Louis Rossmann is suing Samsung after firm offers $330 refund for defective SSD while selling the drives on Amazon for $949 — spat over 4TB 990 Pro SSD is headed to court

Louis Rossmann is suing Samsung after firm offers $330 refund for defective SSD while selling the drives on Amazon for $949 — spat over 4TB 990 Pro SSD is headed to court Samsung has 60 days to give Rossman a working replacement before he takes the company to court in Austin Texas. Popular Right to Repair activist Louis Rossman is threatening to take Samsung to court for not replacing his personal 4TB 990 Pro SSD that failed within the drive’s warranty period. In a YouTube video, Rossman shared back-and-forth emails he had with Samsung support in his attempt to get the drive replaced under warranty, which ultimately failed. Instead, the SSD maker offered to refund him the original $330 he paid for the drive, citing a lack of stock despite the drive being listed on Amazon at Samsung's own store for $949 with plenty of stock. Rossman demands that Samsung replace the drive itself instead of forcing him to pay nearly three times the original cost he paid for the drive to get a replacement, and is now suing to force the matter. Rossman says that the drive was anything but abused, making his circumstance all the more unfortunate. The 990 Pro was reportedly operating under a heatsink with two 80mm fans attached to it to ensure the heatsink remained cool. The only good news in this story is that the 990 Pro was part of a RAID 1 array, so Rossman did not lose any data on the drive. Rossman sent all necessary information, including error logs proving his 990 Pro SSD was dead, and Samsung responded to Rossman affirming everything he stated in his email and agreeing that the drive appeared to be dead according to the logs he provided. However, Samsung responded to Rossman after testing the drive, with test results showing that the drive was healthy and working properly. Samsung then ghosted Rossman, and in another email, sent him a tracking number for his own drive. After getting the drive back, Rossman tested it again on his own testing equipment and found the drive was still not functioning correctly. Rossman then threatened to take the SSD manufacturer to court in Austin, Texas, if a new 4TB 990 Pro is not sent to him within 60 days. Samsung ultimately replied and offered him a cash refund of $330, the original price of the drive, citing a lack of stock to replace the drive. Rossman found the drive in plentiful supply on Samsung's own Amazon store for $949, meaning he would have to pay three times the amount for a replacement drive. Per the terms of many warranties, companies do have the option to repay the original purchase cost of a product if the company cannot repair or replace the product. However, Rossman asserts that since the drive is in stock and readily available at the higher price, Samsung is therefore compelled to issue him a replacement drive. The wording of Samsung's warranty seems to support this conclusion: "{...}during the limited warranty period, and subject to the conditions and exceptions stated in this Agreement, Samsung will, at its option, either: (1) repair or replace the Product with new or refurbished Product of equal or greater capacity and functionality; or (2) refund the then current market value of the Product at the time the warranty claim is made to Samsung if Samsung is unable to repair or replace the Product." [emphasis added] Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Now it will be up to a court to decide. Rossman plans to take Samsung to court in Texas over the matter immediately after the statutory 60-day wait time. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards. - chewtech Reply No. You can't just "say" something to get around legally binding agreements.LordVile said:Pretty sure they could say he modified the drive and therefore voids the warranty This isn't even a device you'd modify. Literally just plug in. Maybe throw a heat sink on, but that doesn't alter the device condition in anyway. Even though they sell with heatsinks on them too - thrus Reply Problem being they already had the drive in their possession and deemed it to be fine, if there was a modification that is when it should have come up. Even if acting in good faith they would have replied saying it was in working order but the warranty was no longer valid due to modifications. Plus they later say it still applied as they offered purchase price. They have had two chances there to document that theory but did not. That is going be be a hard sell in court when their own statements don't document that and recognize the warranty.LordVile said:Pretty sure they could say he modified the drive and therefore voids the warranty - TheLoneJedi The warranty terms highlighted in bold, seem to imply they should pay whatever current market value was at time of warranty claim. Which is not the current price, or the original(and I'm sure it is closer to current).Reply I wish him luck, but I hope he's got legal precedent that Amazon store = company you are suing. If he bought it directly from the Samsung website, it would be a stronger argument when comparing current price and warranty. Samsung Amazon store is probably some llc spinoff wholesaler, and not legally the same thing. This story also needs a pic of his setup(provided he has given one). If running RAID 1, and he doesn't have the right config.... I respect the hell out of this guy if he legit persues this in court. Feels more like a scam to get views though. Doubt he has any intention of fighting for everyone's rights here, as it will cost a helluva lot more than the $600 he feels cheated out of - Trake_17 He's very clearly in the right. He needs to threaten them with punitive damages because $600 isn't enough to make Samsung sit up straight and a judge will agree. Samsung is using its weight to bully consumers, which is what punitive damages are designed to address. That or class action. Good luck to David, Goliath is in the houseReply - Dozi Ace Interesting. Back in October of Last year I built my firat ever PC and I went with a 4TB 990 Pro I got from MicroCenter. I out it in my PC and everything was great for about a day or two then Boom the SSD failed. I ended up replacing it with Kingston Fury 4TB I got from Amazon, which is now my go to, and just returning the Samsung to MicroCenter for a refund the next weekend. What is really ironic is that when I purchased that memory model, I remember when, Savanah, my go to associate at the local MicroCenter, was asking about warranty, and I told her to out it on the 5090 and the MSI MB, but not the Samsung because Samsung never fails . . . But, this article makes the fourth time I have heard about a bad 4TB 990. Must be a bad batch. But, regardless, Samsung greed has done me in, we have replaced all Samsung Appliances in rentals, don't buy their memory or RAM, and after 25 Comsecutive Samsung phones, all Notes or Top of the line Samsung Phones, we are changing brands. I mean it just puts me buying chips and products with memory from so other corporation for a money grab. But, Samsung quality has been slipping.Reply - hard6 Reply Is not about the money. He can afford the extra $600. Also he's pretty well known.. I think it's the principal of getting ripped off. Also he can probably sue for court costs and legal fees.TheLoneJedi said:The warranty terms highlighted in bold, seem to imply they should pay whatever current market value was at time of warranty claim. Which is not the current price, or the original(and I'm sure it is closer to current). I wish him luck, but I hope he's got legal precedent that Amazon store = company you are suing. If he bought it directly from the Samsung website, it would be a stronger argument when comparing current price and warranty. Samsung Amazon store is probably some llc spinoff wholesaler, and not legally the same thing. This story also needs a pic of his setup(provided he has given one). If running RAID 1, and he doesn't have the right config.... I respect the hell out of this guy if he legit persues this in court. Feels more like a scam to get views though. Doubt he has any intention of fighting for everyone's rights here, as it will cost a helluva lot more than the $600 he feels cheated out of - LordVile Reply If they’ve put a custom heatsink or modified the stock one then it breaks pretty much any warranty.chewtech said:No. You can't just "say" something to get around legally binding agreements. This isn't even a device you'd modify. Literally just plug in. Maybe throw a heat sink on, but that doesn't alter the device condition in anyway. Even though they sell with heatsinks on them too