I bought a pack of two Kingston-branded SD memory cards from Ebuyer.
With little use, less than two years later, the've both failed in the same way: the plastic at one corner has cracked and disintegrated exposing the c ontacts.
( I have an older Kingston card that's been used in the same devices for lo nger that is still fine.)
I still have the packaging as it mentions a Limited Lifetime Warranty in th e UK (which it specifies as 10 years in France, Germany and Austria) for "r eplacement or refund of defective product".
I know there have been discussions here before about whether "lifetime" ref ers to the remainder of the purchaser's three-score-years-and-ten or some n otional expected lifetime of the product, but I'm assuming that if the prod uct is good for ten years at the other end of the Eurostar, there's no reas on to think it wouldn't be here.
So this is what K Thank you for contacting the Returns Department of Kingston Technology.
In order to expedite the replacement of this defective product(s) quickly a nd efficiently, please follow the chain of sale and contact your point of p urchase directly with whom the parts were originally purchased. They should be willing to deal directly with you for a replacement.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
I FWDed that reply to Ebuyer and this is what they said:
Thank you for your response.
After checking your order I can see that your item is now out of the one year Ebuyer warranty period. Please contact the manufacturer who may be able to offer you a further warranty on the item.
I apologise for any inconvenience and annoyance this may have caused.
So who is responsible? My understanding is that Kingston are right, the co ntract is with Ebuyer and they should sort it out; that you would ordinari ly have six years under SOGA for a reasonable-quality brand that failed and that Kingston is reasonable-quality and not some no-name ebay tat; and tha t a lifetime warranty would trump the six years anyway.
I can see that Ebuyer could accuse me of causing the damage through mis-use /abuse and proving substandard manufacture is difficult or impossible. And the value isn't sufficient for a lot of aggro.
But if, legally, Ebuyer should be sorting this, I'm prepared to send a cou ple of strongly-worded emails to see if I can get them to do the right thin g (before I add them to that list that has MachineMart at the top).