Despite there Australian web portal saying they act under all Australian fair trading and Sales of Goods act Legislation, they refused to repair a faulty laptop and have this DIY attitude, which is fine but it was less than a year old, I paid nearly $2,800~ for one with the absolute lot; top of the range, their attitude is appalling, typical of big silicon valley tech companies, yet they are not big, but still have the hubris of one. I have 2 choices go the Smail claims consumer tribunal, or DIY? all time wasting for a very expensive, much touted laptop.
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Welcome to the community @nhoj
It’s disappointing to hear of your experience with such a promising new product.
The ACL provides a number of avenues for remedy. Are you able to explain the nature of the fault with the product, as it will assist with the community members sharing the most relevant advice.
Are you able to describe how you have contacted the supplier and what more specifically has been said by the supplier concerning your rights to remedy? Assume the product is still within the manufacturer’s warranty. Although the statutory warranty provided by consumer law will also apply and provide added options for remedy.
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Hi @nhoj, welcome to the community.
Buying from an overseas business (located in the USA) and importing the product into Australia poses risks when something goes wrong. This is highlighted on the ACCC website:
It is unlikely you will get resolution through protections which exist for products purchased through a business located in Australia.
The ACCC website also provides some other avenues to pursue associated with International consumer protection:
I would he exploring options which exist in the USA and cover the business in question.
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This from their Warranty page:
“For Customers in Australia: Our goods come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. You are entitled to a replacement or refund for a major failure and compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure.”
Is it a major failure or something less ?
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The other option is if you know what component within the laptop has failed, and this component is manufactured by manufacturer which had a presence in Australia, you may be able to approach the component manufacturer/distributer in Australia to see if they will honour a product warranty on a grey/parallel import. This might be worth exploring, but also has challenges as they don’t have to honour the manufacturer’s guarantee, but still may be required to assist with resolving the issue to meet the Australian Consumer Guarantee. See:
While the consumer guarantees may apply, a manufacturer could easily indicate that they have been voided for one or some of the reasons outlined in the ACCC website.
The final option is, if a resolution to the fault is too challenging (or near impossible), to explore how much it would cost to fix assuming that components are available in Australia. Framework Laptops are also present in many social media platforms,
and you would be within your rights to provide objective (factual and accurate) feedback of your dealing with Framework to advise other consumers of the risks of dealing with the company, especially if one is not based in the USA. Just like you have done within the Choice Community.
Can people stop sending nonsense, they are a registered Australia Business with their Australasian HQ in Singapore, though a USA(Californian co.).
They clearly state they comply with Australian sale of goods act, and applicable laws. This has nothing to do with parallel imports. Please take down your Misinformation , it is wrong, I am a qualified Lawyer. And I will pursue the Matter through The Small claims division at the Consumer tribunal. Stop the nonsense.
My point was to have to take legal action and costs to get a simple repair is truly, egregious, and not what a good company does.
They area USA company which advertises and sells its products into Australia. Their computers are built overseas using Framework components as well an known branded components such as Western Digital. The laptop you bought was imported into Australia when it was ordered (sent by Framework in the USA but may have come from elsewhere depending on where it is built, such as Taiwan), it wasn’t made In Australia (an Australian buyer sees the USA information as the contact for support etc). This means any individual components in the computer wasn’t distributed or sold within Australia. This is parallel importing.
They have an ABN which means they are registered for GST in Australia. Any business which can sell its products in/into Australia is required to be registered for GST where thresholds are exceeded. They are not a registered Australian business. It is a private US company, based in the US. Choice reviewed one of their laptops in the past:
an gave a clue at the bottom of their review to the business location, namely:
Note that buying this laptop will incur a foreign exchange fee, even though pricing on the site is listed in AUD.
The advice from the ACCC applies to buying from overseas and parallel imports. The success of obtaining resolution, by taking legal action against a foreign company within Australia, is limited. They possibly know this and why they are stubborn in resolving the fault you have (assuming the fault is one that should be covered by a warranty).
It may not be the information you want to hear.
Edit: If it is decided that a local distributor of a laptop component is approached to see if they are willing to resolve under a manufacturer’s warranty or consumer guarantee, they will ask for proof of purchase. Once they have the proof of purchase, it will identity the laptop was purchased from an overseas business (Framework) and delivered to Australia (thus imported). The faulty will be dealt with no differently to that of a parallel import.
Hopefully if it is a non-Framework component which failed, the OEM for the component is willing to entertain resolution under some form of international warranty or the ACL consumer guarantee. It is worth noting some component OEM state they limit warranties to individually sold products, not those part of an installation. Western Digital also state that any faults which occur in an installation, must to returned to the seller for resolution.
Any business can state this is they sell into Australia. Whether they meet their statutory obligations is another matter, noting that some sham websites/shonky businesses discussed in the community have similar claims and never have any intention to meet their obligations.
I wish you all the best trying to exercise your consumer rights, in gaining resolution for a faulty laptop. I suspect, unfortunately, you may learn about some of the known limitations of the Australian Consumer Law - such as those outlined in the linked ACCC webpage above. Hopefully Framework Laptops comes to its senses and voluntarily meets it obligations and provides your with resolution. From what you have posted, it appears it is currently not something they are choosing to do. It also appears you may not be alone.
From the information provided there is no explanation of how this machine is broken. The user complains of the manufacturer’s DIY attitude then says this is fine. Are they asking him to do some DIY troubleshooting that he does not feel comfortable or competent to do? This high end machine is made so that components can readily be swapped out or upgraded. What is the manufacturer providing in the way of support and how does this not meet the user’s expectations?
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