Is it me, or are vendors keener to refund failed returns rather than replace them? You may remember when times were good and products would be superseded with shiny new ones in the blink of an eye. Consequently prices for the tired old goods would drop very quickly. In those halcyon days vendors were more than happy to use up their old stock on warranty returns. I remember Maxtor even had a policy to offer cut-price capacity upgrades for drives failing near the end of their warranty. Now that goods are getting more expensive due to the sliding sterling rates, there seems to be much less appetite for a simple, honest replacement policy.

I purchased a Samsung SpinPoint 750GB drive from a well-known on-line retailer. After extensively testing the drive, I found that it would not write past the first 6% of its capacity. I returned the drive, only to be told that stock was 'overdue' and was immediately refunded the line item price for the drive, without being given the option to wait for new stock. Purchasing the same drive elsewhere would set me back an extra £12-14 in a higher price and carriage.

Given the high failure rates of IT hardware (whatever happened to QA?) this looks like just another way to lift a few extra quid out of recession hit computer enthusiast.

Bart J Smit