Laptop - Out of Guarantee

LaNcEr44k

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone is well. Just needing some advice on a laptop that was purchased 18 months ago and is now out of guarantee. To cut a long story short:

The laptop is a well known brand, and was purchased from a large catalogue company (the balance is still being paid on credit). Just before the 12 months guarantee was up, the laptop developed a fault. I contacted the retailer at the time, and they informed me that the manufacturer ships the PC directly to the customer and they then manage the support on behalf of the retailer.

I went directly to the manufacturer and they repaired the laptop (2 days out of guarantee).

Another fault has recently just developed with the PC, completely separate from the first instance.

I have read the MSE article on the sale of goods act and it suggests that a product should last for a reasonable amount of time.

After contacting the manufacturer, and even emailing a complaint to the MD (which was passed back to a phone operator to deal with), they have basically said there is nothing they can do as the warranty is no longer valid.

What are my rights with this. A reasonable person would surely expect a laptop to last longer than 18 months under general usage?

Hope somebody can provide some advice?

Regards

Craig

LaNcEr44k

Just an update on this one.... contacted the retailer by phone who said they won't deal with it at all with it being out of the 12 month warranty. I mentioned the Sale of Goods Act 1979 etc, no joy!

Any ideas of my next steps?

Regards

Craig

CoolHotCold

Helps if we have the make, model, fault, where purchased.

LaNcEr44k

H CoolHotCold,

Its an HP Pavilion DV7-2045ea purchased at Great Universal. Problem is a green aura on the LCD panel, which has only started since the laptop was returned and gradually has got worse. I suspect it is either the graphics card or the cable to the LCD panel as the panel is not damaged, and the aura changes depending on the contrast of the screen and certain aspects. There are no issues with drivers (as it appears on the bios screen as well), also HDMI outputs fine. The aura looks more 'digitized' as opposed to LCD damage.

Regards

Craig

kev.s

a reasonable amount of time could be variable dependant on circumstances, use, enviroment etc, so 12mnth is a standard guarantee for most household elec items, GU won't entertain your claim as they prob only offered you the statutory 12month manufacturer guarantee, which would have meant if you sent it back to them then they would have just returned it to HP anyhow, i'd persevere with HP direct although you may have a fight to get a freebie repair, however dependent on your mannerism to them you may be lucky, personally i'd buy a new one, and for the record i'd not buy, HP, Acer, Dell.... get yourself a mac...quality and a free 5yr warranty

2sides2everystory

12 month is the standard rip-off guarantee in UK and it will not wash. In Europe the same products have been sold with a 2 year guarantee for many years. Neither affect your rights in this matter.

I'll agree with just one thing kev.s said, and that is that dependent on your mannerism or more accurately, persuasive ability, you may get a better result than some might first imagine.

It seems this thing wasn't fixed right first time round.

Since you have already opened discussion with the MD, might be worth explaining that the good name of HP Personal Computers and Laptops is being aired over here in MSE.

I have recent rather annoying experience of having to scour the known universe for drivers which would work for an HP Pavilion which needed nothing more complicated than a new hard drive. It was for a neighbour who had bought the thing fair and square a few years ago but had mislaid the original CD. The model was still supposedly supported on their website if the customer had been savvy enough to know how to use Google correctly to find it specifically on the hp.com website - HP's own Search facility seemed a bit naff to me and didn't yield what I was looking for.

Then thank goodness for WinRAR is all I can say as it opens the ridiculous supposedly self-extracting SPXXXXX.exe files on the HP website which otherwise didn't work due to OTT permissions issues. Then there was the sad question of why not all the drivers were actually on the HP website, and why I had to go find others by analysing specifications and Googling like a maniac on Intel and other component manufacturer's websites to get rid of the sea of yellow in Windows Device Manager. :rotfl:

Come on HP, you can do better than this. 2 years' useful life out of any laptop is just not reasonable. Mine is another manufacturer and is three and a half years old now and the battery has gone u/s very quickly in the last 12 months but that is a general industry problem for another thread another day I think. The rest of my laptop works is just fine despite being on 10 hours a day or more for those three an half years.

How about fixing the duff repair that LaNcEr44k has endured since this thing was barely more than 12 months old?

Is the problem related I wonder to this one which allegedly may have resulted in a class action lawsuit against HP for an allegedly known problem with overheating in the graphics segment of the motherboard manifested throughout their range right through DV2 up to DV9000?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnkQNmKauEc

LaNcEr44k

Hi kev.s

Thanks for your reply, but there are a number of things I have to disagree with:

a reasonable amount of time could be variable dependant on circumstances, use, enviroment etc, so 12mnth is a standard guarantee for most household elec items

You're right about the guarantee being (in most cases) 12 months, however, a reasonable person would assume that a laptop that cost £1300 would last longer than a 12 month period under normal usage. However, you could understand that a £10 value kettle used everyday would only last for a year or so.

GU won't entertain your claim as they prob only offered you the statutory 12month manufacturer guarantee, which would have meant if you sent it back to them then they would have just returned it to HP anyhow

According to the Sale of Goods Act my claim is with the retailer and not the manufacturer (I had hoped that I could get HP to repair the unit, without going down the whole route of dealing with the retailer and then having to wait for them to deal with HP). The manufacturer guarantee is irrelevant as it 'an addition' to my legal consumer rights.

i'd persevere with HP direct although you may have a fight to get a freebie repair, however dependent on your mannerism to them you may be lucky, personally i'd buy a new one

Hopefully, but its hard to have a conversation when every route takes you back to square one.

The whole point of this forum is to save money. Ideally, I would like to exercise my consumer muscle, and get value out of the £1300 pound I have already paid, as opposed to paying out another £1300.

Thanks anyway though

Craig

LaNcEr44k

Thanks 2sides2everystory. Off to bed... will post tomorrow

dreamypuma

Firstly get yourself an independent report from a competent engineer. Hopefully if this provides evidence of an inherent manufacturing fault with your product, a copy of the report can be sent to GU, requesting remedy under SOGa.

In the absence of any action by GU, then issue a "Letter Before Action" to GU by Special Delivery.

LaNcEr44k

Thanks for replying to my post 2sides2everystory. You're help and advice is really appreciated!

12 month is the standard rip-off guarantee in UK and it will not wash. In Europe the same products have been sold with a 2 year guarantee for many years. Neither affect your rights in this matter.

That's good to hear! You're absolutely right about HP products being sold on the continent with 2 years guarantee. My first HP laptop (which I bought in 2002) had a two year guarantee. It appears that some retailers in the UK still offer this on HP products. I suspect the ones that are offering a single years warranty are trying to cash in on the sale of their extended guarantees.

Thanks for replying to my post 2sides2everystory. You're help and advice is really appreciated!

seems this thing wasn't fixed right first time round.

Yep, that is what I am thinking as well. Since the laptop came back, not only has this fault gradually developed, but there also appears to be a rattle coming from the laptop when moved - sounds like a screw

Am I right in thinking that HP would be liable for this?

Since you have already opened discussion with the MD, might be worth explaining that the good name of HP Personal Computers and Laptops is being aired over here in MSE.

I sent a complaint letter to the MD via the online web form. I then got a call off somebody in the complaints team, who seemed to think they we're the 'complaints manager'. The girl who I spoke to didn't sound to confident, and not somebody that sounds as though they deal with complaints every day. I started using some legal jargon and she started getting very flustered. I asked if I could speak to her manager, and she informed me that she was the highest person that deals with complaints, and that her manager isn't 'customer facing'. She said there was nothing they could do because it was out of warranty, and the hung up!!

Good point about mentioning to HP that it is being discussed at MSE.

I totally get your point about the HP support website. Everything seems to lead you back to square one.

Come on HP, you can do better than this. 2 years' useful life out of any laptop is just not reasonable. Mine is another manufacturer and is three and a half years old now and the battery has gone u/s very quickly in the last 12 months but that is a general industry problem for another thread another day I think. The rest of my laptop works is just fine despite being on 10 hours a day or more for those three an half years.

How about fixing the duff repair that LaNcEr44k has endured since this thing was barely more than 12 months old?

:T:T:T:T:T

Thanks again for your advice 2sides2everystory :A

LaNcEr44k

Thanks dreamypuma

Firstly get yourself an independent report from a competent engineer. Hopefully if this provides evidence of an inherent manufacturing fault with your product, a copy of the report can be sent to GU, requesting remedy under SOGa.

Where could I get an independent report carried out? Would a computer repair shop do a report for me? How much would this cost?

What would be classed as an inherent manufacturing fault?

Thanks again.