Advice Re Sale of Goods Act please

inmypocketnottheirs

I thought I was making a sensible saving earlier in the year when I purchased a graded Philips laptop from a local store. The laptop was a Dixons group return, but was in perfect working order, and I made a decent saving off the price from PC World.

Now some months later, I am having a few problems with the pc. Firstly the pcmcia card slot is dead, there is no voltage to power my 3G data card that I use for internet access whilst travelling. Then yesterday the pc failed to boot up. It would switch on, start booting then crash before fully starting.

The problem is, the retailer who supplied me this, only gave a six month warranty and are now shrugging their shoulders.

My question is, are graded goods subject to a limited warranty like this, or does the Sale of Goods Act still provide that the goods should be fit for the period 'for a reasonable time'? Several hundered pounds for about 8 months service, is not in my books a reasonable period.

Any advice re the SOGA and Graded goods would be much appreciated.

Many thanks!

hjb123

So how old is the laptop? Ie. was it second hand or brand new when you bought it? Maybe you will need to get in touch with the brand of laptop - ie Phillips

Check out the following link to the DTI Sale of Goods Act factsheet

inmypocketnottheirs

hjb123 wrote:

So how old is the laptop? Ie. was it second hand or brand new when you bought it? Maybe you will need to get in touch with the brand of laptop - ie Phillips

Check out the following link to the DTI Sale of Goods Act factsheet

Thanks for your answer. I bought the laptop in February and the 6 months guarantee ran out in August. It was a graded return, so new with some superficial damage to the case. The model in question was made by Philips exclusively for Dixns Store Group.

From the DTI link, this does not seem to cover my category of goods, so my question is should the warranty period be 12 months anyway, and if so has the retailer committed any offence under the SOGA by trying to restrict the warranty to 6 months?

Thanks again!

Edited to say that the item was new with superficial damage to the case. The software was not preloaded, and was still sealed intact.

hjb123

So do you know when the laptop was originally bought? I would contact Phillips and see what they say as to what to do - if you have your serial number and all details to hand I should of thought that they would be able to do something

inmypocketnottheirs

hjb123 wrote:

So do you know when the laptop was originally bought? I would contact Phillips and see what they say as to what to do - if you have your serial number and all details to hand I should of thought that they would be able to do something

Sorry, my second post above was not accurate, I have edited it now. The PC was graded, i.e. some cosmetic damage, but in all intents and purposes it was new; the o/s software was un-opened etc. But because of it being 'graded' and originally manufactured for Dixons store group, the dealer I purchased it from only gave a six month warranty. So my question is, is there six month warranty invalid, and I should be entitled to the 'for a reasonable period', or as the item was 'graded' does their six month term over-ride this.

zorber

Interestingly enough was there a card in the box to contact if you had any problems, most pcs and laptops have a support line. If you could get one of these support lines to send an engineer to address the issue, They normally cover the product for 12 months, (dont mention to them it was graded).
If its philips branded contact philips and ask what to do, this may well solve the issue with out going through the retailer.

inmypocketnottheirs

zorber wrote:

Interestingly enough was there a card in the box to contact if you had any problems, most pcs and laptops have a support line. If you could get one of these support lines to send an engineer to address the issue, They normally cover the product for 12 months, (dont mention to them it was graded).
If its philips branded contact philips and ask what to do, this may well solve the issue with out going through the retailer.

No, no card in the box :-(

Also all the literature including the Windows licence states DSG (Dixons Store Group). The laptop is only sold via Dixons/PC World.

What I would like to establish is, under the SOGA can the dealer I bought it from wash their hands after six months, or are they legally obliged to resolve this issue.

Any help gladly received.

Thanks!

hjb123

You are probably best speaking to Trading Standards or Consumer Direct to see fi they can offer advice or a solution.

Astaroth

I have to agree with helen on this that you really need to speak to someone that has much more understanding of the SOGA than the average person.

There are a number of queries that would need to be answered such as does the purchase count as second hand or not, if it does then your rights are massively reduced. Even if it doesnt count as second hand I would imagine that you would have been deemed to have "accepted the goods" due to buying them as damaged stock which whilst this wouldnt absolve DSG of responsibility it does give them the decisions on how the problem is dealt with.

inmypocketnottheirs

Many thanks for the above replies. Helen, I shall contact consumer direct tomorrow and post back here.

gregg1

I think the basic rule of thumb in this sort of thing is that goods going wrong within six months of purchase are automatically deemed to have been faulty from the start and it is up to the retailer to prove otherwise. After the six months then it is the purchaser who has to prove the goods are faulty.