Repair of two-month old computer

bettybala

In November I purchased a Lenovo computer from Currys,and at the same time was sold a Care Plan.
The computer developed a fault which rendered it virtually unusable.
I contacted the Care Plan, and was told that since the computer was less than one year old, we would have to contact the manufacturers and ask them to repair it under the terms of the warranty.
It was never suggested that I should complain to the retailers, and I'm afraid I was ignorant of my rights concerning the retailers.
I was told to package the computer myself, and contact the manufacturers (in Germany) to have it collected and shipped back to them , and that I should be responsible fro any damage in transit.
I am now informed, almost three weeks after sending the computer off, that the casing of the computer is damaged by "inappropriate treatment". and that I must pay £417 to have it repaired. The alternative is to pay £25 for them to ship the unrepaired computer back to me.
Any suggestions as to what I should do, please.

unholyangel

Were you the one who arranged the courier and paid for shipping or did someone else?

Was it packaged adequately?

Jinks

bettybala,

What you were told is strange and it appears you were misinformed by the person you spoke to. I worked at Currys until recently. Did you make it clear to the person you spoke to that you had the Currys care package? Can you confirm that you are either paying a monthly fee for this or that you bought a term plan of 3 or 5 years? Did the person you spoke to ask for your membership details and look you up to confirm you had it? Because it sounds like the person who advised you wasn't aware you had the care package. What they told you is true if you only have the standard warranty - in that case your agreement is with the manufacturer and even if you go through a Currys store they would only be able to send the computer on to the manufacturer for you. However, if you have the aftercare package, your agreement is with Currys and they will either fix the computer within 21 days at no additional charge or replace it with a new one for you. It also includes accidental damage cover, so you shouldn't be charged for anything deemed your own fault either (unless you deliberately jumped up and down on it or something).

I'm sorry you have been incorrectly advised. It sounds like there has been a misunderstanding somewhere. If I were you I would go into the Currys store with your receipt, show them the receipt with your Whatever Happens membership on it, and tell them that you were given this incorrect information by the customer service phoneline, and told to ship the laptop to the manufacturer. If it's correct that you have the care package, they should take charge of the repairs and/or replace your PC for you. (You will probably need to pay the £25 to have the laptop shipped back, but I would hope that the Currys store will refund this for you - if it is indeed due to the company's error, our store would have).

I hope you can sort it out.

Poppy9

Jinks wrote: »

bettybala,

What you were told is strange and it appears you were misinformed by the person you spoke to. I worked at Currys until recently. Did you make it clear to the person you spoke to that you had the Currys care package? Can you confirm that you are either paying a monthly fee for this or that you bought a term plan of 3 or 5 years? Did the person you spoke to ask for your membership details and look you up to confirm you had it? Because it sounds like the person who advised you wasn't aware you had the care package. What they told you is true if you only have the standard warranty - in that case your agreement is with the manufacturer and even if you go through Currys they would only be able to send the computer on to the manufacturer. However, if you have the aftercare package, your agreement is with Currys and they will either fix the computer within 21 days at no additional charge or replace it with a new one for you. It also includes accidental damage cover, so you shouldn't be charged for anything deemed your own fault either (unless you deliberately jumped up and down on it or something).

I'm sorry you have been incorrectly advised. It sounds like there has been a misunderstanding somewhere. If I were you I would go into the Currys store with your receipt, show them the receipt with your Whatever Happens membership on it, and tell them that you were given this incorrect information by the customer service phoneline, and told to ship the laptop to the manufacturer. If it's correct that you have the care package, they should take charge of the repairs and/or replace your PC for you.

I hope you can sort it out.

You are totally wrong. The OP's agreement is with the retailer, not the manufacturer. However poorly Curry's train their staff they cannot vary a customers rights under the SOGA.

The care warranty should not be needed as the SOGA does not specifiy a time that goods should last, so shops saying 1 month or 12 months is wrong. Consumers can and do make claims via the small claims court for goods over 12 months old and have won. The SOGA only specifies "reasonable time", this is in relation to price paid etc. i.e. if you pay £5 for a kettle it might be reasonable to expect it to only last 12 months. If you pay £60 for a kettle you would expect at least 2 years use out of it.

OP you should speak to Consumer Direct to find out how you proceed with this issue now. Your contract is with Curry's the careplan is irrelevant, they should have arranged collection etc.

When I had to return a faulty 8 month old laptop which I bought online from Bennetts, they arranged for collection and the courier package it in my home. It did go to the manufacturer for repair but I only dealt with the retailer. It was repaired and returned (faulty mouse button) within 2 weeks. When the same fault re-ocurred 5 months later, again it was collected and repaired at no cost to myself.

Chickabiddybex

£417 to repair the computer case? It is the most inexpensive part of the whole thing!!!
What was the original fault?

Jinks

Poppy9 wrote: »

You are totally wrong. The OP's agreement is with the retailer, not the manufacturer. However poorly Curry's train their staff they cannot vary a customers rights under the SOGA.

Hi Poppy,

I think I may have been unclear in what I said - sorry if I did not phrase what I meant very well, I think we both meant different things by the word "agreement". As you correctly say, the OP was misadvised, and Currys is indeed required to help the OP. However, they are not required to repair the computer themselves under the standard warranty, only transfer it back to the manufacturer for repair. There is a distinction between facilitating the repair and repairing the computer themselves. In the case that the OP did not have the care plan and had taken the laptop to a Currys store, Currys would have packaged the computer and sent it to the manufacturer for repair. The manufacturer would then have responded with their findings and this message would have been conveyed by Currys to the OP. However, they would only have been acting as intermediary, and unless different circumstances had been found (such as the fault actually being minor) nothing different would have happened in terms of the communication that was given by Lenovo and the charges the OP described. Though Currys does happen to have a repair department, most electrical retailers don't, and so it wouldn't make sense for the retailer to be directly responsible for the repair of the computer under a standard warranty agreement. They can only pass the product back to the manufacturer.

I hope that makes it clearer what I meant - I don't know very much about the law, but that is how the Currys/PC World chain of stores operates. I absolutely don't think it's appropriate for the OP to have been misinformed the way she was and I wasn't suggesting that her experience with the phone advisor was appropriate.

But the presence of the care plan actually makes a really vital difference in this case. If Lenovo are contending that the fault is not their responsibility because it was through accidental damage, whether she dealt with them directly or through Currys, the OP will have to pay for the repair or prove the damage wasn't her responsibility (hard to do), whereas if she has the care plan she won't because it covers accidental damage. So hopefully she has a receipt that shows she has the care plan, and will therefore be able to resolve the issue at her local store without having to involve legal advice or pay anything at all.

vyle

Poppy9 wrote: »

You are totally wrong. The OP's agreement is with the retailer, not the manufacturer. However poorly Curry's train their staff they cannot vary a customers rights under the SOGA.

The care warranty should not be needed as the SOGA does not specifiy a time that goods should last, so shops saying 1 month or 12 months is wrong.

Please remember that the warranty and the soga are not the same thing. If OP was claiming under the terms of the warranty that's different to invoking the soga. Retailers will always default to the warranty if someone comes in wanting to make a claim, they're not going to pre-emptively initiate court proceedings.

Poppy9

vyle wrote: »

Please remember that the warranty and the soga are not the same thing. If OP was claiming under the terms of the warranty that's different to invoking the soga. Retailers will always default to the warranty if someone comes in wanting to make a claim, they're not going to pre-emptively initiate court proceedings.

I do understand the difference between the warranty and your rights under SOGA. As I said you shouldn't need to buy an extra warranty when you have rights under SOGA. They only use of the warranty is the accidental damage cover if you feel you might need it.

Jakg

Jinks wrote: »

I worked at Currys until recently {...} Because it sounds like the person who advised you wasn't aware you had the care package. What they told you is true if you only have the standard warranty - in that case your agreement is with the manufacturer and even if you go through a Currys store they would only be able to send the computer on to the manufacturer for you. However, if you have the aftercare package, your agreement is with Currys and they will either fix the computer within 21 days at no additional charge or replace it with a new one for you.

I'm sorry, but in this case your incorrect - ever with Whatever Happens some products are repaired by the manufacturer directly unless it's something that doesn't cover (such as accidental damage), although the 7 / 21 day write-off period still applies.

bettybala

Thanks so for all your advice. Yes, I did purchase a care plan, but when I contacted them they told me that they couldn't repair it during the first year while it was still under the manufacturers warranty, even though I have been paying a monthly debit for the care plan.
I think I'll tell the manufacturer to return it to me in its damaged condition, and follow your advice about taking it back to Currys (now PC WORLD)

Jinks

bettybala wrote: »

Thanks so for all your advice. Yes, I did purchase a care plan, but when I contacted them they told me that they couldn't repair it during the first year while it was still under the manufacturers warranty, even though I have been paying a monthly debit for the care plan.

Well, as you already seem to have guessed, this is incorrect, because otherwise you would be paying them for doing nothing! While it is true that sometimes Currys/PC World might pass the computer to the manufacturer for some things under Whatever Happens if it's the manufacturer's responsibility, that issue is not relevant here - the important thing is that with WH Currys will take responsibility for your computer being repaired within 21 days, if it's not they replace it, and you aren't liable for any repair charges no matter what the issue is (unless it was wilful damage like jumping on it or throwing at a wall!). Under the WH agreement the customer shouldn't be dealing with the manufacturer directly, even though it's normal for them to do so under a standard warranty agreement.

Unfortunately I've heard of a number of people being misadvised by the Currys/PCW phone service. They are a completely different set of staff to the in-store staff and I would suggest that with any future important issues like this, where possible, you actually go into a store to ask for help at their helpdesk. The technicians there deal with issues around computer problems and repairs every day and are better equipped to help you (not to mention they can actually look at the computer and diagnose the problem). Hopefully, you will find the help you need in the store and they will be apologetic about the misadvice through the phone service.

Good luck with your laptop!