Vodafone/ Dell netbook

rachael_s

Hi, I took out a 24 month contract with Vodafone a week ago for mobile internet access which included a Dell Inspiron mini 9 Netbook. After 6 days the Netbook crashed. Vodafone were no help saying that Dell would have to fix the Netbook. Dell have collected the Netbook to reinstall the necessary. I'm now paying for a contract but have no netbook to use and would like to cancel the contract. Am I right in thinking there should be a 30 day cooling off period - I can't find any mention of this in the info. Also, if Vodafone are supplying these netbooks are they not responsible for fixing any problems that arise.
My concern is that the Netbook may not be a great product if this has happened after 6 days. Does anybody else use one of these?

benbranson

Under the sale of goods act Vodafone are responsible for putting right any problems that occur with items that they have supplied to you. That said it can be quicker to go directly through the manufacturer.

As the netbook is faulty within 6 days, I would certainly think that this is within 'a reasonable period' that the SoG gives you to ask for (and be granted) a refund/cancellation of contract.

HTH

Jon_01

You've only 7 days to change you mind (as I've just been reminded).
Dell are as a rule quite good, I'm typing on one now.
I really don't know where you stand with free gifts ? But I'm sure some of the regulars will be along in a while to enlighten us all

sporedude

Vodafone didnt manufacture the notebook, woudnt it be down to Dell if it was faulty

rachael_s

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. This wasn't a 'free gift' as it's part of a package they are now selling and at £30 a month is quite a lot more expensive than some of the other mobile internet deals out there. There just seems to be very little info given to the guys in the stores as to what to do when this happens. I would have presumed that as it's part of the deal Vodafone are now marketing it would be up to them to sort it out. I would hope that this is just a blip and if there aren't any more problems with the netbook I'd be happy to keep it - just not v convinced at the moment..!

Jon_01

Sorry, misunderstood there !!

In that case, everything you buy must be 'fit for purpose' ie it has to do what its supposed to.
So it depends on why the netbook fell over... You say above it 'crashed'. Does that mean to operating system corrupted ? Most Dell's have restore hidden partition and few key strokes at boot gets it to restore.
Or do you mean the hard drive failed ? That would be a valid reason to reject it (as long as it didn't fail due to user error ?).

rachael_s

Sorry, it's me not explaining myself properly! Basically when I turned it on I got an error message. The guy in the Vodafone shop said he'd seen it before (which also worried me!). Apparently the hard drive needs everything uploading onto again. Just been looking at another couple of sites this evening and it seems to have happened to a few people.

Jon_01

I have to admit to never using a Dell Netbook, but I have used quite a few Dell laptops and they all have the restore built in to the hidden partition.
Now it maybe that a netbook doesn't have a big enough HD to have one... Did you call Dell tech support and they told you it needed to go back or did Voda just send it back as a matter of course ?

rachael_s

Spoke to Dell and they said it needed to be sent back.