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DustinSteeve's avatar
DustinSteeve
Honored Guest
27 days ago

Quest 3 Buyer Beware

I was very excited when I bought the Meta Quest 3. The games are excellent, Virtual Desktop worked well, and overall the experience was genuinely impressive.

Unfortunately, just 2.5 weeks after the one-year warranty expired, the headset suffered a non-recoverable hardware failure. Based on extensive troubleshooting with Meta Support, the internal flash storage appears to have failed or become corrupted. Factory resets, recovery mode, and all supported repair options were attempted but the device could not be repaired. 

I requested a courtesy warranty exception given how close this was to the warranty expiration and the fact that this was clearly not misuse or user error. After much back-and-forth with Meta Support, they refused. The only option offered was a refurbished replacement for $360, with a very limited warranty. 

This experience significantly changed my view of the product and Meta's support policies. The Quest 3 is impressive when it works, but Meta does not meaningfully stand behind the hardware outside of a very strict warranty window, even in cases of premature failure. 

BUYER BEWARE. If you choose to buy this product, I strongly recommend purchasing it from a retailer like Costco that has customer-friendly return and replacement policies, because Meta itself clearly does not value its customers and will not make you whole once the warranty expires. 

hardware issue
Meta Quest 3
warranty

4 Replies

  • steve_40's avatar
    steve_40
    Expert Consultant
    27 days ago

    You should have told Meta that the headset failed a day or two before the warranty expired 😉.

    My Rift S failed 1 week before the warranty 😉. Unfortunately, the "refurbished" replacement headset (it actually looked brand new) died 1 month after the 3-month warranty expired 😒.

    It took me a lot of courage to bite the bullet and buy a Quest 3. I'm happy with it so far. I'll start sweating after the warranty expires, though 😁.

    Your advice about buying from an official retailer is good advice.

    If you live in USA, Fix my Oculus would be a better option than buying a refurbished headset from Meta.

    But the way I see it, I could buy an Apple Vision Pro for over $AU 6,000 with only a 1-year warranty, or a Quest 3 for $AU 800 also with a 1-year warranty. For that price, it would be more cost effective to buy a Quest 3, then if it fails after the warranty expires, simply bin it and buy another new one. I could do that for at least 6 years (assuming a 1-year failure rate) and still spend less that the cost of a Vision Pro 🤷‍♂️. VR is not a cheap hobby.

    (This post will self-destruct in 5 seconds 💣)

    • Maccyb123's avatar
      Maccyb123
      Expert Trustee
      27 days ago

      steve_40 It's crazy that a $AU 6000 device only has a 1 year warranty, isn't it. All electronic products costing more than $100 equivalent have a 2 year legally enforceable warranty here and for expensive products, which would include the Vision Pro it would be 3 years minimum. I wonder, in places with just a year would it be worth to pay for extended warranty? Luck of the draw I suppose. Btw, forgot to say I saw you online a couple of days ago with Sushi Ben, but as I was about to say hello you logged off! 😂😂😂😂 I wasn't even playing, just switched it on momentarily to check the battery level! 

      • steve_40's avatar
        steve_40
        Expert Consultant
        27 days ago

        In Australia, while manufacturers offer fixed-term warranties, Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply for a "reasonable time," meaning you might get remedies (refund, repair, replacement) long after the stated warranty expires, especially for expensive goods like TVs or cars, based on price, quality, and use. For example, my iPhone had a 1 year warranty but I bought the phone under a 2-year payment plan with my phone provider. The phone failed after 18 months. Apple agreed to replace it for me because I expected it to last at least 2 years until my payment plan was complete 🙂.

  • Maccyb123's avatar
    Maccyb123
    Expert Trustee
    27 days ago

    That is disappointing. Unfortunately it can happen. Though I'm not covered by warranty as I live in Türkiye and bought it in Germany, I'd have to travel back there to have it, and there's no point, we have a legally mandated 2 year warranty on all products like this. I think it's crazy that all countries are not introducing rules forcing companies to offer 2 years. On some higher priced products like big TV's, washing machines, dishwashers etc, it's a minimum 3 years. I can buy the Quest here from some big retailers but it's 40% more expensive and ironically they give a 2 year warranty as they have to. I'm not exactly sure how they manage to do that, but they do. If mine doesn't last 2 years it might have been cheaper in the long term to buy it here!