Acer Warranty & the Consumer Credit Act

emeralddreams

Hi,
Hopefully someone can help. I purchased an Acer laptop just before christmas last year and purchased an additional 3yr warranty. Well, 3 wks ago my machine fell faulty and asked acer to fix it. Tried logging the call on bank holiday monday and had to wait over 30 mins (0870 number) only for me to get to the front of the queue and then be cut off. Called the next day to find out someone had forgotten to turn on the message that no staff is available over the holiday period.

Called the following day waited another 30mins got through and logged the issue and was asked to contact their couriers and arrange a pickup time with citylink. Called citylink and arranged for the pickup in 4hrs. After 4 more calls to citylink and two days later i finally had the machine picked up. Received an sms from acer the following day to confirm receipt. following wk called acer for an update - waited 20 mins again. only update available was it was under repair. Called 2 days and 20 mins later and was advised a part was ordered and received and the machine was under repair will be tested over the next day and if no problems i should have the machine by early following wk. Called the following monday for another update was told exactly the same thing - by this time i had had enough and asked for the complaints team to give me a call. 2 days later still no call. Called again yesterday and asked again for a proper update and asked for someone to give me a call back within 4hrs. The update was the same as last thursday. 6hrs later got a call and was told that the machine will be returned to me today as there was a mix up and would like to apologise for this. I asked why the complaints team had not yet contacted me and was asked what i expected to them to do as they would only apologise again. I advised them that they the service i received from the start was apalling and would like some financial compensation considering i had paid for the service and i could have gone to pc world and probably received a better service (however appalling) from them. They mentioned that the issue with citylink was not their fault and I would have to take the matter up directly with them. spoke to the service rep and then apparently the customer service manager who were both very unhelpful and unwilling to transfer me to a complaints dept.. makes me think they don't have one. Their website updates and contact details are just as bad.

I finally asked for their names and contact details and threatened to contact watchdog etc. and was only advised that under the consumer credit act they fulfilled their end within the 90 days but their contract says 10 days which they didn't meet and if i hadn't pestered them they would still be telling me the same thing and it would have been another 10 days.

Sorry about the rant, but under the CC Act can anyone advise me whether i have a case or not. Considering the amount of time i spent on the phone and waiting for citylink etc.

I hope someone has some ideas. Appreciate any advise.

thanks
N.