Please, can anybody explain exactly what is a “refurbished” product? Is a second hand? has eventual failures? has mini scrachts? Thanks everybody
A refurbished item is one with a problem that was returned to the maufacturer or distributor and fixed. Since it cannot be sold as new, it is sold as being refurbished.
From what I have seen for the most part, if you purchase a reconditioned or refurbished product from a manufacturer, it will typically come with the standard manufacturer warranty. I would check that out. It a is good peace of mind to have.
Refurbished usually means there was a factory defect that caused the whole lot to be sent back to the factory to fix something that never should have made it out the factory door to start with.(see your own post about manufacturers selling things they know aren’t quite right)
You usually only get a 30 day store warrenty, if any at all. You usually have to ship it back to the manufacturer at your own cost if it breaks. Most of the time not worth the cost and hastle involved. I’ve not had good luck with such things so I stay away. Such items are typically sold at lower quality “discount” stores here in the U.S.
Doc,
Crandell (selector) picked up a refurbished Hudson(?) from BLI (Broadway Limited) and has been very pleased with it. I don’t think he’d have any qualms about purchasing another refurb from them again.
Tom
Close, Tom…I got two locos from Outlet Direct, BLI’s bargain basement. One was an S1b Niagara, and the other was my honey, the PRR J1 2-10-4.
BLI advertizes that these locos are either factory seconds (i.e., they have small visual defects, but otherwise run…or who’d buy them?!), or they are returns for reasons of warranty repair, but the customer no longer wants the loco, or the customer refused the shipment in the first place because of a clearly damaged package…in which case, back to BLI it goes.
All Outlet Direct moichandice comes with a full warranty, just like the one you’d get from an off-the-shelf purchase. That, in itself, and considering how most manufacturers willingly stand behind their products, makes scrutinizing their twice monthly up-dated shopping list of available inventory worth while…you get discounts in the range of 40%.
For the record, out of two such purchases, I had to return only the Niagara, and that was for a new decoder. Both engines are free of blemishes, and have all the advertized parts, so they must have been returns for warranty or for damaged packaging. The packaging was A-1 in both cases. The Niagara returned at a cost to me of only $7.00 shipping, and it took two months.
Refurbished, to answer the OP’s question, means that the item was defective, returned for repair under existing corporate policy, and was made available for re-sale as a repaired item. The warranty may or may not be available…depends on who does the repair. This, too, is determined by the corporation. As I have stated, BLI offers a full warranty…period.
By the way, the term “reconditioned” is nearly the same thing, but generally applies to items that will cost much more new, such as automobile starters and alternators…although the term “re-built” also applies in some areas conventionally. Reconditioned may mean that the item was merely disassembled, cleaned, inspected for
doc manago,
[#ditto]
Read the offering carefully. Some refurbished items carry the same manufacturer’s warranty as new, some don’t. Equipment like camera gear and electronics will be factory refurbished so that functionally they are identical to new but may carry some external faults(scratches, minor dings). Train manufactuer’s offerings may follow this same route, but it may vary in degree from manufacturer to manufacturer. Again, read the offering details.
As noted by other posters, you may be responsible for shipping costs when exercising the warranty.
Jon [8D]
I actually look for refurbished products to purchase because then I know they have been examined and tested individually before going “back” onto the market.
Refurbished items typically fall into one of 3 categories:
- Item was returned with no problem found. The user was mistaken or did not want the item. No harm or foul.
- Item was returned with a problem found and corrected. If repaired properly this is fine.
- Item was returned with no problem found. Problem was intermittent and not apparent during testing. Herein lies the problem. If you get a good warranty then you may be all right, if not you are S.O.L especially if you cannot fix it yourself.
As Selector has pointed out, there is a difference between refurbished and rebuilt / remanufactured. A rebuild / re-man is completely taken apart and worn components are either replaced or machined back to specs. A reconditioned snow blower, for example may have the plug changed and fuel replaced with the proper mixture. If it starts and runs well it is good to go. They are not going to tear into it any further because it is not necessary. If a problem is still present, then additional repairs are required.
Are refurbished units a good deal? Depends on the price and warranty. For a train it is probably a good way to get an expensive model at a more reasonable cost.
Jim
Thanks to everybody. I see that refurbished items are not good for overseas customers -like me- because eventual additional costs in returning the merchandise for repairing (shipping, insurance, after income adouane taxs, etc.) Bye
It is a returned item with a default of some kind. BLI sells these with the R in front of the number to show it has been checked, fixed and will carry a short warranty, but is refurbished.
It is better for BLI to sell the item at a reduced price, but the buyer must beware. If the model had an intermittent type of problem, it might not have been fixed since it might have run OK when it was tested. They don’t seem to spend much time on some of the problems unless they show up when they are tested. I recently sent in a model for an overseas friend and BLI repaired it and sent it back in about three weeks.
They seem to try and fix models ASAP and I have found them to be very courteous.
If the price is very good, they are probably a good buy.
.
Since all items in their Outlet Direct have the letter R in front of their stock numbers, I would be more inclined to assume it stands for either “returned” or “Re-sale”. Remember that not all items have been returned for repair…some were simply D’Ohhs on the part of the customer, or some were included undamaged in damaged packaging.
Doc, I think you have not understood what my message was to you. You will get a good product, a perfectly good product that is as likely, or no more likely, to have a warrantable fault as one that is new…never owned. So, if you can be reasonably certain that an Outlet Direct item has been repaired, or at least deemed worthy of re-saleby a qualified technician, why would you not want to take advantage of the substantial savings and a full year’s warranty?!