Posts by Ian N

Ex-TalkTalker TalkTalks: Records portal had shared password. It was 4 years old

Nappy Schnappy

Jack ("Get Carter") Carter had just a shotgun on his door step. He did meet a sticky end though.

Paris, cos she became famous for appearing in the buff.

Intel says warranties evaporate when kit resold

"First owner" confusion

@Lee and @jayyork

PC World aren't a broker - they are a seller. People are getting confused by the phrase "first owner".

Intel knows that its products will be used by manufacturers who will put the chips into machines and sell them to retailers who will sell them to end-users. The "ownership" of the chip may have changed hands several times before the PC or laptop is sold to the punter. Intel are not, so far as I can tell, saying that only the person who bought the chip from them (i.e. a manufacturer or wholesaler) can have the benefit of the warranty. They are offering the warranty to the first retail owner. I don't think our end buyer can use SOGA unless the first buyer sold by way of business.

All perfectly legal

Sadly this is a business practice that many companies adopt. The contract is between the the original buyer and the original seller and so third parties (such as a purchaser from the original buyer) have no contract with the seller. Original buyers will see there is a warranty and of course have the benefit of it. Secondhand purchasers will not read Intel's warranty terms until a claim has to be made and even if they did, the terms are non-negotiable and the seller can't change them. Why do companies like Intel do this? One reason might be to save money as they can forecast that X% of their chips will be subject to a warranty claim. They also know that a percentage (say 5% for the sake of argument) of computers will be re-sold during the warranty period. Therefore they will have to deal with only 95% of X% not 100% of X%. Perfectly legal and it may help to keep the cost of chips down but is a nasty surprise if you get caught out.

Another reason is that the Intel's lawyers engaged in "F*** You" drafting, simply because they could get away with it. If the choice is between screwing a third party to save some money and not doing so, well, hey, we're only protecting our clients' interests!

One solution is for Government to legislate that warranties can be transferred notwithstanding the ts and cs. Intel and other companies can live with it and everyone will pay a few pennies more for their chips. Alternatively other chip makers could offer transferable warranties if they thought it would be good for business. The numbers involved are probably too small to excite them, so step forward the Government.

Unfortunately, getting the original buyer to return the kit may not work legally. If the warranty terms (which I have not checked) are drafted so that the warranty is voided on transfer then even transferring the kit back to him will not resurrect it. Assuming, of course, that Intel find out.