Although I use a Mac at home, I also use Windows and Linux. For the latter I use an old CRT monitor. It weighs more than an elephant, but the colours and font-rendering is excellent. When LSD screens first appeared the picture quality was generally very poor, but new models, if you pay the right money, are fine.
Wanting a monitor upgrade I looked around for the particular Samsung make that had been recommended to me. On Amazon the cheapest price was £220 (about $350).
Despite being a bunch of tax-dodging skivers, I've had a positive customer relationship with this company with no past issues to complain about. Based on this I went ahead and brought the monitor sold by an Amazon Associate. These are companies that sell their goods on Amazon, so although you pay via the Amazon website, they distribute the items direct to you. I regret making this decision now.
The first issue was although it stated delivery was 3 – 10 days on the payment page, what wasn't clear was that HD-Systemstore, the monitor seller, was a German company based in Berlin. I wouldn't have used a German-based company if I had known. It's not that I have a buy British only stance, it's that a delivery from a British-based company would have been quicker. (I checked HD-Systemstore feedback and it was wholly positive).
Because I work full-time the monitor was delivered to a relatives address. By the time the item arrived, and I could pick it up, two to three weeks had passed. When I got the package home it was immediately clear that the monitor screen was cracked and useless. This probably happened in transit.
Like any consumer I presumed that the next step was either they would replace the item or I would receive a full refund. Neither happened.
Firstly, the company in question ignored my direct email, so I went through the Amazon complaints interface. Please return the item to us, they asked.
I then discovered that packages posted to the rest of Europe cost three times as much as those sent to a British address, so I had to pay £60 to have the thing couriered back using ParcelForce. Under British consumer rights law, there is no stipulation that the company has to pay for an item to be returned if it is faulty.
Eventually it arrived back in Berlin and HD-Systemstore acknowledged the item was defective but stated that because I hadn't returned it within 21 days then I was not eligible for a refund. Of note, they only wrote this in their last email rather than the first one.
The relationship between Amazon and Amazon Associates is a loose one. They enforce a returns policy created by the Associate company, not their own. Which in the case of HD-Systemstore seemed to be what they made up as they went along.
As Amazon sided with HD-Systemstore I appealed to my credit card company who have a chargeback scheme. After supplying all the evidence they wrote back stating that the dispute needs to be resolved through Amazon. Amazon couldn't give a fig.
So where does that leave me? £300 down and with nothing to show for it.
Yes, I should have read the small print, but I naively presumed consumer law would protect me if the item was defective. I unquestionably thought that consumer protection law was clearly laid out and unambiguous. So if you do buy expensive electronic goods from an Amazon Associate always do the following.
1. Make sure the company is based in the same country as you. As I detailed above, this adds a lot more hassle when they deliver the item or if you have to return it.
2. Read the companies returns policy. Make sure you are crystal clear what the procedure is if the item is faulty.