I am thinking of getting a graphics card from the US through a friend of mine who is coming down. What is the warranty scenario like? Will I get no warranty or is there an international warranty for graphics cards? If he brings the card here and if it conks out later, I am blugged?
Problems in getting a graphics card from abroad
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rohanbee
Padawan
Yes there is that problem of warranty. Only some companies will give you international warranty + you will have to fork out additional money for it. The best bet is to call your friend and ask him to find ouot the warranties available. It will be difficult for you to do the same from here. Also there are toll free numbers which every company in the US has. So its better if this info is gathered at that end.
US do not have international warranty. Which is weird since for many warranty services you mail it to places like Malaysia and they mail it back to you. But you need to check.. Since it is always different. But unlike if you buy from Europe or middle east, US warranty only covers the US. It has to do with US states liabilities which are different in each state. Like I said, its changing and a lot different for different companies. Also US warrenty is 90 days not 1 year like the rest of the world. Then again you get over double the luggage allowance in on US flights 
Ringwraith
Journeyman
depends on ur luck normally they dont just burn out!..unless u are really unlucky, (as with one of my friends, whose card crashed 2 months after he got it frm us!)
normally they dont just burn out!..unless u are really unlucky, (as with one of my friends, whose card crashed 2 months after he got it frm us!)harshagarwal
Journeyman
hey you can very unlucky like me.
my graphic card got burned within 10 days of my purchase.
my graphic card got burned within 10 days of my purchase.
rohanbee
Padawan
Yes unlike in india and the rest of the world ppl in the US unfortunately sue at the drop of a hat so companies do take 100's of precautions by making a lot of fine print with clauses and sub-clauses as well.As far as i know you can get extended warranties but as i told you only if they have a subsidiary in your country and also you pay through your nose for that sort of warranties.
plasmafire
Journeyman
In USA the legal cost an time are less. Suing neibors over dog poop is common. get ur card from a good dealer in India w/o wrty.. u can atleast hold his neck... thatz how I get wrty!
rohanbee said:
Once I bought a minniscribe SCSI drive which was sold by Fry's for like $800 but since the company was in liquidation there was no warranty so I bought the Fry's extended warranty. The drive conked out within a few days since it gets so very hot but I moved and I did not get a chance to take it back. It was like a 3 year extended warranty. After an year when I moved back I took the drive back to the very same store and man I had to spend like 3 days running to different stores showing it to different people, always explaining the very same thing to 10 different people, sales people, techs, managers etc... And it was like hell to get a replacement drive. The Claus said I would get a new drive or replacement drive immediately but they wanted to send it to where ever to fix it and stuff... would take a few months... The warranty costs 10-20% extra... Now that I think about it, it was not worth it.... This is a global warranty, IE they say if it gets bad in india you just call their number and mail it in and get it replaced..
Well what they tell you is not the same as what will happen when there is a problem... If they made me run around for 3 days to different stores and different people and such even though I took it back to the original store I bought it from... Can you imagine what it would be like other wise?
The sales people make most of their money selling these warranties, so does the stores so they really push selling it. But dont expect it to be worth anything... Best warranties are from the likes of Maxtor where you get on the web, get a RMA number and mail it in and the day they receive it they mail you a replacement. I sent my liteon DVD writer back because it now would not even read anything. Been over a month now. Excuse is, it has to go to Bombay, Timbukthu... by slow pigeon carrier... They asked me why I didn't bring the drive back in earlier than keeping it till the last moment. Also why do I spend the effort to come to the store 3 times in a month and not just call?
Think I'll just visit the store next week too... Since it been in courier for weeks now... I paid extra to buy it locally for warrenty... and service but dont count on it. In the US it really is not worth the effort to get most electronics or computer stuff fixed, replaced etc.. Considering you make $50/$100/hour... Taking off from work costs you a lot more than what the thing is worth. Different in India of course since the thing costs a lot more and you make a lot less.
Makes one long for the days of the emperors.. see they know how to get others to sell it you for less than cost.
rohanbee
Padawan
Well what you say is quite true but i do know of people there who have had better experiences than your, where items have been replaced quite quickly. i guess at the end of the day one could have a bad experience any where in the world wether its india, us or japan, you just need to be cautious and a little bit lucky at the end of the day. If you remember Digits offer for upgrading to dvd's had so many takers and then even more complaints of non-compliance and faulty drives and to think we thought it would have to be the perfect deal. True warranties especially extended warranties have become more of a money racket than anything else. When you show them the warranty they have all sorts of clauses and sub sections which ultimately make that particular thing in your product not covered under the warranty.!!
Well it all come down to cost. At one time Target used to honor manufacturers warranty. You could take anything back and get it replaced in 90 days or 1 year. So you could get new shoes replaced as the old ones wore out and you never had to buy them again. You could buy craft man tools and with lifetime replacement warranty, if it ever breaks they will give you a new one. Just take it back and every mechanic used them.
Well times have changed.. Now target needs the receipt, they need to be in the same store and they will only replace it after 30 days and all kinds of small fine print, nothing like it used to be.
Now remember, US companies buy warranty from the manufacturer. IE is an item goes bad the company reimburses the store for the item. So if an item doesn't sell, you break it and bill the manufacturer for it and/or get insurance replacement. But that costs.. Paperwork.. its expensive... Paying those grunts $5/hour to fill stuff out. Well its easier to piss off the customers and make it hard for them to return anything unless really necessary.
But customer service is always much better in the US than India no matter what, you just have to make sure it costs them more money not to help you and profits are #1. Do they even have customer service in India? It took a week to get the new fridge that did not work replaced and they wanted to fix it rather than replacing it. Brand new one and they wanted to fix it?
Well times have changed.. Now target needs the receipt, they need to be in the same store and they will only replace it after 30 days and all kinds of small fine print, nothing like it used to be.
Now remember, US companies buy warranty from the manufacturer. IE is an item goes bad the company reimburses the store for the item. So if an item doesn't sell, you break it and bill the manufacturer for it and/or get insurance replacement. But that costs.. Paperwork.. its expensive... Paying those grunts $5/hour to fill stuff out. Well its easier to piss off the customers and make it hard for them to return anything unless really necessary.
But customer service is always much better in the US than India no matter what, you just have to make sure it costs them more money not to help you and profits are #1. Do they even have customer service in India? It took a week to get the new fridge that did not work replaced and they wanted to fix it rather than replacing it. Brand new one and they wanted to fix it?
rohanbee
Padawan
The only reason that warranty conditions and terms have become very strict over the years has been "misuse" and nothing else,
Point to case: people wear stuff use and break or destory it just to get a new piece and hence a new product. What gurantees does the manufacturing company have in this case. These are some of the few reasons that these checks have been put into place. Down side is many a times genuine customers bear the brunt of these and loose out on correct claims.
Point to case: people wear stuff use and break or destory it just to get a new piece and hence a new product. What gurantees does the manufacturing company have in this case. These are some of the few reasons that these checks have been put into place. Down side is many a times genuine customers bear the brunt of these and loose out on correct claims.
In business, your margins always take into account fraud, braking something and getting it replaced falls under that. In many cases things are not bad itself, but the user could not get things to work. This is very very common. But from what I have seen, it is the retailers who themselves cause most of the problems. IE they don't want to take the effort to solve the issues. It costs them money and time. They have products no one buys and it is costing them shelf space so they mark it as bad or break it them self and bill the manufacturer. Who will just write off the expense in taxes.
I have known people to take back things because they wore out but not that they break it on purpose and take it back. I think that would be very rare anywhere.
Well I did wait an year to take back my HD when it did not work after a few days, well I did not want to get the same drive model back as replacement. It was a server type HD. Very fast for the time, But my desktop cases could not handle the heat generated by it and I figured with a 3 year extended warranty I would wait until their stock runs out and get a different drive
Was that cheating? In a way maybe... But the condition of the warranty was a replacement drive immediately. If the same model was not available they would replace it with something better. They said that and I paid for it. Taking advantage of it, I dont think is wrong. How was I supposed to know that the thing was an oven?
I have known people to take back things because they wore out but not that they break it on purpose and take it back. I think that would be very rare anywhere.
Well I did wait an year to take back my HD when it did not work after a few days, well I did not want to get the same drive model back as replacement. It was a server type HD. Very fast for the time, But my desktop cases could not handle the heat generated by it and I figured with a 3 year extended warranty I would wait until their stock runs out and get a different drive
Was that cheating? In a way maybe... But the condition of the warranty was a replacement drive immediately. If the same model was not available they would replace it with something better. They said that and I paid for it. Taking advantage of it, I dont think is wrong. How was I supposed to know that the thing was an oven?
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