Claim against HFC Bank for Faulty Laptop

Sunita_2

I am new to this so I would greatly appreciate some advice. thanks

I bought a Toshiba Laptop at Curry's digital on Hire Purchase with HFC Bank in March 08. Around Jan. 09, one of the USB Port has stopped functioning, the Wireless Switch does not lit to red when turn on, and also I had some software problems since Aug. 08. Phoned Toshiba in Feb. 09 as still under Warranty and was told that they will pick the Laptop and if the faults is found not covered by Warranty I will be liable for cost of repairs and to get the Laptop back, I will have to pay an additional courier fee of £34.50. Also Software problems not covered by Warranty. Wrote to HFC three letters in Feb., Mar. Apr. 09 and phoned as well stating the SOGA etc and was told cannot be of assistance.
I issued a Claim for £300.00 plus £25.00 Court fee via moneyclaimonline and HFC has not replied back as they had until 26 may 09. Finally I had to enter judgement but not sure if I had done the right thing as the £300.00 is an estimated repairs cost by websupport at PCservice call.Many thanks.

4743hudsonj

Sunita wrote: »

I am new to this so I would greatly appreciate some advice. thanks

I bought a Toshiba Laptop at Curry's digital on Hire Purchase with HFC Bank in March 08. Around Jan. 09, one of the USB Port has stopped functioning, the Wireless Switch does not lit to red when turn on, and also I had some software problems since Aug. 08. Phoned Toshiba in Feb. 09 as still under Warranty and was told that they will pick the Laptop and if the faults is found not covered by Warranty I will be liable for cost of repairs and to get the Laptop back, I will have to pay an additional courier fee of £34.50. Also Software problems not covered by Warranty. Wrote to HFC three letters in Feb., Mar. Apr. 09 and phoned as well stating the SOGA etc and was told cannot be of assistance.
I issued a Claim for £300.00 plus £25.00 Court fee via moneyclaimonline and HFC has not replied back as they had until 26 may 09. Finally I had to enter judgement but not sure if I had done the right thing as the £300.00 is an estimated repairs cost by websupport at PCservice call.Many thanks.

your barking up the wrong tree

the retailer currys are who you should be after


the bank may be jointly liable under s75 of the consumer credit act but im not sure as its not the same as a credit card.

but yeh i would of been after currys

that more sure fire

Sunita_2

Thanks you 4743Hudson.

I went to Currys Digital before writing to HFC and issued small claim. Currys said it was nothing to do with them. I thought I would have been covered by Waranty and the Hire Purchase Company (HFC) is liable. I think I have made a mistake and now lost £25.00 chasing the wrong company and stuck with a faulty Laptop until 2012 as it's on hire purchase monthly payment of £16.19.
What's the point of a Warranty that does not cover software issues and wear and tear.
still confused and don't know what to do.

4743hudsonj

Sunita wrote: »

Thanks you 4743Hudson.

I went to Currys Digital before writing to HFC and issued small claim. Currys said it was nothing to do with them. I thought I would have been covered by Waranty and the Hire Purchase Company (HFC) is liable. I think I have made a mistake and now lost £25.00 chasing the wrong company and stuck with a faulty Laptop until 2012 as it's on hire purchase monthly payment of £16.19.
What's the point of a Warranty that does not cover software issues and wear and tear.
still confused and don't know what to do.

yes well the retailer is ALWAYS liable! it is their problem

curys are renowned for be ignorant or just deceptive about your statutory rights

me thinks the latter

anyways as i said, in the case of credit card companies, they are made jointly liable but i dont know how this transfers to finance companys


when i had the unfortunate experience of dealing with currys about a faulty laptop, i didnt even bother with the finance company so yeh

someone is bound to be on who can tell you more about the finance company's liability.

Esqui

Did you go ahead with the repair in February? What was the result? They have to make all customers aware that any faults which they are not liable for will require you to pay for, I hope that didn't stop you from turning down the repair and trying to pursue HFC.

If you have waited this long to decide whether to do it, that's going to make things harder now it's out of warranty (yes, I KNOW).

david39

The finance company is jointly responsible. The law, originally only for hire purchase credit, was changed some years ago to include credit cards but still applies to hire purchase deals.

Having said that - surely the thing to do is to go back to the retailer and insist they put it right. You don't really want to go through the courts with all that delay - Curry's could fix the fault in a few days if you stood up to them.

Tell them you have a contract with them (Sale of Goods Act) and, if they don't honour it, you will take them to court. They will back down before it gets to court because they would not want the publicity of a failed court case that would open the floodgates for other people in your current situation following the same course of action.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Why exactly was it not covered by the warranty?

Think this is the most important question here so far.

Esqui

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

Why exactly was it not covered by the warranty?

Think this is the most important question here so far.

From what I can gather, the OP did not get a repair done...

Tozer

If this is a true hire purchase agreement, then there are no rights against Currys under SOGA as the contract of purchase is between the HP company and the retailer. The OP then "hires" the item from the HP company.

Sunita_2

david39 wrote: »

The finance company is jointly responsible. The law, originally only for hire purchase credit, was changed some years ago to include credit cards but still applies to hire purchase deals.

Having said that - surely the thing to do is to go back to the retailer and insist they put it right. You don't really want to go through the courts with all that delay - Curry's could fix the fault in a few days if you stood up to them.

Tell them you have a contract with them (Sale of Goods Act) and, if they don't honour it, you will take them to court. They will back down before it gets to court because they would not want the publicity of a failed court case that would open the floodgates for other people in your current situation following the same course of action.

THANK YOU ALL SO FAR FOR REPLIES very much appreciated

I had phoned and visited Curry's before starting court claim. Curry's said nothing to do with them, take the laptop to PC world for repairs. Rude.
When I phoned Toshiba again in March 09, someone pointed out to me that Software issues are not covered by Warranty and that wear and tear of the USB ports also not covered, so they agreed to pick up laptop but I will have to pay for repairs and the courier fee of 34.50. So I was hesitated again to have it done. I refused the repairs in February when it was still under Warranty, as I was not happy about laptop faulty in such a short period of time and was concerned with repairs could made matter worse.
I wrote to Toshiba same time I wrote to HFC Bank in April 09 and accepting repairs and any payment that I make will be under protest. Toshiba ignored my letter. So in the end I issued a claim for £300.00 against HFC as advised by Consumer Direct. The £300.00 claim is a reapirs cost estimated by pccallservice.co.uk online and my local PC shop had said the same thing but I am not happy with repairs done not for a one year old laptop of that value £400.00 plus interest.
I don't think I have handled the whole thing properly. This been going on since Feb. 09 and with no results except stuck with the inconvenience of the faulty laptop.

david39

Why did you not take it to PC World when Curry's asked you to do this at the outset?

Curry's & PC World are part of the same company and most PC World stores have diagnostic and repair facilities on-site, which Curry's do not. They were obviously redirecting you to "another branch" where the fault could be explored and, hopefully, corrected quite quickly.