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I guess I'm going to be a bit of a dick .... but I don't really see why a customer should have to pay extra in order to get a 3-year warranty, when it is required by law that it be provided. To me it seems like excessive capitalisation on the circumstances around EU law.
Also.... I'm in the UK. We are not in the EU, and we left the EU consumer warranty framework when Brexit was completed. UK regulation law does not state that a 3 year warranty has to be provided. So why am I paying for something that I'm not obligated to pay for? It is just simply incorrect to claim that someone buying a unit in the UK has these unavoidable costs. They are legally and lawfully not required for us.
The UK actually has a fault responsibility system, and we can claim for faults up to 6 years after purchase in England & Wales. 5 years in Scotland. So when you wonder why Andertons and Gear4Music and the like aren't stocking Fractal... maybe someone did the numbers and decided that status quo was preferrable?
Now .... from a UKer perspective, it doesn't really improve my life having a G66 3 year warranty. The moment my unit breaks - my mini-jack midi sockets for example - and I have to ship my unit over to Germany, pay export duties and import duties when the fixed unit arrives back, and be without a critical part of my live rig or studio setup... fundamentally, the 3 year warranty has done next to the square root of fuck all for me. All I've done is pay more money out of my pocket and gotten inconvenience in exchange.
In practical terms, there's no difference between me buying something directly from Fractal, and buying from G66. Except I can't do that, because Fractal block the sale - to protect their agreements with G66.
Maybe I'm having a grumpy morning, but I'd rather see Fractal reduce their reliance on G66 in the EU; even if it means paying the same prices.
All of this may very well factor into someone's decision to go with Fractal or another company; and we all know that tonally, the gap has massively narrowed in the past 4 or 5 years or so.
Right... there you go. There's my miserable dickhead post. I'll get back in my box now.
Also.... I'm in the UK. We are not in the EU, and we left the EU consumer warranty framework when Brexit was completed. UK regulation law does not state that a 3 year warranty has to be provided. So why am I paying for something that I'm not obligated to pay for? It is just simply incorrect to claim that someone buying a unit in the UK has these unavoidable costs. They are legally and lawfully not required for us.
The UK actually has a fault responsibility system, and we can claim for faults up to 6 years after purchase in England & Wales. 5 years in Scotland. So when you wonder why Andertons and Gear4Music and the like aren't stocking Fractal... maybe someone did the numbers and decided that status quo was preferrable?
Now .... from a UKer perspective, it doesn't really improve my life having a G66 3 year warranty. The moment my unit breaks - my mini-jack midi sockets for example - and I have to ship my unit over to Germany, pay export duties and import duties when the fixed unit arrives back, and be without a critical part of my live rig or studio setup... fundamentally, the 3 year warranty has done next to the square root of fuck all for me. All I've done is pay more money out of my pocket and gotten inconvenience in exchange.
- Ship to Germany
- Downtime on critical gear
- Export paperwork
- Import VAT/duties on return unless everything is perfectly documented
- Stress, delays, uncertainty
In practical terms, there's no difference between me buying something directly from Fractal, and buying from G66. Except I can't do that, because Fractal block the sale - to protect their agreements with G66.
Maybe I'm having a grumpy morning, but I'd rather see Fractal reduce their reliance on G66 in the EU; even if it means paying the same prices.
All of this may very well factor into someone's decision to go with Fractal or another company; and we all know that tonally, the gap has massively narrowed in the past 4 or 5 years or so.
Right... there you go. There's my miserable dickhead post. I'll get back in my box now.
