For many years (in fact since 1997) I have been a satisfied Amazon (.com, .uk and .de) customer, buying from them dozens of products and receiving fast, impeccable service.
I had even come to regard Amazon.de as a shield that protects consumers from unhelpful or irresponsible manufacturers/sellers.
Lately however, something happened that has stood against all previous good Amazon experience. Amazon.de refused to honor the warranty of a product that I bought from them. The product was a Samsung SODIMM, the description of which clearly stated that it boasts a lifetime warranty (which was the main reason that I bought this particular SODIMM).
But, when I claimed the warranty, after the product went bad about 3.5 years after its sale, Amazon.de stated that it only supports 2 years of warranty, absolutely refusing to RMA it. They referred me to Samsung, although the seller is always the one who is responsible for the warranty stated in the product description. Samsung on the other hand refused to deal with me directly, stating that their warranty policy only covers direct customers (i.e. resellers), not end-users.
Amazon.de even stated that they don't participate in German consumer dispute resolution bodies (apparently to make it clear that I can't do anything to them).
As a result, I have not been able to enjoy the warranty of this product and I have been left in the cold, by everybody and most importantly Amazon.
I also tried to contact Amazon.com, but they politely refused to have anything to do with this "Amazon.de" case.
By law, a seller is always directly responsible for the warranty stated in the sales statement, whatever happens with the manufacturer, but in this case Amazon.de absolutely refused to honor it. I cannot say that they were not polite. They were. But they politely (alas firmly) refused to honor their warranty statement (which by the way still exists in the product's page). After a while, they even stopped answering my queries/complains. What a let-down!
P.S. #1 All evidence of the above case (invoice, order, screenshots and emails) is available to anyone who wants to see it.
P.S. #2 I have since filed a complaint with the European Commission Online Dispute Resolution Service (https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/main/?event=main.home.show) on this matter. If anything comes out of it, I will update this post.
I had even come to regard Amazon.de as a shield that protects consumers from unhelpful or irresponsible manufacturers/sellers.
Lately however, something happened that has stood against all previous good Amazon experience. Amazon.de refused to honor the warranty of a product that I bought from them. The product was a Samsung SODIMM, the description of which clearly stated that it boasts a lifetime warranty (which was the main reason that I bought this particular SODIMM).
But, when I claimed the warranty, after the product went bad about 3.5 years after its sale, Amazon.de stated that it only supports 2 years of warranty, absolutely refusing to RMA it. They referred me to Samsung, although the seller is always the one who is responsible for the warranty stated in the product description. Samsung on the other hand refused to deal with me directly, stating that their warranty policy only covers direct customers (i.e. resellers), not end-users.
Amazon.de even stated that they don't participate in German consumer dispute resolution bodies (apparently to make it clear that I can't do anything to them).
As a result, I have not been able to enjoy the warranty of this product and I have been left in the cold, by everybody and most importantly Amazon.
I also tried to contact Amazon.com, but they politely refused to have anything to do with this "Amazon.de" case.
By law, a seller is always directly responsible for the warranty stated in the sales statement, whatever happens with the manufacturer, but in this case Amazon.de absolutely refused to honor it. I cannot say that they were not polite. They were. But they politely (alas firmly) refused to honor their warranty statement (which by the way still exists in the product's page). After a while, they even stopped answering my queries/complains. What a let-down!
P.S. #1 All evidence of the above case (invoice, order, screenshots and emails) is available to anyone who wants to see it.
P.S. #2 I have since filed a complaint with the European Commission Online Dispute Resolution Service (https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/main/?event=main.home.show) on this matter. If anything comes out of it, I will update this post.
