Laptop Dies after only two years

smiffy

Hi,

My laptop has died after only a couple of years of light domestic use. I bought it from Staples without any extra warranty for £390. I have the original receipt.

Do I have any hope of them reparing it for free?

What would be considered a normal laptop life expectancy?

thanks

davetrousers

Can you be more specific as to the problem?

smiffy

It will no longer powers on. It's completely dead.

It would appear to be a know problem as I've looked at some Fuji forums and several people have had the same issue with other Fujitsu Laptop. :-(

I'm really after some consumer advice on warranties, and the 1yr cut off scenario.

instaunt

smiffy wrote: »

My laptop has died after only a couple of years of light domestic use.

You got 2 years! Wow, I'm going to buy that brand next time round! My Dell lasted 6 months before having to go, my sony lasted 10ish months before having to be replaced ... 10 laptops in 8 years I've been through and had to fight tool and nail with warranties and stores to get anywhere.

2 years won't get you a repair without extended warranty but if you do have that then it should be easy.

drsquirrel

I think you are unlucky, and laptops really should last much longer than that. I have loads of old laptops that are over 5 years (and 2 over ten years). I think your induvidual circumstances cannot be expected to be the same for everyone else.

eg. "Mine died in 2 months, twice... how can you expect a replacement, *cry cry*"


£390 is a cheap laptop, but should still get a good 3 years and would suggest it needs to be repaired replaced. Unless it is stuff like the HDD, Battery or power supply.

Just over the 2 year mark is an annoyance, just under sounds a lot better. And I would quote that the EU states that 2 years minimum on electrical items, althoug it is not in UK law, this was not implemented because our SoGA (at 6 years) is deemed to be better. But the fact that the UK stipulates SoGA is better than EU deemed 2 years, I would have went in that tact if just under 2 years. You then have to argue how it was treated, and after 6 months it is for you to prove, in which the only people that can reliably say that is them themselves (you don't know what they consider to be good treatment).

If it is a problem with multiple laptops, how many are happening a lot less than 2 years? Are people willing to club together, do these "different models" have the same hardware?

Will Fujitsu quote for a repair cost...? Have you even checked their warranty, have you even asked in store (quoting SoGA for good measure).

Is it closer to 2 or 3 years?

Seems like you are asking before trying, which is fair enough for opinion, go try asking anyway, they might be brilliant for all you know.

reuben23

If you wish to persue a repair/exchange, do so quoting the SOGA as your claim would be under the durability aspect of the law. £400 isn't a significant sum with regards to laptops, but still worth a letter in my opinion. As it is more then six months from purchase, you will need an independent report detailing fault and condition (£15+). Although would try taking it into store first, just to get a management opinion on how best to proceed.

Humphrey10

£390 isn't very much for a laptop, personally I wouldn't expect a cheap laptop to last much longer than 2 years. They are quite fragile things, not like a PC.

ses6jwg

Tends to be the hard drives, batteries or CPU's that go.

Mainly due to excessive heat.

The cooling systems on laptops are pretty terrible and they generate a lot of heat. Eventually this kills the HDD and CPU.

A lot of people tend to have them plugged into the mains and leave the battery in place - batteries HATE heat, so that's why they die so quickly.

My HP laptop is about 4 years old and I've had 1 HDD and 1 battery die in that time.

conceptus

4 years for an HP laptop, that's lucky. I had one die on me after 18 months. I foolishly bought another one, thinking if I spent £900 when there were £300 ones on the market, I should be getting reasonable quality.

After two months, it was returned and had the hard drive and RAM replaced.
After eleven months, it was returned as the left mouse button had broken
After twelve months, the left mouse button has broken again (started to give the day after return from repairs), the power connector has become loose and audio has become glitchy (one of the problems that led to the RAM being replaced first time around)

Fortunately I have a two year warranty but am currently trying to suggest to HP that my machine was clearly not fit for purpose and that they should offer a replacement.

Jakg

You bought one of the chepeast laptops available at the time - I would expect 2 years is a reasonable life expectancy.

woody01

£390 is a cheap laptop, but should still get a good 3 years and would suggest it needs to be repaired replaced

Where on earth did you pluck that fact from :T
Just because you say a laptop should last 3 years, do you really think everyone else feels the same?

From experience, a laptop is actually past its usefullness after that long.

If the OP uses your advice, they will be a bigger mess. The ONLY person that might help is the manufacturer.

reuben23 wrote: »

If you wish to persue a repair/exchange, do so quoting the SOGA as your claim would be under the durability aspect of the law. £400 isn't a significant sum with regards to laptops, but still worth a letter in my opinion. As it is more then six months from purchase, you will need an independent report detailing fault and condition (£15+). Although would try taking it into store first, just to get a management opinion on how best to proceed.

And here is someone else quoting SOGA that has no idea what they are talking about.
SOGA would only come into play if the OP proved the fault was inherent in the machine at purchase.
Impossible in this case.