimize lost time.*

Yes, but they charge full price for the item even if I bought it for half.

 

My story with the refurbished AX860i (Okay, it was probably my fault for thinking a refurbished power supply was a good idea to save some money, but judge my story on how you want):

Well, I thought I had gotten a great deal getting two of these PSUs for my bro and I. Let us call these PSU #1 and PSU #2.

PSU #2 came with a missing corsair link cable. No big deal, just talked to support and they sent me a new one without issue.

Well, after two weeks, both PSUs began to randomly shut down and get stuck in a restart loop. It did not get out of the loop until I unplugged the PSU and let it set for a hour. Then it would work...but it worked for random periods of time, from 5 min to several hours.

Well, after talking to corsair support, they told me both units probably had a faulty thermal probe. A temporary fix was to force 50% fan speed on the PSU using corsair link. Well, unfortunately, to RMA the PSUs, I would have to send back both PSUs and all cables. So the thought of having to undo hours of cabling (to convert to the corsair cables) and reinstall the old PSUs in both PCs was very unpleasant (Not to mention having to redo the wiring when I did get the replacement units...and not knowing if the replacements would last long or not).

Well, I opted for the express RMA. Well, as you know, they take a credit card to charge first. I had no problem, but they temp charge the full price ($200 per PSU). I thought it was a error, because I was like, I only paid $100 each for the PSUs. Well, it wasn't. I just accepted it and so they sent two more units, PSU #3 and PSU #4.

Well, they arrived a week later, so I first did my brother's PC with PSU#3. It started fine after doing some initial checks. Since my brother was at work, I turned the PC off and left it alone. That night, when my brother came back from work, the PSU #3 refused to turn on at all, and self test did not work. So I swapped it with PSU #4, which I had not gotten to installing in my PC.

Well, PSU#4 worked. However, I still had PSU #1 in my PC. I asked for another RMA on PSU #2 and #3. I sent them back, and waited another week for PSU #5 to come in. In that week, PSU #1 began to turn unstable, even with manually fixing the fan speed to 70%. Well, I got PSU #5 and it works to this day, and I sent back PSU #1. I was credited for $400 the next week after Corsair received the dead units. Both units work fine to this day, however, I don't really trust them to last beyond the 1 year warranty, but we shall see.

In the end though, I really regret not spending the extra $50 to get the Cooler Master V850 ($150 at the time). The amount of data I lost / potentially might've lost (My LSI MegaRAID card's CacheVault saved me a lot...I had to clean install Windows because the massive amount of restart loops caused the OS to run really slow / buggy) was not worth the savings. The labor required to attempt to diagnose, swap out, and self test (using the self test button) the unstable PSUs cost me quite a bit of time.

This is just my experience, so if you are lucky and you get a unit that works, you'll be fine. However, I don't like playing the PSU lottery.

very detailed thank you. The advanced replacement thing is normal as they charge msrp (is that the right term?) not retail. If you decide to replace your power supply(ies) take a look at aniallation's PSU guide. There are high quality cheaper units like the g2 series.

[scottyseng]

-snip-

 

Yeah, I guess that is normal...but man, I feel sorry for anyone who does buy a refurb for $200.

 

Ah, I'm very good with fixing PCs. Replacing PSUs is really not that hard for me. However, this is the first time I've had a PSU give me so many headaches. Yeah, the EVGA G2 or the Cooler Master V850 will be next in line if these units die shortly after the one year refurbished corsair warranty (Do note that refurbished units have only a one year warranty and not the full seven that the new corsair AX860is do). Yeah, my cousin bought a refurbished corsair PSU (AX850) as well. He did have to RMA it once and the replacement was working well at the time, but it's acting up again doing the same restart loop mine was. Unfortunately though, his PSU is out of the one year warranty so he's stuck with a $80 paperweight now.

 

Yeah, I would not recommend dealing with refurbished PSUs ever again.

[thekeemo]

updated mine

[EarthboundHero]

Powercolor 4.75/9

 

• Yes, they require an invoice, which as long as you purchase online shouldn't be an issue. +0
• Always within 24 hours. Much faster even, most of the time. +1
• No clue on this one. The place they had me ship mine was pretty close. California. +1
• Haven't had the need to call them. Which is considered a plus in my book. +1
• Nope, had to pay $11 for shipping. Still pissed about that one. +0
• They received it 11/10/2015, and sent a new one out on 11/25/2015. +.75
• Nope, they were straight forward. Said they couldn't refund shipping because everyone had to pay it. Never said they wouldn't process my RMA either. +1
• Haven't received my RMA back yet, but I doubt it. +0
• Not on that I know about. +0

Overall, decent compared to stories I've heard about other companies. Though the $11 shipping wasn't their fault, it would've been nice to compensated since it was a faulty product. I'm just happy to finally get my 390 back. 

[EarthboundHero]

Newegg 7/9

 

 

• Do they require a receipt. Receipts can easily be misplaced or in some occasions meaningless because the item was purchased in a country without official resellers.

Just that you ordered it from them. +1

• Do they respond to you quickly? 1 point for within 24 hours. - 0.25 for every 2 days over that.

Usually respond in a good time frame. +1

• Do they have local service centers? Shipping across borders can be very expensive.

I believe they do. +1

• Do all the forms of communications they list actually work? Does someone pick up the phone?

Never needed to call them, but live chat and email work. +1

• Do they pay for shipping both ways? 1 point for always 0.5 for outside the service centers country.

Never had to pay shipping. +1

• Quick turn around. How long does it take for them to process the item once they have received it. 1 point for under a week. -0.25 for every week over.

Usually pretty fast, I think within a week last time. +1

• Do they falsify information? Did they make stuff up to avoid compensating you?

Never had an issue. +1

• Did they give you goodies? Having to deal with sending something in causes undue stress and wastes your time. Did they compensate you for that?

Nope. +0

• Do they have an advanced replacement policy? Minimize lost time.*

Naw. +0

 

I've RMA'd stuff at least twice that I can remember and never had an issue. I know they aren't a manufacture, but if I had the choice of RMA through Newegg or most manufacturers. I'd choose Newegg.

[Coaxialgamer]

Sapphire :

had to rma twice because i got dead cards

second card wasnt even new

replacement was quick

rma shipping not a owners expense

Rating : 6.0/10

[Redicat]

Sapphire didnt respond tot my DEAD bord RMA 

 

0/10

[thekeemo]

Sapphire didnt respond tot my DEAD bord RMA I'm not alone in that they are horrible for support then..

 

0/10

[App4that]

After a month of frustrating communications with Gigabyte about an issue with the audio chip in my motherboard I was told I had to pay to have them diagnose it. It's a Black Edition board and was weeks old when I found the problem, which is it won't allow you to use headphones in 7.1.

 

Gigabyte, 2/9

[vanished]

Great idea!  I hope this gets filled out and pinned, but I do have something to say about this one point:

 

• Do they require a receipt. Receipts can easily be misplaced or in some occasions meaningless because the item was purchased in a country without official resellers.

 

First of all, that's why you should always scan your receipts when you buy something.  Not only can they go missing, but the "ink" used actually fades out over time and about a year later, you'll probably have nothing more than a blank piece of paper.  That's because the "ink" isn't actually ink like a printer uses.  The paper itself has a special coating that is heat sensitive, and so text made with this method is not permanent.

 

Second, why is anyone buying from non-official retailers?... that sounds more than a little sketchy.

[thekeemo]

Great idea!  I hope this gets filled out and pinned, but I do have something to say about this one point:

 

 

First of all, that's why you should always scan your receipts when you buy something.  Not only can they go missing, but the "ink" used actually fades out over time and about a year later, you'll probably have nothing more than a blank piece of paper.  That's because the "ink" isn't actually ink like a printer uses.  The paper itself has a special coating that is heat sensitive, and so text made with this method is not permanent.

 

Second, why is anyone buying from non-official retailers?... that sounds more than a little sketchy.

Because some countries don't have official retailers.

And not everyone has access to a scanner

[vanished]

Because some countries don't have official retailers.

And not everyone has access to a scanner

Well a camera phone then

And if there aren't any official retailers in the country, how are they even getting there? That sounds even sketchyer...

[thekeemo]

Well a camera phone then

And if there aren't any official retailers in the country, how are they even getting there? That sounds even sketchyer...

they have to get them bulk shipped from warehouses and then sell them in stores. Also what if you bought it used and there is no receipt or you lost it on the way home.

[vanished]

they have to get them bulk shipped from warehouses and then sell them in stores. Also what if you bought it used and there is no receipt or you lost it on the way home.

Used is another good point; that could be an issue. Do all manufacturers continue to honour the warranty if its sent in from a second hand owner? That could be another rating point.