Comet *sigh*

Not_For_Attribution

Hi,

Can anybody tell me what constitutes a reasonable amount of time for the life of a laptop ?
I ask because after 20 months trouble free existence our HP laptop stubbornly refuses to boot up, I have run it past the IT chaps at work and they cannot find what may be causing the problem and so have diagnosed a chronic sub-system failure (whatever that may be).
I have been to Weymouth Comet from where it was purchased with this info and the counter assistant there refused to take it back for repair without the authority of head office after I declined to pay GBP125 for the engineers report as I am of the opinion that it should be their responsibility due to the age of the laptop. The assistant actually stated he didn't think I would be successful because the laptop had worked for twenty months, this led me to deduce that he deemed this to be a reasonable amount of time for a GBP350 laptop to work. I challenged him on this point and asked him if that was what his company expected all their laptops to last for and if so it was disgraceful, he didnt reply but the bloke being served next to me did snigger quite loudly.
I then rang head office who brushed me off by saying that I should go to HP direct, I explained very slowly on three occasions that my issue is with Comet therefore they should deal with it. The call centre operative eventually accepted my point but insisted that once again I pay GBP125 for the priveledge. Getting nowhere fast I put the phone down and my wife rang them herself to be told that the store should have dealt with it and the engineers report should only cost GBP45!!
Finally I rang Weymouth Comet to ask about the contradiction we had just been told about, the phone was answered by the same counter assistant I had spoke to on my visit and instead of dealing with my point he claimed that I shouldn't have rung head office and that he told me that that I should have written, I was no longer prepared to play "he said, she said" so I put the phone down and I am now asking here. Have I gone about things the right way ?

If the laptop is indeed assumed to have had an adequate life expectancy then I shall bin it and chalk it up to experience but I woulld like to know rather that leaving it in a cupboard wondering !!

Thanks

Savvy_Spender_South

Unfortunatly 12 months is all you get without extended warranties but its rare not unheard of for one to collapse so badly at this stage.

Do you have a small independent geek shop in the high street type area? they are born a diffrent breed and will fix it if possible for much less. If those types cant fix it , cupboard bekons...

The internals (sorry to post-mortem) will have value once wiped. there may be some revenue to recover from this state of affairs, look online for a market trader for buyers of spares if you dont fancy breaking it down yourself.

pcombo

I think, A external fault report would cost £45. For comet to test they would charge £125 maybe.

What is happening with the laptop. Habe you exceeded the warranty.??

Chimpofdoom

Ok, well under the SOGA 1975.... It is true that goods should last for a certain amount of time (it's not defined).

However what is defined is that after 6 months, you are responsible for proving the fault was inherent from manufacture. If it was within the first 6 months the onus would be on comet.

Best bet is to get an independent engineers report to assess the laptop failure. If it was an inherent fault caused through a manufacturing issue, rather than something that you yourself have done. Then Comet will have to rectify the situation. Be it replacement or repair.

Personally I wouldn't pay Comet for an engineers report as of course they're employed by the people who are going to be responsible to replace it. Google and see if there's any HP approved repair centres around, or even ask HP themselves who they recommend.

4743hudsonj

Chimpofdoom wrote: »

Be it replacement or repair.

Neither will be likely. Partial refund would be far more economical for comet. I suspect this to be ~£100.

swingofthings

Unfortunately HP laptops have a tendency to overheat - due to the nvidia graphics card in them. Was it a dv model by any chance? There was a problem acknowledged with HP about some dv models which menat they got an extended warranty from HP due to the overheating graphic cards.

I have a HP dv9500 and had it for 18 months before it gave up the ghost. Comet refused to do anything about it as it was outside warranty. This was a 800 quid laptop by the way.

swingofthings

ps i am sure you will get a nice email from the comet representative on mse (matt) - who will take ownership of the problem and still it won't get resolved. very disappointing ...

System

Should Comet still be liable for a product they sold 20 months ago? Once I buy something after the 12 months I always think its my responsibility if anything goes wrong and would take it to a local independent shop to try and fix. I must be making a mistake doing this if I can still go back to the original shop. When are they no longer liable, 2/3/4/5 years?

tcr_3

There were BIOS problems with some HP notebooks a wee while back which resulted in HP extending their warranties ... OP do you have the model number ?

Not_For_Attribution

goater78 wrote: »

Should Comet still be liable for a product they sold 20 months ago? Once I buy something after the 12 months I always think its my responsibility if anything goes wrong and would take it to a local independent shop to try and fix. I must be making a mistake doing this if I can still go back to the original shop. When are they no longer liable, 2/3/4/5 years?

That was what I was trying to establish. Obviously if it was the battery or power lead etc I would accept those types of items as consumable and replace myself. A major breakdown like this I have adopted the line of thinking that it hasn't lasted as long as I would have expected it to. Also if it happened in 6-9 months from now I would probably accept it although grumbled about it !!

Not_For_Attribution

tcr wrote: »

There were BIOS problems with some HP notebooks a wee while back which resulted in HP extending their warranties ... OP do you have the model number ?

Hi, the model no is HP550, I had done a quick search before but couln't find any major problems with this model in the results.