What shall i do? Staples gave me dodgy laptop!

comeonthetic

On Thursday i bought what i thought was a new laptop from Staples for £399. When i opened the box and turned on the laptop it became apparent the comp had been used before. There were shortcuts on the desktop for 2 games and a file in my computer called Stevens documents, with music in it. The properties of these files show they were installed 10 days before I bought it. Also there was a disc for microsoft works which had been opened and there was no reboot disc. I phoned staples on Friday and told them about all this and the girl apologised and instructed me to return it, which i intend doing tomorrow.

The laptop details on box are:-
NEC I-Select M5210
Intel Celeron M Processor 360
40 GB 4200 RPM Hard Disk
(from 2 to 6 GB allocated for recovery system)
256 MB DDR Memory
Up to 126 MB Shared Video Memory
DVD Dual+R9
Lan 10/100 Mbps
Modem 56K V 92
Wireless Lan Card B/G
15" TFT XGA Diamond View Technology 1024x768
NiHM Battery
English keyboard
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

I am hoping some of you kind folk will help me decide which way to play this situation.

- Should i try to get something out of them for free for the trouble it has caused (20 mile treck to shop) or some money off the price? If so what will I try to get or how much should I try to get off?
- I am now affraid the laptop is "a pig in a poke" since it has been returned before. Should I try to get a higher speck model for the same price or at a discount at least. I want a laptop which i can play online poker with, download CDs and DVDs and do project work for my uni degree?
- Should I just avoid being a pain and just exchange the comp for a new one and let the whole thing blow over?

gizmos

comeonthetic wrote:

On Thursday i bought what i thought was a new laptop from Staples for £399. When i opened the box and turned on the laptop it became apparent the comp had been used before. There were shortcuts on the desktop for 2 games and a file in my computer called Stevens documents, with music in it. The properties of these files show they were installed 10 days before I bought it. Also there was a disc for microsoft works which had been opened and there was no reboot disc. I phoned staples on Friday and told them about all this and the girl apologised and instructed me to return it, which i intend doing tomorrow.

The laptop details on box are:-
NEC I-Select M5210
Intel Celeron M Processor 360
40 GB 4200 RPM Hard Disk
(from 2 to 6 GB allocated for recovery system)
256 MB DDR Memory
Up to 126 MB Shared Video Memory
DVD Dual+R9
Lan 10/100 Mbps
Modem 56K V 92
Wireless Lan Card B/G
15" TFT XGA Diamond View Technology 1024x768
NiHM Battery
English keyboard
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

I am hoping some of you kind folk will help me decide which way to play this situation.

- Should i try to get something out of them for free for the trouble it has caused (20 mile treck to shop) or some money off the price? If so what will I try to get or how much should I try to get off?
- I am now affraid the laptop is "a pig in a poke" since it has been returned before. Should I try to get a higher speck model for the same price or at a discount at least. I want a laptop which i can play online poker with, download CDs and DVDs and do project work for my uni degree?
- Should I just avoid being a pain and just exchange the comp for a new one and let the whole thing blow over?

Best way to play this is dont go in with all guns blazing. Calmly tell them you would like a replacement laptop of the same spec for the price you placed - should have no trouble there. Then once that is sorted ask them for something else as comp for the return to the shop and inconvenience it has caused you. Rather than asking for money I would try for say a free game, software, USB memory pen etc, printer etc. Tend to have more luck getting freebies thrown in rather than money off.

comeonthetic

Thanks for your advice gizmos.

Took laptop back, with a relative who has more computer savvi than me to keep me right. Turned out they had no more of the laptops in stock and I would need to wait until tomorrow for another to be delivered. Relative asked how would they "make me happy for the inconvenience caused" and was promptly given £50 in gift vouchers and offered a carry bag. Relative then said we really wanted to go home with a laptop today to put an end to the situation and that I had already lost almost a week of uni project time because of the initial error from them. Was then offered a Fujitsu Siemens with double the Ram (512) and an extra 20 gb (60 gb in total). Relative advised me this was a very good deal as this laptop was on sale for £150 more than the NEC laptop :j . My relative then managed to get them to throw in an optical mouse also :rotfl: .

Good result if u ask me.

:beer:

espresso

Thanks for posting the outcome. Good result for you and a relatively cheap way for them preventing this bad practise of selling used machines as new, into the national media, as has happened before with Dixons etc.

I'm sure that trading standards would have been very interested in this, had they not made you happy!

:j

Rikki

Good advice from gizmos. Glad it all worked out really well comeonthetic

skintchick

espresso wrote:

Thanks for posting the outcome. Good result for you and a relatively cheap way for them preventing this bad practise of selling used machines as new, into the national media, as has happened before with Dixons etc.

I'm sure that trading standards would have been very interested in this, had they not made you happy!

:j

I'd tell Trading Standards anyway!!