Laptop died 3 weeks out of warranty

Penelope_Penguin

Hello! Not sure if this is in the right place, but I'm sure Pink will move it to somewhere more appropriate, if necessary

On 8 October last year I bought a laptop from Acer for £650. It worked fine until 27 October this year, when the battery stopped charging. I took it to a trusted local chap, who opened it up and said that the most likely cause is a faulty charger unit, which will cost about £40 to repair. If that's not it, it's probably a new mother board, which will cost £100s, and I might as well buy a new machine.

He's unable to fix the fault and suggests I return it to Acer. They want £40 to take it in and will then diagnose the fault and invoice me. I can then make my decision.

My question is, how long should a computer last? I appreciate that this machine isn't top of the range, but it's still potentially £650 for 13 months' of computer use. If I need a new mother board, should I ask Acer to contribute to that cost, and what arguements should I use?

Many thanks, Penny. x

alared

I would take it to whoever you bought it from and ask for a free repair despite the warranty being just out of date.
The one year warranty is just a figure that manufacturers use.
What the real guideline is: after paying out £650 for a laptop would it be "reasonable" to expect it to last longer than 54 weeks.

If they don`t see reason put in it writing that you will issue a small claims summons for the cost of a new laptop.

Hopefully others can offer further advice but the whole thing revolves around the question of how long is a reasonable time for something to last.
The retail can`t (although they will)say "your one years up and that`s it"

trippy

If in doubt speak to your local Trading Standards office. Then you can go back to where you bought it and know 100% that you are in the right. This will help if they try to bully you into accepting less than you are entitled to. If you know what should be done, you'll stand your ground much more easily.

Little_John

I was going to post the same as alard everything should last a reasonable amount of time and a £650 product should last longer than 1 year and 3 weeks.

Who told you it was out of warrenty? I would have contacted Acer and informed them it was bought in November last year they should be unable to tell when it was bought. they could go off the date of manufacture but that is unreasonable as some stuff sits on shelves for a fe months before being bought. if you told them your date of purchase then you cant go down that route and the best route would be to take it back to where you bought it from.

If you bought it on a credit card you could also go down that route.

choccyface2006

I read on here that household goods are in fact covered by a two year warrenty desipte this, retailers only tell you about the 12 warranty. I will search for some more info for you about this.

Sarah

Nile

I'll move your thread over to 'The (Consumer) Vent' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

gyzmo

choccyface2006 wrote:

I read on here that household goods are in fact covered by a two year warrenty desipte this, retailers only tell you about the 12 warranty. I will search for some more info for you about this.

Sarah

i think that you are referring to a European Directive which requires member states to provide a statutory limit of two years for which a claim can be made. This is the equivalent of the Limitation Act in England, which provides a 6 year limit.

choccyface2006

Thats the one! Is it of any use to the op?

gyzmo

In short, no! But it need not be. current legislation in the UK already exceeds what the EU Directive offers (and it is not in force here anyway!). It is under that and also Sale of Goods Act under which a claim is made, both of which should be equally effective.

alared

http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page24700.html

skingirl

my daughter bought an acer laptop she had it 3months and the same fault as the first poster had she has had as well.took the laptop back to comet and was told that we would have to pay £40 to send it away and it would cost us up to £400 to get it repaired.they said that the warranty wouldnt stand as they put it down to her causing the fault.We ended up getting it repaired ourselfs,and will never buy anything again from comet as they are not very pleasant to deal with.What makes me angry is that my daughter saved the money herself to buy this.