Currys Whatever Happens, appalling service

Hi all,

I am a new member to this forum, but after reading a few similar stories to mine, I thought i'd share my unfortunate honour of dealing with Currys pathetic 'Whatever Happens' service.

I bought my Sony ps3 in 2007 and also bought the Whatever Happens insurance on a monthly direct debit cost.

In December (5th) last year (2010) my PS3 packed in (Yellow light of death) basically means it won't turn on, or do anything. This happened when I was playing a game, and thus a game was also left stuck in the machine. I rang up the Whatever Happens number and they sent a courier to come collect it on the 9th.
I Waited 10 days and decided to ring them up to see how the repair was going, they told me it was in the workshop but hadn't been looked at yet. After 28 days was up (7th Jan) (I'm on the old policy so has to be repaired within 21 days, not 28, but I was away for a week) I rang them up again and they told me the same again. I presumed that I would now be entitled to a New Playstation as it hadnt been repaired within 21 days, 7 days over.

I took it upon my self to go down to my local Currys who rang up whoever (same people i presume) who told them that the Playstation actually HAD been repaired on the 13th of December (convenient...back dating repairs? Possibly....) they said had just "forgotten" to post it back to me.
I am gobsmacked by this incompetence. As such, they said i was not entitled to a new one, and the old one was delivered back on the 10th, but with no disk that was stuck in. I had let them know all along that there was a disk stuck in the machine. I rang them back up and they said they would attempt to trace it, and if not, then send me vouchers for a new one.

Anyway, 3 days later, im playing on my newly "repaired" ps3 , and bang, ps3 turns off again and breaks down with the exact same problem, again with a disk stuck in it. This time instead of ringing up i took it down to my local Currys store who assured me that I would definitely be entitled to a new one this time as it was the same problem as before, so they put it forward as a write off. However, they still needed to send it to the Tech Guys as they needed to 'inspect' it. The courier picked it up from them on the 16th Jan.

I recieved an answer phone message about 10 days later saying that they had received my write off request but this had been denied until the repair team have looked at it....what have they been doing til then!?!

I again rang them up and they said it would take 48 hours for them to come to a decision regarding this. Nothing heard by then, I rang up whatever happens again and they said the repair still hadnt been looked at...

It is now 8th of Feb, tomorrow will again become the 21st day they have had it, and will cross into the period where i will be able to request a new ps3 again as they clearly haven't repaired it again yet.

Also, I still havent received my game back from them yet, or vouchers for a new one, despite numerous emails to their customer service with no reply. Only one answer phone message left in January saying that they were waiting for a phone call back from Mercom (who repair the ps3's for them apparently) and if not, they would send vouchers.

I feel physically sick at the way I have been treated, I have basically been without a PS3 since the beginning of December now, and still not got my game back either, effectively stealing in my book.

I am fully entitled to a new ps3 as it is over 21 days AGAIN, but no doubt they will weasel their way out of this one again, by back dating their repairs. And worst of all i feel power less to do anything, i've complained and complained, phone calls, emails, but i have got no results, i'm at my wits end, is there any legal action or people higher up I can express my disgust to?

Sorry for the long post, but i feel that i needed to post all the facts.

Joe.