My 9 month old Pi3 is dead, who do I contact for warranty?

[tweak42]

Purchased in store at Microcenter in March of 2016. It is RS Components / Allied Electronics model. I emailed Allied and they said they only cover issues for boards purchased direct from them, and referred me to Microcenter. Just called Microcenter and they could not find any warranty information on their end and said to bring it in store for tech to check.

Anyone know who is supposed to warranty this and how long for?


Troubleshooting details:
Locked up and stopped posting two days ago. Only red led lights up when powered. Tried several SD cards and power supplies all which bootup on my other Pi's. No visible damage or smell from the board. Was used in a official Pi case.

[texy]

It'll be with whoever you bought it from. Remember that with the exception of the zero, the Foundation do not manufacture/supply any Pi's...

Texy

[wildfire]

With texy here.

At least in the UK and most likely in the USA and other jurisdictions, your contract (including warranty) is between yourself and the seller. it is up to the seller to continue up the chain to the manufacturer.

[tweak42]

Thanks for the replies guys. Microcenter is about hour drive away without traffic, but I'll be in their area this weekend so I'll drop in then and report back.

[TudorJ]

I would just bin it. Think how much time you would spend trying to sort it out, I consider my time to be worth at least the price of a new Pi.

[W. H. Heydt]

Just wanted to wait until there were some passably substantive answers before asking... If your Pi3B is 9 months old--how did you manage to buy it before the beginning of February?

[Heater]

My experience is that in Europe vendors will rectify or replace defective products within the warranty period without any argument.

In the USA, you are screwed.

[tweak42]

Just wanted to wait until there were some passably substantive answers before asking... If your Pi3B is 9 months old--how did you manage to buy it before the beginning of February?

You're right I fail at math, it should be 8 months. As I stated in my opening post I purchased it at the beginning of March.

My experience is that in Europe vendors will rectify or replace defective products within the warranty period without any argument.

In the USA, you are screwed.

Well Microcenter is supposed to be a further up the chain in customer service than mediocre Best Buy and abysmal Fry's Electronics here. I haven't dealt with Microcenter CS before, I'll find out this weekend.

[broe23]

tweak42 I have a Pi 2 and a Pi 3 that I am not using and they are collecting dust. I also have the left angle connector cords for them. Shoot me an message with your info and I will send them with the cases that they are in, which are the Trixies Clear Lexan with fan. I am not planning on using them and they were only used for maybe 80 hours with no issues.

I ran them on the Orico 4-Port with pushbutton power switch, so that I could use a USB enclosure with a SSD in them to handle the OS, while I was testing Free Radius with one for a client and the other just ran a basic LAMP server for the other part of the test that we ran for a project.

I also have two Samsung 850evo 3D 120GB SSD's if you are wanting to use them in a enclosure also with them. I enabled my messages, so send me info on what you want and how to get it to you. That way I do not have to hear the wife wonder why I have so much extra gear laying around on my test bench downstairs.

[W. H. Heydt]

Just wanted to wait until there were some passably substantive answers before asking... If your Pi3B is 9 months old--how did you manage to buy it before the beginning of February?

You're right I fail at math, it should be 8 months. As I stated in my opening post I purchased it at the beginning of March.

Honors are even then, since I missed the line about getting it at the beginning of March.

My experience is that in Europe vendors will rectify or replace defective products within the warranty period without any argument.

In the USA, you are screwed.

Well Microcenter is supposed to be a further up the chain in customer service than mediocre Best Buy and abysmal Fry's Electronics here. I haven't dealt with Microcenter CS before, I'll find out this weekend.

Perhaps I'm just lucky. I've never had an problem with Fry's.

[tweak42]

Initially the customer service rep said I had to take up warranty with Allied or I had to have purchased their replacement protection plan. I showed them the denial email from Allied and asked to speak to a manager. The manager had the CSR credited me for the cost of the original Pi 3 purchase and I bought a Element 14 version. The manager did say Allied should have covered it and that they have sold many Pi3s and I was the first to come in with warranty problems.

[wildfire]

The manager did say Allied should have covered it

Wouldn't hold water in the UK, your contact was with Microcenter. Glad it's resolved now but in case anything similar happens in the future (whatever seller, whatever product) I'd suggest you look up USA/State consumers laws. Microcenter may be in the right where you are but they wouldn't stand a chance here.

[tito-t]

Due to EU Common Market laws the customer has a contract with the dealer (the shop), where he paid the money, not with the manufacturer. Thus the dealer (the shop) is responsible for guarantee or warranty issues.
Not sure if GB or UK already has different laws or what will happen after Brexit though.

ps,
I had a Pi2 guarantee issue myself in Germany, with a German webshop, I had to return my defective Pi, and then and got a new Pi as a free substitute within all over 1 week (from return ticket time).

[DougieLawson]

The UK (currently) has identical rules for warranty to the other 27 countries in the EU. Things like that shouldn't be affected by "brexit", if article 50 ever gets through our parliament and the House of Lords.

It's the poor Americans that are hard done by, they don't have anything like those European consumer protection laws.

[Pithagoros]

Slight variations in the laws exist.

For instance, the 6 year warranty for items that should be expected to last that long in England and Wales is 5 years in Scotland. I don't know what the equivalent is in other EU countries.

(six years with the onus of proof changing from seller to buyer after 6 months).

[Laylanot40]

The manager did say Allied should have covered it

Wouldn't hold water in the UK, your contact was with Microcenter. Glad it's resolved now but in case anything similar happens in the future (whatever seller, whatever product) I'd suggest you look up USA/State consumers laws. Microcenter may be in the right where you are but they wouldn't stand a chance here.

yeah i had the same problem guess you cant really do anything

[broe23]

The manager did say Allied should have covered it

Wouldn't hold water in the UK, your contact was with Microcenter. Glad it's resolved now but in case anything similar happens in the future (whatever seller, whatever product) I'd suggest you look up USA/State consumers laws. Microcenter may be in the right where you are but they wouldn't stand a chance here.

The terms on returns are required to be listed in the stores when you walk in, customer service counter, website and on the receipt. FTC.gov lists the federal rules. Individual states can tighten their rules or keep them at what the Fed's state. In the end, the store really is not required to honor any returns after 10-15 days on some items, 30 days on others, software no refunds allowed, even if not opened.

[tito-t]

poor pitiable American customers
In Germany there are 2 years warranty period guaranteed for brand-new items (1 year for second hand)

[broe23]

poor pitiable American customers
In Germany there are 2 years warranty period guaranteed for brand-new items (1 year for second hand)

Poor pitable U.S. The consumer laws are written for this country to protect the reseller of the item and the customer. They are not to break the back of a business by allowing them to be used by the customer as a try and return if not happy like in Europe.

[tito-t]

just to clarify:
about be "happy or not" after purchase: this is in Germany just for 2 weeks, and just for internet deals, not in a local shop (not quite sure about all-over-EU laws).
Also no guarantee in case of damages caused by wrong handling or even brute force.
But about objective defectives and faults of the item itself by proper usage: in that case the consumer protection rules, with 1-2 years of guarantee or warrantee.
But also this is to the benefit not only for customers but also for reliable companies with stable value products.

[jamesh]

Locked to prevent tit for tat postings.