Fault with my 16-month old £400 HP laptop - do I have any rights?

Toxteth_OGrady

Get an independent engineering report that (hopefully) states that the problem is not considered due to either fair wear and tear or misuse. Send a letter and copy of the report (Signed For delivery) to Currys and state that due to its durability being much less than can be reasonably expected for a laptop you do not consider it to be of satisfactory quality as required under SOGA.

Tell them what remedy you would be prepared to accept (up to you but - repair in a reasonable timeframe at their expense with loan of a replacement whilst yours is being repaired, or replace with an equivalent refurbished model).

Put in the letter that you want them a satisfactory response within 14 working days of receipt of your letter/report and state that if they do not then you will pursue it in the Small Claims Court.

MarkBargain

CoolHotCold wrote: »

Aside from that being very illegal and the bad press if caught out would be far too high. Its a case of risk vs reward for the retailer, doing dodgy paperwork on any system (might be a reporter trap or a TV program doing research to see if KnowHow rip people off.

In this case, the risk is high and the reward is low, because If it is a manufactering fault then it would cost very little (KnowHow control everything from the call center, pickup, repair, redelivery) and the price to repair out of guarantee would be <£20.

Maybe, but £50 just for an inspection seems a bit gamble when I can get get a new laptop with a one-year guarantee for £250. I am worried they would say it is not a "manufacturing fault" because the keyboard worked for 16 months, and who is to say what the blame is if it stops working.

MarkBargain

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

Get an independent engineering report that (hopefully) states that the problem is not considered due to either fair wear and tear or misuse. Send a letter and copy of the report (Signed For delivery) to Currys and state that due to its durability being much less than can be reasonably expected for a laptop you do not consider it to be of satisfactory quality as required under SOGA.

Tell them what remedy you would be prepared to accept (up to you but - repair in a reasonable timeframe at their expense with loan of a replacement whilst yours is being repaired, or replace with an equivalent refurbished model).

Put in the letter that you want them a satisfactory response within 14 working days of receipt of your letter/report and state that if they do not then you will pursue it in the Small Claims Court.

Thanks, that seems a very good idea. So if I went to any local computer shop would that be okay? What do these places charge these days to check a laptop keyboard? Less than £50 I would have thought?!

Toxteth_OGrady

Anywhere, best price you can get but it needs to underpin the basis of your claim. The report would need to identify the defect and then state, in the expert opinion of the engineer, that the fault could not have been as a result of misuse or fair wear and tear.

By inference you can therefore claim that it is unreasonable to expect a laptop to break with such a fault such as this after only x months and therefore it is not of satisfactory quality and durability.

CoolHotCold

Yes Toxteth, but outside of 6 months it is assumed that there was no fault at time of purchase and a expert has to check and say there was a fault at manufacturing. They can't state it wasn't accidental damage or wear and tear and have to state it was a fault since purchase thats only just made its appearance.
Though I've read the SoGA, SoGaSA, SaSoGA and SaSoGtCR back to front and it doesn't actually state you need a interdependent report done, but everyone recommends (though everyone quotes the SoGA as its a while lot easier than the others to remember)


Problem is, its a keyboard, you'd expect it to get wear and tear, though not exactly the type that you've described.

And yes you can claim its unreasonable to expect a laptop to break after x months and say its not satisfactory quality, but if the retailer decides you need a report done, then theres nothing more to do except get the report done.

Apples2

An engineering report for a poxy keyboard??

Will cost you as much as a replacement keyboard for goodness sake.

Just get another one.

asbokid

MarkBargain wrote: »

As Asbokid wrote, they would probably take my £50 and then give me a quote on top of that for an expensive repair so that sounds far too risky. What would others do?

I wouldn't trust them, no..

If it were my laptop, I would buy a replacement keyboard (a US model for £12 is a bargain) and change it over.

Since you're not happy doing the job yourself, I would find a competent local company to change over the keyboards. I would pay £20-£30 for the work.

It might just be that the ribbon cable to the keyboard needs re-seating and that will be obvious once the machine is opened. If that proves to be the case then you've got yourself a spare keyboard (cost £12).

If the original keyboard does prove to be faulty then you are sorted there too, and you can swap it over for the replacement.

And if it is not the keyboard, then unless the fault is obvious, the machine is now a doorstop.

And that's probably what Currys will do.

They will declare your laptop to be beyond economical repair ("from damage caused by your misuse"). During the period that you wait for this diagnosis, you will be without a laptop. And you will still have to pay the £50 for the inspection.

Before they return the machine, they will offer to sell you a second user laptop from a comprehensive list of machines that they have in stock.

They will offer to accept the £50 you paid for the inspection fee as part-payment for one of those laptops, on condition that you leave your old laptop with them, to save on the return postage cost, etc..

You might wonder where they source all those secondhand laptops that they have for sale..... Your laptop will soon be one of them..

CoolHotCold

asbokid wrote: »

And that's probably what Currys will do.

They will declare your laptop to be beyond economical repair ("from damage caused by your misuse"). During the period that you wait for this diagnosis, you will be without a laptop. And you will still have to pay the £50 for the inspection.

Before they return the machine, they will offer to sell you a second user laptop from a comprehensive list of machines that they have in stock.

They will offer to accept the £50 you paid for the inspection fee as part-payment for one of those laptops, on condition that you leave your old laptop with them, to save on the return postage cost, etc..

You might wonder where they source all those secondhand laptops that they have for sale..... Your laptop will soon be one of them..

Anything to back that up with? or just pure speculation at this point?

asbokid

CoolHotCold wrote: »

Anything to back that up with? or just pure speculation at this point?

The practice is commonplace throughout the consumer electronics industry, and the big boys are as rotten as the tiddlers.

CoolHotCold

asbokid wrote: »

The practice is commonplace throughout the consumer electronics industry, and the big boys are as rotten as the tiddlers.

Thats fair enough, but to paint all electronics industry with the same brush is a bit unfair.