No refunds on certain items and a restock fee?

JazCE

Hi all

Yesterday (saturday 24/09/11) I took my old laptop charger down tottenham court road and asked one of the computer shops if they stocked it. One had it and we agreed a price.

I was using it fairly late on in the night and it was working fine; this morning (25/09/11) though, all wasn't right with the world. While the charger charged the laptop, it meant that the tochpad on my laptop and the touchscreen on my phone wouldn't work correctly which leads me to believe that the electrical interfearence it creates messes with those electronics (the phone charger and laptop charger were plugged in to the same powerstrip), this has never happened before using the previous OEM supplied charger. Thus it is my feeling that this product is faulty.

While gathering the bits to take back down the shop i noticed on the big sales invoice that was attached to my recipt a few T&Cs...

First is all goods returned are subject to a 25% restock and handling fees.

The second is... no refunds on HDD and chargers.

where does this leave me? I don't wish for them to keep 25% of the total for a faulty charger, and err the charger is imo faulty so should i not be entitles to a refund?

DWatts

They will have to repair, replace, or refund the charger under the sales of goods act.

Their own refund policy is irrelevant - that only covers good will refunds, i.e. them accepting an item back that you decide you no longer want. If something is faulty, they have to at least repair or replace it. Since it could be an issue with that particular make of charger, if you keep getting replacements and they cause the same issue you would be in a good position to ask for a refund.

JazCE

Well i went back to the store today (25/09/11) and they claimed because they had those T&C's at the bottom of their sales invoice, the law didn't apply. Company policy matters more than the law...

They asked me to bring in my laptop to show it wasn't working, i refused and asked them to try it out on one of their laptops, they did and said it was working because the laptop was charging up (which is true, my laptop does charge up) however when i asked them to try the trackpad they promptly took the charger out and claimed it was working.

After a fair amount of arguing and the owner of the store getting involved they said they'd give me a refund but keep the 25% restock charge... they were being generous because their T&Cs say they don't refund chargers. Me being a stubborn so and so wasn't having any of that...

So where do i go next? do i really have to write them a letter?

halibut2209

Yup, a letter before action giving them a reasonable time to sort it out (7 days should be fine), then should they not refund you, start a claim with the small claims court

DWatts

Well obviously the power of the law is greater than their own policy, otherwise they could get away with all sorts of things. The fact they tried to tell a customer that is pretty staggering.

You could bring a copy of the Sales of Goods act to the store pointing out where it says they have to reapir, replace, or refund etc. - or just write a letter referencing it.

arcon5

Could the company not argue the item is not faulty and is fit for purpose, since afterall it does what it is supposed to and charges the laptop?

(sorry, playing devils advocate )

DWatts

arcon5 wrote: »

Could the company not argue the item is not faulty and is fit for purpose, since afterall it does what it is supposed to and charges the laptop?

(sorry, playing devils advocate )

They would definitely try. But if he went to them with his original charger and asked for a replacement, he could easily say that it does not perform the same task and is therefore faulty/not fit for purpose. A charger shouldn't render parts of a laptop unusable, and the fact it does is actually quite worrying.

arcon5

DWatts wrote: »

They would definitely try. But if he went to them with his original charger and asked for a replacement, he could easily say that it does not perform the same task and is therefore faulty/not fit for purpose. A charger shouldn't render parts of a laptop unusable, and the fact it does is actually quite worrying.

But it does the same task, it charges the laptop exactly as it was supposed to.

I agree it shouldn't render other parts useless, but if the shop argues this is just how it is designed and therefore not a fault with the goods, just that the customer wanted one with different functionality would they infact have a case?

DWatts

arcon5 wrote: »

But it does the same task, it charges the laptop exactly as it was supposed to.

I agree it shouldn't render other parts useless, but if the shop argues this is just how it is designed and therefore not a fault with the goods, just that the customer wanted one with different functionality would they infact have a case?

Because he took the original charger in with the intention on getting a replacement and the charger (if by design or fault) does not fulfill that, then I think he'd have a good case for saying it is faulty or not fit for the purpose it was sold for.

Certain components on the laptop not working and electrical interference would suggest a larger problem with the charger, which would ultimately damage the laptop and is therefore faulty. Not sure what it could be doing, exactly - it could be supplying the wrong voltage or current for example. That said, I'm not going to suggest grabbing a multimeter and poke metal prods at a faulty charger running off the mains supply. One thing the OP could do is contact the manufacturer of the laptop saying he purchased a charger and it's doing this weird stuff to his laptop, and is it likely to damage it? If he could get a 'yes' from them, then the charger is undeniably faulty.

Probably best not to say you knowingly bought an imitation/non-genuine charger though - electronics manufacturers get very funny about that kind of thing.

bod1467

There are RFI/EMI standards that apply for mains electrical goods. I wouldnt be surprised if this device is non-compliant.

JazCE

[FONT= ]A letter like thus? should it be sent via recorded delivery?[/FONT]
[FONT= ][/FONT]
[FONT= ]Computing Technology Intelligence[/FONT]
[FONT= ]239 Tottenham Court Road[/FONT]
[FONT= ]London[/FONT]
[FONT= ]W1T 1BS[/FONT]
[FONT= ]Dear Sir[/FONT]
[FONT= ]On 24th September I bought a laptop charger from your shop after showing one of your managers my original laptop charger and asking for a similar item. I have discovered that the laptop charger has the following problem: When plugged into my laptop via the mains and power strips it renders the laptop trackpad unusable. This only occurs with this charger that I bought from your shop and no other charger affects my laptop in this way. [/FONT]
[FONT= ]The Sale of Goods Act 1979 makes it an implied term of the contract that goods be as described of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. As you are in breach of contract I am rejecting the laptop charger and request that you refund the sum paid to you of £30.[/FONT]
[FONT= ]I also require you to confirm whether you will arrange for the laptop charger to be collected or will reimburse me for the cost of returning it.[/FONT]
[FONT= ]I look forward to hearing from you in the next seven days.[/FONT]
[FONT= ]Yours sincerely[/FONT]
[FONT= ]Jared Evans[/FONT]