Comet no refund no exchange just repair!

Gunarysarge

My sons Samsung Laptops Harddrive recently stopped working. The laptop was purchesed from Comets in Weston super mare back in December last year so is well within the 12months warranty. I took the laptop back into them last Saturday 3rd July and they stated that it would have to be sent back to Samsung for repair and that their time guidelines are 7-21 days but it may take longer? I then explained to them that my son needed the laptop on a daily basis as he is a student and could they give us a refund or an exchange so he would not be without a laptop. They refused and stated that we had to give them a chance to get the laptop repaired, so we left the laptop with them to send back to samsung. On Monday the 5th July about mid afternoon we decided to go back to the store in a vein attempt to ask once again for a refund so I could purchase another laptop. They refused again and to top it off his laptop was still sat in their back room. I asked for the laptop back travelled 2 miles down the road to PC world purchased a hard drive and opperating system and had the laptop up and running within an hour. I know I have voided the warranty but he needed a laptop and that was the cheapest was to get him up and running.I have contacted Comet customer care but they just stated that they will only repair and not replace. Customer care thats a joke they dont care full stop. I have had leaflets printed pointing out Comets policys and have stood outside there store and handed them out to people about to enter their store. At least 10 people walked away and many others said that before they make a purchase they would inquire further. I also spoke to people who were having similar problems with Comet . The store called the police who advised them that I was not doing anything wrong and when the police spoke to me they said it was sad that the store amd myself could not come to some sort of agrement. So from now on when I am in Weston and I have an hour or two to kill this is what I am going to continue to do.

Searcher

They were within their rights to repair.

Judas

Probably self inflicted virus causing it as well.

Meepster

Another case of someone "knowing their rights" when they obviously have NO IDEA AT ALL....*sigh*

BoGoF

While you've got this hour or two to kill see if there's a life for sale anywhere.

markybaby

Have you done any research into how other retailers would have handled the situation? As far as I am aware EVERY retailer will take the same decision as repairing a laptop within the first 12 months is absolutely the right thing to do. It is a bit harsh to target a store behaving the same as everyone else because they would not do your bidding at considerable expense to themselves.

Gunarysarge

Judas wrote: »

Probably self inflicted virus causing it as well.

Not at all. Simply hardware fail. The harddrive was a seagate 250gb they are not that good a drive in my opinion. I tried to recover the drive but it had to many bad sectors again this is common with seagate drives. I replaced it with a samsung 320gb drive. As for viruses we all use avast full product and even if one did get through I have software to deal with it.

custardy

Gunarysarge wrote: »

My sons Samsung Laptops Harddrive recently stopped working. The laptop was purchesed from Comets in Weston super mare back in December last year so is well within the 12months warranty. I took the laptop back into them last Saturday 3rd July and they stated that it would have to be sent back to Samsung for repair and that their time guidelines are 7-21 days but it may take longer? I then explained to them that my son needed the laptop on a daily basis as he is a student and could they give us a refund or an exchange so he would not be without a laptop. They refused and stated that we had to give them a chance to get the laptop repaired, so we left the laptop with them to send back to samsung. On Monday the 5th July about mid afternoon we decided to go back to the store in a vein attempt to ask once again for a refund so I could purchase another laptop. They refused again and to top it off his laptop was still sat in their back room. I asked for the laptop back travelled 2 miles down the road to PC world purchased a hard drive and opperating system and had the laptop up and running within an hour. I know I have voided the warranty but he needed a laptop and that was the cheapest was to get him up and running.I have contacted Comet customer care but they just stated that they will only repair and not replace. Customer care thats a joke they dont care full stop. I have had leaflets printed pointing out Comets policys and have stood outside there store and handed them out to people about to enter their store. At least 10 people walked away and many others said that before they make a purchase they would inquire further. I also spoke to people who were having similar problems with Comet . The store called the police who advised them that I was not doing anything wrong and when the police spoke to me they said it was sad that the store amd myself could not come to some sort of agrement. So from now on when I am in Weston and I have an hour or two to kill this is what I am going to continue to do.

why did you buy an OS?
you must have had recovery discs at least?

Gunarysarge

mwilletts wrote: »

Another case of someone "knowing their rights" when they obviously have NO IDEA AT ALL....*sigh*

OH I know my rights and the stores:D I forgot to mention that I contacted Trading standards, they stated yes the store have the right to repair but they are also in the position of giving a refund or exchange if they so wanted.
I can remember a time when if your item developed a fault within the first 12 months it was a simple exchange or refund and the retailer would sort the problem with the manufacturer.

Gunarysarge

custardy wrote: »

why did you buy an OS?
you must have had recovery discs at least?

It was a total fail im afraid, even to the point of on boot the harddrive would just beep constant. Not uncommon with hard drives.

markybaby

Gunarysarge wrote: »

OH I know my rights and the stores:D I forgot to mention that I contacted Trading standards, they stated yes the store have the right to repair but they are also in the position of giving a refund or exchange if they so wanted.
I can remember a time when if your item developed a fault within the first 12 months it was a simple exchange or refund and the retailer would sort the problem with the manufacturer.

With more simple products maybe but never with more complex things like computers. Ever tried taking a car back after 6 months with a simple fault and asking for a new one? As you stated it was only the hard drive at fault. Comet would have had the manufacturer replace the hard drive for you. Why should comet take back a laptop they cannot return to the manufacturer or resell?