Legal Gurus: Small Claims Court

[TGregg]

Hi all. My GeForce4 4600 fan died (this particular manufacturer's fans on this particular model die on a regular basis). It's very near the end of a two year warranty, and the manufacturer no longer makes them. I sent them an email, and they replied that they are pretty busy answering claims (no surprise there), and they are dragging their feet with the RMA process. My question is, if I took them to small claims court (and won), would I likely get my original purchase price ($348) back, or current replacement costs (about $110)? For $350, I'll go to court if that's what it takes. I'm less certain about all this stuff for only a hundred though.

 

[FoBoT]

where is the business located?

 

[mugs]

I highly doubt you'd get your $348 back.

 

[kami333]

Is it even worth the effort of filing the paperwork, etc? You can get a replacement fan for less than $20.

 

[DaWhim]

you need to pay $10 to file the case first.

 

[TGregg]

Originally posted by: kami333
Is it even worth the effort of filing the paperwork, etc? You can get a replacement fan for less than $20.

Yeah, that'd be the real loser, if I went to court and they said "Swell, here's your El-Cheapo fan, good for 200 hours.".

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: TGregg

Originally posted by: kami333
Is it even worth the effort of filing the paperwork, etc? You can get a replacement fan for less than $20.

Yeah, that'd be the real loser, if I went to court and they said "Swell, here's your El-Cheapo fan, good for 200 hours.".

I guess you have your answer

 

[Platypus]

is it a Gainward?

 

[notfred]

Haha, you're going to try to take Nvidia (or some other company that, while smaller than Nvidia, still has millions of dollars more than you to spend on lawyers) for $350?

 

[masterxfob]

this is why america gets such a bad rap, some kid is comtemplating a lawsuit for $350 over a $5 fan?!?!?!

 

[Wallydraigle]

Originally posted by: notfred
Haha, you're going to try to take Nvidia (or some other company that, while smaller than Nvidia, still has millions of dollars more than you to spend on lawyers) for $350?

Fight the man! 😛

 

[dc]

lawsuit over a cheap <$10 fan. ahahahaha. dude...

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: notfred
Haha, you're going to try to take Nvidia (or some other company that, while smaller than Nvidia, still has millions of dollars more than you to spend on lawyers) for $350?

lawyers in small claims huh?

 

[FoBoT]

if it is a large corp. they would probably ignore it , you might get a default judgement (if the magistrate is on your side) , and then you would still have to try to collect on your judgement with the large corp.
they could just keep ignoring you for a long time

 

[prvteye2003]

this is stupid. My fan just went out last week on a ti4200. So, what did I do???? Spent $12 and bought another fan/hs and I'm already up and going again. Just by the freakin' fan dude. geesh

 

[TGregg]

Well, for one thing I'm not completely sure it's the fan. The card doesn't work, the fan is dead, and this card is known for fans dying. So the fan is a high probability cause. But I'd sure hate to buy that $12 after market fan, void my warranty, then find out something else is wrong. Then I'd be out the $12 bucks plus my card if the manufacturer could tell I'd been fuxoring around with fans. Sounds like a bad idea to me.

 

[jeremy806]

Common sense please. The manufacturer owes you a fan or the price of a fan. The entire card is not broken, only the fan is broken. Replace the fan yourself, and if so motivated, make a warranty claim for the price of the fan.

Jeremy