Anyone bought from AmazonEU?

[ToTo Man]

I'm in need of a WD 6TB Blue SATA HDD drive. According to camelcamelcamel, AmazonUK hasn't had it in stock since the end of December 2020, but if I go onto the AmazonUK site it is available to order from "AmazonEU" and for a very good price.

However, if you read the small print it says that anything bought from AmazonEU is not entitled to the standard manufacturer warranty, only the 30-day Amazon return period. Is this why the prices are so competitive? (In this instance the price is £65 cheaper than buying directly from WD and over £50 cheaper than buying from eBuyer).

The lack of warranty at this price point doesn't bother me too much, the hassle/downtime of a drive failure is still just as much of a PITA regardless of whether I'm entitled to a replacement FOC. I just find the policy rather strange and perhaps a bit fishy. Any thoughts?

 

[Vinny]

What Amazon say is legally irrelevant as everything has to be of merchantable quality. The hassle would be in chasing them if it failed, after, say 6 months.

 

[Bob McC]

Surely you would be subject to the consumer law in the EU and any English consumer protection rules would be irrelevant.

 

[Vinny]

Surely you would be subject to the consumer law in the EU and any English consumer protection rules would be irrelevant.

They are identical at the moment.
There is also the consideration with regards consumer credit (buying using a card), and the legal question as to who you are actually buying from - near certainly Amazon UK acting as agent.

 

[Amber Audio]

Before Brexit you had to watch out for grey imports, once out of the Amazon 30 day return period you are onto the manufacturer warranty, if grey it might get refused.

This is a faff but would let you know if WD have your back, buy it, immediately put in an RMA request at WD using the serial number, if they accept it you are good, if not send it back to Amazon.

Overclockers have it at £145. All IT has been price gouged due to COVID and some is genuinely in short supply, various reasons, supply demand and silicon chip capacity is under pressure.

Defo says EU WD warranty may not apply in UK

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[gavreid]

Look out in general (not just Amazon but websites of big brands) for goods that are located outside the UK for returns - you are liable for the export costs

 

[Vinny]

you are liable for the export costs

Do you mean carriage/shipping?

 

[gavreid]

Do you mean carriage/shipping?

No I think you can end up getting stung for tax and duty charges too

 

[Vinny]

No I think you can end up getting stung for tax and duty charges too

For export? How? What taxes/duty?

 

[gavreid]

For export? How? What taxes/duty?

When you return the goods abroad they can become liable again, and the companies are unlikely to accept those charges (I don't know about how Amazon operates) but it's something to beware of. The carrier will return the items to you and you end up paying two sets of postal charges too, in the worst case scenario.

 

[ToTo Man]

From the responses thus far it appears ordering from AmazonEU could result in a lot of potential inconvenience, so on second thoughts it probably isn't worth the cost saving.