Comet charging £100 while laptop under manufacturers warranty (hardware vs software)

Lex15

Hi,
I'm hoping someone might be able to give me some consumer advise regarding a new laptop and comet/fujitsu trying to potentially charge me £100. I'm not very "legally minded" and would appriciate any advise.
I bought a Fujitsu Siemens laptop from comet’s website on 29/12/08 and had it with myself 06/01/09
I had 2 weeks of normal use then it “blue screened” and mentioned something about power, I wasn’t able to read it all before it disappeared.
I then took it back to comet who said they needed to check it was a hardware fault before they could refund. They ran a diagnostic CD that said all was well, however the girl mentioned “it took 3 hours, normally laptops take 30minutes”
Anyway as it seemed software I went away with the agreement Fujitsu would send me a reboot DVD.
The disk arrived and all was well for 4~5 days then it “blue screened” again.
This time when I took it into Comet they insisted it went to Fujitsu to be checked to confirm a hardware fault. However they said if they couldn’t detect a fault they would charge me £100!
I refused on the basis I didn’t want to be charged £100 based on a test that might not show the fault. As I’ve said it can take days to fail. This happened today and I need to make a decision quickly over what to do.
What are my rights? Should I be able to demand a refund/replacement without gambling on Fujitsu finding the fault?

Meepster

They shouldn't be charging you ANYTHING to get it looked at as per SOGA

Have a look at these links:

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/how-long-should-it-last/
http://whatconsumer.co.uk/and-if-my-statutory-rights-are-breached/

So basically tell them you either want a) it repaired FREE b) a replacement or c) your money back...usually, if you mention Statutory rights, or, sales of good act, they usually change their attitude...

Good luck

Lex15

mwilletts much appriciated

The only concern I have is they say they aren't going to charge me to look at it. They are "only" going to charge IF they don't find anything wrong. Is that legal? Surely I shouldn't have to pay for them to look at it?

Also the customer helpdesk mentioned the warranty is on the hardware, not the software. Due to the fact it was sold "with Vista" Am I correct in thinking SOGA should cover Vista working correctly on the laptop?

custardy

i would take the stance you want a working laptop
what they do to check/repair it is not your concern
a working laptop includes the OS supplied

TBH i would expect them to wipe and reinstall the OS as a matter of course on repairs
do you have anything you need on the laptop and do you have OS install/recovery discs?

Meepster

The warranty is only on the hardware, however, if the problem is occuring because of a conflict between the hardware and the software THEY supplied with it (or recommended for it) then they are still liable.

So it's not "vista working correctly on the laptop" but the laptop working correctly with vista.

The only reason they are saying they will charge you is if they can PROVE that you did something, or put some additional software on there that has caused the problem. So if you haven't, then don't worry about it.

prowla

Silly question: You have been charging it, right?

Not so silly question: What did you do before the "blue screen" (eg. close the lid)?

Definitely not a silly question: Do you know what a "blue screen" is?
A blue screen is a system crash, and there is all sorts of technical gobbledegook printed in text on a blue background, like:

Lex15

prowla - I believe I've been charging it perfectly fine. I've owned several laptops now without any issue like this. But thanks. Quick question, next time a blue screen should happen, is there anyway of capturing what it says before it disappears? (usually disappears in seconds)

Custardy - With it being relatively new I've (thankfully) not got any data that doesn't have a copy elsewhere.

Last question, as I bought it from Comet online do the retail shops have a responsibly to deal with me on the issue as they represent the seller? I'd just like to know legally where I stand.

DatabaseError

in windows right click my computer and select properties.
Click the advanced tab and under startup and recovery click settings.
Under system failure untick Automatically restart.Now whenever you get a blue screen your pc won't restart and it will display the error message for as long as you like.

You can then use the information to search for a cause.

stolen from elsewhere

Lex15

DatabaseError - Big Thanks.

Strange that isn't default? You'd think that would help most people. Certainly would have helped me!

Zebra

For information on your Consumer Rights visit Consumer Direct or phone 0845 040506.

totalsolutions

Looooook pc's go wrong sometimes, (mostly) its the OS versus the software, then its a rare fault on the hard drive, then the updates appear but don't work with your flavour of compoments and then the video card drivers are out of date, it's almost normal with a new pc settling down. Don't pay the £100 just hang in there, reinstall the backups if you have to, somewhere somethings have changed, a rouge web page to a failed install program, no one knows not even "the girl" hard disk recovery can take 100's of hours a reinstall 20 mins- go figure what you want to do..