Fractal R4/R5 claims "Design & engineered in Sweden", so why the 1 yr. warranty?

Happy Hopping

Happy Hopping

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jul 1, 2004
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I'm looking at their fancy video on R4 / R5 Define Series, if they are as good as they claim they are, how come these cases are only 1 yr. warranty?

because by comparison, NZXT gives me 2 yr.warranty and their fan controller fails in just under 1 yr. So I hate find out what is wrong w/ Fractal Design case when the damn case is only 1 yr. whoppy warranty?

By comparison, Antec is 3 yr.
 
First of all, there is 3 speed fan controller.

Secondly, newegg said it's 1 yr.

and that link you gave is over 1 yr. only, they may have change it to 1 yr. since.

Even 2 yr. is crap compares to 3 yr., but the problem is, a clean manufacturer explicitly states their warranty on the same page as the case. Most case manufacturers do. The only I have seen who doesn't is Fractal design.

And there is no PDF file to download to confirm the warranty neither
 
It's a case. Case warranties are pointless -- either it breaks in the mail coming to you, or you broke it and the warranty won't/shouldn't cover it anyway. If the fan controller breaks buy another one -- a Sunbeam Rheobus is what, $20? $15? You know how many speeds that has? Depends how fine your motorskills are, bud. This is a crazy thing to get hung up on. Do you like the case, and can you afford it? Cool, buy it.
 
I have a Fractal Define and for the money I paid for a sound insulated case I couldn't come close with an Antec or NZXT...I gladly took the features and quality (not that it is be-all-end-all but I'm not listing stiff competition here) over a longer warranty on an item with no moving parts.
 
And yeah, as others said - what you want warranty on the case ?
1) fans. Seriously, would you RMA fans becoming noisy ? Also can be replaced by $5 fans with same noise level.
2) fan controller. Ok, if that fan controller is enough for you, then maybe it is an important thing. Also can be replaced by $2-$5 fan controllers with same feature set.
3) front panel buttons. Sure, your power button might break, but that is probably the only important thing which can actually break on the case over time. But good luck proving it was a product defect and not you beating the crap of the power button :).
 
Long enough warranty or not, I've had a great experience with Fractal customer support even after it expired when they've sent me a new front panel USB board. With that plus their case design and quality I really wouldn't worry about it.
 
The ONLY reason for a case warranty is the electronics for the front panel USB going bad and needing replaced.

I can't think of anything else on a case that could go bad assuming it was not damage in shipping.

I tend to replace all the case fans anyway so this argument seems silly. I never even consider warranty when buying a case and I didn't think anyone else cared either.
 
Meeho said:
Long enough warranty or not, I've had a great experience with Fractal customer support even after it expired when they've sent me a new front panel USB board. With that plus their case design and quality I really wouldn't worry about it.
Click to expand...

so, they did fail. I am also concern about the soldering / circuity of the front panel USB too. As I have seen 1 of them that fails.

Regardless, even w/o any fan controller, it could be bad soldering or bad quality circuity for anyone to offer a 1 yr. warranty.
 
Well everyone can have their own opinion.

My R5 has been great and I would not hesitate to buy another Fractal case.
 
Happy Hopping said:
First of all, there is 3 speed fan controller.
Click to expand...

It's a simple cheap 3-way switch. I imagine if you call them and complain they would ship you a replacement, similar to screws.

I'm sure they have tons of the parts lying around.

Not that I've ever had a simple switch like that go bad on me. I thought you were talking about complicated real-time fan controllers, with independent settings for each fan?
 
the truth is, I find this co. evasive and fishy. Every other manufacturer, whether it's case, or SSD, or whatever, they clearly states their warranty on that same web page. This co. however, is purposely evading that rule.

Legally speaking, the warranty should be explicitly states on the same page (electronic or otherwise) for any product. Doesn't matter if it's a hair dryer or a PC case.
 
Happy Hopping said:
I'm looking at their fancy video on R4 / R5 Define Series, if they are as good as they claim they are, how come these cases are only 1 yr. warranty?

because by comparison, NZXT gives me 2 yr.warranty and their fan controller fails in just under 1 yr. So I hate find out what is wrong w/ Fractal Design case when the damn case is only 1 yr. whoppy warranty?

By comparison, Antec is 3 yr.
Click to expand...

It's a case.... with a simple fan controller. Who really needs a warranty for that? :eek:

On top of that, are you going to ship back a case? Probably not.
 
Happy Hopping said:
the truth is, I find this co. evasive and fishy. Every other manufacturer, whether it's case, or SSD, or whatever, they clearly states their warranty on that same web page. This co. however, is purposely evading that rule.

Legally speaking, the warranty should be explicitly states on the same page (electronic or otherwise) for any product. Doesn't matter if it's a hair dryer or a PC case.
Click to expand...

Not true. Legally speaking. As a... you know... lawyer.
 
Happy Hopping said:
the truth is, I find this co. evasive and fishy. Every other manufacturer, whether it's case, or SSD, or whatever, they clearly states their warranty on that same web page. This co. however, is purposely evading that rule.

Legally speaking, the warranty should be explicitly states on the same page (electronic or otherwise) for any product. Doesn't matter if it's a hair dryer or a PC case.
Click to expand...

I think you're over-reacting a touch.

If you don't like the warranty, don't buy the case.

"Case closed".
 
I'd also like to chime in that Fractal has great support.

I emailed them explaining how I was doing a mod to their hdd bracket (to make it only hold a single drive to increase airflow) and I sawed off the wrong side and was hoping to buy another one. They shipped me a new one free of charge.

I think the OP is a nut case, buying a steel box is as simple as: did it ship broken? yes/no. stock fans and 50cent fan controllers are of no concern
 
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