am i entitled to a refund from john lewis

johnnycasio

I bought an Acer Aspire netbook September 2010 from John Lewis with a 2 year guarantee. By December the screen had gone faulty. After doing some research online it turned out that the fault was common on this model and after a bit of a fight with John Lewis they repaired it. It has now developed exactly the same fault again. The warranty runs out in September this year and I'm concerned that if they repair it the same thing might happen again after the warranty runs out. Am i entitled to a refund rather than another repair? thanks!

nomoneytoday

Probably not. AFAIK it's at the discretion of the retailer as which way to correct the problem.

unholyangel

After a reasonable time has passed (which i'm sure everyone will agree, it has) you can request one remedy over another (repair,replace,refund) but the retailer can refuse if it is disproportionately costly compared to another remedy. And any refund given can be partial to take into account use you have had of the item. And often - especially with technology - these will depreciate faster in the first year or two than subsequent years. So even if they agree to issue a refund, it may only be for 50% or 60% of its purchase price.

vyle

Im pretty sure they have a policy where the goods will be replaced on a third fault, but most engineers I've dealt with in the past tend to give you a 3 month warranty on the repairs, so youve probably got some form of protection if your laptop goes wrong after repair, even if the warranty expires.

Is anyone else curious as to what this "fight" was about getting a repair seeing as youve got a warranty, they shoulda send it away without problem.

browneyedbazzi

I'd be curious to hear about this 'fight' to get the fault repaired in the first instance...considering that John Lewis is generally excellent and it's pretty rare to hear a bad word said about their customer service.

Flyboy152

You can count me as a third to wonder what the fight was about. I have had nothing but excellent service from John Lewis.

johnnycasio

They tried to say that the fault with the screen was impact damage and that they wouldn't repair it for free. They eventually sent it to a third party who agreed that it wasn't and they did repair it. Unfortunately its done exactly the same thing again.

Flyboy152

In my experience (which I know maybe different to yours), John Lewis have always acted with the interests of their customers as a priority.

A lot of other retailers would have insisted that you would have to send the laptop to a third party, at your own expense and inconvenience and then still argue the outcome.

That said, if the fault can be proved to have been inherent, i.e., present at the point of sale, the seller could have a responsibility to the contract for up to six years.

The first remedy open to the seller maybe a repair, if that is not possible, then a replacement can be offered. If either of these remedies are disproportionately costly, they might offer to rescind the contract and refund monies paid. However, there are contingencies built in to the SOGA to allow for deductions based on the usage from the goods. For example, if the goods cost five hundred pounds, they might make a deduction of two hundred pounds for two years of use.

vyle

johnnycasio wrote: »

They tried to say that the fault with the screen was impact damage and that they wouldn't repair it for free. They eventually sent it to a third party who agreed that it wasn't and they did repair it. Unfortunately its done exactly the same thing again.

Sounds fair enough. Coming from somebody who deals with tech support in retail, it's quite common to see people who HAVE dropped their stuff, and insist that they didn't then go "oh, well I dropped it twice, but THAT can't be it...."

And then you've got the people who yank their laptop screens open from the corner....

And if a shop knowingly sends a misused device to be repaired under warranty, they'll get charged a fair amount by the manufacturer, so obviously they don't want to do that (nor should they).

Looks like they found the optimal middle ground.

johnnycasio

My problem isn't with the original repair,its the fact that its developed exactly the same fault again. I understand that a lot of people probably chuck them about and drop them and stuff and cause these faults but I honestly dont. Then if it does it again after the warranty runs out I'm going to end up stuck with a big repair bill. Surely something should last longer than this without breaking given normal use?!

Flyboy152

johnnycasio wrote: »

My problem isn't with the original repair,its the fact that its developed exactly the same fault again. I understand that a lot of people probably chuck them about and drop them and stuff and cause these faults but I honestly dont. Then if it does it again after the warranty runs out I'm going to end up stuck with a big repair bill. Surely something should last longer than this without breaking given normal use?!

You are correct, that is why you have up to six years to make a claim against the seller. However, if the contract is to be rescinded (i.e. a refund given), an allowance would be made to take account of any usage. The amount of money left should, theoretically, leave enough to purchase a second-hand laptop of similar age and specification.

What model of laptop is it, is it prone to such faults?