Globalscale Technologie's one year warranty

[Trune]

just curious:

Who would be liable for shipping and import/export duties in the event a UK/EU user had to return their plug to Globalscale for warranty service?  Would the end user be on the hook for all such charges both ways, and if so, would it be cheaper to buy a new plug outright than to ever try to get one repaired?

i think you have to pay the charges to post it to them, and they have to pay to get it back to you.

still, i cant see how any of this is an issue. NewIT have to assist you. end of. especially to keep a good reputation if nothing else.

[jabjoe]

Just got an email from NewIT apologizing for the manufacturer's lack of response, and offering a replacement, subject to testing the unit. So hopefully this will be the end of this. I'll do a final post at the end just so anyone reading this thread can know the outcome.

For anyone else in the UK this might be helpful:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1979/cukpga_19790054_en_1

Sale of Goods act 1979 as amended by the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002:

Section 48A (if goods fail within 6 months) and 48B (seller is required to repair or replace goods with minimum inconvenience to the buyer)

[thrbigob]

Interesting. Does that mean that NewIT will repair or replace the unit?

[birdman]

For anyone else in the UK this might be helpful:

IANAL, but the general rule in the UK (possibly the EU?)  is that your contract is with the supplier, not the manufacturer.

[jabjoe]

I am now holding a replacement unit. It arrived today from NewIT. Never did hear anything from Globalscale technologies.

As an apology for the time taken, it's a slight improvement on what I had, having UBIFS already setup.

It's a real shame it took this long (3 weeks as of tomorrow) since my original email (which I cc'ed NewIT). However, I'm looking forwards to getting up and running again tonight.

I'm glad this is all over, and I hope I've showed a path to any others in the same boat. I.e. for the first 6 months, at least in the UK, you have the right to go to the retailer.

[Trune]

fair play to newit then

[grumpy]

EU ruling (which is now law in almost all EU countries) is that a product must be sold with a minimum 2 year warranty.

So if you buy from newit then you get a 2 year warranty - despite what their website states.

[MattB]

I have just found this thread, and have been reading it with interest.

I bought a plug from New IT last October (on eBay - it was shipped to me on 9th October 2009, to be exact) and on Sunday (18th April 2010) it gave up the ghost, exhibiting symptoms of the all-too-common power supply issue. I never had it connected to a hard drive without external power, and instead had the sheeva's USB port connected to a powered D-Link USB 4-port hub, to which a powered HDD was attached, as well as a webcam.

I e-mailed New IT, explaining the situation, and they referred me to Globalscale, as per this page (http://www.newit.co.uk/index.php?id=14) on their website. I subsequently tried e-mailing Globalscale, and, same as the original poster, have received no reply, not even an acknowledgement.

It sounds like chasing Globalscale is a lost cause - does anyone know if there are any other avenues of hope open to me? I feel a little cheated considering I followed all the guidelines, it had very light use, and I believed I was covered by a years guarantee, yet it still died, and now I am being referred to a company who seems to have no intention of answering my e-mails.

Anyone got any ideas?

[NewIT]

The Contact at Globalscale that is handling all power supply issues under warranty is Grace Wu – gwu@globalscaletechnologies.com

[MattB]

The Contact at Globalscale that is handling all power supply issues under warranty is Grace Wu – gwu@globalscaletechnologies.com

Thanks! I have tried sending her an e-mail just now. We will see where that gets me.

[MattB]

Sorry to resurrect a 'dead' thread, but just to follow up on this - I received a replacement PSU courtesy of New IT last week, and the Sheevaplug is up and running again.

It took about 6 months more than I think it should have done, but New IT were quite helpful - from what I understand the delay lay with Globalscale.

Also, if this happens to any other plug owners, replacing the PSU is a very easy job, so don't be worried about doing it yourself to save a few quid!

[jabjoe]

AARGHHH!!! The replacement has just died too.

This time I've been running the Sheevaplug with a separate powered hub that powers the external hard disc. I've been careful to keep it in a clear space to try and keep air flow to it. Even propped it up so the underside got air too.

But the same thing has happened, after running constantly since it arrived. No ttyUSB appearing on connected PC. Light flashing for a while after the power is disconnected.

What might be connected is the usb started disconnecting itself about two months ago.
usb 1-1: USB disconnect
Then it would rediscover the usb system.

I thought this might be something I could work out, but it wasn't. It just seemed to happen every now and then. Then I started getting "mvsdio mvsdio: FIFO_EMPTY bit missing" with the root mount, thus everything, went bad. But normally after a reboot things were fine again. Then it wasn't. I check the sd card and it seemed fine. But I nuked the sd card and upgraded to Debian Squeeze, and it seemed to go away. But it came back just before it died for good today.

So where do I go from here...

[jabjoe]

Well, it certainly was the power unit, again. Mmmmm melty (pic attached)
Got some random external 5v 2a power supply from work and am now using that.
Don't want to wait to the end of the month to get a power unit that as far as I know is the same as the one that has melted on me twice. There really is no getting round it, anything with a component that fails this regularly isn't ready for normal consumers. I can't recommend a SheevaPlug to anyone not happy to replace the power unit. Which is a shame, because other than this one problem, they are amazing little boxes!