Three hardware failures in Samsung laptop

cmgurney

I bought a Samsung laptop at their Tottenham Court Road store on 19 April 2012 and paid by debit card. It is a top of the range model which cost £1,000 and is used for my business. It came with two years' warranty.

On 13 June 2012 the graphics card failed and was replaced under warranty. On 24 September 2012 the hard disk failed and was replaced under warranty. Last week the touchpad failed and the laptop is currently away to be repaired under warranty.

Each repair takes 5 to 7 working days and the loss of use of my laptop during this time has a significant impact on my business. Moreover, I am concerned that a laptop which has had three hardware failures in 14 months is a "Friday afternoon job" and may have further issues in future. It also seems to me that it may fail the "Fit for purpose AND last a reasonable length of time" test under the SADFART rules.

Should I ask Samsung to replace the laptop with a new one rather than repair it this time? What would be my chances of success?

unholyangel

Sounds like the transaction may not qualify as a consumer purchase if it was bought for business purposes.

cmgurney

Thank you for this prompt and helpful reply. I was completely unaware that different terms applied to goods bought for business purposes.

I am a sole trader and, having read the CAB advice at goo.gl/EERCg (I'm not allowed to post links), it appears that I have the same statutory rights as a consumer unless the seller includes an exclusion cause in the contract. I have checked my "contract" - my sales invoice from Samsung - and it does not contain any business exclusion clause. I therefore assume that I have full statutory rights like any other consumer.

cmgurney

PS I made it clear at the time of purchase that I was buying the laptop for business purposes and the salesperson did not mention any limitations on my statutory rights, so there was no exclusion cause in my oral contract with Samsung, either.