How long should a notebook PC last?

kevanf1

A little over 12 months ago (22/11/2007 was the purchase date) my wife and I bought a notebook PC for our youngest daughter for college. About 6 or 7 months ago it started to have strange little niggles. Corrupted files, it ate a USB memory stick. We put this down to it running Windows Vista. Now, fast forward to just a few days ago. My daughter tried to boot the PC... it wouldn't it merely displayed a blank screen. All lights were on but nothing was there.. I went through the advised troubleshooting procedures. To cut a long story short it would appear that the hard drive is failing fast. I cannot accept this as I have worked in IT (running a department at my local uni just a few years ago) and I feel that the hard drive should reasonably be expected to last for at least 5 years if not a lot longer. Just over 12 months is not good enough.

Now, today I have received a reply to an e-mail I rattled off to the notebook manufacturer (not mentioned for possible legal reasons). The first thing they state is that according to their records this notebook is now out of warranty. Well, my contention is that yes, it may be but there is an expectation in British law for equipment such as this to last for longer than just outside the warranty period.

Am I right? What do I do next? Trading Standards, or confront the manufacturer with my contention?

All advice is greatly received.

Art_2

kevanf1 wrote: »

A little over 12 months ago (22/11/2007 was the purchase date) my wife and I bought a notebook PC for our youngest daughter for college. About 6 or 7 months ago it started to have strange little niggles. Corrupted files, it ate a USB memory stick. We put this down to it running Windows Vista. Now, fast forward to just a few days ago. My daughter tried to boot the PC... it wouldn't it merely displayed a blank screen. All lights were on but nothing was there.. I went through the advised troubleshooting procedures. To cut a long story short it would appear that the hard drive is failing fast. I cannot accept this as I have worked in IT (running a department at my local uni just a few years ago) and I feel that the hard drive should reasonably be expected to last for at least 5 years if not a lot longer. Just over 12 months is not good enough.

Now, today I have received a reply to an e-mail I rattled off to the notebook manufacturer (not mentioned for possible legal reasons). The first thing they state is that according to their records this notebook is now out of warranty. Well, my contention is that yes, it may be but there is an expectation in British law for equipment such as this to last for longer than just outside the warranty period.

Am I right? What do I do next? Trading Standards, or confront the manufacturer with my contention?

All advice is greatly received.

Did you buy direct from the manufacturer? If not your case is against the retailer not the manufacturer.

As to how long the HD should last is like asking how long is a bit of string. It is always possible the problem has been caused by misuse.

You will need to get a report as to what the problem is and then go back to the place you bought from.

Regards,
Art.

CLLC

Well ,

the sale of good act says that it must be durable and hard drives should have a good life anyway ,

Why don't you mention a few quotes of the sales of good act against the retailer , section 14 imperticular (LOOK HERE) , though as the previous poster said , there may be alot of difficulty

I hope you get it fixed

Kindest regards

CLLC

kevanf1

CLLC wrote: »

Well ,

the sale of good act says that it must be durable and hard drives should have a good life anyway ,

Why don't you mention a few quotes of the sales of good act against the retailer , section 14 imperticular (LOOK HERE) , though as the previous poster said , there may be alot of difficulty

I hope you get it fixed

Kindest regards

CLLC

Cheers I think this is the bit that covers it:

"(2B)
For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—



(a)
fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,



(b)
appearance and finish,



(c)
freedom from minor defects,



(d)
safety, and



(e)
durability."

Section (e) being the relevant part. It is perfectly reasonable to expect a computer hard drive being used under normal conditions and not suffering from any abuse to last for more than 14 months (this is how long it has actually been used). I've contacted the vendor and am now waiting to see what they say. I've been deliberately open with them at the moment. By that I mean I have asked them what my next option is Rolling the ball directly into their court without being antagonistic.

Take care.

Kevan

RobertoMoir

kevanf1 wrote: »

I cannot accept this as I have worked in IT (running a department at my local uni just a few years ago) and I feel that the hard drive should reasonably be expected to last for at least 5 years if not a lot longer. Just over 12 months is not good enough.

I totally agree with your point that the laptop should, overall, last for longer than 12 months, but I can't believe that anyone who works in IT is unaware that hard drives can have variable lives, and while the average life of a particular drive model might be 5 years or more, there are drives out there that will last less than that (hence the "average" part there).

As you say though, a year isn't really a reasonable lifetime for a computer, nor any part of it. I'd certainly hope that you can chase this via SOGA and get some satisfaction out of the company. It might be interesting to get the part number from the hard disk itself and see what the drive manufacturer's website says about warranty periods and expected lifetime for the drive - if they offer a longer than 1 year warranty and/or expected lifetime for the disk (and I expect they'll do the latter if not the former) this could only support any discussion you have with the laptop manufacturer.

kevanf1

RobertoMoir wrote: »

I totally agree with your point that the laptop should, overall, last for longer than 12 months, but I can't believe that anyone who works in IT is unaware that hard drives can have variable lives, and while the average life of a particular drive model might be 5 years or more, there are drives out there that will last less than that (hence the "average" part there).

As you say though, a year isn't really a reasonable lifetime for a computer, nor any part of it. I'd certainly hope that you can chase this via SOGA and get some satisfaction out of the company. It might be interesting to get the part number from the hard disk itself and see what the drive manufacturer's website says about warranty periods and expected lifetime for the drive - if they offer a longer than 1 year warranty and/or expected lifetime for the disk (and I expect they'll do the latter if not the former) this could only support any discussion you have with the laptop manufacturer.

Oh I'm fully aware that drives do indeed have varying lifespans. In fact, normally, if a drive is going to fail early it will do so in a matter of weeks or sooner. But, I now have legal backing to my claim that just over 12 months is not a reasonable expectation. I'm going through the channels now.

Cheers.

Kevan

kevanf1

Predictably, this is the answer I have received from the notebook vendor:

"Dear Kevan Farmer,

We have replied to your *deleted for legal reasons*, as follows :

Dear Kevan Farmer,

Thank you for your contact with our Customer Support Team.


Unfortunately with hard drives being the main mechanical item in a laptop they do fail from time to time. As you have a boot copy recovery disk you would be able to get the laptop up and running relatively easily. The hard drive is classed as a hot swap component which means if you access the back of the laptop it will clip out within a couple of seconds. The hard drive in your laptop has a SATA connection so any of the drives under the category in the link would be suitable.
*deleted for legal reasons*
I would advise replacing the hard drive and reinstalling the laptop to get it back up and running.

Kind Regards,

Customer Support Team"

Now to get the offical letter off via recorded delivery formally requesting a replacement drive for free.

dacouch

I read a similar post to this on the techie forum and they advised finding the manufacurer and model number of the drive out as they often give their own warranty.

Coincidently my mates drive has just gone and he was going to spend £150 on a new one. I googled the model number and it turns out it is made by a Sony company and it has a 24 month warranty that should be administered by the dealer. So we are going into PC World tommorow and hopefully thanks to MSE he will get a new drive (His lap top is 1 months old).

kevanf1

Quick update on this one. The online government website 'Consumer Direct' (think of it as an online Trading Standards) are backing me on this one. I have now sent off a letter by recorded delivery asking for either repair or like for like replacement. The ball is now in the vendor's court. If they do not give me satisfaction it will be taken further legally. Yes, the hard drive should reasonably be expected to last far longer than it has done.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

kevanf1 wrote: »

Quick update on this one. The online government website 'Consumer Direct' (think of it as an online Trading Standards) are backing me on this one. I have now sent off a letter by recorded delivery asking for either repair or like for like replacement. The ball is now in the vendor's court. If they do not give me satisfaction it will be taken further legally. Yes, the hard drive should reasonably be expected to last far longer than it has done.

Consumer direct talk a lot of pish half the time

Whilst you can argue with the retailer re the SOGA, the fact it was corrupting during the warranty and you didnt repair it or report it and waited til it died completely I would suggest you have to take responsibility. Every moron ( especially one in IT) should know if files are corrupting etc you fix it and dont simply ignore it.

kevanf1

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

Consumer direct talk a lot of pish half the time

Whilst you can argue with the retailer re the SOGA, the fact it was corrupting during the warranty and you didnt repair it or report it and waited til it died completely I would suggest you have to take responsibility. Every moron ( especially one in IT) should know if files are corrupting etc you fix it and dont simply ignore it.

Sorry but I find your comments rather offensive. But, to answer them. The laptop wasrunning Windows Vista therefore we believed the problems were down to the OS not the drive. So, thank you very much for calling me and my family morons. I shall be reporting you to the moderators.