S88 MK2 Noisy black keys and the lack of UK warranty

Paul GK

I live in the UK and I purchased an S88 Mk2 keyboard complete with the standard edition of Komplete just before the start of the new year. I recently noticed that some of the black keys were starting to get quite noisy, making a clacking type of sound on their return travel. I contacted customer support as it was under 6 months old and they promptly replied telling me they believe it has a fault and it will need to be repaired. They said if I haven't purchased it direct from the Native Instruments website I would have to pay all shipping costs and customs duty to send it to their repair shop in Germany.

I queried this as I am in the UK and upon purchasing the product I was prompted to register with NI for software support and warranty purposes. The dealer I purchased from only provided a return for the first 30 days and then referred to manufacturers warranty. NI responded and said they would now cover the shipping costs to Germany, and needed all my details for customs declaration. I explained that I purchased from the UK and surely I am entitled to UK support but they stated my only option is to send to Germany and they asked whether I still had the original packaging to return it in.

I told them I would check the loft and shed, and in the meantime I asked them to provide an estimated time for the complete procedure from collection to returning the keyboard to my address. It has been well over a week and I am yet to receive a response.

I have done some research and the noisy black keys seem to be a common problem with this particular keyboard. I found it is related to the grease used on the keys. Some of the information I actually discovered on these forums, including a set of images and instructions of how to do it yourself.

I am obviously disappointed at NI's lack of support/interest for what appears to be a common problem that any competent technician could likely do in a couple of hours. Surely a product sold in the UK should come with UK based warranty and support?

Any other NI users based in the UK had a similar experience, or anybody able to offer any help/advice? Ideally I do not want to go down the route of UK consumer laws and returning to the retailer. They have not done anything wrong as I got a very good deal, and I purchased under their clearly worded terms of 30 days return to base and then manufacturers warranty.

Thank you.

maniacintosh81

As I am living in Germany I am not too familiar with British customer laws. But as you have bought from a different dealer and not from NI you have no contract with NI regarding the controller. By law they don‘t have to offer any warranty to you at all. This is all up to the seller of the device.
https://www.gov.uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds#:~:text=You%20must%20repair%20or%20replace,or%20replacement%20after%206%20months.

At least I understand it this way in this link.

NI offers you support but as they aren‘t the seller they can do this on behalf of their conditions. And if the repair workshop is in Germany - not surprising for a german company - and your country has left the EU and common market sending any goods involves customs.

Stick with the dealer. He is obligated by law to offer warranty. It is the place to get UK based support.