Consumer Credit Act for Faulty Dell Laptop

jonesMUFCforever

No Dell will only refund you what you paid no more or less.

Myosin

I phoned Dell today, after 40 minutes and being cut off once, the Customer Service person agreed to email the "Concerns Dept." and assured me that I would receive a 'Good Laptop'. No time scale was mentioned and she didn't seem to know anything about the case which is why so long was spent on the phone. She only agreed to email the 'concerns dept' (whoever they are) after I mentioned that Barclaycard were happy to do a chargeback.

I'm not holding my breath...

jonesMUFCforever

An e-mail would only take you minutes to type. Forget Dell and their laptops you need your money back now!

Myosin

The problem is if I get my £600 back, I'm not going to find an equivalent spec for that price meaning I am actually worse off because of Dell's incompetence. It's a Centrino 1.6Ghz, 40GB, 512DDR2 RAM, DVD-RW, 15.4" TFT, Wi-Fi. I'm not sure if it's possible to get one from anywhere else for that price.

I phoned them again today and they say that they've already replaced it twice so they can only repair the existing one. They are prepared to replace the Hard Drive, entire Screen Unit, and keyboard, which is pretty much the entire laptop if you ask me!

It just isn't fair - because of their incompetence and disregard for their customers I am going to lose out if I get the Consumer Credit Act actioned. I chose Dell because the Techie guys on this forum found a good deal for me, and I'm really grateful to them, but because of Dell's crappy customer care, which they still claim they've won awards for, I'm going to have to buy a system elsewhere which will be more expensive. :mad: Isn't there anything I can do?

mjr

Myosin wrote:

The problem is if I get my £600 back, I'm not going to find an equivalent spec for that price meaning I am actually worse off because of Dell's incompetence. It's a Centrino 1.6Ghz, 40GB, 512DDR2 RAM, DVD-RW, 15.4" TFT, Wi-Fi. I'm not sure if it's possible to get one from anywhere else for that price.

I phoned them again today and they say that they've already replaced it twice so they can only repair the existing one. They are prepared to replace the Hard Drive, entire Screen Unit, and keyboard, which is pretty much the entire laptop if you ask me!

It just isn't fair - because of their incompetence and disregard for their customers I am going to lose out if I get the Consumer Credit Act actioned. I chose Dell because the Techie guys on this forum found a good deal for me, and I'm really grateful to them, but because of Dell's crappy customer care, which they still claim they've won awards for, I'm going to have to buy a system elsewhere which will be more expensive. :mad: Isn't there anything I can do?

Off the top of my head...

1. Write to the PC magazines such as PC Pro, who have a "Helping Hand" section for dealing with cases like this. Clearly state the fact that you received defective and second-hand goods. Make mention of the fact the one of the Laptops arrived with someone else's data on it (i.e. massive security risk for anyone returning hardware to Dell if they send it out to someone else without wiping it)

2. Write to the Managing Director of Dell, enclosing a copy of your correspondance with the magazine and Barclaycard. Clearly state the resolution you want (i.e. replacement) and give them a deadline.

Even if you do go for a chargeback, it'd still be worth writing to the magazines so that they're aware of the problems you encountered.

mjr

(Unless of course you fancy taking them to the Small Claims Court )

jonesMUFCforever

But a computer that does not work is not worth anything to you.Are you sure that similar specs cannot be found elswhere?

Myosin

Similar spec can be found at other retailers, but at a higher price Not fair :mad:

mjr

Myosin wrote:

Similar spec can be found at other retailers, but at a higher price Not fair :mad:

So, get a bit of publicity for your cause. Contact the magazines and relevant authotities. Shame or scare them into providing what they were supposed to -- a new working laptop at the agreed price.

Moglex

mjr wrote:

So, get a bit of publicity for your cause. Contact the magazines and relevant authotities. Shame or scare them into providing what they were supposed to -- a new working laptop at the agreed price.

When I had some outrageous service form Dabs (yes, I know I shouldn't have been using them, but they were good once), I wrote a letter to send to PC Pro and PCW. It calmly and dispassionately gave the facts of the case.

Before sending it to the magazine, I sent it the Dabs' managing director.

The matter was resolved to my satisfaction within a week.