What are my rights regarding a botched up laptop repair.

ML23

I have a laptop and it just expired on the warranty. So decided to go into London and drop it off at a laptop repair place in March.
The monitor (backlight) was turning itself off after a certain amount of inactivity and there was some minor drink spillage (however this had no bad effect on anything working but I wanted him to look at it anyway to prevent future mishaps, the spillage happened two weeks before I dropped it off.).
I get the laptop back after two weeks and realise the backlight is working properly but there is something wrong with the graphics (the color grey shows through everything that should be white, this cannot be altered anywhere on the laptop and presents itself as a new problem).
I point this out to the man running the company but he refuses to accept blame. He asks me to bring it in and look at it again.
Next thing I am told is that he cannot fix this, and he offers me my money back. I pick the laptop up and get my money back.
I try to fire up the laptop at home and I have no picture at all, and the fan makes a whizzing sound never experienced before.
I email him to present this situation and get no reply whatsoever.
This has been the case for ten days now.
I c&p his t&c here below.
Do I have a leg to stand on for some sort of compensation or am I wasting my time here?
Any advice would be highly appreciated.
Thanks a lot.

. Our responsibilities

1.1 We offer a ''Free examination, Free Quotation'' and a ''No fix No fee'' service on laptop repairs. The cost of the repair will only be charged after obtaining confirmation from our customers.

1.2 Turn around period is normally within 3- 5 working days, under some circumstances, it may take longer due to the availability of parts or difficulty of the faults.

1.3 A repair means the restoration of equipment to working order in accordance with the customer's fault report and requirements.

2. Your responsibilities

2.1 Any equipment sent to XXXX computers Ltd. should be accompanied by a fault report from the customer. The information given by the customer is for reference only. Our own engineer's examination report will form the basis of the full fault report.

2.2 Customers should backup their data before sending their equipment to us for repair. We cannot accept any responsibility for data loss during checking, repairing, or unexpected events occuring.

2.3 Customers should reply to the quotation within 5 working days. Payment must be made within 15 days. Any equipment kept on site by XXXX computers Ltd. for more than 2 months since the initial quotation, issue of invoice, or after 2 months no contact with us, will be scrapped without notice. A holding fee of £5 per day will be charged to customer one month after the quotation or invoice has been issued.

2.4 Customers should fully check the laptop when you take back the unrepaired or returned laptop, we will not take any responsibility after that. Because from our experience, some customers may take laptop to other repair shop, or dismantle the laptop by themselves ,etc.

3. Warranty

3.1 We offer Two months return to base (RTB) warranty on most repairs.

3.2 Warranty will be void if our warranty label has been broken;the faults are different or unrelated to the original faults; if the equipment has been modified, or improperly handled.

3.3 Equipment which is returned out of our warranty will be charged the appropriate repair fee.

3.4 No or Limited warranty for some parts replacement.

For AC Jack/ power Socket replacement, USB port replacement,software installation etc No warranty.

For screen replacement (screen is cracked, or got lines No warranty),hard disk, CD, Keyboard replacement, only limited warranty for manufacturer's fault.

For motherboard replacement, such like Dell, HP model, suppliers only offer one month warranty, we will only offer one moth warrnty as well, and faulty mothboard wiil be tested and confirmed by suppliers.

4. Cost and payment

4.1 The cost of a standard repair is a fixed labour charge of £49 plus the cost of the parts.

4.2 All prices quoted are subject to VAT @ 17.5%.

4.3 Payment can be cash, cheque, postal order, bank draft or bank transfer. Payment must be made before delivery or collection.

5. Delivery

5.1 If you use our next day delivery service, the charge is £12+ VAT(£14.1) within the UK .

5.2 Claims for damage or loss of equipment during shipment arranged by us, are in accordance with the courier and insurance company's terms and conditions. Any damage of goods should be reported to us within 48 hours of receipt, all packaging should be kept for further inspection.

5.3 The courier service that we provide automatically come with an insurance cover for loss or damage.

6. Disclaimer

6.1 No responsibility for the expiration of manufacturer's original warranty on equipment that has been sent to us for inspection or repair.

6.2 No responsibility for any data loss during the repair procedure or unexpected events occuring.

6.3 No responsibility for equipment of an unstable nature which may deteriorate during inspection or repair.

6.4 No responsibility after unrepaired laptop being taken back or returned.

6.5 No responsibility for returning defective or replaced parts.

6.6 For end user , 'Free examination, free quotation' is subject to the condition that you bring in your laptop for repair, not for price comparison etc, otherwise, we keep the right to charge customer a check up fee of £35.

Customer who has insurance on the laptop, after laptop being repaired by us, we will also produce a Quotation document to assist you claiming insurance.

if you want a Quotation/report document to claim insurance first , we will charge £50 for the document, after your laptop being repaired by us, we will refund the money (£50).

7. Others

7.1 We reserve the right to change any of the above without prior notice.

adam.mt

I believe you have a right to be put back in the situation you were before the "non-repair". I would say it's fair for the repairer to ask to look at the machine again and see what they can do and if necessary quote a new repair fee.

They have refunded you for the "non-repair" which would seem correct.

If you consider they have damaged the laptop further whilst in their hands then if they are unwilling to help legally you would need to take them to the Small Claims Court. They would no doubt grant a settlement based on what your laptop was worth with the fault it had before you took the machine in. This would in all likelihood require a professional report and who has to pay for this could fall either way depending on the judgement.

Since you admit to a prior liquid spill this complicates the matter - liquid inside the machine can cause both an immediate fault AND faults that wouldn't show until later. I know this from having working in a laptop repair centre - if there's any sign of liquid touching the logic board then we immediately told customers it's working status couldn't be assured.

By all means pursue this but I think any payout would unfortunately be uncertain and possibly even if successful then small. And it would definitely be a gamble since you'd have to pay for a professional independent report upfront.