Grey imports and warranties

I bought an internal hard disk from Ebuyer in November 2009 that has now failed. When I contacted Ebuyer I was told that the item had only a 12-month warranty and I would have to contact Samsung, which offered a three-year warranty on the item.

However, Samsung said the hard disk is a grey import and for repair I would have to send it to Korea or contact Ebuyer again.
William Whitehead

Grey goods, also called parallel importing, are goods intended for sale in countries other than the UK. They can cause buyers huge headaches.

The attraction of buying these products is easy to see; they are not counterfeit, but are usually far cheaper than the same product intended for sale in the UK.

Needless to say, manufacturers don’t particularly like the grey market and will do what they can to restrict these sales – even going as far as taking legal action.

But, while the sale of grey goods is not authorised or intended by the manufacturer, it is not illegal to sell them providing they have been lawfully sold within the EU before.

Of course there are problems with any warranty offered. Most manufacturers will not honour a warranty on grey goods because, they argue, it was not intended for sale in that country.

So this lets Samsung off the hook for liability under the terms and conditions of the hard disk’s warranty. But because Mr Whitehead’s contract under UK consumer law is with Ebuyer, it can still be held responsible.

Under the Sale of Goods Act Mr Whitehead could make a claim for redress if the product is inherently faulty. He would, however, have to prove this.

He could argue that Samsung feels the hard disk should last for at least three years, which is why it offered the warranty in countries it was intended to go on sale.

But there is no guarantee that Ebuyer will accept this argument. He could take his case further by having the item independently tested but the expense of this may outweigh the benefit.

If his claim is proved he can claim this cost back but if it is unfounded then he will lose more money. So Mr Whitehead will have to decide if he believes that progressing this complaint will be cost-effective.

Goods bought overseas may not have warranties
Buyers need to be aware that if they buy grey goods any warranty may be worthless.

There is also the danger when buying cheap branded goods online, especially from websites based in the Far East, that the goods may actually be counterfeit.

However, UK consumer-protection laws still apply if the goods are genuine and consumers can still try to get redress. Though, if the retailer is outside the EU, the chances of a successful outcome are not high.