RMA Request to a different contient?

[Smc]

Hi there,

 

I suspect that my Sabrent 1TB Rocket Nvme PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD has failed. Three nights ago, I got the 'WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR' BSOD, which locked my computer up completely and even the progress bar on the BSOD was still at 0% after 5 minutes of leaving it. However, as this SSD was used as my local disk, when I turned my PC back on it loaded straight into the BIOS and the M.2 drive was not recognised. I decided to reseat it and then try the other M.2 slot on my motherboard, however it came to the same result. Also, I tested a spare M.2 drive in both slots, which was recognised by the BIOS, ruling out that my motherboard was at fault...

 

I contacted Sabrent and they've requested that I send my drive, for inspection, to an address in Florida, United States, and that the shipping costs will not be covered by them, regardless of whether the drive is faulty or not. I wouldn't normally mind paying the postage for a RMA request however as I live in the UK I find it very odd that they are demanding that I cover the costs to send it into a different continent...

 

Is this a standard practice? I'm personally very dissatisfied and will not be purchasing a another drive from Sabrent.

I regret not spending the extra £10-£40 for the Samsung equivalent, I must admit.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, Smc said:

Hi there,

 

I suspect that my Sabrent 1TB Rocket Nvme PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD has failed. Three nights ago, I got the 'WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR' BSOD, which locked my computer up completely and even the progress bar on the BSOD was still at 0% after 5 minutes of leaving it. However, as this SSD was used as my local disk, when I turned my PC back on it loaded straight into the BIOS and the M.2 drive was not recognised. I decided to reseat it and then try the other M.2 slot on my motherboard, however it came to the same result. Also, I tested a spare M.2 drive in both slots, which was recognised by the BIOS, ruling out that my motherboard was at fault...

 

I contacted Sabrent and they've requested that I send my drive, for inspection, to an address in Florida, United States, and that the shipping costs will not be covered by them, regardless of whether the drive is faulty or not. I wouldn't normally mind paying the postage for a RMA request however as I live in the UK I find it very odd that they are demanding that I cover the costs to send it into a different continent...

 

Is this a standard practice? I'm personally very dissatisfied and will not be purchasing a another drive from Sabrent.

I regret not spending the extra £10-£40 for the Samsung equivalent, I must admit.

Well Samsung is in sout Korea which is also a different continent.  You could call them and ask how much it costs to ship to them.  There aren’t a lot of drives made in the UK.  You’ll likelyly be stuck with international shipping for most stuff besides like a car or something.  Nvme drives aren’t very big.  The shipping probably won’t be a lot.

[MildIrritant]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

Well Samsung is in sout Korea which is also a different continent.  You could call them and ask how much it costs to ship to them.  There aren’t a lot of drives made in the UK.  You’ll likelyly be stuck with international shipping for most stuff besides like a car or something.

I highly doubt Samsung, or most other big manufacturers, would require you to ship any product to South Korea, or US or wherever other than the region of purchase for an RMA. They might do it internally, after you have sent it to some local collection point, but not ask you to just ship it yourself. Having to ship something internationally because it was manufactured somewhere else is simply not true.

 

3 hours ago, Smc said:

I contacted Sabrent and they've requested that I send my drive, for inspection, to an address in Florida, United States, and that the shipping costs will not be covered by them, regardless of whether the drive is faulty or not. I wouldn't normally mind paying the postage for a RMA request however as I live in the UK I find it very odd that they are demanding that I cover the costs to send it into a different continent...

Did you make the purchase from a US store? If so it's perfectly reasonable for Sabrent to request for the faulty product to be shipped to the region of purchase. Most companies operate like that. If not, then I don't suppose that this is illegal, but it sure does not look good if they want to sell globally. You could try contacting the store you got it from. I don't know if anything has changed in the UK in the meantime, but the EU mandates a minimum of 2 years of warranty for all electronics to be provided by the retailer.

[Smc]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

Well Samsung is in sout Korea which is also a different continent.  You could call them and ask how much it costs to ship to them.  There aren’t a lot of drives made in the UK.  You’ll likelyly be stuck with international shipping for most stuff besides like a car or something.  Nvme drives aren’t very big.  The shipping probably won’t be a lot.

As MildIrritant pointed out, that's not how most RMA's typically work, but I appreciate the reply either way!

 

10 minutes ago, MildIrritant said:

Did you make the purchase from a US store? If so it's perfectly reasonable for Sabrent to request for the faulty product to be shipped to the region of purchase. Most companies operate like that. If not, then I don't suppose that this is illegal, but it sure does not look good if they want to sell globally. You could try contacting the store you got it from. I don't know if anything has changed in the UK in the meantime, but the EU mandates a minimum of 2 years of warranty for all electronics to be provided by the retailer.

I bought it from amazon.co.uk less than a year ago, making it within warranty, even under British law (Brexit has made things confusing!) I just contacted Amazon and they have asked me to send it to them for a refund. Sabrent said that their refund window only lasts 6 months, even if the product dies, so that was refreshing. Interestingly, the Amazon customer service rep. I had a chat with tried to call Sabrent customer service, however the only phone number listed on their site is based in the US and isn't even a number in service! 

 

TL;DR I should've just contacted Amazon from the get-go instead of wasting time with Sabrent customer service...

[TetraSky]

Unfortunately, not every company can afford to have RMA depots on different continents.

I know it sucks as you're in the UK. But even I in Canada have to ship products to the US if I want them RMA'd. Because they don't all have a depot in Canada. Obviously, it's not that bad since it is the same continent, just not the same country, but still hits hard when shipping cost are so expensive here, easily $25 to $60 depending on the item being sent back.

For you, according to the royal mail website, it could cost as low as £7 to £14 to ship to the US. Which is not that much all things considered. I'm guessing your postal service is subsidized.

 

Spoiler

 

But it's good to know you got this issue fixed up with Amazon in the end.

I'm really jealous that you can just get your warranty through your retailer like that, instead of having to deal with a manufacturer.

[Bombastinator]

3 hours ago, MildIrritant said:

I highly doubt Samsung, or most other big manufacturers, would require you to ship any product to South Korea, or US or wherever other than the region of purchase for an RMA. They might do it internally, after you have sent it to some local collection point, but not ask you to just ship it yourself. Having to ship something internationally because it was manufactured somewhere else is simply not true.

 

Did you make the purchase from a US store? If so it's perfectly reasonable for Sabrent to request for the faulty product to be shipped to the region of purchase. Most companies operate like that. If not, then I don't suppose that this is illegal, but it sure does not look good if they want to sell globally. You could try contacting the store you got it from. I don't know if anything has changed in the UK in the meantime, but the EU mandates a minimum of 2 years of warranty for all electronics to be provided by the retailer.

Samsung may have an RMA department in the US, or at least North America.  Possibly several. My understanding is motherboard manufacturers often don’t and for RMA they often have to be shipped to Taiwan.  So true. They probably ship packaging and a mail sticker to the shipper.  I don’t know.  The statement did not include that the sender ARRANGE international shipping as you imply and base your statement on, merely that they would charge the sender for said shipping.  I could see any company doing that if it turned out that a warranty repair was required.  There is a statement that the company demands payment whether it is a warranty repair or not which would be illegal if the company actually sells the product officially in the country.  If they DONT. then it’s a grey market item and the buyer is on his own as I am with my grey market Korean monitor the manufacturer of which has no presence in the US.  I don’t know if Sabient officially sells in the UK or not.  If it IS grey market it’s totally in keeping. He’s even getting better service than the law requires.  If it’s not, Sabient has a lot of ‘splainin to do.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Bombastinator

[MildIrritant]

We are in agreement then. I just wanted to point out that if the purchase was made through the formal channels, then there should be a better way to handle warranty than the one described initially. This is the reason I asked for the region of purchase to begin with. I don't know who the seller was on amazon, so I can't form a concrete opinion on whether it was grey market or not. I would assume that if I bought something from amazon EU, I was buying from an authorized reseller, but I might have to look into it more and reconsider this.

 

Also, I did not mean the customer to arrange the shipping, but rather cover the cost whichever way the RMA goes. I might have worded that a little poorly, but, honestly, I can see a lot of cases where, if I am to cover the shipping cost either way, I might as well choose my own shipping method to pick something that won't cost me more than outright replacing the component.

 

Glad to see OP got it shorted out in the end.

[Bombastinator]

32 minutes ago, MildIrritant said:

We are in agreement then. I just wanted to point out that if the purchase was made through the formal channels, then there should be a better way to handle warranty than the one described initially. This is the reason I asked for the region of purchase to begin with. I don't know who the seller was on amazon, so I can't form a concrete opinion on whether it was grey market or not. I would assume that if I bought something from amazon EU, I was buying from an authorized reseller, but I might have to look into it more and reconsider this.

 

Also, I did not mean the customer to arrange the shipping, but rather cover the cost whichever way the RMA goes. I might have worded that a little poorly, but, honestly, I can see a lot of cases where, if I am to cover the shipping cost either way, I might as well choose my own shipping method to pick something that won't cost me more than outright replacing the component.

 

Glad to see OP got it shorted out in the end.

Ewwww…. Amazon or “fulfilled by Amazon” can make a huge difference.  If it’s Amazon proper and was sold from the Amazon UK website then Amazon UK could be liable for warranty stuff. “Fulfilled by Amazon” though means you could have bought it from any schmoe and theyre the ones on the hook.  If you can find it and enforce it.  I personally consider “fulfilled by Amazon” as not a lot different than gum found on a sidewalk.  Amazon was stupid to even entertain that one.  Massive brand dilution was a foregone conclusion.   Amazon doesn’t want to turn into the mess that is wish.com

[MildIrritant]

i haven't really purchased anything of significant value from amazon, so I don't know all the ins and outs. Hence I was hesitant to provide any strong opinion, other than my own assumptions based on the brand name. Good to know of this differentiation. Thanks!