cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Oculus not selling replacement controllers runs afoul of Merchantability laws in the US

420inPortland
Expert Protege

I have been talking to an attorney friend I know about the fact that Oculus has been selling systems for hundreds of dollars with parts, ie controllers, they KNOW will wear out before the core system. He, and I, both believe this runs afoul of the Merchantability Statutes in the USC UCC Title 2. I would suggest they get busy making and selling replacement controllers for these before someone decides to test this in court. They need to start supporting these devices by selling replacement parts for 5-7yrs, just like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo do for other gaming systems. If they don't, I also believe they are liable to be open to litigation regarding the right to repair statutes and executive orders currently in the works, as well as litigation under USC UCC Title 2. So what's it gonna be Oculus? Are you gonna support all of us who bought your several hundred dollar systems by selling replacements for the parts YOU KNEW would wear out before the core system, or do we start looking into a Class Action Case?

Ryzen 7 1800X, Auros X470 Gaming Ultra, Power Color RX 580, 4200Mhz Corsair Hynix 32g, 500g Samsung 970 EVO (OS Drive), 1TB Silicon Power Gen 4 (Game Drive), Custom Water Loop 
7 REPLIES 7

TheFishPuncher
Protege

Sadly, as all for this as I am I'm much more skeptical anything can actually be done. The exact same argument can be made for mine and the headset cable they refuse to replace. They are very clearly taking a strategy of killing the device off by doing the absolute bare legal minimum of repairing as few devices which are still under warranty as possible and telling everyone else off.

 

Which is incredibly anti-consumer, contributes heavily to e-waste, and is arguably a morally bankrupt approach, but I think not illegal under current U.S. law sadly, but again, I'm not a lawyer, I don't think the right to repair provisioning are strong enough, as much as they need to be.

kojack
MVP
MVP

You might want to check with your attorney again. USC Title 2 is about congress. It includes:

  • elections of senators
  • library of congress
  • impoundment control
  • emergency powers to eliminate budget deficits
  • capitol visitor center

etc.

 

I'm guessing you are really talking about Uniform Commercial Code Article 2, not United States Code Title 2.

 

Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

Sku77s
Protege

These were blatantly designed to fail.
Test/proof

Heres a easy method i developed for checking the quality of wire insulation. (this does not test the "insulative" qualities of the material just rough durability tests for hardness and resistance to real-life wear and tear.

Its a simple fingernail test one I wish I had the chance to try before ordering online. If I had taken the time to hold an oculus in my hands before buying I would have never purchased it.

Take your fingernail and drag starting at 90 degrees at an ever increasing angle down your oculus cord. When you feel a slight snag stop and give a little bitty dig.

You stopped right? Like at **bleep** near 90 degrees right?!

I bet you did cause you felt it and your senses did NOT deceive you tech friend.
You just lifted the insulation from the interior wires with a fingernail because its just that weak.

You can literally strip this cable with your fingernails. Like a banana. In probably under a minute. Try that with the other cords from your other components and your probably looking at a totally different fight. Might need a.... wire cutter a knife maybe something designed to open a wire because wires shouldn't open like a snickers bar oculus wtf?
 
Try that drag test on another non-pc cable, even a cheap non-sleeved phone charger the kind we rip on daily hopping out of the car or whatever.

One of these is a 15 dollar hunk of technological prowess untamed by man (except for the one point of well-known failure the plug)

The other is a 400 dollar hunk of the cheapest possible VR with parts you could accidentally destroy if you just got back from the nail salon, stepped on in hard soled shoes, pinched it under a wheel... basically anything with roughly the pressure of a finger against it with any edge and movement the cord is designed to fail and just rip apart.

Ahh, you are correct this is a typo and should be UCC Title 2. (Universal Commercial Code.)

Ryzen 7 1800X, Auros X470 Gaming Ultra, Power Color RX 580, 4200Mhz Corsair Hynix 32g, 500g Samsung 970 EVO (OS Drive), 1TB Silicon Power Gen 4 (Game Drive), Custom Water Loop 

@TheFishPuncheras well.

Yeah, the construction quality was not high, but it also came in $300-500 below the only other 2 consumer options in the market so some things have to give to meet that price point. That's the trade you make and I really don't have an issue with that. I think the cord thing is crappy too, but conceivably is a part that doesn't wear out either. The controller microswitches and joystick sensors have limited durability BY DESIGN. Oculus seems to think not selling controllers is fine, even though they sold systems to these people LESS THAN 1YR ago, and I think it might be MORE than just anti-consumer. I wanted to post this in their forums in the hopes maybe they will reverse this decision. The forums are littered with tons of complaints about not being able to buy replacements for ALL their systems, and I think it would be a simple matter for them to do so. I don't think they will, but availing yourself of the remedies available from the company is usually required before proceeding with litigation, so.....  😉

Ryzen 7 1800X, Auros X470 Gaming Ultra, Power Color RX 580, 4200Mhz Corsair Hynix 32g, 500g Samsung 970 EVO (OS Drive), 1TB Silicon Power Gen 4 (Game Drive), Custom Water Loop 

Ahh, you are correct this is a typo and should be UCC Title 2. (Universal Commercial Code.)

Ryzen 7 1800X, Auros X470 Gaming Ultra, Power Color RX 580, 4200Mhz Corsair Hynix 32g, 500g Samsung 970 EVO (OS Drive), 1TB Silicon Power Gen 4 (Game Drive), Custom Water Loop 

TheBong
Honored Guest

Sorry for my poor grammar in advance.

I also believe that they're purposely  trying to get rid of vrs to avoid having this issue as often.
since the beginning a buddy and I had issues with it between it not seeing the usb/display and failing the sensor check.  and keep in mind i've been working on electronics for 12 years since I was a child so it wasn't just user error.
The fix was just randomly plugging it into the same slot letting it fail then trying the same slot again.
one I got it working I was just happy and left it plugged in, never had any problems.

then once I unplugged it for the first time after not moving it from it's container for months, it bricked with the 3 dots and home music playing, spent around a literal 70 hours from wake till sleep to the point that i was reading the debugger code trying to fix it. found that hundreds of others had the exact same issue with many just left with a paperweight.
contacted support they were taking days just to tell me basic things i've read on forums like update my drivers. made a stink and they made an exception to allow me to use my warranty despite it being expired earlier that month.

while trying to troubleshoot it any post i saw about getting it swapped out ended in the team losing the device and leaving people hanging for months with very few having success unless they made a stink about it on social media which they then all of sudden got a new one in 2 days.

So i contacted them and wanted to make sure they got mine as my tracker said they received it.
They said they did not receive it and I made sure they clarified that I would be notified the day it was received .
once I told them that the tracker said an employee received it they rechecked and said that they couldn't see it due to an "error" but they now see it.

when asked how they would correct the error if I didn't raise their awareness on it they could not give me any answer not even a technical one and could only apologize.
I believe this is why vrs have been getting lost.
ontop of this, I dont know law but reading the warranty info it exlaims that once the product arrives in their hands they legally own it until they decide if you're entitled for reimbursement, otherwise they say they're allowed to charge you for anything not covered by the warranty.

the overall process has led me to believe they will do what they can to delay you as long as possible while publicly staying silent as long as possible.
additionally, in the past year they haven't released a single software update for the rift s despite it being bricked for hundreds, then if you goto their youtube page they have one troubleshooting video for the rift s and it's not even actually for it, it's for the base version which has external sensors so it can't even apply. all other base rift videos are in every other language except English.

Get Help
Did this answer your question? If it didn’t, use our search to find other topics or create your own and other members of the community will help out.

Check out some popular posts here:
Getting Help from the Meta Quest Community
Tips and Tricks: Charging your Meta Quest Headset
Tips and Tricks: Help with Pairing your Meta Quest
Trouble With Facebook/Instagram Accounts?