Misdescribed acer laptop from argos store

class40s

Hello all, just looking for some advice as I have never had this situation before. I bought an acer laptop from argos on the high street yesterday, got it home and started it, and completed the windows setup with info like naming the windows profile with my name, and also uninstalled a lot of the bloat software, games and free trials etc, ready to put my own preferred options on later.
The laptop is described in argos as having built in stereo speakers. Its an acer aspire 5742z at £429 and is in the current argos catalogue around page 582 or so.
When i restarted the laptop after uninstalling said software I tried the dvd player, and was not happy to hear sound coming from just one place. Yes, it only has ONE speaker, meaning its mono not stereo. Its not faulty as I can see under the mesh under the screen where the speaker is, on the left side, and there is no corresponding speaker visible on the right. Its not that easy to see as you have to have the right light angle to see it.
So, what is my position? Im happy otherwise with it, but it is significantly misdescribed being mono not stereo. I dont want to pay any more for a laptop either. Can I ask for a partial refund of say £50, or ask for a free upgrade to the next laptop above the one I bought that they have in stock? How would they view me having uninstalled software, bearing in mind that the pc makes no sound of any significance until something like a dvd is played, and that its not obvious from visual inspection that there is only one speaker and not two? Any help or advice is appreciated. Thanks, Stuart.

chalkie99

Looking at it here:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5084650.htm

it doesn't seem to mention stereo speakers, just built in sound system.

Presumably you can get stereo output through headphones, etc.?

Edit - Is this the right one? Same model as you mention but only £349.99 on web page.

class40s

Hi, I looked at it online after I found the issue, but the paper catalogue which I based my choice on states built in stereo speakers.

redped

class40s wrote: »

Can I ask for a partial refund of say £50, or ask for a free upgrade to the next laptop above the one I bought that they have in stock? How would they view me having uninstalled software, bearing in mind that the pc makes no sound of any significance until something like a dvd is played, and that its not obvious from visual inspection that there is only one speaker and not two?

Assuming Argos agree that it was mis-described (which they should if you show them the catalogue on which you based your buying decision), I would expect them to just refund your money to put you back in the situation you were in before buying the laptop. You can obviously ask for a partial refund or a free upgrade, but they are under no obligation to agree, and so I'd be very surprised if they did so.

As for uninstalling their bloatware, the person checking the laptop in-store wouldn't check that - so long as it boots up it should be fine.

paddyrg

I doubt they will part-refund as that's a risky precedent to set, and certainly not like 11-12%, the margins aren't high enough to support that. Likely you can return whe whole unit for a refund, or not. The unit would be re-imaged before resale anyway.

hcb42

I've got that laptop and paid much less...!

Zandoni

Are you sure it's not software have a look in the sound driver software and see if it's setup properly.

class40s

Well, I had a play with the sound settings and though I found controls for left and right volume, there was no effect with the right side adjustment. There is definitely only one speaker on this laptop. I took it back and asked to change it for the next one up that they had in stock, this was a 6gb ram model in the sale booklet. Also described as being stereo but only one speaker visible under the grille at the top left of the keyboard! So I refused that one and went for a toshiba c660 1d7 instead.

moonrakerz

Does ANY PC have stereo speakers ??????

bod1467

Yes. I have. Dell Latitude and it has 2 speakers.

class40s

bod1467 wrote: »

Yes. I have. Dell Latitude and it has 2 speakers.

so does the tosh c660 I bought today quite big ones too!