Apple Mac and John Lewis

superkeen2save

I bought an Apple eMac from John Lewis with a 2 year guarantee and the hard disk died just a couple of months out of the guarantee period. John Lewis's authorised repairer quoted between £200 and £400 + VAT to fix it.

Having become totally accustomed to being able to use the computer and internet and email we reluctantly purchased a new Apple Mac laptop (also from John Lewis). This was a hasty decision and exacerbated by a total lack of after sales advice from JL and a strong desire to remain online and contactable.

A few months later we're now still fuming about this unnecessary expense as our bank balance has gradually dwindled to nowt (very tight budget - 2 small children and husband a student nurse). Surely it's not too much to expect an expensive piece of computer kit to last a fair few years - we've owned Apples before and not had any problems.

Can anyone advise as perhaps we have in our favour the fact that we paid by credit card. Thanks

timberflake

So your Mac died out of guarantee and you were quoted between £200-£400 to have it repaired? But elected to buy a new Mac for........? First, I would have attempted to claim on the first Mac under the SoG Act, it would have been a struggle but you may have been able to get it repaired for free. Secondly, unless there's a problem with the 2nd Mac you brought you don't really have a leg to stand on.

superkeen2save

Yeah - I wasn't sure I'd explained it all very well;

The repair was likely to be closer to the £400 + VAT as it was a high capacity hard disk. I went to John Lewis with all guns blazing ready for a Sale of Goods type rant (I'm usually quite good at that) but met with a brick wall. They simply refused to offer any response other than 'It's out of guarantee'. Being frustrated that we had no internet access (and with things listed on ebay) for not a great deal more money than the most expensive repair we walked away with a Mac laptop. As this still works (and is still under guarantee) I'm very happy with it.

I still feel ripped off over the eMac - £800 and it lasted 2 years and 2 months.

Hope that explains a bit better

custardy

http://www.wilko.com/emac/

hard drive is fairly easy to replace it seems

service manual pdf here

ftp://grijan.cjb.net:21000/macintosh/Manuals/emac.pdf

taxiphil

Superkeen, I would definitely take the same action that I've suggested to the OP on the other Apple thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1091677

(except in your case the contract is with JL not Apple)

Despite JL's supposedly wonderful reputation for customer service, they are serial "SoGA deniers" just like Comet and Currys and all staff including managers are trained to repeat the mantra of "it's not under warranty so we can't help you". Which is of course utter nonsense but they know the majority of people will be fobbed off by it, and it conditions people into thinking they need to buy extended warranties, which are hugely profitable for them.

I've had a very similar experience with JL myself and I found the only way of getting them to recognise their liability under the SoGA was by issuing a county court claim. They promptly settled in full, out of court.

You can fire off a claim cheaply and easily at https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

But send a letter before action first, as I suggested on the other thread, as the court expects you to do this before issuing a claim.

The issue about you buying another computer from them isn't relevant so just don't mention it to them.

chuckley

quoted up to £400 for repair (y didnt u go to a local repairman who would fix it for £200 at an absolute MAX?!) and instead buy a new laptop? for say at LEAST £600?!

either way i cant actually see your complaint or where its going to lead...

my hard disc died like 5 times, but got it fixed by loal repair people. each had different opinions, some said it couldnt be fixed, sum overcharged, some said it was best to get a new disc. after a bitta research i found sum1 that could fix it for £60 and all my programs n stuff still there. what i dont get it WHY you didnt do that and instead went to an expensive giant for repair and then proceeded to shell out loads more on a new machine...

superkeen2save

Thank you to those that offered constructive advice - I'll pursue them.

To the others that like to appear 'big and clever' I'd suggest you get yourselves a hobby or maybe a relationship??

chuckley

superkeen2save wrote: »

Thank you to those that offered constructive advice - I'll pursue them.

To the others that like to appear 'big and clever' I'd suggest you get yourselves a hobby or maybe a relationship??

Glad to be of service.

LMAO

Blacksheep1979

I don't know what kind of 'super duper' hard drive you had, but considering you can get a 1tb drive from very respectible manufacturers for less than £100 (including vat) it must have been pretty special at £400+

taxiphil

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

I don't know what kind of 'super duper' hard drive you had, but considering you can get a 1tb drive from very respectible manufacturers for less than £100 (including vat) it must have been pretty special at £400+

£400 was the figure JL quoted. The OP never said it couldn't be done for less. Obviously JL have put their own mark-up on that and it's going to be more expensive than having it done by a back street geek.

Are you absolutely sure you can get a 1tb replacement internal hard drive for an Apple computer for less than £100 ???

custardy

nothing special about a HD for an apple
1TB hd's do come up for under a ton