Is this retailer behaving illegally?

[Fat Tone]

http://www.scan.co.uk , goto the products page and then to 'Graphics/VGA'. Scroll down to the 'VGA Cards - ATI' section and look at product no. LN5336 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Retail x8 AGP DDR/DVI/TV Out

Would I not reasonably expect that to be an ATI made card? Especially when you consider all the other brands below are clearly stated? What they sent me was a Connect3D card. I wouldn't have minded so much if it was a Sapphire card.

Scan are completely un-apologetic and claim they can't list the make as it changes a lot, but did admit that I am not the first person to complain.

They will let me return the card, but then I'm gonna be stuck for postage buying it somewhere else.

My generally high opinion of Scan just took a dive.

[RedRed]

Pit had simmilar woes form Evesham, I think.

It probably is a little dodgy, but then again, technically, havent ATI now stopped selling 'ati' branded cards in the UK?


does it really matter?

RedRed

[Paddy]

Well it is clearly false advertising.... I would hit them for a courrier to collect the card so that there can be no further misunderstanding.

[Paddy]

Ah, they have removed the line from the page.... I was about to complain as well... but then you know me

*EDIT* nope i am talking out of my bottom... I will fire them off an email

[Fat Tone]

@Paddy - thanks mate - I knew I could rely on you to take a stance

@RedRed - I think it is at least 'a little', if not 'very' dodgy. I am not aware of ATI not selling cards here, and that list makes me think they do. It is false advertising.

Does it matter? Well for a start, there doesn't seem to be any software bundled (apart from drivers), and second their reputation is second-rate - we'll see how well it works when I get a chance to plug it in. I could have bought the Sapphire 'Fireblade' version for simillar money elsewhere'.

T.

[az]

Yes, it is dodgy, and not nice from the customer's point of view. From their point of view I can kinda understand it, they likely buy whichever manufacturer they can get cheapest at the moment, and it would be a lot of hassle to always change the site. That said, they could simply rename the item to "Built by ATI" or put a disclaimer that those cards may come from different manufacturers.

AZ

[The PIT]

Originally posted by RedRed
Pit had simmilar woes form Evesham, I think.

It probably is a little dodgy, but then again, technically, havent ATI now stopped selling 'ati' branded cards in the UK?


does it really matter?

RedRed

Watford Electronics.

[Fat Tone]

Pit - what happened? Did you get anywhere with them?

T.

[The PIT]

They took it back and refunded me after several phone calls. I reported the site to trading standards who took no action.
Two or three months later they changed the site to reflect the product they were actually shipping.

[RedRed]

Fair enough - sting them - you shouldnt pay carriage.

Tell them to send round a courier...

I thought that the products were the same..... me bad.

(you could probably get someone else to buy it back on 'b grade' stock next week )

Regards
RedRed

[AmSci]

Re: Is this retailer behaving illegally?

I just ordered an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro. There were quite a few sites that I found that listed the card as ATI, but if you look at the small pictures, you can clearly see a 3rd party heatsink on the card. Hopefully the retailer I settled on sends the right card...

[Belwarrior]

I just ordered an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro. There were quite a few sites that I found that listed the card as ATI, but if you look at the small pictures, you can clearly see a 3rd party heatsink on the card. Hopefully the retailer I settled on sends the right card...

I doubt the card is by ATI ..they stopped 9500pro some time back..As long as the 9500pro is not made by PowerColor it should be okay However i myself got a 9500pro by sapphire before they run out of stock... as it is one of the few (newer) cards supporting agp 2x

[Taz]

Well the card is an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro video card just not one manufactured by ATI, they haven't stated that it was manufactured by ATI although I would agree the description could be misinterpreted as such I think the moral of the story is to always check with the supplier when buying online

[Fat Tone]

Originally posted by Taz
Well the card is an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro video card just not one manufactured by ATI

I disagree. Radeon 9600 or Radeon 9600 Pro does not relate to the chip being used - that is an RV350, therefore prefixing ATI does not refer to the gpu. I think they are hiding behind a technicality. Prefixing with a manufacturers name *means* they made it, and therefore this is deliberate. Can you think of another example where this mis-naming would be ok?

You are right that I should have checked...but when it says ATI I shouldn't have to!

[thop]

Gainward sells a "Gainward FX20 5200/Ultra" here ... which in fact is only a regular 5200 if you take a closer look at the specs, the Ultra is supposed to be part of Gainwards product name ...

The regular Joe gets screwed like there's no tomorrow these days.