One Australian gamer was denied a replacement for DRAM kit bought just two years prior and was only offered a refund of original price, four times less than its cost today

One of my biggest regrets over the last year is not picking up more hardware before the memory crisis, yet it turns out even thinking ahead may not save you. One customer bought a DDR5 memory kit back in 2024, and upon finding it (broken?), now they've been offered its worth… from 2024.

As covered by YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed, Goran, an Australian customer of the company Umart, purchased a 32 GB kit of DDR5 memory back in 2024 for AU$155 (around $110). Today, that same kit would cost you around AU$700.

The policy of the company is to refund or replace faulty parts, depending on the preference of the customer, but it ran out of stock of the particular kit. It defaulted to refunding the buyer for the value of the product when it was bought. This means Goran would have to put in an additional $400-$550 if they want to finish building their rig to the same spec.

As noted by Hardware Unboxed, giving customers the choice to refund or replace the kit is protected under Australian law when it's a major fault.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, "Businesses are responsible for resolving problems with products they sell to consumers", and "Businesses must not tell consumers to go to the manufacturer for a remedy."

Though Umart offers, as a blanket policy, at least one year return as a base warranty, it is legally obligated to refund or replace a major issue. A major issue is described as something that creates an unsafe situation, has one serious problem or several smaller problems that would stop a buyer from picking it up if they had known, or if it can't be used for its normal purpose.

Goran's argument for this being a major problem is naturally that they wouldn't have bought the kit if they'd known, and would have bought a different one back in 2024. They reportedly sent the kit back to Umart to check if it's defective, and Umart confirmed as such, using its own testing methods. Umart sent an email to Goran affirming that the Australian law he cited is not sufficient to justify making Umart give a replacement.

It says, "The goods are not unsafe, do not depart from their description, and the issue is capable of being remedied by replacement of the same model. For these reasons, the fault does not meet the statutory definition of a major failure."

It continues, "You have requested that we supply a different Corsair model currently in stock. That model is a different SKU and is currently priced higher than the original product. Supplying it at no additional cost would constitute an upgrade. The ACL does not require a retailer to provide an upgrade or absorb a price difference where the original model is unavailable. "

Hardware Unboxed notes that Umart isn't a direct partner with Corsair, so that could be a potential reason why it didn't send back the memory to Corsair to be replaced on Goran's behalf.

Adding another layer to the story, Umart reportedly refused to send Goran's kit back, meaning they couldn't even choose to send it to Corsair for a replacement themselves. Umart reports it sent the kit off for a warranty assessment, meaning the option it gave Goran was to refund the original price of the memory.

Corsair has told Hardware Unboxed that it is looking into the case now.

Umart went into the replies to Hardware Unboxed's video to state, "When a product is lodged under warranty with Umart, our policy is to offer the customer a replacement or a refund, depending on the customer’s preference, provided replacement stock is available."

Umart goes on to say, "In this particular case, replacement stock for the product was unfortunately not available at the time the warranty claim was processed. As a result, the claim was resolved with a refund, in line with our warranty process."

A Corsair representative told Hardware Unboxed, "All Corsair DRAM kits come with a lifetime warranty. Regardless of the DRAM market conditions, our CSG/TSG team will set up an RMA and replace the customer's kit under warranty following our standard RMA process."

Hardware Unboxed does suggest this reply from Corsair could be "influencer privilege" as Goran reportedly did not receive a response from Corsair when they reached out three weeks prior. Either way, Corsair is reportedly looking into the issue. It's just a shame it took a YouTube video from a creator with over a million subscribers and weeks of waiting to get the case seen to.