Next step with faulty 18-month-old iPod?

jamiewakeham

Evening, all.

Bought an 80GB iPod classic from Comet; I treated it with kid gloves, but it developed a fault suddenly after about 18 months. It either won't be recognised at all by iTunes, or will load and claim to need to restore, or will appear to work but sync at a rate of about ten minutes per track and then crash after an hour.

My other iPod (a shuffle for running with) continues to work perfectly, syncing without any problem. I have iTunes installed on both my work laptop and my home PC, and have made sure they're both up to date; neither can make it work. I've reset, restored, reformatted - the whole lot. It's very clear that the Classic is dead; it's started to come back with error messages that googlings tell me translate as 'abandon all hope'.

I took it back to Comet, and explained the situation, telling them that I recognised that it was beyond the 12 months guarantee, but that under SOGA I believed that I still had rights to repair or refund. I was extremely reasonable, and offered to accept a part-refund (having had 18 months use it would hardly be reasonable to expect a full refund), as a credit note against a new one which I would buy immediately. Absolutely no joy - the assitant and then the manager told me I had no claim against Comet whatsoever and I needed to go to Apple (in fact, he told me that the six-year limitation under SOGA referred explicitly to the manufacturer, which I'm pretty sure is ballcocks?).

What would you do now? I think I'm right in saying that if I write to Comet head office, I'm going to be told that I do have a claim against them but they will enforce their right to have me get an expert's report on the iPod confirming it's dead?

Or I could take it to the Apple store in Oxford; I suspect that they will either fix it (I think this extremely unlikely) or offer me a refurb, but either way it'll cost me? Anyone ever tried asking an Apple store to test an iPod and then just give you the report saying "it's dead" to go back to the retailer?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks
Jamie

Esqui

If you want to go via Comet, you would have to write to their customer service department, and it's likely they'll want you to prove it.

Easier, but more expensive for you would be to try Apple and get their offer of a refurbished model. Though, I would agree that you shouldn't need to do that - best try Comet.

neilmcl

Sounds like they deliberately tried to fob you off, the SOGA deals with your relationship between the retailer. As the above poster states, contact Comet CS in writing.

jamiewakeham

OK - thanks, both - will try that. Is it worth me getting the report first? I might try the Apple shop and see if they'll give me anything. Will report back!

Edit: am I able to demand, once I have a report saying it's faulty or completely dead, to insist on free repair or replacement?

Cheers
Jamie

Esqui

They would have to either repair, replace, or even give you a partial refund. But it is their decision.