hi there ladies and gents ,

i recently purchased a 2nd hand 4 gig graphics card from cex in swansea for £150 , for my wifes birthday ,

she brought it home and then took her computer and her new graphics card to a local computer shop to have it installed correctly

with in a couple of days , her power supply unit in her computer blew up ,

we took it back the computer shop and they did a test on it ,

found out it was the graphics card i bought from cex in swansea ,

the owner of the computer shop then suggested leaving the card with him so he can do a overnight test on it , to see if it did the same to his computers in his shop , we left it there for 2 days

in that time , it had blown 2 of his power supply units to ,

he explained it was the graphics card at fault ,

we took it back to the shop in swansea ,

who then explained they would have to test it themselves ,

after 30 mins , the cex staff came back and told us everything was fine with it , and we were refused a refund ,

i explained that it was within 28 days and i was entitled to a refund under the "short time to reject" option ( consumer rights told me about that one)

they blatantly refused a refund and told me if i wish to sell it back to them , they would offer me £60 ,

no matter how many times i explained that it was faulty he refused to accept that ,

i am now in the process of getting a letter written up by the computer repair shop with proof that it is faulty ,

is there a template available i can send to them demanding a refund

, i have also put in for a chargeback on my card via my bank in regards to this as well ,

i just want to have all my bases covered when i go at them again ,

i was also informed by consumer rights that i could claim consequential losses in regards to having to replace the psu unit in my wifes computer as well because of this .

any help would be appreciated

badboy09

What the power of the psu unit your suggesting its blown?

Not all psu units are equal.

You need to do some maths to find out usage/ demands.

I can understand your story but the thing that niggles me s the shop you left it to be tested In claim its blown two psu's and I find that hard to believe.

The shop Is down two units which they could of sold.

All the retailer has to do is hook it up and it works fine. Under strain the graphics card increases power needed therefore its necessary to know the output of your psu to know if its adequate to run all systems under strain.

the psu that was in my wifes computer was a 750 watt , and the only thing my wife ever does on her computer is browse the internet and play guild wars 2 , which should be enough , the owner of the computer shop is a friend of mine and had offered to test it out on his computers ( he uses his computers fir bit mining )

This Is what u need to do

1) total wattage. That'll tell you how much it'll put out CPU rails + all other outputs combined.

2) CPU wattage. Subtract that from the total wattage. That's how much is left for everything else.

3) On the label, under the 12v area, if it ONLY has one box with some (Volts x Amps = watts), then it's a single rail design. If it has two of those sections, it's a multi-rail design. And this is where you need to add up some stuff. Just some rough numbers:

a) About 50w for the motherboard itself. If you have other cards plugged in OTHER than the GPU, figure about 10w each for those (ie: extra NIC, etc).

b) about 10w for hard drives.

c) For the GPU, it has two 6pin connectors if I'm not mistaken, which means those are good for 75w each PLUS the 75w it can draw from the board. That means you're looking at potentially 225W of card. It might not actually -take- that much but you have to look worst case.

So - add up your usage for the CPU (rated TDP), your 12v usage (everything else), 50w MOBO, and 225w for the GPU (worst case) and it -should- (for ideal efficiency) be about 50-70% of your max PSU rated wattage.

When you returned it did they demonstrate it working OK or did you just have to take their word for it? My concern is because it is 2nd hand and they may be trying to pass it off.

Who made the card originally?

wow reading that just went right over my head lol, its the only graphics card in her tower , and she turns her pc off at night and she only plays her guild wars 2 game for a couple of hours a day , so im guessing it should be ideal for her gaming need

when she returned it they claimed to have done a stress test , all of 30 mins of it and provided no proof , just their word it was ok , it clearly looks like they are just passing it off , and it was a nvideo graphics card

When purchased did it come boxed or just in an anti-static bag?

it came in a anti static bag in the incorrect box as they didnt have the correct box for some reason

it came in a anti static bag in the incorrect box as they didnt have the correct box for some reason

Think you may have answered your own question. If they did a stress test then why not ask for the results?

i asked for results and they only told me that it worked thats all i need to know and they wouldnt tell me anymore

Except you wanted to know if it was in GOOD condition> many graphics cards switch on and show something on screen. it doesnt mean theyll actually run any game or work for more than 5 minutes.

Being 750 watt it should be able to handle the power consumption at around 50%. Motherboard, drives, cpu ,gsu etc so I'm thinking the graphics card is faulty, but normally the graphic card goes boom not the psu

thats what i thought to begin with , then i took it down to the computer shop to see if that was the case , and it was confirmed it was the graphics card , i was under the impression that i should go out and buy a 1000 w psu just to be over safe , but now i dont think i should

when she returned it they claimed to have done a stress test , all of 30 mins of it and provided no proof , just their word it was ok , it clearly looks like they are just passing it off , and it was a nvideo graphics card

30 mins is not long enough for a stress test , when I build systems its done overnight since you want to see temperatures and all sorts . as what the guy in your computer shop did . you cant get a full result in 30 mins

exactly it was like arguing with a brick wall , im hoping my chargeback goes through just so i can walk back in the shop and tell them where to shove there faulty graphics card

They know it was 2nd hand and it probably did that to the original owners PC too

I agree hit them with secondary costs too

Give them 14 days else you will seek legal advice toward issuing a county court claim without further notice

My main struggle is trying to understand how a faulty graphics card can blow a psu?? It doesn't make sense.

A faulty psu can damage a gpu. But the other way round is weird.

You need a professional test report on the gpu to take this further.

A basic stress test is achievable in 30 mins. Its a simple process. A full stress test would be done overnight however and is fat more complex.

How much did the second shop charge you for the test when they blew two psu's?

My thoughts about it are that these are just buyers & sellers of 2nd hand equipment and don't think they have the knowhow on testing gear brought in. There are some very mixed reviews.

i have also been advised to take it to pc world and ask them to do a stress test on it , to see what their outcome is ,

the second shop didnt charge me for the blown psu's as he does all my computer work and he offered this out of friendship ,

im assuming he had ome spare in stock and was happy to try them out ,

i dont know that much about the innards of pc's hence why i go to my computer guy ,

but yes i want to hit them where it hurts

i was polite the first time and tried explaining the situation which they blatantly mislead me it seems ,

i certainly wont be buying off these con artists again though

I wouldnt say con artists,

a lot of small businesses are run by people who dont know about consumer contract law so they are just ignorant as to what they are obliged to do under the circumstances.

Have you tried returning goods to busnesses that run stores an Amazon and Ebay?

i would say that a very large number of them are clueless about what your rights and their responsibilities are.

write to them explaining everything in detail and include chapter and verse of consumer rights act and give them time to do something about it.

If they cant replace then a refund is what you want.

i tried telling them till i was blue in the face and their only response was you can sell it back to us for £60 , so i told them where they can shove that offer i will be getting a full refund but ty for the idea of sending them consumer rights act and a letter .

yes, TELLING them is almost pointless, you have to follow procedure and that means putting pen to paper.