Advice Needed - Taking Retailer to small claims court and defamation of character

ShaunJUK

cooldude255220 wrote: »

I think this happens to me, does the screen "wobble" and you can't see anything?
It really annoys me>_<

Yes that is exactly the problem

KeithP

OP, you have had plenty of advice here.

Have you actually done anything... followed any of the advice?

ShaunJUK

KeithP wrote: »

OP, you have had plenty of advice here.

Have you actually done anything... followed any of the advice?

Yes I have liased with the retailer who have now said they will take the item in for a repair under guarantee. I now have the problem that I dont trust them with it.

I have looked into the route of taking them to small claims court however I am currently stuck on what I should be claiming for, cost of laptop? repair of laptop? phone calls? inconvenience?

I am hoping to get to CAB tomorrow morning when they open, not sure if all of them are the same but you have to be there first thing in the morning to get an appointment.

Equaliser123

ShaunJUK wrote: »

Yes I have liased with the retailer who have now said they will take the item in for a repair under guarantee. I now have the problem that I dont trust them with it.

I have looked into the route of taking them to small claims court however I am currently stuck on what I should be claiming for, cost of laptop? repair of laptop? phone calls? inconvenience?

I am hoping to get to CAB tomorrow morning when they open, not sure if all of them are the same but you have to be there first thing in the morning to get an appointment.

You will not be awarded anything for phone calls or inconvenience. The Court will view it as an abuse of system to go before a judge and ask for that alone.

They have offered to repair your laptop. Isn't that what you wanted????

taxiphil

Now that they've offered to repair it, I'd drop the idea of litigation as it's not a sufficient cause of action to say you "don't trust them" to repair it. The claim may get struck out at a very early stage and you'd lose your court fee.

JimmyTheWig

ShaunJUK wrote: »

I also am concerned that if I now send it in to them for repair now they have agreed to one, as they have tried to accuse me of accidental damage they might "find" something in my laptop that has caused this fault and I have no proof of anything else.

Have you got a copy of an engineers report that says there is no accidental damage? If so, I don't think there's much more that you can do.
If they try it then threaten with (and take them to if they don't back down) small claims court as you have evidence (engineer's report) there was no accidental damage.

Can you think of any other way to get a working laptop (other than buying a new one!)?

In terms of inconvenience and phone calls, etc, when they have repaired it ask them for a goodwill gesture to cover these things. You might get a fiver or tenner (voucher, probably) for your troubles.

ShaunJUK

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Have you got a copy of an engineers report that says there is no accidental damage? If so, I don't think there's much more that you can do.
If they try it then threaten with (and take them to if they don't back down) small claims court as you have evidence (engineer's report) there was no accidental damage.

Can you think of any other way to get a working laptop (other than buying a new one!)?

In terms of inconvenience and phone calls, etc, when they have repaired it ask them for a goodwill gesture to cover these things. You might get a fiver or tenner (voucher, probably) for your troubles.

I have the original repair report which was returned to me with the laptop before they started the investigation, it states that they repaired and tested the laptop, there is also a condition report that shows the laptop is in pristine condition, this was all done before christmas.

Since then they have refused to repair it due to an investigation of intentional damage by the service agreement, they even refused to repair it under my manufacturers warranty.

They now say they have conducted the investigation and have found that my laptop has been intentionally damaged and my laptop was subject to misuse or neglect.

They have now agreed that I can send my laptop in to be repaired under manufacturers warranty.

This is where I am afraid that if I send my laptop to them they will "find" the reason they came up with this decision, I am not making any accusations but what if they take it in and they say it is an internal fault that caused the problem that was caused by something they can class as misuse or neglect.

I know nothing has happened to this laptop and to be blunt have a trust issue with sending it to them to be repaired.

JimmyTheWig

Ok, here are the options as I see it...

1. You tell them to forget it and either (a) live without a laptop, (b) buy a new one or (c) pay for it to be repaired yourself.
2. You ask them to pay for it to be repaired independently. My guess is that they would say no. I don't think you would have any way of forcing them to agree to this, even through the courts.
3. You get them to repair it.

If you get them to repair it, there are four possibilities...
A. There is intentional damage and they refuse to repair it (not a lot you can do about that).
B. There is intentional damage and they repair it anyway (you win!).
C. There is no intentional damage and they repair it.
D. There is no intentional damage and they pretend or create damage and refuse to repair it. You take them to small claims court.

I have included scenarios A and B just in case. Can you be totally sure that a friend or family member didn't cause any damage without you knowing, etc?

If you are worried about scenario D then you need to think about the evidence that might get presented at court. Think about if you were the judge and who would you believe. I think the chances are that they are more likely to believe a reasonably reputable company than an individual. I would imagine that there are many more cases of individuals trying to get something repaired that they have intentionally damaged than companies trying to scupper a customer.

You need to decide whether the original repair report and condition report from before Christmas would be enough to convince a court that you haven't damaged it. If not then I suggest you pay for an independent engineer's report which would show that it hasn't been intentionally damaged.

ShaunJUK

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Ok, here are the options as I see it...

1. You tell them to forget it and either (a) live without a laptop, (b) buy a new one or (c) pay for it to be repaired yourself.
2. You ask them to pay for it to be repaired independently. My guess is that they would say no. I don't think you would have any way of forcing them to agree to this, even through the courts.
3. You get them to repair it.

If you get them to repair it, there are four possibilities...
A. There is intentional damage and they refuse to repair it (not a lot you can do about that).
B. There is intentional damage and they repair it anyway (you win!).
C. There is no intentional damage and they repair it.
D. There is no intentional damage and they pretend or create damage and refuse to repair it. You take them to small claims court.

I have included scenarios A and B just in case. Can you be totally sure that a friend or family member didn't cause any damage without you knowing, etc?

If you are worried about scenario D then you need to think about the evidence that might get presented at court. Think about if you were the judge and who would you believe. I think the chances are that they are more likely to believe a reasonably reputable company than an individual. I would imagine that there are many more cases of individuals trying to get something repaired that they have intentionally damaged than companies trying to scupper a customer.

You need to decide whether the original repair report and condition report from before Christmas would be enough to convince a court that you haven't damaged it. If not then I suggest you pay for an independent engineer's report which would show that it hasn't been intentionally damaged.

Thanks Jimmy, I guess I will have to use as much photographivc evidence and evidence of the previous repair and get a good condition report when I book it in.

It is definately not acc damage, it works fine (I am using it now to write this), the problem is when the screen is at an ideal viewing angle the screen rolls and is not viewable, like its just a loose connection or faulty ribbon inside.

ShaunJUK

How about an update for a laugh?

I sent it in for repair and we are now 4 weeks down the line waiting to find out if they have repaired it and apparently they have lost it!!!