Can I return faulty Dell laptop?

tyllwyd

Why do you keep trying to mend it? Surely it would be better to leave it as it is when it is broken so that they can see the problem when you return it.

notanexpert1

tyllwyd wrote: »

Why do you keep trying to mend it? Surely it would be better to leave it as it is when it is broken so that they can see the problem when you return it.

Well the first time was because I had a document with passwords on it and I was worried about it being seen! After the second major breakdown I suppose it was a mixture of obstinacy and dislike of confrontation and hope that it was a software conflict of some sort - not anything I really understand. If it fails again, I will definitely not attempt to re-start it. It actually has been working faultlessly since I managed to re-start it in the early hours of Monday morning and I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed that continues to do so. Interesting to note that I have had no word at all from Dell. With this level of customer care, I would not buy from them again.

tyllwyd

I wondered how you are getting on with your laptop? We've written a second letter to our retailer to reject our broken laptop and request a refund, but not really expecting a reply! We've also started a claim via the credit card company, but again not really expecting them to back us up. If there is no response to the second letter, Trading Standards have advised us to write a third letter stating that they don't respond we will go to the small claims court.

Guardsman

The house I was born in was called Ty Llwyd..:D

notanexpert1

tyllwyd wrote: »

I wondered how you are getting on with your laptop? We've written a second letter to our retailer to reject our broken laptop and request a refund, but not really expecting a reply! We've also started a claim via the credit card company, but again not really expecting them to back us up. If there is no response to the second letter, Trading Standards have advised us to write a third letter stating that they don't respond we will go to the small claims court.

The final result:
I filled in the online customer service form again informing them of the multiple faults and saying I wished to return the machine - this was 6 weeks after I had received the laptop and 4 weeks after my initial contact which they ignored. About 4 days after this second attempt I received an email from Dell in which they asked me to do multiple things, including taking most of the machine apart. I replied and said I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to do this, partly because of my lack of expertise and also because it was a new machine. I said I wished to return it and receive a refund. They replied that unfortunately items could only be returned to Dell within 7 days of receipt. I wrote back: "......You state that the system is outside its 7 days return period - this is in fact only relevant when there is no fault with the system. Where a machine is faulty then the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) applies and this law states that when a consumer buys goods from a trader they must be: as described; of a satisfactory quality; and fit for any purpose made known at the time of sale to the seller.

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) says: "if goods break within the first six months after purchase then there is a presumption the goods were faulty when sold". Since I have only had my laptop a few weeks - and in fact requested its return after two weeks - you will see that it is covered by this law......."

I received a reply to say the matter had been escalated to the appropriate department and then a few days later that it had been accepted and the machine would be collected and a refund issued. They then wrote asking for details of address etc and finally emailed to say the laptop is going to be collected on 7 January.

I have to say in Dell's defence that after initially ignoring me, when the customer services agent became involved, she was very prompt indeed with her replies. I won't though be buying another Dell. I have in fact fallen in love with the MacBook Pro but my bank balance says to fall out of love with it pronto!

tyllwyd

Thanks for the update and glad to hear you got it all sorted! We're still struggling on - the retailer wrote back to say that they wanted to repair the machine not refund, we aren't willing to accept that so we've written them a letter before action. The credit card company are also saying we should accept a repair, which is disappointing.


[Edited to say - in the end, they wrote back again saying that they would only offer a repair. We thought about it, but decided that the cost of going to the small claims court was too much since we weren't certain of winning, so sadly we had to admit defeat and send the laptop back for repair.]

Confused_consumer

I am having a very similar problem with Dell, but this thread is at least giving me hope that something will be done about it.I bought a computer through them for a Christmas present and it has never worked, despite an engineer coming out to fix it. They are also ignoring all of my correspondence. I'm going to try writing them a letter stating the Sales of Goods Act similar to what you wrote to them, hopefully that will help.

notanexpert1 wrote: »

The final result:
I filled in the online customer service form again informing them of the multiple faults and saying I wished to return the machine - this was 6 weeks after I had received the laptop and 4 weeks after my initial contact which they ignored. About 4 days after this second attempt I received an email from Dell in which they asked me to do multiple things, including taking most of the machine apart. I replied and said I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to do this, partly because of my lack of expertise and also because it was a new machine. I said I wished to return it and receive a refund. They replied that unfortunately items could only be returned to Dell within 7 days of receipt. I wrote back: "......You state that the system is outside its 7 days return period - this is in fact only relevant when there is no fault with the system. Where a machine is faulty then the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) applies and this law states that when a consumer buys goods from a trader they must be: as described; of a satisfactory quality; and fit for any purpose made known at the time of sale to the seller.

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) says: "if goods break within the first six months after purchase then there is a presumption the goods were faulty when sold". Since I have only had my laptop a few weeks - and in fact requested its return after two weeks - you will see that it is covered by this law......."

I received a reply to say the matter had been escalated to the appropriate department and then a few days later that it had been accepted and the machine would be collected and a refund issued. They then wrote asking for details of address etc and finally emailed to say the laptop is going to be collected on 7 January.

I have to say in Dell's defence that after initially ignoring me, when the customer services agent became involved, she was very prompt indeed with her replies. I won't though be buying another Dell. I have in fact fallen in love with the MacBook Pro but my bank balance says to fall out of love with it pronto!

notanexpert1

Confused_consumer wrote: »

I am having a very similar problem with Dell, but this thread is at least giving me hope that something will be done about it.I bought a computer through them for a Christmas present and it has never worked, despite an engineer coming out to fix it. They are also ignoring all of my correspondence. I'm going to try writing them a letter stating the Sales of Goods Act similar to what you wrote to them, hopefully that will help.

If you haven't already done so, I would suggest you fill in the online form for technical help and then hopefully, if they haven't already done so, they will get a representative to write to you. In the end their dealings with me were very prompt indeed. I forgot to add, they collected the Dell and refunded my payment in full about 4 or 5 days later. I have now purchased a MacBook Air which is more or less twice the price of the Dell but which while much thinner and lighter than the Dell, feels much much more solid and strong and which works silently and cool. I am so impressed with it, I think I could become a sales person for Apple!