Non-repairable laptop

Bearded_F

Hi all,

First time poster here. I'm sure this topic has been mentioned many times so apologies for any repitition.

I purchased a laptop from "Britain's favourite retailer" in March 2009 (just a few days over a year ago now). It came with a one year manufacturer's warranty and a free 2 year warranty from the retailer.

Last month (Feb 2010 - so within both manufacturer and retailer warranty) I returned the laptop to the retailer for repair. 36 days later they have told me that they have tried and failed to repair the laptop. The manufacturer's repair centre also say they are out of stock of that model as it has been discontinued. The retailer tells me their approach is to offer a like-for-like replacement. If I don't like the replacement offered they'll do a full refund but only in the form of gift vouchers/credit notes.

My issues are:
1) the retailer is offering like-for-like on the basis of purchase price rather than laptop spec (and I originally purchased the laptop at a discount as it was a display model).
2) I think I'm entitled to a monetary refund (rather than credit note/gift voucher) if the replacement offer is unsuitable, the retailer (obviously!) diagrees.

Can anyone please advise/point me in the right direction of hard and fast information to hit the retailer with?

Many thanks.

neilmcl

Your laptop was purchased over a year ago, even if you paid a discount at the time I'm sure you'd get a much better spec now based on that original price. If you want a monetary refund then the retailer are well within their rights to give you only a partial refund based on the usage you've already had out of the machine.

Bearded_F

Neilmcl,

That's a good point about the partial usage. Do you know per chance, if I get the retailer to match the spec exactly, and the replacement laptop is more expensive than my original purchase price, do I have to pay the difference or do they have to swallow the difference under the like-for-like approach? (Thus far, the similarly priced replacements they have offered are well short of the spec of the non-repairable laptop e.g. smaller screen, DVD rather than Blu-ray drive, less RAM etc).

Thansk for your help.

4743hudsonj

legally all they have to offer is a repair replacement or refund, they will be taking the option of replacement, this only has to be based on monetary value AFAIK.

OlliesDad

4743hudsonj wrote: »

legally all they have to offer is a repair replacement or refund, they will be taking the option of replacement, this only has to be based on monetary value AFAIK.

As far as i can remember, the replacement has to be the same model, if not, the customer can reject the offer and get a partial refund instead.

neilmcl

The important issue is that no remedy should be disproportionatately costly to the others. To the OPs earlier question, if a replacement would cost them more than say, offering a partial refund, then then you couldn't insist on the retailer taking the hit and giving you that replacement.

Bearded_F

Thanks for all the help money savers.

I am still pursuing the comparable spec vs comparable price point with the retailer.

If I have to pay the difference between the current purchase price of a similarly specced machine and what I paid a year ago then it'll feel slightly like I'm being punished for getting a decent deal (pricewise at least) first time round. However, I guess the flip-side is that I should learn my lesson for buying a discounted ex-disply model produced by a less than premium manufacturer.

The bit that grates is that a very helpful person at the manufacturer's repair centre told me that they have already refunded the wholesale price to the retailer. I was slightly surprised to discover that the wholesale price was actually more than the discounted retail price I paid. So the retailer has wiped out the loss they made by selling me an end-of-line ex-display model at a heavily discounted price and will now likely make more money from the price difference for a (non-disounted) similarly specced replacement.

Bargain hunting gone wrong!